Venus is both the goddess of love and one primary indicator of
relationships in an astrology chart. Do you wonder if your Venus is in a
good sign—or secretly fear that it’s in the worst? Traditional astrology
has a system for rating the condition of planets in various zodiac signs.
Exaltation is the sign where a planet is supposedly at its best, and
detriment is a sign where the planet is ill at ease. A planet is in
detriment in the sign opposite the one it rules—since Venus rules Libra
and supposedly rules Taurus, then Venus is in detriment in both Aries and
Scorpio.A planet is in its fall in the sign where it is supposedly at its
weakest or worst—the sign opposite the one where it is exalted. Venus is
in exaltation in Pisces, in fall in Virgo, and in detriment in Scorpio
and Aries. While thinking about love relationships, which Venus describes
in our charts, I got a flash of a couple slow dancing and could
immediately see why Venus is exalted in Pisces, the sign of the dance. An
intimate relationship such as marriage should be like a dance. One
partner leads, but only nominally rather than in the sense of
controlling. Each partner is keenly sensitive to the moves of the other
and takes reciprocal action. There is flow, ease, rhythm, and grace to
the relatedness. Each knows when to go backwards or yield, in what my
early mentor Rod Chase called the strategic retreat of Pisces. However,
this image is based on a rather old-fashioned idea. Both intimacy and
dance have changed since the days of ballroom dancing. In modern dancing,
partners do not lean on each other, and neither leads. Both improvise and
"do their own thing" and may or may not reflect their partner's motions,
depending on how it suits them. There is freedom, equality, spontaneity,
individuality, and creative self-expres¬sion in this type of dance—and in
the kind of partnerships our society is now fostering. However, Venus
(and Libra, which it rules) is concerned with balance. If two dancing
partners or two people in a relationship become too involved in their own
concerns, they can lose contact and head in totally different directions
(as happens in so many relationships these days). So, the key again is to
find the right balance between contact and self-expression.Venus is in
fall in Virgo, and many unappealing qualities have been attributed to
Venus in that sign. The sixth house of the birth chart, which Virgo is
related to, provides an image to understand why. The sixth house rules
servants, among other things, and if you are a servant to your loved one
or if your loved one is a servant to you, there is no equality in the
relationship and it suffers. Virgo has also been associated with virginal
chastity and even of prudishness, though in practice, Virgos can be very
sensual once their standards are met. Venus is in detriment in both
Scorpio and Aries, again because the crucial factor of equality can
easily be missing from such love relation¬ships. An idea about the nature
of Venus in Scorpio can be discovered in the traditional marriage
ceremony. Marriage is supposedly related to Libra or the 7th house, but
traditional marriage vows are extremely colored by Scorpio or the eighth
house. The promise—which many modern couples omit from the marriage
ceremony— "to have and to hold, in sickness and health, for richer or
poorer, until death do us part," is much like the 8th house. In this
view, the partner is regarded as property to be owned—and the laws of our
society are still not completely free of the ancient concept that the
wife cannot own and control her own property or her own life. If the
loved one is owned and possessed, there is no equality, and Venus is in
detriment. In our individualistic age, many people are rejecting the old
marriage vows and their implications and instead making up their own. As
for Venus in Aries, there's also no equality when relatedness is
something done to or done for the other person, in the sense of
dominating or intruding on the right of free choice or freedom to grow.
Venus would indeed be in detriment in action-oriented Aries if it is a
doing to kind of relatedness. This approach can be detrimental if the
individual with this placement becomes so wrapped up in doing things that
there is seldom a pause to be receptive to other people.However, each
planet in each sign has its positive and its negative expressions. For
example, many humanitarians have Venus in Virgo—the love of service—and
many healers have Venus in Scorpio—the healing power of love. Rather than
criticizing or praising any planet in any particular sign, put each
planet and each aspect in your chart to work in its most positive form.
Astrology is not meant to be used to judge and con¬demn, but to uplift
and enlighten. Would you like an in-depth interpretation of your own
Venus and what it says about your relationships? A session with an
experienced professional astrologer can produce many new insights. Note:
This is an excerpt from Donna Cunningham’s ebook, Outer Planet Aspects to
Venus and Mars: The Outer Planets and Inner Life, Volume 2, available at
http://www.moonmavenpublications.com/astrologybooks.html. It appears here
with permission of the author.
http://goarticles.com/article/The-Best-and-the-Worst-Signs-for-
Venus/1673397/