Dear Aphrodite, Often in the past, I have lost touch with my connection to you and my connection to ease, beauty and pleasure. When this happens, my spark and interest in life dims. How do I keep this connection vibrant and pulsating like the flame in the candle? Love, Taurus Beauty
Dear Taurus Beauty, What a wonderful question! I have pondered this myself. Firstly, because we are not static beings, I believe it is natural to move in and out of connection with ease, beauty, romance, creativity, sensuality and pleasure: We experience moods, cycles, impulses throwing us into a relatively constant state of imbalance. Venus is a dynamic force for creating equilibrium, one we can call on when we’ve swung too far from center. For instance, we are uninspired; we visit a beautiful and uplifting cathedral. We feel un-sexy; we take a yoga class and mentally stroke our body with positive messages. Jean Shinoda Bolen, in her book Goddesses in Every Woman, alludes to this need for the Aphrodite in us to return to homeostasis by doing something like “jumping in a hot creek on a cool day.”
I underscored “doing something”: Venus is an active planet, not a passive one. In myth, she was constantly taking action by going after who and what she loved, pursuing the arts of pleasure with voracity, enthusiasm, appetite, and often, great courage. Yet I’ve noticed the tendency of fans of astrology to think all things Venus (pleasure, love, inspiration, romance…) will just happen, with minimal effort on their part- probably reflecting our culture’s relationship to Venus’ shadowy, passive side. In extreme, it’s as if we’re continually waiting for a celestial package to arrive in the mail with our name on it. That’s not keeping in the spirit of Venus.
Venus, the Goddess of 50/50, is a planet we need to learn to meet halfway.
If we’re overheated, we jump in a cool creek. If we’re tired, we rest. If we’re displeased, we need to find our pleasure. If we want her, in us, to resemble something more than a cliché from old astrology textbooks, we need to teach ourselves to read between the lines, to imagine our self into Her. Our Venus needs co-participation and cooperation, from our inner life and our imagination.
Knowing our Venus sign is a good place to start. Your Venus is in Taurus, her home sign. You are a true daughter of the Goddess Aphrodite, in her earthy aspect. Your Venus is fulfilled through sensual pleasures and delights in nature, both animal and human. As I say in my book, Venus Signs, for your sign, “Cultivating a calm, easygoing lifestyle with plenty of sensory diversions, as well as interactions with nature and animals is vital to keeping that peaceful, easy feeling on tap.” Yet the shadow of Taurus is complacency, so when life becomes too tame or comfortable you’ll need to shake things up once in awhile, to mobilize your Venus into dynamically readjusting your relationship to balance, pleasure, joy and ease. See how elegant Venus is?
