VENUS is the
planet of refined taste. It is the planet governing the
soul, as apart from or opposed to the senses. Mars being
the representative of the animal soul in man and Venus of
the human soul, Mercury the ' winged messenger of the
gods' flies between the two as ' MEMORY ' and is thus the
spiritual human soul.
Venus cannot act directly upon the physical plane until
the reign of Mars is over and the passions have changed
their blood-red hue to the pure crimson of purified
emotion, which finally fades into that delicate rose-pink
which is the colour of the highest emotion of the
spiritual Nature.
We thus see why Venus is ' benefic' and Mars ' malefic,'
the one having affinity with earth only and the other with
heaven. Yet they are but the two poles, as it were, of the
one Great Centre of Bliss; Mars working through form and
finding its expression only through form in 'existence,'
and Venus finding expression through life as 'being.'
All things that are sweet and pleasant come under the rule
of Venus, and all gifts that come without effort or labour
flow from the influence of this planet; for it represents,
so to speak, the cream of past affections and the best
attractions, and brings the fruition of past strivings. It
governs all things that are lovely, ideal and excellent,
and causes those charming and lovable dispositions which
please without any effort to do so. Everything that is
complete, symmetrical, harmonious, graceful and beautiful
belongs to the domain of Venus, as the fruit of each
personal effort in the past to gain perfection.
The refinement and delicacy of the elysian planet is the
outcome of that which began in sensibility and sentiment,
being formed by the nourishing and preserving and
sustaining power which has its genesis in that immortal
spark or divine fragment which Venus watches over and
protects throughout ' the long pilgrimage of the
soul,"—from its birth in time, ages ago, to its final
self-conscious realisation of its living unity with the
One Supreme Being. From start to finish it shows forth all
the latent harmlessness and true innocence which is the
permanent possession of every soul, for its essence is
harmony and perfect bliss.
VENUS is the Aphrodite of the Greeks; also called Lucifer
when a morning star, and Hesperus when an evening star;
and represented under various names in various
mythologies. Shukra and Ushanas in Hindu astrological
writings; Lakshmi, Freya, Astarte, etc. The Greek myth
runs that when Saturn mutilated his father Uranus, Venus
sprang up out of the foam (aphros) of the sea into which
the mutilated part had been thrown. In India Lakshmi was
the wife of Vishnu and was born of the churning of the
ocean by the gods. By the Greeks Venus was often styled
Uranian; but other parentages were sometimes ascribed to
her; thus Homer gives her Jupiter as a father, and
Empedocles gives Saturn. Although generally referred to as
female, Venus was not always so; thus Ushanas, the guru
(instructor) of the Daityas, or giants, was a male deity;
and statues of the bearded Venus have been found.
Astrologically, the planet is looked upon as a benefic, in
this respect being second only to Jupiter ; it is
temperately mild and moist. Exoteri-cally it is regarded
as the planet of the love emotion, marriage, friendship,
pleasure, etc.; but esoterically and occultly a remarkable
and unique position is given to it in human evolution, a
position which has by no means as yet been fully
explained, or reconciled with the characteristics
exoterically attributed to it. It was under the influence
of highly evolved Beings from the planet Venus that
humanity, long ages ago, first developed intellectual
self-consciousness; that is, passed from the ' superior
animal' to the ' definitely human' stage. Evolution on
Venus is stated to be enormously further advanced than on
this earth ; and the influence of the Beings who came here
was of a fostering and nurturing nature, and greatly
hastened human evolution. To this day the evolutionary
passage of the soul or ' monad' from the animal to the
human stage takes place under the influence of unselfish
love and devotion. This descent of the 'Lords of the
Flame,' as the Beings who came from Venus are called, is
what is referred to under the story of Ushanas teaching
the giants, or primitive humanity. And the Greek myth of
Venus being born from the sea indicates the evolution of
the human soul out of the astral ' sea' or passional
animal nature. Saturn, the mutilator, stands for the
separative influence acting on the mental plane; Uranus,
the mutilated, is perhaps the super-conscious soul; Venus
is the resultant human soul.
Zodiacally, Libra represents this human soul, considered
apart from incarnation; and in Taurus we seem to have the
rebellious giants, or the same soul in incarnation. It is
symbolically stated that formerly there were only ten
signs of the zodiac, Libra being absent and Virgo-Scorpio
being one. This is only another way of describing the same
evolution of the soul. Virgo-Scorpio stands for the
undifferentiated non-humanised soul; then the separative
influence comes into play (Saturn is exalted in Libra) and
Libra is differentiated out as the definitely human soul.
The exaltation of Venus in the sign Pisces is another
interesting species of symbolism. 'Water' stands for the
next interior plane of being to the physical, the
so-called astral or psychic; and a ' fish' symbolises a
being belonging to that plane. Venus in Pisces therefore
signifies the unfolding and awakening of astral
consciousness in a human being; the first small step on
the long path that leads to real occult initiation.
Berosus tells us that ancient humanity was civilised by
Oannes, a man-fish, who during the day-time gave
instruction in every kind of art and science. ' He
instructed them in everything which could tend to soften
manners and humanise mankind. From that time, so universal
were his instructions, nothing material has been added by
way of improvement. When the Sun set it was the custom of
this Being to plunge again into the sea, and abide all
night in the deep; for he was amphibious' (Cory's Ancient
Fragments). The man-fish symbolises an initiate in
incarnation, one of the many who have taught men in
different ages. The fish was a symbol much used by the
early Christians; and the bishop's mitre is to this day a
modified representation of a fish's head, although the
symbolism is now a mere empty form so far as the bishop is
concerned.
The Sun, Mercury, and Venus are types of the trinity. The
Sun stands for the all-creating, sustaining, and universal
First Aspect of the One Life. Mercury represents the
all-permeating, blending, and understanding Second Aspect,
Venus, the life-giving, energising, and cyclically-moving
Third Aspect. At the creation of a cosmos (whether one
world or a solar system), undifferentiated matter is first
of all drawn in from outside and God, acting as the Third
Person of the Trinity, starts it on its long path of
differentiation by infusing it with His own life and
consciousness ; He determines on each plane the mode of
vibration of the atomic life of that plane; and He brings
order out of disorder, cosmos out of chaos. This is
typified by Venus, the benefic life-giver, the planet of
cyclic motion (whether expressed outwardly as atomic
vibration, or in consciousness as song, music, rhythm,
etc.), and the producer of harmony.
In trying to define the inner nature of any planet, we are
really endeavouring to grasp the fundamental principles
underlying the whole universe. The mind can only
understand so much of external objects as it finds
reflected within itself; and anything not so reflected, or
only half reflected, will be either wholly or partially
misunderstood. The humanity of to-day is imperfect; its
evolution is not finished; and therefore the cosmic
principles, reflected in an imperfect mirror, appear
distorted and only half-intelligible. The planet Venus, in
particular, has suffered from this imperfect
comprehension; and its lowest reference to sex in the
physical body, and that as lust rather than as love, has
often been mistaken for its fullest and most radical
signification. At its best, the planet is as high above
this as the heavens are above the earth; and it is
scarcely going too far to say that the man of to-day does
not and cannot understand it.
As the producer of orderly harmonious motion, Venus may
symbolise that Creative Word or sound which brought the
universe into being. Its creative power is seen in man in
the three departments of his nature; physical creation, or
generation, being only one of the three. Everywhere it
produces order out of disorder, harmony out of discord;
whether in action, feeling, or intellect. As the planet of
love, it gives but does not take. That which takes is
desire, and is binding and productive of pain and death.
That which gives is love, which is therefore free and not
bound, and results in expansion, increase, 'moreness,'
life, and joy.
The highest creative power of Venus is that called in
occultism Kriyashakti. This is spiritual creation on the
mental plane. It is defined as 'The mysterious power of
thought which enables it to produce external, perceptible,
phenomenal results by its own inherent energy.' Reference
has already been made to the highly developed Beings who
came from the planet Venus to guide and teach the infant
humanity of this earth. This was before the evolution of
the sexes, and therefore before the establishment of
physical procreation. The bodies in which they took up
their abode they themselves created by this power of
Kriyashakti, and they became the spiritual ancestors of
all subsequent adepts. Even in the ordinary humanity of
the present day, the power by which the individuality or
permanent soul radiates forth its own duplicate to act as
its personality during one incarnation, seems to be this
very power of Kriyashakti in a comparatively undeveloped
condition. This is apparently one of the reasons why Venus
is given by occultists as the planetary correspondence of
the Higher Manas or creative mind.
Let us now turn to the more detailed significations of
Venus in the horoscope.
Among occupations it signifies all those that are
productive of beauty, whether in form, colour, sound, or
outline; all ornamentation, whether in dress, jewellery,
pictures, sculpture, or motion. It therefore indicates all
who deal in flowers, perfumery, confectionery, drapery,
millinery, music, dancing, etc.; as well as all that side
of domestic life that conduces to beauty, order, and
harmony in the home. If Mercury gives speech, it needs the
assistance of Venus to give beauty in speech, i.e.,
oratory; and Venus is therefore essential for poets,
musicians, singers, actors, artists, etc. It rules toys,
fancy goods, articles of the toilet, and everything giving
pleasure, increasing happiness, whether inwardly in the
feelings or outwardly in personal appearance. Those who
have Venus rising or culminating, or in conjunction with
the ruler of the ascendant, have generally some claim to
beauty of person; but the mere fact of Taurus or Libra
rising is not in itself sufficient to produce this effect.
Venus natives are often short in stature, especially
women, although this is by no means always the case; they
are generally of good complexion and skin, dark-haired,
well-nourished, inclining to plumpness and rounded
contours, but not, normally, to excessive stoutness. They
are usually popular, agreeable, friendly, amiable,
sociable, domesticated, fond of family, children, and
pets; fond of articles of beauty, pleasure, and luxury,
and all occupations yielding these. They are usually tidy
and orderly, but may be quite the reverse if the planet is
much afflicted. Like the natives of Jupiter they often
seem to succeed quite as much by luck as by merit; for a
friendly and aggreeable manner will often make a way in
the world where strength or intellect alone would fail.
The influence of Venus upon health is good normally as it
is vitalising and nourishing; although it does not usually
give that positiveness of vitality and tenacity of life
that is characteristic of some of the planets. The period
of life signified by it is youth in general and the
marriageable period in particular. Its influence upon
money matters is also good, especially if in good aspect
to Saturn or the Moon. It may then give considerable
success in business, money, property, possessions; but if
in bad aspect to the money rulers, there is waste through
things signified by Venus and by the afflicting planet.
Like Jupiter and the Sun, Venus may sometimes give some
tendency to ostentation, fashion, pomp, and show ; and
this not in worldly matters only, but mentally also, in
exotericism generally.
With the world of feeling and emotion Venus has, of
course, very close associations. Love and marriage are
pre-eminently under its rule, but it also expresses itself
through friendship, domesticity, parental love,
benevolence, philanthrophy, charity, brotherly love,
humanity, fellow-feeling and human sympathy in general. In
all its spheres of action it stands for expansion,
fruitfulness, renewal, creative energy; whether physically
in the growth and multiplication of plant, animal, and
man, or in its more mental modes of working as emotional
life and intellectual fertility. As previously stated, it
is the origin of the sense of beauty and harmony in
poetry, music, painting, the love of nature, etc.,
although here feeling and intellect are blended. And in
every case the native of the creative Venus .takes
pleasure in his art; the poet in his intellectual
creations, the orator in his mode of expression, the
musician in his creation of sound, the lover in the object
of his love, whether it show as reverence, benevolence, or
love pure and simple.
In the intellectual world Venus does not seem to act as
logical reasoning or the ratiocinative faculty, but it has
a very important influence upon the higher mind,
nevertheless. It is an essental factor in most i not in
all the higher forms of genius; and, as previously stated,
it gives mental fertility, plasticity, receptivity and
creative power. Through its sign Taurus it is certainly
associated with mathematical ability, probably through the
power already hinted at of partially objectifying mental
concepts, whereby in such a case numbers or mathematical
relationships assume the form of definite and tangible
entities to the mind gifted with that particular faculty;
so that with little or no calculating the result of
arithmetical or algebraical operations appears to that
mind as an inevitable consequence of the factors
given—much as a 'logical consequence' appeals to the
argumentative type of mind.
It may now be as well to devote a few words to Mars and
Venus in their reciprocal relationship as polar opposites.
MARS, as the planet which stimulates, acting as the
'desire elemental' causes impulsive and hasty attachments,
which often lead to an imprudent marriage, entered into
before sufficient time has elapsed to distinguish between
love and what may be termed selfish desire. In nine cases
out of ten, unions resulting from a Martial influence are
purely impulsive, produced by sheer fascination or
abandonment to peculiar ' swirls' of feeling and emotion,
corresponding to a dancer's ecstasies.
To females the influence of Mars is inimical so far as
marriage is concerned, great care being necessary to avoid
such hasty and ill-considered unions as have just been
described, when Mars is the prominent planet. Sex is the
dominant note of Mars, from the first impulse of sex
desire to that attraction which results from ' magnetism,'
which may be either physical, psychic or mental. In the
rank and file of women Mars by its position and aspects in
the horoscope will denote the nature of the man to whom
the native is drawn, and this type of man will always be
able to exercise a certain amount of influence over her,
according to the strength of Mars in his own nativity.
Females in whom the martial element is stronger than any
other influence either owing to the majority of planets
being in martial signs, or by the prominence of Mars at
birth, are drawn towards doctors and medical men
generally, if not attracted to military or very passionate
men.
Mars is the general representative of the male sex in all
female nativities, while Venus similarly represents the
female sex in a male nativity. Thus, for instance, a well-aspected
Mars in a female (and similarly Venus in a male) indicates
that the native will get on well with, and benefit by, the
opposite sex generally; and conversely when either planet
is afflicted.
MARS as a death ruler in nativities is the Destroying
Angel, separating the various vehicles—physical, etheric
and astral—when the life forces depart from the body at
what is termed death.
First the etheric or lunar body is separated from the
physical, and the life remains in the lunar body for a
short time; then the life is withdrawn from this lunar
body into the astral body ; and so on, until the mental
body is reached, when Mars no longer reigns, giving over
his rulership to Saturn. Mars is the symbol of animal
life, and causes also the separation of that animal life
from the human, until the animal is saved alive: i.e.
until the martial influence is transmuted into that of
Venus, its counterpart in heaven.
Mars as a ruler of finance gives to the desires of the
lower nature the impulse and energy to acquire wealth, and
hence governs all enterprise and activity of a. commercial
or business nature, and it also gives a generous and
liberal—or rather prodigal—nature, the desires either
taking or giving according to the fancy or impulse of the
hour, and the liberality being of an unreliable character,
fitful and uncertain in its manifestation.
Mars is ' the counterfeit of the spirit'; the ' Wrath of
God'; that which is necessary to cause motion and
activity—in a word, 'the desires of the flesh and of the
world.' Mars can save itself when in difficult situations
by its own inherent quality, that of sudden conversion,
quick change from one state to another, impulse on the one
hand and attractive influence on the other, Mars governing
the lower astral world, the world of personal feeling and
emotion. The behaviour of the true coquette furnishes an
illustration of this principle, for it is only by sudden
changes of manner and mood that she is able to extricate
herself from the difficult position her love of conquest
leads her into.
The only true and real salvation of Mars, however, is by '
transmutation'; when Mars loves it is redeemed and saved.
But it must be the true Venus love of pure and unalloyed
friendship and affection, in which sex distinctions have
disappeared and the Self within is loved for the Self s
sake only; such a love as is spoken of by the Teacher who
said ' Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay
down his life for his friend.' The life that is to be laid
down is the animal, passional, sex life, the force of Mars
being then directed to other channels and used for
aspiration and to serve the world through the true quality
of Mars, which is strength.
Mars governs the lower regions of the astral world, and
Venus the higher; the hell, and the heaven, of the
orthodox religions; and Venus and Mars are thus in a
certain sense, complements of each other.
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