As a significator of marriage and committed relationships, our natal Venus often shows the gifts we’ll receive after marriage. There are a few ways we can of course look at a chart to see what will be awakened within and activated from without. To understand anything in life, we have to also understand its opposite, so let’s first begin with the 8th house showing the higher gifts of marriage, and then move into Venus’ gifts through each planet in our chart.
In spiritual astrology, I often describe Venus as a body in a dream state. Think of yourself when you are sleeping – how your body is gently and continuously moving to put itself into balance to feel more comfortably in your bed. In other words, Venus is the energy that puts into balance all that which is not currently in balance and in harmony. This reminds us that balance is not static, it is dynamic and ever moving, to adjust – it is not extreme, it is the meeting place of trust and faith, it is the point of time of both sunrise and sunset, when the sun kisses the arms of dawn and the moon kisses the arms of dusk. Love too is a continuous flowing and moving.
There is a gentleness to Venus, a grace and kindness of rhythm, a sacredness of her vulnerability and tenderness that our world has forgotten. Because it is precisely through her vulnerability and in her sensitivity, where true power lives and thrives; and breathes us into life and deeper love. Venus is essentially a devotional pathway – a love that returns us back to love.
Venus gets her full realization in formlessness, in the complete dissolution of everything – to show us that true beauty is the internal beauty, that true wealth is the wealth of devotion, and that once the inner wild lands are in harmony all else external inevitably will be also.
One way to see the gifts of marriage is the 8th house – which is the house of merging of paths, souls and the dissolution of boundaries. This is the house of emotional and spiritual intimacy, and the house where we peel the layers of ourselves because all things from our deep within, all from beneath our skin, are now coming to the surface to be faced and worked through – for a purification to happen and for two people to settle a relationship into peace. The false layers and identities of ourselves begin to peel off, because when we live within someone, things will be “triggered”. Ultimately, it is for the higher purpose to make us more authentic and able to love. We are here to learn to love, and love isn’t in the words or teachings, it is in the quiet doings of our every day towards one another; it is in our ability to take someone as part of ourselves, and to give to them what they need rather than we want to be given in turn through our “giving”.
The 8th house, and marriage or long-term committed relationships, are essentially gifting us the opportunity for a deepening. We learn trust through uncertainty; we learn commitment through healing instability; we learn forgiveness through healing betrayals; we learn honour through healing humiliation; we learn courage through facing our fears – and through learning how to manage our emotions in a healthy way.
How we receive these gifts, and our willingness to receive them ties closely to our 2nd house, which is the house of our foundations, self-efforts, self-esteem, self-worth, confidence and early childhood upbringing. All these affect the way we view the world, perceive and approach all and everything, and how we experience ourselves through our relationships; in addition to how much effort are we actually willing to put into our relationships. The 8th house is also our partner’s 2nd house – so depending on their level of emotional maturity, is how well we’ll mesh together and work through hurdles when they arise.
As we already mentioned, to understand anything in life, and in spiritual astrology, we need to understand the opposite of it. And opposite the 8th is the 2nd – which is the house naturally ruled by Venus. Venus is not only a significator of marriage and relationships, but it is also our sense of self-esteem and values as it is related to the 2nd house. And depending on its placement, sign and aspects, it shows what gifts we may receive through marriage – and how they will be activated externally also.
The Gifts of Venus After Marriage
First, we need to look at the placement of Venus in our natal chart. Look at its sign, house, and what planets or signs are 2nd from itself. For example, if your natal Venus is in the 4th house, the 2nd from itself is the 5th house. If there are no planets there, look at the sign. Also, check if Venus is conjunct your other planets and/or if it receives any trines from other planets. All of these will show gifts after marriage, and what will be influencing your marriage.
For conjunctions, it is usually said that if that planet is lower degrees to Venus, then it is something already happening in the native’s life and they are working through or on that path; and if it is in higher degrees, i.e. after Venus, then it would be things that the native would come closer to after marriage.
If there is a stellium of planets that Venus is involved in, i.e. four or more personal planets conjunct together, this shows an even greater emphasis of relationships in the native’s life – and many gifts on all physical, emotional and spiritual level that may unfold through their ability to love and be in relationships in this life. Sometimes these stelliums form what is known as Sanyasa yoga, which means a more spiritual life, initiation of higher purpose, and a renunciation of the material. It doesn’t mean that all with these combinations will become priests or priestesses, but for those that do and decide not to marry – how would Venus’ gifts of marriage relate? Imagine a monk: When this person chooses to become a monk, they enter the monastery and thus, they essentially enter into a relationship. Every time we devote and vow ourselves to something long-standing – we create a committed relationship. And actually, everything in life is a relationship. We are here to experience ourselves through relationships – relationships with life itself and with other people; to learn to love, love more, and to grow through love.
Please be mindful that the below are only general, and that one may need to look at the Navamsa chart also – which essentially shows the soul of Venus.
Also, please know that there are three levels of manifestation for our aspects and transits: the physical, the emotional and the spiritual. These depend on our level of self-awareness and where we are on our path. As a spiritual astrologer, I refer to this as the three fires of time, which you can read about in my article The Three Fires of Time.
Now let’s go through the planets:
For each one consider if it is:
- the planet 2nd from Venus
- the ruler of the sign 2nd from Venus
- conjunct Venus
- opposite Venus
- trining Venus
- aspecting the 2nd from Venus
J U P I T E R
If Jupiter is 2nd from Venus, conjunct Venus, opposite Venus, trining Venus or the sign 2nd from Venus is Jupiter-ruled such as Pisces or Sagittarius or aspected by Jupiter: This means that marriage may bring you prosperity, wealth, honour and children. Perhaps you marry someone who is more mature or well traveled or wise in experience. On a more spiritual or emotional level of manifestation, this would mean that your greatest gifts may come through some kind of expansion happening in your life and inner self, related to how you view and experience the world, and your beliefs will expand as you become more mature, cultured and open-minded. As Venus can sometimes become a little extreme, having that Jupiter influence shows that a great gift may also be in learning how to be more tame and come into greater wisdom and discernment.
R A H U
Perhaps you will travel or even settle in a foreign land after marriage, or there will be an expansion of un-ordinary ideas and things you may begin to try. For example, you start eating spicy foods or experimenting with exotic foods, or even your fashion style changes and you become more experimental. This placement also brings prosperity in some shape or form. On a more spiritual and emotional level of manifestation, this would give you the gift of your marriage partner supporting you on your soul’s path and helping you achieve what you need to along the way. In whatever way it manifests, whether smooth sailing or not, your spouse will be connected to your soul’s work in this life.
M E R C U R Y
On a material level, this usually shows opportunities for business, and gaining land or property. It can also shows increase interest in education, and the benefits of educational development – intellectually and also through networks. On a deeper level – this combination shows that your greatest gifts may come from your increased ability to communicate more clearly, finely, and express yourself more gracefully, emotionally and sincerely. Through your marriage and the need to express yourself, you learn to communicate better and bring more harmony and potentially maturity through both the spoken and written word.
M A R S
As Mars is the natural male energy and Venus is the female energy, this would show the merging of the two and that both spouses will support one another. They will have “each other’s backs”. There could be of course a bit more “energy” which could manifest through conflicts – but by learning to work through it, to channel fire into creativity and passion, by learning how to fight in healthy way, and learning how to settle the relationship into peace through maturity, will bring you enormous rewards in how you channel the raw energy of fire. When fire marries purpose with kindness and love, beautiful things can be birthed.
S A T U R N
Well, get ready for work. The gifts of this will come through your embodiment of responsibility, accountability, dedication and patience. Work load usually increases after marriage both professionally (you begin having to work more in your job or have career responsibilities or advancement), and also, emotionally. There is a need to mature and face the reality of things and relationships. Often times, you will also reap the rewards of your responsibility and efforts – and by being more responsible towards the heart of your spouse and your actions, you will find more harmony. There is a karmic undertone with this, so you need to accept that changing partners constantly will not change your life – if the script remains the same. Try being more discerning with whom you choose to marry, as divorce may be harder afterwards. Also, be self-conscious and understand that there is a certain sense of sacrifice that all relationships, and marriage, demand of us. Stay mindful not to become cold or detached, and put in the consistent effort of connecting to your spouse, through playfulness or date nights, so that neither of you feels alienated or unappreciated when routines or responsibilities become too much. Making devotion a beautiful and loving pathway, is a great spiritual gift – and one that truly brings us to higher faith. The beloved is a seed of God, like the seed of a rose, and when we nurture that, it blossoms. It’s a blessing. And such blessing needs the caring of our everyday gestures, words and hands.
M O O N
This placement actually often points to coming into more travels, vacations and even luxuries after marriage. Moon is a Goddess who loves spending on luxuries, and when the two Goddesses come together, this becomes a sweet, sweet nectar of life. Something else that might happen on an external level, is that the mother or a feminine figure may activate a path for prosperity. For example, perhaps after marriage, one day your mom says, “Hey, did you see that documentary on …?” And then you watch, and suddenly an idea for a business comes to you. This then, years later, becomes very prosperous for you bring in wealth of both financial and emotional wealth. This is because Venus, as we already mentioned, is about the riches of the heart and love. On a more spiritual level, the Moon is actually the cave of the heart – the deepest and most intimate part of us. And – we can also view the nakshatras, or constellations, as essentially the “wives of the Moon” because the Moon is a 28 cycle. So each nakshatra is like a yoni (a womb) – a feminine aspect of receptivity, a seed, that we are – and then grow nurtured in an embrace. So the greatest gift of this is a beautiful deepening of what love is. To know the minds of others, we must know the heart – and so this also shows the gift of wisdom and empathy, and the learning of the cycles of the land, a body, a relationship, and life itself. It’s a beautiful gift of coming into self, and into others, and learning of how to nurture and grow the soul of the relationship.
K E T U
On a practical level, it is actually recommended that the native gets a few different bank accounts, so that wealth and money grow more. And of course, Ketu is about spirituality, so spiritual life will become more important. For example, rather than taking beach vacations, you may become more drawn towards retreats, spiritual trips and places, or far away distant lands, where there is a sense of “detachment”. This is because you will begin to walk the inner lands more closely, and perhaps even come into some remembering from past lives. For example, you go to some city where you’ve never been and yet you feel like you’ve walked these cobblestone streets many times before. While you may still have a lot of wealth, you will just begin to see the real wealth of life and people; and the intangible and immaterial will bring you more self-fulfillment. Spiritual development is recommended as it may be soothing to you.
S U N
There will be increase in pristige, social status, authority, honour, recognition and overall wealth and prosperity. Depending on other factors, there may also arise of sense of dominance in one of the partners – for example, one needing and wanting to make all decisions. Sun is king, and wants to have that throne. There is nothing wrong with that, as long as both partners find a way of connecting that is pleasing and fulfilling mutually. So if you find that either one of you begins to be a bit more dominant, a simple remedy is: gold. The solar energy needs this beautiful colour, and especially as jewellery, it will soothe and balance it out. On a more spiritual and emotional level of manifestation, this is about coming into your authenticty and integrity of heart and higher values. You learn how to build a kingdom, within and without, based on compassion, honesty and integrity; and that true power is sometimes the ability to do nothing. A true king knows how to discern and shine the real light – from which all others will feel inspired and have the freedom of space to feel and be their true selves also. The Sun is the fire that burns all that desires to be known, so that it comes in its full self-realization and to be more conscious; as the fire burns the wood, we become more aware and rise in our unique aroma to come into our true essence. And when connected to Venus, we rise through this love, and through letting it burn away all layers of ourselves that are no longer needed. Essentially, love itself is a devotional pathway towards self-realization.
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