Venus

Venus is the planet of attraction and value. It describes what and whom you love, how you give and receive affection, what you find beautiful and what you consider worth having. It also shows how you create harmony and how you handle pleasure and money in a gentle, non-technical sense.

Cycle and speed

Venus orbits the Sun in about 225 days, usually staying three to five weeks in each sign. Like Mercury, it stays near the Sun, never more than about 48 degrees away, so your Venus is in your Sun sign or within one or two signs of it. It turns retrograde roughly every 19 months, for about six weeks.

Rulership

Venus rules Taurus and Libra. In Taurus it is sensual and loyal, loving what is real and lasting. In Libra it is social and graceful, loving fairness and partnership. It is exalted in Pisces, where love becomes compassionate and idealistic, and traditionally weaker in Aries, Scorpio and Virgo, where it can feel too impatient, too intense or too critical to relax into affection.

When it is strong

A well-placed Venus gives warmth, tact and a sense of what you truly enjoy. You can receive as well as give, you know your worth and relationships feel mutual rather than strained.

When it is stressed

Stress can show as people-pleasing, jealousy, overindulgence, avoiding conflict to keep the peace, or doubting that you are lovable. The remedy is rarely more effort; it is usually honesty about what you want.

How to read it in your chart

• Sign: your love language. Venus in Aries is direct and playful; in Cancer, protective and nurturing; in Aquarius, friendly and independent.
• House: the area of life where you seek pleasure, beauty and connection.
• Aspects: Mars connections show how attraction and desire interact, and Saturn connections show caution about closeness.

Compare Venus and Mars together for a fuller picture of how you love and desire.