"Venus in Aries"
by Cynthia Appel
First I preach to the choir. Every
planet in every sign in each house can guide a person’s life down
at least a dozen major thoroughfares of behavior. Branching from those major
thoroughfares are off-ramps of conduct or awareness that are reactions to
the life path we are on. Leading from the off-ramp we choose are innumerable
roads, avenues, lanes, etc. that we can travel on as we need. Like earthly
passages we can go in circles, move along to a dead-end, rejoin the thoroughfare
we started on, or connect to a different thoroughfare.
Neither I nor any other astrologer can tell you which thoroughfare you are
on, how you should do your placements, or when it is time to change directions.
I am telling you how I am doing my Venus in Aries at this juncture.
My Venus in Aries is in the twelfth house. Since Venus rules two houses,
the second and the seventh, it rules two signs and has two functions. The
dish on my Venus doing her Seventh House/Libra side is as follows. Layering
the meanings of the planet, sign, and then house placement of this triad
in my chart I have come up with this: Libra/Venus says-"Love me."
Add the Aries influence and it says-"You will love me, now, and I may
or may not return the favor." Put the twelfth house in the mix and
I get-"You will love me, now, in spite of, or because of, my foibles
and handicaps, and I may or may not return the favor." Just the kind
of person you were looking for, right?
Now for the Second House/Taurus side of my Venus-Taurus/Venus says "Security,
stability, comfort." Add the Aries and it says-"I will see to
my security, stability, and comfort, aggressively." Put the twelfth
house in there and get-"I will see to my security, stability, comfort,
and you victimize me if you threaten them and I will retaliate, aggressively."
Warm and fuzzy? These words have never been used when people describe me.
Even when it comes to relationships I am more accustomed to hearing words
like challenging, edgy, and interesting. Interesting is not necessarily
a complimentary term in regards to relating. It reminds me of what someone
says politely when they find chutney on their tuna sandwiches. It’s
kind of an acquired taste some people never develop.
As I age I hope to learn to do the higher side of my Aries, especially as
it relates to my Venus. When a person is demonstrating a well-developed
Aries the traits it takes on are more Libran. Someday I will be more balanced,
harmonious, and willing to share equally with my partners. Don’t rush
me, I’m working on it.
Venus in aspect is in opposition to a tight conjunction of Saturn and Neptune
in Libra in my sixth house. In the June/July issue of Mountain Astrologer
there is a fascinating, insightful article (can you tell by the adjectives
that I liked it?) by Stephen Forrest about the meaning of the sixth house.
He proposes a connection between the sixth house and the concept of mentoring.
We are each teacher or student, guru or disciple in turn. I can find the
meaning of the Saturn/Neptune conjunction in that context.
Numero uno, Venus opposite Saturn, I am way too demanding a judge and need
to learn to let the Libra ruler of the conjunction do just that-rule. I
have imposed tight boundaries on myself throughout my life, but there is
no need to extend that restraint to others.
Numero duo (I might be mixing languages here), Venus opposite Neptune, Ahhhh—-the
Neptune. I feel much more comfortable with the Neptune. This may sound strange,
but there is so much twelfth house influence in my chart that foggy Neptune
feels like a friend to me. This may be where the positive mentoring is happening
for me, metaphysical give and take. Doesn’t seem like Aries at all,
does it? But my Aries is in the twelfth house.
Ooooeeeeeeeoooooohhh. Spooky, isn’t it?
Enough of this. Evelyn treated her students to a seminar with Glenn Perry
last weekend. He brought a whole new slant to deciphering the planet placements
in a chart by layering the planet meaning, sign meaning, house meaning,
and then aspects by a vocabulary method. The information is available in
his pinkish-orangeish-red book, An Introduction to Astro^Psychology. I heartily
recommend left-brained people try to deconstruct their charts this way.
It has helped me with my Venus in detrimental Aries. I wonder what it will
do for my Mars in Taurus?
Cyn
©2002 Cynthia Appel
Cynthia Appel is one of Evelyn's most advanced and talented students (who
insists it's just a hobby!). A feisty and fun Aries Sun with a Sag Moon,
Cynthia puts this Mercury in Pisces to work beautifully through her writing,
to date a novel, several short stories and many humorous insightful parodies
on life. Cynthia can be reached at appel@syv.com.