Venus-Neptune: A Vision of Ecstasy.
Not all that glitters is gold.
Happy belated Valentine’s Day! After reviewing my content plan and taking a break from writing after going through a major life change, I have decided to resume blogging about planetary archetypes we will be experiencing by transit soon. We are under the influence of the much anticipated Venus-Neptune conjunction in Pisces, tropically and sidereally (finally, something we can all agree on!). I am compelled to write about this configuration since many people consider Neptune to be the “higher octave” of Venus. In this post, I hope to explain why this is not the case while also sharing the overlapping significations between the two planets.
Venus - Beholder of Beauty
There is nothing that I enjoy more than singing the praises of the planet of beauty. Let’s not forget that I am a still a Taurus, despite my brash and uncouth Aries Venus (at least she’s in her decan)! No matter what astrological framework you are using, the significations of this planet are quite consistent. Venus is named after the Roman goddess of love and shares a lot of syncretism with the Greek Goddess Aphrodite. The topics of beauty, love, and pleasure are evoked by the mythos of these goddesses. Indeed, Vettius Valens assigns the topics to the lesser benefic and assigns various topics such as “cheerfulness, friendship, companionship, the acquisition of property, the purchase of ornaments, agreements on favorable terms, marriages, pure trades, fine voices, a taste for music, sweet singing, beauty, painting, mixing of colors both in embroidery, dyeing, and unguent making.” These depictions of Venus and her domains are a major reason why I often tell clients that Venus is more representative of physical pleasures, as well as individual sources of value.
To better understand the astrological symbolism of Venus, I find it very helpful to contrast Venus with other bright objects in the sky, such as the Sun and Jupiter. Venus is the brightest object in the night sky other than the Full Moon. Unlike the light of the Sun, the light of Venus does not obscure the sight of other objects in close proximity. In the Taurus Episode of the Astrology Podcast, I made a contrast between the signs Taurus and Leo, which are fixed signs ruled by bright objects. I often joke that the Sun is a malefic (hey, some people agree) because while it provides the energy that allows life on our planet to survive, staring into it is not something you can do without damaging your eyes. Additionally, planets that are close to the Sun are not visible because they are blocked out by its bright rays. The light of Venus is enticing rather than threatening. So I am not surprised that this planet gets associated with beauty and desire! When you see Venus in the night sky or just before dawn, she captures your attention much like an attractive stranger you are starstruck by.
Like Venus, Jupiter is a sight to behold in the night sky. However, these planets are like night and day when it comes to the types of good things that they tend to signify. If you think about it, Jupiter and Venus represent the highest virtues and values of the diurnal and nocturnal sects, respectively. In her love letter to Venus, Anak Rabanál skillfully contrasts the difference between the greater and lesser benefic in terms of their ideas of “goodness.” Venus is a nocturnal planet and is the closest celestial body to Earth aside from the Moon. As a result, she represents the more individualized and sensate forms of good. Jupiter is a diurnal planet and has greater proximity from the concerns of the physical realm. Therefore, Jupiter represents more of these abstract values of the “greater good”. Too often, people forget that Jupiter is a moral and often religious planet. In contrasting the two benefics, I think of the fact that Venus and Jupiter are said to be inimical to one another in the Vedic tradition. Venus is more concerned with the pursuit of desires (kama) and the cultivation of materials (artha), as seen in its governance over Air and Earth signs, respectively. Meanwhile, Jupiter is more concerned with performing the right actions (dharma) and pushing us towards liberation from the struggle that is life (moksha)— which reflects its governance over fire and water signs, respectively.
Lastly, it is worth pointing out that Venus is the only planet with strong essential dignities across all three modalities. It’s almost as if the highest forms of personal pleasure and pleasant exchanges can take on many forms, and this is an often overlooked superpower of the lesser benefic. In cardinal, airy, Libra, Venus exerts her influence over facilitating pleasant exchanges by seeking to create consensus amongst different people. Along with co-conspirator Saturn, Venus is able to set concrete standards for what is considered beautiful, worth indulging in, and more importantly, what is socially acceptable. Meanwhile, Venus in her preferred home of Taurus allows us to cultivate that which naturally appeals to us. Through shared natural affinities are we able to form unbreakable bonds with others. Additionally, Venus in her exaltation in Pisces allows us to experience love and pleasure in its most ideal form. In allowing our egos to dissolve and recognizing the euphoria that comes from being interconnected with others, we come closer to the divine. Interestingly, Venus does not have any dignity beyond her term placement in each of the fire signs. With fire being the element closest to divinity and coming from more of an egoic place, it makes sense that Venus would have difficulty achieving her objectives here. When someone is too focused on tendering that internal divine spark, perhaps it is hard to really be tethered to the surrounding world and the other people who are also inhabiting it.
Neptune - Of Dreams… and Nightmares
For those of you have been following my journey through astrology, you will understand my long-standing beef with Neptune. As a Pisces rising, I always struggled with the idea that such an elusive and unreliable planet would rule my chart. Once I started seeing Pisces through a Jovial lens, that Pisces rising started to make a lot more sense in how it depicts me as a person. Regardless of my eternal saltiness towards the planetary body associated with gods of the ocean, there is an undeniable affinity between Piscean and Neptunian archetypes. I just think the flattening of Neptune = Pisces prevents us from really appreciating the societal and cultural influences this planet corresponds to, and how that shows up in our individual lives.
Since Neptune is a modern planet, who better to quote than legendary modern astrologer Dane Rudhyar?! I find his depictions of Neptune and everything it represents to be quite evocative. In his work New Mansions for New Men, Rudhyar describes Neptune in this way:
But Neptune is not only an end. It is not only the acid that dissolves all walls and partitions built by Saturn at the dawn of individualized life, the glamor that covers up all defined and clear-cut outlines with a golden and iridescent mist, the lure of freedom which makes one forget duty and roots, caution and morality for the sake of coruscating mirages. It is not only the death of the individual stream into the collective sea, that disappearance of the earth-cultured and soil-loving peasant into the vast metropolitan mob of office and factory workers.
I really love what he does in this quote, throughout the rest of the section on Neptune, and in all of his chapters on the outer planets, because it contrasts Saturn and the outer planets very well. Saturn represents structure and the constraints that hold society as we know it together. I would argue that the outer planets are the invisible, or even divine forces that challenge our attempts to create order. Neptune represents the stage where structure begins to dissolve, and the promise of something more liberating and supportive can come through. Too bad for everyone that only Pluto is on the other side of that mirage (i.e. collapse and destruction, which give way for rebirth).
The dissolving effect of Neptune plays very nicely with the oceanic and meandering vibes of Pisces. Perhaps this conflation with Pisces, where Venus exalts, is the reason that we think of Neptune as the higher octave of Venus. Interestingly, astrologers have remarked on the relationship between Neptune and film, which is an artform in itself. Venus rules the domain of the arts generally, but Neptunian elements such as film, dreams, and even complex world building seen in novels and games are taking us to another plane of existence. Furthermore, Neptune has an “anesthetic” quality, which can alleviate the experience of pain or separateness. Given that Venus exalts in the sign that follows Saturn’s domiciles, it would make sense that people want to surrender to something larger to feel good.
However, I would argue that Neptune has more in common with Jupiter as a concept. There are a lot of spiritual connotations of Neptune which play nicely with the spiritualism inherent to Jupiter’s functions as a planet. Furthermore, Rudhyar often talks about the effects that Neptune has in terms of its ability to bring people closer to Nirvana-like states or at least transcendent states. This is very much attuned with the Jovial principles of liberation. Pisces has a lot of oceanic metaphors ascribed to it, and the act of traversing the seas was like going to another realm for ancient peoples. Now, we just shoot billionaires into space. Jupiter is often associated with longer distance travels, and its rulership of Pisces has connotations of uncharted territory. Lastly, Jupiter and Neptune speak to collective ideals. However, Neptune may speak to the extreme elation or disillusionment that comes from adhering to them. I think heavily about the ways in which Neptune in Pisces has contributed to the dissolving of the individual spirit, which Dan Waites provides an insightful breakdown of in his most recent newsletter. The rise of social media platforms has flattened the sense of self, not in the way where we are liberated from the need to have an identity. Instead, social media has warped people’s sense of self by reminding them how far they are from certain societal ideals of success, beauty, and happiness.
Of Songbirds, Sex Symbols, Star-crossed Lovers, and Scandals
In trying to understand the essence of this configuration, I have drawn on chart examples of people who have hard aspects between Venus and Neptune. This isn’t to say that people with trines or sextiles (or whatever aspects you’d like) don’t also embody some of these traits. However, I find that the nature of hard aspects really forces them to show up externally in very pronounced ways since the energies are trying to compete with each other for influence. Since Neptune is an outer planet, people with these configurations are shaping some key cultural themes and events, especially when they are hit by major transits to their Neptune and Venus. As you can expect with these archetypes, there were some interesting positive and negative manifestations of this configuration.
It’s no surprise that some of the most beloved crooners are those with hard aspects between Venus and Neptune. Lata Mangeshkar, often called “the Nightingale of India” was one of the most influential Indian playback singers, and you may recognize her voice in many Hindi films across different generations. Ella Fitzgerald was dubbed “First Lady of Song,” and was one of the most popular jazz vocalists for over five decades.
I would also argue that Venus-Neptune contacts tend to show up in the charts of sex symbols, or people who are known for their beauty and sexuality. When you think of old-Hollywood glamour, of course you think of Sophia Loren, who has a Venus-Neptune conjunction in Virgo. Many of her notable roles involve portrayals of sexually liberated women, a stark contrast to the normative roles promoted for women in the 1950s. Another set of women I think of are Kim Kardashian and Pamela Anderson, two women often known for their embracing their sexuality and appearance. In the case of the latter two, I think heavily about their influence on various cosmetic procedures. Pamela Anderson was a fan favorite on the show Baywatch, and for much of the late 90s and the aughts she was the blueprint for breast augmentation procedures. Meanwhile, Kim Kardashian popularized the Brazilian-Butt Lift (BBL) amongst ethnic groups that didn’t originally value a large backside when it came to beauty standards. In the case of Ms. Kardashian, her rise to prominence is intimately tied with the rise of Instagram, which really blew up when Neptune ingressed into Pisces. Despite being a beauty standard, she is often criticized for the commercialization of body dysmorphia so that women and girls spend money on various products and procedures that may go out of style (see a lot of the recent discourse on the “end of the BBL era”).
Venus-Neptune aspects often show up for people involved in complicated or even scandalous relationships. This configuration may lead people to believe that a person they are so infatuated with is their soulmate if not someone they just need to pursue relations with, regardless of whether it is appropriate to do so (as a Venus-square-Neptune person, I have been there). What’s uncanny is that William Shakespeare, who often wrote of “star-crossed” romances, also owns a Venus-Neptune conjunction in his Gemini 12th house. For those of you who have had the chance to read or listen to Prince Harry’s memoir, Spare, you will quickly learn that King Charles III was quite fond of Shakespeare. King Charles also has a Venus-Neptune conjunction in his chart, and is very much a prime example of being involved in his fair share of romantic scandal or tragedy. His affair partner turned consort, Camilla Parker-Bowles, also owns a square between Venus and Neptune. Both were having their Neptune square when the affair between them was exposed to the media, and this was devastating to Princess Diana. It’s unfortunate that it took the passing of his ex-wife and time for the now King to marry the person he actually wanted to be with.
Speaking of scandals, let’s not forget about the drama that happened surrounding Bill Clinton and his leverage of his position to pursue and conceal his inappropriate relationship with Monica Lewinsky. Bill Clinton (unsurprisingly) owns a Venus-Neptune conjunction on his ascendant! The affair and the political fallout of his actions also took place while Neptune was wrapping up its journey through Capricorn. I’m hoping that these examples of the pitfalls of chasing desires serve as useful examples for how the Neptune square transit may teach us a lesson when it comes to Venus-Neptune aspects.
Venus & Neptune in Pisces - Phantoms of Desire
Now that we have taken a tour of the archetypal meanings of these two celestial bodies, I think we can dive into some key themes of this transit! This week, our laughter loving queen conjoins the conjuror of illusions in the sign of her exaltation. While Venus in Pisces typically echoes the highest forms of love and pleasure that can connect the physical realm to that of the divine, Neptune may be casting shadows and illusions that prevent us from seeing things clearly.
This conjunction is taking place in the third decan of Pisces, which Austin Coppock refers to as “A Bowl of Blood.” I know this seems gory for a sign that often gets painted as the delusional, idealistic, dreamer. However, as someone whose first house is Pisces, I find the description to be quite apt. The decanic journey through Pisces is one of sacrifice to find greater meaning. If Pisces is the last sign of the zodiac, it represents the process of unlearning what it means to be an individual so that the former individual can rejoin the collective. It is in the last decan of Pisces where we look at all that was sacrificed to achieve the happy ending—and we all know that every happy ending is simply allowing us to start something new. This decan is very Martial in nature, but Mars in the water signs tends to have a more defensive rather than offensive quality. In thinking of the way Mars colors this part of the zodiac, I think of the quote “the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb.” A lot of pacts or agreements are made involving the consumption of blood, literally or figuratively. You are giving part of yourself or receiving part of someone else as a sign that you are being initiated into something larger.
The beautiful part of this last decan of Pisces is that it is the decan that houses Venus’ exaltation degree. This is where the highest form of Venus is made manifest. I know that Jupiter and Venus can be antithetical in some ways, but it is in Pisces where Venusian principles of union blend well with the quest for truth and connectedness that Jupiter can represent. In surrendering to the idea that we are not just individuals here to experience life, but parts of the universe trying to relate to one another so that the universe can experience itself, we achieve the desire for union. It’s no wonder why people often fixate on finding their romantic partner or being desirable so that someone will want them. While Venus in Pisces is definitely romantic, there is a recognition that love is not just positive feelings but cultivated through sacrifice and surrendering. I do not want to suggest that love here is unconditional, but the love represented by Venus near her exaltation is one that comes close to being without limits or conditions.
Neptune’s influence on Venus in this decan may complicate this narrative though. Since it typically has the effect of obscuring the senses, it can be challenging to discern what represents this ideal form of love or the chasing of ghosts that represent this feeling. While Neptune can show us some ideals around what connection should look like between people, it is possible that fixation on such a high ideal can lead to disillusionment. This conjunction is happening in a mutable sign, after all. I like to joke that mutable signs like to cycle back to things until they are ready to transition into something new. Venus-Neptune can sometimes look like repeating relational dynamics because you still haven’t grieved the loss of a relationship that you really wanted. It can look like mistrust of the partner that gives you everything you ever wanted because of an inability to see that you are capable of love. Sometimes it looks like realizing that even though you love someone, you have to walk away from them so that you both can be your best selves. It’s hard to tell what the correct course of action is when the circumstances are unclear. This is the last time that Venus in Pisces will conjoin Neptune without Saturn’s influence, so it might be wise to just sit with these visions and revisit them next year.
Regardless of whether you have a positive relationship with Venus-Neptune aspects, I hope this treatment of them at least inspires you to find beauty in the highs and lows of the human experience. Sometimes, it is worthwhile to lean into ambiguity and confusion to get a better sense of the ideal forms of pleasure or connection that we are seeking. If you want to explore how configurations like these play out in your life, please consider booking a consultation below! Consider this blog post my late Valentine’s Day gift to you.