Planets
Venus
Personal planet · rules Taurus and Libra · love, value and beauty
Venus is the brighter of the two inner planets and the gentler of the personal bodies — the evening and morning star, never far from the Sun. It signifies attraction in every sense: love and desire, beauty and pleasure, value and worth, and the harmony that draws separate things into accord. It rules what we are drawn to and what we hold dear.
The planet of love, value and harmony
Venus is the principle of attraction — the force that reaches toward another and seeks union, ease and delight. It governs love and affection, beauty and art, pleasure and comfort, and the sense of value by which we prize one thing above another, whether a person, an object or a way of life. Where Mars wants, Venus loves; where Mars takes, Venus draws.
In a chart Venus describes the manner of relating and the nature of the tastes — how affection is given and received, what is found beautiful, and what a person treats as worth having. It is the measure of one's capacity for harmony, both with others and within.
Ruler of Taurus and Libra, exalted in Pisces
Venus rules two signs that express its double nature. In Taurus it is the planet of the senses and of possession — touch, comfort, stability, the enjoyment of what endures; in Libra it is the planet of relationship and proportion — balance, fairness, courtesy, the pleasure of another's company. It is exalted in Pisces, where love is raised to its most selfless and boundless, compassion without condition.
By the dignities this places Venus in detriment in Aries and Scorpio, the signs of raw desire ruled by its opposite Mars, where wanting overruns loving; and in fall in Virgo, where the critical eye is slow to be pleased and holds affection to account. Venus is strongest, in short, where it can appreciate freely, and least at ease where it must want fiercely or judge finely.
By sign, house, aspect and cycle
Venus, like Mercury, stays close to the Sun and is never more than two signs away from it. Its sign describes the style of love and the cast of the tastes; the house it occupies shows where pleasure, affection and value are chiefly sought; its aspects reveal how the capacity for harmony meets the will, the mind and the drives.
About every eighteen months Venus turns retrograde for some six weeks, a rarer and more marked season than Mercury's, traditionally a time for reconsidering attachments and worth rather than forming new ones. Its slow, luminous alternation between morning and evening star has been watched since antiquity. The Venus sign sketches the heart's inclination; the house, aspects and condition finish the portrait, which a full chart alone can supply.
Body, metal and correspondences
Medical astrology links Venus, through its two signs, to the throat (with Taurus) and the kidneys and venous system (with Libra) — the organs of balance and of what the body finds sweet. Its metal is copper, warm and conductive, the metal of Venus since antiquity, and the nutrients traditionally associated with it include niacin, vitamin E and copper itself. Its stones are green and serene: emerald, malachite, amazonite, sapphire and agate.
In Ernst Wilhelm's Vedic Bach-flower scheme — a tradition separate from the sign-based Bach mapping, not a correction of it — Venus's remedy is Walnut, whose theme is protection from outside influence and the steadiness to follow one's own path through change. Astrolabe surfaces these correspondences for a chart's Venus, offered for reflection and as historical medical-astrology, not as medical advice.
The lesser benefic, and the two faces of desire
Venus is the nocturnal benefic, the gentler of the two 'fortunate' planets of traditional astrology, and works most easily in a night chart. Classical practice called Venus and Jupiter the benefics for the ease and pleasure they tend to bring, though a serious reading resists so flat a verdict: Venus can also indulge, appease or evade.
Among the personal planets Venus forms a natural pair with Mars, the two halves of desire — attraction and pursuit, the wish to be near and the will to seize. The relationship between them in a chart, more than either alone, describes how a person loves and wants. Read together they set the emotional temperature of the temperament.
Common questions about Venus
What does Venus mean in a birth chart?
Venus describes how you love, relate and find pleasure, and what you value and consider beautiful. Its sign shapes your tastes and your style of affection; its house shows where you seek harmony and enjoyment; its aspects show how easily that capacity works with the rest of your nature. A full chart shows all three.
What does Venus rule in astrology?
Venus rules Taurus and Libra and is exalted in Pisces. It signifies love, attraction, beauty, value and harmony. In traditional medical astrology it is linked through its signs to the throat and the kidneys, and its metal is copper.
How often is Venus retrograde?
Venus turns retrograde roughly every eighteen months, for about six weeks at a time — far less often than Mercury. Astrologers treat it as a period for reconsidering relationships, values and finances rather than beginning them. Whether Venus was retrograde at your birth is shown by a full calculation.
How you love, what you enjoy, and what you find beautiful.
Venus is the brighter of the two inner planets and the gentler of the personal planets — the evening and morning star, never far from the Sun. It stands for attraction of every kind: love and desire, beauty and pleasure, and what you value and hold dear. It shows what you are drawn to and what feels precious to you.
The planet of love and value
Venus is the planet of attraction — the pull toward another person or thing, the wish for closeness, ease, and enjoyment. It rules love and affection, beauty and art, comfort and pleasure, and your sense of value: what you treasure above everything else. Where Mars (the planet of drive) simply wants and grabs, Venus loves and draws things near.
In your chart Venus shows how you relate and what you like — how you give and take affection, what you find beautiful, and what you treat as worth having. It measures your capacity for harmony, both with other people and inside yourself.
What Venus rules
Venus rules two signs that show its two sides (it is the planet in charge of both). In Taurus it is the planet of the senses — touch, comfort, and steady enjoyment of what lasts. In Libra it is the planet of relationships — balance, fairness, and the pleasure of good company. It is exalted in Pisces — a sign where a planet is honored and works especially well — where love becomes gentle and boundless.
The harder spots are the opposite ones: Aries and Scorpio (its detriment, the signs ruled by its opposite Mars), where raw wanting overruns loving, and Virgo (its fall), where a picky eye is slow to be pleased. Venus is happiest where it can simply appreciate, and least at ease where it must want fiercely or judge closely.
By sign, house, aspect, and cycle
Venus, like Mercury, stays close to the Sun and is never more than two signs from it. Its sign describes your style of love and your tastes. The house it is in (one of twelve life areas) shows where you most look for pleasure and affection. Its aspects (the angles it makes to other planets) show how your knack for harmony meets your will, mind, and drives.
About every eighteen months Venus turns retrograde (it looks like it is moving backwards from Earth) for around six weeks — rarer than Mercury, and traditionally a time to rethink relationships and values rather than start new ones. Its sign gives the outline of your heart's leanings; the house, aspects, and condition finish the picture, which only a full chart can give.
The gentle 'good' planet
Venus is the night-time benefic — the gentler of the two lucky planets old astrology called the benefics (Venus and Jupiter), the ones thought to bring ease and pleasure. It works most smoothly for someone born at night. A careful reading does not take the 'good' label too far, though: Venus can also spoil, smooth over, or avoid.
Among the personal planets Venus naturally pairs with Mars — the two halves of desire. Venus is the wish to be near; Mars is the will to go and get. How the two get along in your chart says more about how you love and want than either one alone.
Common questions about Venus
What does Venus mean in a birth chart?
Venus shows how you love, relate, and enjoy life, and what you value and find beautiful. Its sign shapes your tastes and your style of affection, its house shows where you look for pleasure and harmony, and its aspects show how easily that works with the rest of you. A full chart shows all three.
What does Venus rule?
Venus rules Taurus and Libra and works especially well in Pisces. It stands for love, attraction, beauty, value, and harmony. In old medical astrology it was tied to the throat and the kidneys, and its metal is copper.
How often is Venus retrograde?
About every eighteen months, for roughly six weeks at a time — far less often than Mercury. Astrologers treat it as a time to rethink relationships, values, and money rather than begin them. A full chart shows whether Venus was retrograde when you were born.