Welcome to Venus in Taurus — or, feel the love

Yesterday Venus left Aries (a tense, though impetuous and passionate placement for the goddess of love) and entered Taurus (one of its home signs of rulership — the other is Libra). The sign change brings Venus into aspect with Neptune, Chiron and Jupiter in useful, even playful ways. We could, on the surface, liken this to someone coming home from work and slipping out of heels that pinch and into soft fuzzy slippers. Now that Venus has shed the martial psychic armor she’s been wearing in Aries (sign ruled by Mars, the god of war) she — that is, our own feminine sides — can be more at ease with what our senses perceive, and bring the physical and emotional into harmony.

This blend is heightened by the fact that Venus is also strong in Pisces (it’s the exalted planet), and there is a lot of Pisces energy right now several ways.

The first and most obvious point of Pisces contact is a sextile with Neptune in that sign. Venus in this flowing, supportive aspect to Neptune adds the essence of meaning to what we call love. It’s about gently dissolving boundaries and attachments. This may be an especially useful aspect if you’re finding yourself drawn into certain characteristics of Venus in Taurus, such as possessiveness and a certain quiet stubbornness (or alternately, persistence and devotion).

The first pair are mental/emotional postures that can take hold, especially if we feel threatened by some kind of loss (literal or ego-based). If you can allow yourself to soften your grip a little, Neptune’s dissolving property can connect you to the more transcendent quality of Venus.

Venus is also approaching a sextile to Chiron, which is just a smidge further into Pisces than Neptune is. Plus, Venus is beginning to activate Chiron’s discovery degree, which is 4 degrees Taurus. The degree where Chiron was discovered can act a lot like Chiron itself; this accentuates the sensation of emotional contact as a deep driving force in the psyche. Venus-Chiron has a mystical quality to its passion.

Love is about being open to more than a person or a feeling; it’s about being open to existence. If you’re feeling constrained in love, you may need to open up to the next few levels. The physical body is a vehicle for what some call ‘cosmic consciousness’ because it’s our way of experiencing the cosmos, at least while we have it to explore in. Going beyond the limits that we perceive the body to have, as it becomes an instrument of awareness and not of limitation. This can take practice, including meditation or experimentation with mind-altering substances.

Sometimes we even get there through some great shock, which kind of cracks us open in ways we did not know we could be. Given some of the recent Chiron activity, which can call our attention in increasingly forceful ways to issues that need it, it’s entirely possible you may have had such an experience recently. Are you feeling any more open to existence now?

The third planet lending assistance, Jupiter, is the traditional ruler of Pisces (we told you there was a lot of Pisces in the mix!). Venus is approaching a conjunction to Jupiter. The message: remember what you want the most even as you experiment with what’s interesting or fun. This is about gently moving toward a goal of some kind, though it’s going to be the best or most deeply valued goal. If you’re not used to knowing (or admitting that you know) what you want, it will be important to find those ways to let Neptune dissolve the barriers to this knowledge. And if you’re not already working with a therapist or healer of some sort, it could be worthwhile to seek out a safe, supportive ear while you let this goal take its rightful place in your awareness.

Here’s where you can take some measure of confidence in this process: Venus is an orientation point for true intelligence. It’s what some call emotional intelligence but really, it’s much more full spectrum than that. Venus in Taurus is in its element this way. It facilitates clarity about priorities, and what ‘feels right’ as well as what offers true nourishment. Accessing Venus is essential for true intelligence, and with Venus in Taurus we can tune that in much more easily.

Now, we are talking about the goddess of love here. So what about sex? Venus in Taurus can seem promiscuous to others, but it can settle into a deep feeling of home and safety after all that exploring and experimenting is done for a while. It’s a curious placement, not a stodgy one. There is a desire for sensuality that gradually figures out what it really wants and focuses on exactly the right kind of contact. This happens through a process of experimentation. Experimentation can mean getting it ‘wrong’ sometimes — unless you look at the whole experience as the learning opportunity it is. It’s all about tuning your emotional intelligence to the frequencies of those higher levels of love. Kind of like your soul slipping into something more comfortable.