Keywords: Value, attraction, aesthetics, relationships, money, pleasure
- Rules
- Taurus and Libra
- Full cycle
- About 1 year (never more than 48 degrees from the Sun)
- Retrograde
- Every 18 months, about 6 weeks
Dignities: Exalted in Pisces, in fall in Virgo, in detriment in Scorpio and Aries.
Venus describes what is held to be valuable. Relationship style is its most visible part but not the only one: your relationship with money, your aesthetic taste, the way you take pleasure and how much you value yourself all come under Venus too.
In traditional astrology Venus is the "lesser benefic" (fortuna minor) and the softening element of the chart. Where it sits is the area of life that asks the least effort and gives the most enjoyment.
Venus is also tied to the Sun: it moves no more than 48 degrees away, so it can reach at most two signs on either side of the Sun sign.
Venus retrograde is rare and is read as a period for reviewing questions of relationships and values. The five-pointed pattern Venus traces across the sky every eight years also creates a cyclical repetition: where Venus stood eight years ago is very close to where it stands today.
In the houses
House placement: the area where pleasure, attraction and the creation of value come together.