Venus
The Goddess of Love has been around since the beginning of time. She represents more than sexuality, although sex is important to her. As giver of life, she weaves the Logos and makes the tapestry of sensual delight, that we call life. She has had many names throughout time: Aphrodite, Astarte, Isis, Persephone, Kore and Rhiannon, to name a few.
She is the Empress in the tarot, full of fertile potential. Her symbolism usually involves a bull or a cow. You may ask why a male bull would represent the female Goddess of love. The outline of the horns and face of a bull look like the feminine reproductive organs. This Georgia O'Keef painting illustrates that idea. The horns are the fallopian tubes, the head is the uterus and the mouth is the vagina. This is a feminine shape.
This Goddess is wealthy, active and fertile, though sometimes depicted as pregnant, she is not yet a mother. Her mother is the Grain Goddess or Gaia or the Crone. The stories change from one culture to another, but suffice it to say, this is a young woman who will get what she wants.
When Christianity came into being she was shunned and called the Whore of Babylon. Those one-male-god religions had to take her down, because the images of her offended the invisible god of Abraham. The Golden Calf was a tribute to the fertility of Life, an homage to the Goddess. Her availability to all was as simple as participation in the daily chores of living and the rituals of gratitude that were practiced by the people. Those simple rituals had to be excised by the patriarchs for them to gain political control over the gentle Goddess people. They cut Her out with a campaign of fear of the angry, invisible god that would punish them. They were told that their gratitude was idolatry and a sin. Thus began the descent into the linear side of humanity, the rigors of the mind, the rule of the patriarchs and the slow dessication of the Earth.
To get back into harmony with our home, the Earth, we must take Venus back into our consciousness. We must listen to our higher self telling how valuable Life is. It's about values. Sex, wealth and well-being are all valued in our world. As we learn to listen to this message, we begin to live as if each moment matters. We are the beauty. We are the Earth. We are the message.
Venus rules the sign Taurus.
Cretan Serpent Goddess
Meaning "Door"
Venus is the Empress
