What does the planet Venus signify in astrology, and why does she mean those things?

It began thousands — and I mean thousands — of years ago, as astronomers began to record the patterns of the “wandering stars”: the seven planets (including the Sun & Moon) of our solar system.

These seven celestial objects were called wandering stars because, unlike the “fixed stars,” (i.e. stars), they moved around in the sky. Not only that, but they moved in consistent, predictable cycles.

And so the ancients assigned each planet specific meanings. These meanings were rooted in what they witnessed them doing…as well as how their cycles corresponded to events happening on Earth.

What they discovered about Venus in particular is a planet with an extremely regular and balanced orbit — an orbit that, when tracing its path in the sky, creates beautiful recurring geometry often poetically called the Rose of Venus.

So they assigned this planet the associations of beauty, balance, and harmony.

Venus is also very bright much of the time, one of the brightest celestial objects we can see with the human eye. She’s visible right before the Sun rises at dawn, and after it sets in the evening, leading her to be conceptualized as the “handmaiden to the king” in the ancient world.

So they assigned her the associations of tact and diplomacy.

Venus is also the first planet out from the Sun to connect two other planets (Mercury and Earth).

She was assigned the meanings of unification and relationship.

These ancient astrologers also recorded significant events that coincided with big Venus transits, such as the marriage of a king!

(In contrast, Mars, a planet whose meanings are pretty much the opposite of Venus’s, has an irregular (even jagged) orbit, a dull red color and an atmosphere containing a lot of iron oxide (both representing blood), and can be seen orbiting independently from the Sun. Mars does not unify anything.)

And that’s where the basic topics of Venus come from!

Of course, since human existence is meaningful and complicated, these basic meanings expand through our experience of them. In our real lives, the Venusian significations of harmony, unity, and diplomacy expand to include: art & culture, beauty & aesthetics, social graces, love, sex, and pleasure, fairness and justice.

So in astrology, when we’re talking about Venus, we’re talking about the Venusian sphere.

When we’re talking about Venus, we’re talking about those themes in our lives, because we, as humans, have given those themes a face and a name, and that name is Venus.

Every single one of us is born with the planet Venus in our chart. The way Venus is represented in your birth chart — by sign and house placement — describes how we experience the Venusian sphere, in every way it can be experienced.

Venus in our charts has a lot to say about to our relationships, our personal tastes and aesthetics, our sense of social justice; how we flirt, make art, what we find valuable, attractive, and precious. How we love, how we charm, how we create or even dismantle the unity that surrounds us. What brings us happiness and pleasure.

And if the planet Venus is in charge of the entire Venusian sphere of existence — because that’s her literal job — then it makes sense that the part of us that engages in these topics is also part of the Venusian sphere. And when we engage with that part of ourselves, we engage with Venus.

She’s in there — in you — doing her thing, with or without your support.

The thing that I’ve learned is: when Venus is supported, she functions much more smoothly. I’m talking in real life. In your lived experience. Aside from the obvious fun of it, when Venus is kept well fed and happy, you’re building a psychological tool kit that you can then use to have these types of experiences more skillfully. You’ll also better understand how these themes work in and through you.

When you do that, you create an awareness of how your Venus operates — how Venus themes play out in your life…and why they play out that way.

You’re essentially energetically manipulating those forces within yourself so that you can manifest them more positively in the outside world.

Which brings us to the question of: what, or who is Venus even?

Venus is a planet; Venus is also an ancient Roman deity. They have a lot in common obviously, but they’re not necessarily one and the same.

But since so much of what this planet signifies can also be attributed to all the love goddesses of the world, across history, we can connect to them in order to connect to the Venusian sphere, especially within ourselves.

You don’t have to connect to the specific deity of Venus, either.

The ancient Mesopotamians gave her the name Inanna, or Ishtar.

The ancient Greeks called her Aphrodite.

The Egyptians called her Hathor.

Eaostre, Freja, Parvati, Astarte — these are also names given to the goddess of love, beauty, and fertility.

The planet Venus embodies all of those goddesses, and they embody Venus. You can call her by whatever name you wish. The important part is that you understand what she represents and what she rules.