The Venusian Mysteries: Awakening the Sacred Feminine
I awoke before dawn, set the kettle for tea, and gazed out my windows into the still dark sky, just a soft glow on the horizon suggested the light was returning.
As I peered between the giant evergreen bows that reach across my yard, I was greeted by the most beautiful sight—Venus. Rising in her morning star phase, Venus lit up like a beacon in the lapiz sky, calling my soul to recognize her presence.
my morning view of Venus
Venus is a planet but also a celestial deity, and her gifts for humanity lie in helping us come into cosmic balance with the sacred feminine qualities of beauty, love, relationships, sensuality, and pleasure.
Venus is a planet of beauty—symbolically and literally. Her presence shines brightest from our vantage upon the earth, and her trajectory creates a magnificent, symmetrical pattern.
The only planet named for a female deity, Venus is a loving and bright ally in restoring the sacred feminine to cosmic balance.
Restoring the Feminine to Cosmic Balance with Beauty and Astrology
Anyone who’s gazed at Venus in her bright morning star phase can understand why the ancients associated this planet with beauty. I wonder if they also knew her trajectory through our skies is the most symmetrical of all the planets: Over an 8-year period, Venus makes 13 orbits around the sun and has 5 conjunctions with the earth. Visually, this creates a beautiful mandala based on the golden ratio—a pentagram of petals—which you can see in the image below.
The 13 orbits that bring Venus back to her place of origin in our skies tie this planet to the feminine—13 has long been associated with women because of how we cycle and bleed with the 13 moons of the year.
Even the symbol for the planet Venus is the same as that which commonly represents the feminine—a circle sitting upon a cross: ♀ If we see the circle as the infinite cycle and wholeness, and the cross as representing the four elements and four directions—that which makes our material reality—we can see this symbol as also calling forth the intersection of spirit and earth.
In this symbol, we can see how Venus helps us bring spirit into manifest form—just as women bring spirit into form through the birthing process.
In astrology, Venus rules both Taurus and its home, the 2nd house, along with Libra and its home, the 7th house. Together, these elements celebrate the many qualities of Venus — the earthy, sensuality of Taurus, the values and emotions and sexiness of the 2nd house, the high culture and beauty of Libra, and the love and partnership of the 7th house.
Here, not only are the sacred qualities of the feminine celebrated, but they once again symbolize the harmonization of earth and spirit. Anytime we’re able to ground into the beauty of nature and the present moment, we experience Venusian blessings.
The Venusian Deities
Though Venus is represented through a few male deities in different cultures (see below!), the vast majority of Venusian deities are female, especially within the cultures that have most influenced my own Western heritage.
The Greek goddess Aphrodite is perhaps the most well-known Venusian deity for many of us, as she even carried the name Venus to the Romans. Yet if we trace the evolution of Aphrodite through time, we find that she may well have been born from earlier goddesses—Isis, or Auset, in Egypt, and Inanna, also known as Ishtar and Astarte, in Sumeria. All three goddesses carry the mantle of being Venusian goddesses of the ancient world.
Psst: You can get a free booklet filled with rituals to connect with Isis and other Egyptian deities here.
Botticelli’s Birth of Venus, unknown artist, Burney Relief
“Freyja and the Necklace” by James Doyle Penrose (1890)
In the Norse worlds, we see both Freya and Frigg associated with Venus. Both goddesses embody qualities of love, romance, fertility, and sacred sexuality, though Freya is more independent in her expression and Frigg, as the wife of Odin, is more matrimonial (many sources also conflate the goddesses into one). Interestingly, Friday is named for Frigg, and guess which planet rules Friday? Venus.
art by José-Patricio Aguirre
Now, let’s get a bit heretical…Do you know what the Roman word for Venus was? Lucifera. Yup. The very same word co-opted by Christans to describe the devil. Lucifera was used almost as suffix to many goddesses and sacred women’s names—Diana Lucifera most famously, but also Mary Magdalene, who was sometimes referred to as Mary Lucifera.
Sex & Resurrection
Saint Mary Magdalene by Bernardino Luini
From what we know of Mary Magdalene, it’s likely she was not only a consort of Jesus but also a priestess in her own right. At the time, the art of sacred sexuality was practiced in the temples for communion and healing. And sex, in this sacred sense, is as Venusian as it gets—the sensuality, the romance, and harmony between masculine and feminine, and the fertile outcomes once again bringing spirit into material form.
And while we’re looking at sacred sexuality in this Venusian context, it’s interesting to note the parallels between Isis bringing Osiris back to life and immediately consummating with him (which led to not only the birth of Horus but brought fertility to the land), and Mary Magdalene being the first to witness the resurrection of Jesus. I wonder if the way in which she anointed him before death, loved him beyond life, and cried tears of power into the earth, contributed to the magic that brought him back to life like Osiris.
As a note on the theme of resurrection, we also see another Venusian goddess Aphrodite bring Adonis back to life through her pleas after he was killed by a wild boar.
It seems the Venusian power so naturally held by women—the power to commune with spirit, enjoy sensual pursuits, and bring life into being through the force of love—was a bit too threatening for the Church…
These tales of resurrection are also reflected in Venus’s orbit, as the planet cycles towards and away from the sun, symbolizing a natural cycle of birth and death.
The tale of the Venusian goddesses Inanna offers us a good reflection of how women can embody this cycle within themselves. Unlike the goddesses who resurrect their lovers to bring fertility to themselves and the land, Inanna is the one resurrected in her tale, modeling the feminine drive to face our shadows and integrate into wholeness. (Interestingly, she is hung on a cross before becomming resurrected…sound familiar?)
modern interpretation of Quetzalcoatl by BenArtsStudio on DeviantArt
The Venusian Masculine
Back to the male Venusian dieties…by far the most well-known masculine Venusian deity in modern days is Quetzalcoatl, a meso-American god. Quetzalcoatl was known as a feathered-serpent deity who brought fertile growth to the land. Again, we see the liminal meeting of spirit and earth in bird and snake, as well as sacred sexuality and fertility. In many ways, Quetzalcoatl offers us a model for how those in men’s bodies can embody the much-needed gifts of Venusian blessings, reminding us that we all have sacred masculine and feminine qualities within.
It’s time to allow Venus to upgrade our hearts.
As a planet that reminds us of the power of love, Venus could not be more important for us to connect with right now.
I am, like I’m sure many of you are, an empath.
Being an empath is not only a gift but is also the natural state of all humans, the state we are born into before culture and trauma cuts our hearts away from our innate ways of knowing.
But being a really strong empath during times of mass hysteria, conflict, and trauma can be rough, even with the knowledge and skills to navigate these times.
I find the vitriol, judgment, and especially righteousness I see online and in social media pressure cookers to be acutely painful. Just about all news—from left to right and mainstream to alt—has become a web of incendiary propaganda. When I turn into certain locations, I can energetically sense oppressive webs of fear hijacking people’s sovereignty.
In all of these examples, I think what I find most heartbreaking is that people are being pulled off their path of spiritual evolution and heart-centered living. They are losing touch with what will actually help humanity survive the changes upon us: love and connection, with each other and the earth.
Venus is a powerful ally in coming back into our hearts and allowing the wisdom of love to lead the way.
Right now, Venus is in her heliacal rise toward the sun, allowing her divine beauty to be strengthened with solar blessings. Now it’s time to let the light of Venus and the Sun illuminate and strengthen the love within all of us.
A PRACTICE
If possible, locate Venus in the sky — depending on her movements, dawn or dusk will be the best time.
Anoint your heart center with a sacred oil, preferably one containing rose — one of Venus’s favorite flowers. (The perfumes below are perfect for this practice.)
See the fragrant oil or perfume open a portal into your heart, a protected one that can only be entered by Venus herself.
Inhale, and feel Venusian blessings flow into your heart center.
When this practice feels complete, see the portal in your heart seal safely and give thanks to Venus.
As you go about your day, notice feelings of love and being loved fill your being. Practice seeing the world through a gaze of appreciation and gratitude for the beauty of life. Delight in the sensual experience of being embodied. Remember your true value and worth.
The Sensual Delight of Venusian Perfume
What could be more Venusian than a perfume dedicated to the goddess?
As a triple Libra, Venus is my ruling planet — meaning she’s especially influential in my life. It’s no wonder beauty is my core life code (you can read my artist statement here, just scroll down a bit). While I’ve always been an artist and experiment with many mediums, when I create perfumes I know they come straight from my soul.
Many of the perfumes I’ve designed are dedicated to Venusian goddesses — so many, in fact, that I’ve decided to offer them all in a single discovery set.
The Venusians Discovery Set includes six 1ml samples in glass vials, each perfume is all-natural (I’ve studied with the preeminent natural perfumers of today) and infused with the Venusian energy of goddesses from around the world
If you’re inspired to try these alchemical perfumes, please enjoy 10% off as my thanks for reading here :) Good now through the end of Venus’s retrograde on September 3rd, 2023. Use VENUSRX at checkout.