Introduction 2

Morning Star, Evening Star
The brief overview of the Venus cycle presented in the previous page provides a multiplicity of factors susceptible to astrological interpretation, and it offers a foundation for a process-oriented classification of Venus types. Such a classification consists of two fundamental types – Venus Lucifer, the Morning Star; Venus Hesperus, the Evening Star. As we'll presently see, each of the two types presents a particular emotional temperament and a particular sense of values, meaning, ideals and appreciation. Additionally, each of the two primary types carries a special retrograde subtype.
      Determining your Venus type is easy. First locate the Sun in your natal chart. If Venus is clockwise from the Sun, your Venus type is Lucifer, the Morning Star. On the other hand, if Venus is positioned counterclockwise from the Sun, your Venus type is of Hesperus, the Evening Star.
      If you haven't had your birth chart calculated, simply look up your birth day and year in an ephemeris. If the Sun is further along the zodiac than Venus, your Venus type is Lucifer. If Venus is further along the zodiac than the Sun, it's Hesperus. While you're at it, check to see if Venus is retrograde (indicated by the letter R in the Venus column above your birthdate). In the ephemeris and horoscope graphics generated by Khaldea2001^TM, retrograde planets and listings are shown in red. For example, if your natal Sun is 20 degrees Gemini and your natal Venus is 10 degrees Taurus, your Venus type is Lucifer, the Morning Star.
      While the interpretation given here provides the most fundamental approach to the cycle of Venus and its place in astrology, it is important to note that it does not factor the latitude of Venus into the picture. Additionally, a thorough astrological consideration of one’s emotional nature requires an examination of the house and sign occupied by Venus, as well as considering how other astrological planets, especially the Moon, Mars, Saturn and Neptune tie in with Venus and the chart as a whole. Nevertheless, the interpretations below provide the first and most fundamental approach, and they deal not only with our emotional make-up, but also with our value-system and how we interpret, evaluate and make sense of our life-experiences and the world around us.

Venus Lucifer
A new Venus cycle opens when the Sun and Venus meet in inferior conjunction. It is a moment when the Venusian faculties of emotion and evaluation are impressed with what Dane Rudhyar calls a "new quality of will and purpose." But the new quality of Venusian response and meaning does not become realized all at once. It is rather gradually translated from potentiality to actuality throughout the 584-day Venus cycle.
      The first half-cycle of the Venus cycle is characterized by a spontaneous, eager and impulsive emotional nature. It corresponds with the constructive, biological activity predominate during the waxing hemicycle (from the conjunction to the opposition) of the lunation cycle. But while the approximately 29-day lunation cycle deals with our most basic and essential life forces, and with adapting to the demands of daily life, the Venus cycle deals with our inner nature and the set of meaning-giving values guiding our daily actions and forming our long-term goals.
      People born during the Luciferian or Morning Star half of the Venus cycle generally let their feelings lead the way, tending to feel and emote first and think later, especially if natal Venus rises before Mercury. They are emotionally fresh, spontaneous and open to new experiences. Emotionally resilient, Venus Morning Star people usually recover quickly from emotional or romantic disappointment, while Venus Evening Star people are more likely to scar emotionally and carry deep-seated resentments because their emotional make-up tends to process and replay scenes of disappointment and hurt. But when a Venus Lucifer person, especially one born while Venus was retrograde, experiences profound emotional pain or abuse early in life, she may "close down" emotionally and assume a protective or fearful attitude toward life and relationships.

Venus Hesperus
Venus' second half-cycle begins at the superior conjunction – which always occurs when Venus is direct and moving through the zodiac near its greatest velocity – and continues until the next inferior conjunction. A few weeks after the Sun and Venus meet in superior conjunction, Venus emerges on the other side of the Sun, appearing as Hesperus the Evening Star.
      Corresponding with the waning hemicycle of the lunation cycle (from Full Moon to New Moon), Venus' Evening Star half-cycle denotes a deliberate and goal-oriented emotional make-up seeking to extract and distill the meaning of experiences encountered and ideals formulated during the Morning Star half-cycle. Whereas emotions and feelings eagerly rushed forward during the Venus Lucifer period, they are now more controlled and introverted in the Venus Evening Star period, though not necessarily less intense!
      Although Venus Evening Star people may not show emotions are largely and as easily as Venus Morning Star types, they often experience emotions more intensely because they tend to become more privately and internally involved with their emotions and their emotional life. Feeling after the fact, so to say, Venus Hesperus people may take a long time to recover from emotional trauma, thinking about and anguishing over a lost love or a bitter disappointment for years.

Relationship between mixed types, while not necessarily favorable or unfavorable, may at times produce misunderstandings and a sense of being "out-of-synch". In such instances, it is not unusual for the Venus Morning Star partner to claim to immediately "forget about" or "get over" a disagreement or fight, while the Venus Evening Star person may require much longer to "forgive and forget." One may be amazed and deeply perplexed that the other can so easily disregard a painful incident, or that it made such a minor impression on his partner; the other may be annoyed that her partner still brings up that "old" issue of a few days ago, thinking, "It doesn’t bother me, so why should it bother him?"

The descriptions of the Venus types (and subtypes) which follows are illustrated with the birth charts of numerous personalities. Thorough interpretations of the sample charts are not attempted here, but indications are provided regarding how Venus fits into the chart as a whole, and some additional hints are given regarding the key factors of the nativities. Additionally, in the examples an exhaustive interpretation of the Venus types is not attempted. We point the way, and offer suggestions, because our approach encourages self-devised, self-initiated learning and thinking. We encourage you to study of the biographies of personalities who interest you, and if you wish to learn more about the astrological planets and asepcts, you may want to have a look at The Planets - Celestial Organs and their Function, and The Eon: The 36 Cyclic Aspects. You can also learn more about the planets, astrological aspects, the signs and the houses, and much more by browsing the online edition of A Handbook for the Humanistic Astrologer and The Astrology of Relationship.