When people say “I’m a Scorpio,” or “I’m a Leo,” they’re most often referring to their primary zodiac sign, also known as a person’s sun sign. However, your sun sign is just one small piece of the information you’ll find in your birth chart. Your moon sign can reveal a lot about your inner being, for example, while your rising sign dictates how you present yourself to others. Then there’s your Venus sign, the ever-intriguing planetary alignment that illustrates how you give and receive love.
Venus is the Roman goddess of love — the equivalent to Aphrodite in Greek mythology. In astrology, it’s believed that the placement of Venus in your natal and house charts can offer a window into how you love and prefer to be loved, as well as other matters of the heart. Curious to know more about your Venus sign or your partner’s? Keep reading for insight from astrologer Rebecca Gordon.
What Does Your Venus Sign Mean?
Venus governs how we love and the kind of love we most easily receive from others. It’s important to note that this is different from physical attraction and sex. Those more primal impulses fall under Mars’s realm of control. Venus dictates a far more intimate part of our love lives. “Venus speaks about your likes, your preferences, your sensuality. Mars speaks more about your sexuality,” Gordon says. Venus can help explain pleasure and true satisfaction and what we need to achieve both.
If you’ve found past relationships to be unfulfilling, or you struggle to form connections in love, you may need to reevaluate what you ask of your partners, and your Venus sign is a good place to start in figuring out those needs. “It does tell you a lot about what sort of relationship feels right for you,” Gordon explains. “It tells you about what you might enjoy on a first date, and it will also speak about the type of palette you like in fragrances and fashion. It is, in essence, your stylistic mark.”
Every Venus placement needs something different in relationships and has different tactics they use to get it. “The Venus sign shows how you attract and bring in people to your life. It is really your inner magnetism,” Gordon says. She likes to tell clients to “be your Venus,” because “it is what draws people into your sphere.” At the same time, think of Venus as the rose-colored glasses of your material and love lives. Feeding too much into it can lead you down a path of indulgence and vanity, and while a bit of both can benefit your happiness and self-esteem, taking it to an extreme can hurt both you and your romantic partners.
You can check yourself by zooming out and assessing the situation from a third-person point on view. For example, those with their Venus in Aries love the thrill of the conquest. They need excitement and spontaneity, and while that’s helpful to know going into a relationship, they can sometimes undervalue a healthy connection in their desire for the next challenge. People whose Venus falls in Taurus, on the other hand, seek comfort and security in their love lives. However, this can cause them to become possessive of their partners and stubborn in love, often staying in a relationship they’ve outgrown just because it’s familiar.
How to Find Your Venus Sign
There’s so much to learn about where Venus falls on your charts, and studying it can help you work on toxic tendencies you may not realize you have — and exalt the good ones. Start by calculating your birth chart to find out which constellation Venus was in at the time you were born, then read about the impact this alignment can have (good and bad) on your relationships and sense of balance.
Remember that in order to get as much from your chart as possible, you’ll need to set aside the rose-colored glasses Venus often causes us to wear. The more you learn about your motives and desires, the better equipped you’ll be to lead a fulfilling, peaceful, and, yes, love-filled life. It all starts with getting to better know ourselves and one another.