Venus: The Darker Angel of Our Nature

[I Have A Dream]

This is a second article by Dana Gerhardt on Venus. Her first article is at the link below:

http://www.astro.com/astrologie/in_venus_n.htm




The Darker Angel of Our Nature

Venus suggests flowing robes, laughter like music, and a sensuous ease with life. She's feminine receptivity, beauty and grace, unless you're talking to an astrologer, for whom Venus the planet is primarily a symbol of love and money. But are these associations accurate? What is our real experience of the Venus archetype? And how does this correlate with her position in our charts? This wondering inspired a two-year research project (see part one of "Venus Revisited" last issue), in which I compared Venus placements of 426 individuals against their responses to an in-depth questionnaire probing into all facets of the Venus experience-love, relationship, aesthetic tastes, creativity, finances, sex, sorrows, and happiness. In survey after survey, it was apparent that along with the harmonious, loving and sensuous Venus, there was another one, who was edgier, more conflicted, even divisive.

It is this other Venus, as in the old Flip Wilson joke, "The devil made me do it," who inspires our more questionable choices, ones that evoke pain and confusion, even as they irrevocably alter our lives. She is the darker angel of our nature, full of desire, craving excitement over peace, urging us to fling ourselves off the precipice of the status quo. If this other Venus were a romance novel heroine, her story might begin with the following paragraph (written by a 5th house Venus in Pisces):

Something indescribable has taken over her senses. With pain running deep in her heart, the warmth from the hearth is inappropriate-too warm and cozy. Outside the howling wind churns the ocean waves from a soft waltz to a passionate aggressive tango. The urge to be violently caressed by the wind overtakes her. She grabs her thickest shawl and heads for the edge of the cliff, where the wind is at full intensity. The waves are reaching for her, spraying her face with salt water. The wind tugs at her clothing and hair-in turmoil-just like her heart. Still, there is so much beauty to be seen, even now.

Astrologers don't need to search among the asteroids or at the far reaches of the solar system to locate this more tumultuous goddess. As feminine receptivity, Venus signifies our capacity to open to life. This brings delight, but also vulnerability, penetration and pain, and even that, by Venus standards can be beautiful. The goddess who craves pleasure and passion loves variety and intensity, which can be exhilarating. It's also disruptive, inspiring choices that shame or humiliate us, sending us to lovers who aren't good for us, into orgies of consumption we later regret, stimulating jealousy, inadequacy, and fear of loss. As an archetype, Venus maps our route to happiness. But she refuses to take only safe, well-lit roads. By her very nature, she keeps turning us into the dark.

(continued at link below)
http://www.astro.com/astrology/in_venus3_e.htm