Let’s Talk Deities: Working with Venus

You guys probably know by now that I work with the roman goddess of love, Venus, but I feel like especially online it's hard to find information on working with Venus specifically, because she is often overshadowed by her Greek counterpart, Aphrodite. Personally, I view these goddesses as separate deities, I know some may disagree, but I work with Venus and have no connection to Aphrodite in my personal practice. Anyways, today I wanted to give you guys a guide to Venus, her mythology, her skills, and the basics of what you need to know about worshiping or working with her.

𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓑𝓪𝓼𝓲𝓬𝓼 𝓞𝓯 𝓥𝓮𝓷𝓾𝓼'𝓼 𝓜𝔂𝓽𝓱𝓸𝓵𝓸𝓰𝔂

An Introduction

Venus is the roman goddess of love, beauty, abundance, desire and fertility, but she is much more than a pretty face in roman mythology. Venus is able to make anyone fall for her, god or mortal, her power is magnetic and irresistible. Many people don’t know this, but Venus is also attributed as having influence on material gain, money, and even political standings according to ancient roman mythology. Venus is even referred to in some roman myths as “the mother of the roman people” and is a HUGE deity in the roman pantheon. While Venus rules over both personal and divine relationships, she is also involved in the very myths that shaped the Roman pantheon itself. When it comes to her relationship with her Greek counterpart Aphrodite, the myths of Venus tend to overlap a lot as they are so heavily associated and so often blended together in people's minds.

The Birth of Venus

The story

According to Roman poet Ovid, Venus was born from the seafoam and the severed genitals of Uranus, the god of the sky. Her son Cronus cut off his father's genitals and threw them into the sea, where the waters formed a froth around them and gave life to Venus.

The painting

In the painting, Venus is depicted standing on a giant scallop shell, with her hands modestly covering her body. She is attended by Zephyrus, the gentle wind of spring, and the nymph Aura, who blow her toward the shore. A figure possibly representing Flora, the goddess of spring, is poised to wrap a cloak around Venus.

The painting's significance

The painting is considered one of the most recognizable images in the history of art. It is also considered historically to be the most important depicted nude since classical antiquity

Etymology

The name "Venus" comes from the Latin word for "love" and is linked to the verb venerari, meaning "to love" or "revere," which is also where we get the word "venerate" in English. Some people think "Venus" might also be tied to the Latin word venenum, which means "poison," "potion," or "charm," possibly pointing to her influence over the intoxicating effects of love.

Parents & Siblings

Venus is said to be the child of Dione (a minor roman deity tied to fertility, motherhood and nature) and Jupiter (the king of the roman gods and the god of sky, thunder and light). She has many notable siblings (many of which she has affairs with, I will remind you all at this time that ANCIENT GODS do not abide by the rules and morality we follow today. Many ancient myths from all over the world include sibling affairs and much worse so do not demonize the ancient gods for something you as a modern mortal wouldn’t do). Venuses siblings are as follows:

Mars: God of war, agriculture, rage, passion, and destruction

Mercury: God of communication, travel, commence, luck, and the underworld

Vulcan: God of fire, metalwork, volcanoes, blacksmithing, and forge

Liber: God of wine, male fertility, freedom and the harvest

Minerva: Goddess of wisdom, art, schools, and commerce

Diana: Goddess of childhood, fertility and the hunt

Proserpina: Goddess of the seasons, the underworld and specifically, spring

Children & Lovers

The goddess Venus is technically married to the god of fire, metal working and volcanoes, Vulcan, but she is known for her many passionate affairs including those with the god of war and agriculture, Mars (who yes, is also related to her, read the disclaimer above in “parents and siblings”), even having several children with him including Harmonia (a deity representing harmony) and the most famous cherub of them all himself, Cupid. Vulcan and Venuses relationship is not usually depicted in the healthiest light, and their marriage is mostly perceived as loveless and dull. Vulcan and Venus, interestingly, have no notable children together in most Roman myths. In addition to Harmonia and Cupid, Venus and Mars are also known to have a set of twins, Timor (representing fear) and Metus (representing terror), which are often portrayed as the more sinister and “darker” aspects of both Mars and Venus' energies embodied. She also bore with either Hermes or Jupiter, Fortuna (Tyche) who was the personification of luck and fate within Roman religion. Another one of Venus's children, born out of her relationship with a mortal Trojan prince, Aeneas is responsible for a journey that would eventually lead to the creation of the Roman people (acording to mythology) after he escaped the fall of Troy. While Aeneas is not seen as a deity, he is an important link between the human world and the world of the Roman gods.

Venus, Cupid & Psyche

Also known as the myth of Cupid & Psyche, there is a key myth in the roman pantheon in which Venus becomes jealous of a mortal woman because of her beauty and increasing power and following, and sends her son Cupid to shoot her with his love arrows to convince her to fall for a hideous monster. Instead, Cupid himself falls in love with the mortal, Psyche, and they marry in secret. Eventually Venus finds out about her sons marriage to this mortal woman and as Psyche seeks her favor, she gives her a series of impossible tasks to prove her worthiness of Cupid (her sons) love, including retrieving a “box of beauty” from the underworld. Eventually with dedication, Psyche does win Venus over and is made immortal to reside with Cupid in the land of the gods eternally. This myth is important because it shows us that Venus not only supports relationships with her magick, she also challenges them when necessary, and her protectiveness over Cupid is something she often tends to hold with her devotees as well.

𝓦𝓸𝓻𝓼𝓱𝓲𝓹𝓹𝓲𝓷𝓰 & 𝓦𝓸𝓻𝓴𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓦𝓲𝓽𝓱 𝓥𝓮𝓷𝓾𝓼

Working With VS Worshipping

I have several posts up on this very patreon about working with and worshipping deities in general, but let's talk specifically about working with/worshipping Lady Venus. Deity WORK is more of a give and take transactional relationship that is often continuous for a long period of time, and deity WORSHIP is simply honoring/venerating a deity whose blessings you want to attract. I tend to recommend worshipping a deity before working with them, because transactional deity work relationships require a strong connection between you and your deity that can be built and greatly improved through worshipping them first.

Signs Venus Is Reaching Out

You continuously see doves, sparrows, and geese more than normal.

You randomly smell rose, jasmine, and ylang-ylang scents out of nowhere.

You keep seeing rose, apple, and seashell symbolism in the world around you.

You feel drawn to seashells, pearls, and ocean related imagery.

You have a renewed sense of appreciation for beauty in the world around you, specifically in art.

You feel the random urge to redecorate your room or reinvent your physical space to make it more beautiful/artistic.

Vivid dreams of love, romance, serene landscapes, roses, art, temples, or even the goddess herself.

You have a boost in energy on Fridays (the days of love, ruled by the goddess Venus).

You repeatedly see 222 or 666 everywhere.

Making Contact

One way to make contact with Venus is to set up an altar dedicated to her and place offerings for her on it. I will cover offerings and devotional acts for venus later in this article. You can also connect with her through meditation, astral projection, and divination. While you meditate you can call on the energy of Lady Venus and use your intuition to sense her presence, or you can even pull out your tarot deck and ask her to send you specific cards such as the lovers or the queen of cups for a clearer or more physical sign of her presence. Another way to connect with Venus is to research further into her mythology and the history of her temple and worship in ancient Rome. I have given you the most important aspects of her mythology (in my opinion) but when worshipping or working with a deity you should ALWAYS continue to do more research. And if everything else feels too fancy, you can simply pray to her out loud, call upon her energy like you would with any other divine figure, thank her for the love and beauty that is in your life and open the line of communication.

Offerings For Venus

Flowers: Roses of all colors (especially red and pink), violets, lilies, lotus, jasmine, daisies, daffodils, myrtle

Foods: Chocolate, honey, sugar, apples, pomegranates, figs, peaches, raspberries, strawberries, grapes, cakes and pastries, vanilla

Incense/Scents: Rose, jasmine, ylang-ylang, lavender, vanilla, birch, myrrh, patchouli, geranium

Drinks: Red or white wine, clean water, milk, chocolate milk, strawberry milk, vanilla flavored coffee, apple juice, pomegranate juice, cranberry juice, raspberry tea, rosehip tea, jasmine tea

Beauty Items: Perfumes, makeup products, skincare products, hairbrushes, hand held mirrors, sweet smelling soaps, combs

Candles: Red, pink, green, turquoise, blue, purple, copper

Crystals: Rose quartz, emerald, caribbean calcite, emerald, lapis lazuli, jade, green aventurine, pyrite, pearls, copper

Statues/Symbolism: Statues of venus herself, doves, sparrows, geese, cherubs, hearts, swans, dolphins, rabbits, goats, fish

Miscellanious: Jewelry (especially anything copper, silver, pearl or seashell related), seashells, pink/red/green ribbons or fabrics, pennies or copper coins

Devotional Acts For Venus

Devotional acts are a form of offering in which you do an action in honor of a deity you’re worshipping or working with, so here are a few things you can do in honor of Venus:

Read or write poetry, especially about love, art and romance.

Listen to or create music in her honor, again especially if it's about love and romance.

Dedicate your self love/self care routines to Venus. Doing a face mask, lighting scented candles and reading, getting your nails done, shopping for new makeup or skincare, buying yourself flowers or even going on solo dates.

Compliment others and spread love in honor of Venus. Sometimes for me this is as simple as complimenting strangers or reminding my community and loved ones how much I adore them.

Dress in pink, turquoise and green with the intention of honoring Venus.

Donate to and volunteer at charities involving couples, community, the promotion of healthy love and relationships, and sexual health and education.

Visit an art gallery, poetry reading, or concert to honor Venus's influence on the beauty of art.

Wear specific jewelry that you dedicate to honoring her. Bonus points if it’s silver or copper, or contains things like pearls, seashells, doves, hearts, or even symbols of Venus herself.

~ #witchcraft #witch #deity #deitycomponents #deities #venus