Venus (card by corax)Venus

Zodiac: Taurus and Libra
Tree of Life: Netzach
Tarot trump: The Empress and The Lovers
Connected to:
Four of Wands - Two of Cups - Seven of Cups - Five of Swords - Nine of Disks

Venus is the second benevolent planet, having her name from the Roman love godess Venus which was the equivalent of the Greek Aphrodite, standing for love, lust, fertility and luck.
According to astrology Venus is the planet of harmony and beauty, symphathy and friendship and attached to Taurus and Libra.

In Mesopotamian mythology Venus is associated with Ishtar, the sister of the Sun god Shamash (meaning she is the daughter of the Moon god Sin). Quite often Sun, Moon and Venus were seen as a triad in Mesopotamia when Venus was the brightest star in the skies.

Venus was also seen from ancient times on as a 'double star' - she was (and still is) the Morning Star when standing in the east and the Evening Star when standing in the west. Consequently her divine equivalent had a double nature as well, Ishtar was both the godess of love and the godess of war, with the Morning Star representing the former and the Evening Star the latter (and sometimes vice versa..). As the love godess Ishtar was a most beautiful woman and as the war godess she was often depicted with a beard, at times plainly seen as a male god or better said, the male part of a god combining both genders.

Ishtar
Ishtar

Ishtars Sumerian version Ninana (Lady of the heaven, sometimes called Nanaya) was explicitely depicted as the godess of physical love and fertility as well as a war godess, as was her Semitic equivalent Astarte which also combined both a love and a war godess, even though there is not such a distinctive male part.

The Greek Aphrodite was deprived of her role as a war godess and solely seen as the godess of love and beauty, adding particular emphasis on physical love and lust, at times appearing quite a bit shallow - for example when getting jealous at other womens' beauty or bickering over Paris' apple. The Roman Venus overtook Aphrodites character one to one.

It might be that Aphrodites regular connection to the war god Ares (the war god Mars for Venus) was a hint to Ishtars double nature, but one can never be sure with the Greek tendency to invent innumerous Olympian soap operas.

Venus


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