Venus enters Libra

Venus entering Libra is the planet of love moving into a sign it rules. As it crosses in, the urge to draw close to others, to give affection and to take pleasure in beauty starts to work through the sign most concerned with the person on the other side of the table.

Venus first. It describes what attracts a person to others and what makes them feel loved and appreciated: affection, harmony, art, and a union that is not forced. It runs in both directions. It gives warmth, sharing and generosity of spirit. It also gives self-indulgence, emotional demands, the holding back of affection, and the wish to be loved more than to love in return. In the kabbalistic reading Venus sits at Netzah, the Sephirah called Victory, where the instincts, the senses and the emotions take form. Astrocábala reads that victory as love turned towards the sublime, the instincts raised rather than denied.

Libra is cardinal air, the sign the Sun enters at the autumn equinox, when day and night stand level. It opens the second half of the zodiac, where the self learns to relate to what lies beyond it, and its first image is two people face to face. Libra grows through dialogue. It weighs, compares, and often senses what another feels before anything is said. It meets people as equals, with tact and a sense of fairness. The same pull produces indecision and a habit of getting its way while appearing to yield. It also brings discomfort with intense feeling, and in art a tendency to stop at the pretty. It seldom chooses to be alone.

The old tradition counts Libra as Venus's own house, a sign where the planet is at home. The reason is the fit between them. Libra suits the planets of relationship and peace, turns whatever enters it towards harmony with others, and lets planets work more lightly there. Venus, already the planet of union, finds its theme matched. Love takes the form of courtesy, partnership and the arts of getting along. Pleasure comes from proportion and good company.

That fit carries its own risk. When planet and sign both lean towards agreement, peace can be kept at the cost of what is actually felt. A relationship can then be valued for its smoothness more than its depth. Venus is yin and Libra yang, so even here the planet is not identical with its sign, and Venus in Libra has an outgoing, initiating edge.

As it moves through Libra, Venus favours gatherings, the arts, conversation and meeting people, and it asks that affection be given in a dialogue between equals.

The old stone lore dedicated lapis lazuli to Venus. Worn as a necklace of beads, it was believed to strengthen the affections and keep friends faithful.