Venus, like its namesake goddess, is the planet of love, value and personal attachments. While Venus rules the signs of Taurus and Libra, everyone has the presence of the planet in their birth chart. The placement of Venus determines who and what we attract and how we experience love and gratification. Venus is sensual, but not explicitly sexual. Its energy is more closely related to Mars, planet of aggression, momentum and getting it on. To find your Venus placement, use a birth chart-generating website like astro-charts.com. For a full birth chart analysis, complete with planetary placements and cosmic counseling, contact me at reda.wigle@gmail.com.
Venus in Aries: The thrill of the hunt is the modality of this Venus placement. Impulsive, impatient and charming, you fall in and out of love with equal intensity. Patience must be practiced to deepen or maintain the fiery bonds you forge. You would rather hear “I dare you” than “I love you.”
Fear: Boredom, rationality
Love: Adrenaline, barroom brawls
Ideal First Date: Getting tandem arrested for arson or petty theft. Nothing spells romance like matching mug shots.
Venus in Taurus: Venus is at home and in full sloth in this earth sign. Loyal and affectionate, Taurus prefers the long haul over a quick fling. Unfortunately, the desire for comfort often comes at the expense of necessary change. You’re likely to stay in a dysfunctional relationship because dating means getting dressed, but it also means snacks.
Fear: Bad lighting, poor manners
Love: Luxury items, foot massages
Ideal First Date: Eating a home-cooked meal in an expensive robe and not doing the dishes.
Venus in Gemini: Conversation is foreplay and variety the name of every game you play. Constant flirtation combined with a need for new stimulation may prove detrimental to lasting love bonds. Put a patch over your wandering eye, stop texting your ex, and remember that chasing the shiny thing often prevents you from recognizing the valuable thing.
Fear: Awkward silences, emotional accountability
Love: Witty banter, charming grifters
Ideal First Date: A drinking game involving Rorschach inkblots. Also, don’t call it a date.
Venus in Cancer: You exhibit love through ritual caretaking. The danger is that it can quickly develop into codependency and the desire to keep your partner in a position of needing you. Your quest is to find an equal; someone capable of both receiving and returning your nurturing. Also, stop wearing your ex’s sweatshirt.
Fear: Abandonment, sudden movements
Love: Fatalism, the silent treatment
Ideal First Date: Suitor swears a blood oath to never leave you
Venus in Leo: Love is a stage and every moment a scene for those with Venus in Leo. You are fearless, physical, possessive and prone to dramatics. Danger arises from choosing people who only flatter you or further your ambitions. Remember to treat your partner as your co-star, not your audience. Presence is more important than performance.
Fear: Neutrality, unflattering engagement photos
Love: Lingerie made from flammable materials, grand gestures
Ideal First Date: Suitor watches you masturbate, applauds
Venus in Virgo: Constructive criticism and acts of service are your love languages. You want to feel useful in relationships and appreciated for your effort and suggestions. Seeing the potential for perfection in all things, you tend to treat people as projects. Back away slowly from wounded birds and tortured artist types.
Fear: Public displays of affection, unmade beds
Love: Symmetry, mid-century modern furniture
Ideal First Date: Suitor earnestly whispers, “You’re right; you’re so right.”
Venus in Libra: Venus is at home in the sign of Libra for whom love is a series of acrobatics, not in an exclusively carnal sense, but that, too. You accommodate others to the point of sacrificing your own needs and well-being. Voted most likely to give an ex a kidney, you dispense invaluable relationship advice, but refuse to put it into practice.
Fear: Bad grammar, fighting in public
Love: Expensive fabrics, passive aggressive sighing
Ideal First Date: A bar with good lighting and strangers to speculate about
Venus in Scorpio: Not for the faint of heart, Venus in Scorpio is capable of great intimacy and/or terrible travesty. You’re an excellent listener with a knack for unflinching eye contact. Your (very present) shadow side is suspicious, obsessive and controlling. Your intensity is seductive to some and stifling to others — adjust devotion accordingly.
Fear: Being outsmarted, white chocolate
Love: Hair dolls, secrets, couple tattoos
Ideal First Date: Trauma bonding
Venus in Sagittarius: Here for a good time, not for a long time, you are infectious and warm but struggle with monogamy as a concept and practice. You place people on unsteady pedestals and never let the truth stand in the way of a story. Your ideal partner is equal parts free spirit and corroborating witness.
Fear: Commitment, sensible cars
Love: Sex in public, bonfires
Ideal First Date: Impromptu road trip.
Venus in Capricorn: Strategic when it comes to relationships, you view people as partners in, or opportunities for, empire expansion. This can make you seem bloodless, but what you lack in poetics you make up for in practical devotion. Your focus on acquisition and security may come at the expense of true and transformative connection. Remember, the absence of love is the greatest poverty of all.
Fear: spontaneity, carnations
Love: Tax breaks, staying together for the kids
Ideal First Date: Real estate tour
Venus in Aquarius: Dangerously optimistic, these folks are starry eyed and fancy free. The banner word here is ‘yes.’ Attracted to anything and everything, your boundaries are more loosely woven fishing net than hard line. Governed by air, you are at best breezy and mutable and at worst emotionally detached. Open your heart as broadly as you open your mind.
Fear: Vanilla, normies
Love: Carnivals, Neil deGrasse Tyson
Ideal First Date: Discussing kinks and astral projection in a tree house
Venus in Pisces: Intuitive and dreamy, you seek transcendence through love relationships. Intent on intensity, you often go all-in too soon, deluding yourself that the object of your attraction is perfect, and perfect for you. When your fantasy is undermined, or your lover is revealed to be an actual, flawed human, your shadow response is attack and escape. If you don’t go deep, you’ll never go far.
Fear: Reality, low stakes
Love: French braids, the term “twin flame”
Ideal First Date: MDMA-fueled sound bath
