Venus Through the Twelve Signs

Venus orbits closer to the Sun than Earth does, so from where we stand it never strays more than about 47 degrees from the Sun in the sky. In zodiac terms that is a little over a sign and a half. Your Venus is always in your Sun sign, one sign away, or, at the edge of the range, two signs away by sign.

That is why guessing your Venus from your birthday rarely works, and why a calculator earns its keep. The only way to know which of those few signs holds your Venus is to run the date and time.

Traditional astrology rates how comfortably a planet operates in each sign. Venus rules Taurus and Libra, so it works from home in both. It is exalted in Pisces, where its generosity runs highest. It sits in detriment in Aries and Scorpio, the signs opposite its rulerships, and in fall in Virgo, opposite its exaltation. In the remaining signs it is peregrine, neither strengthened nor weakened by dignity.

Dignity is not a verdict on whether you can love well. A Venus in detriment simply has to work against the grain of its sign, and that friction often produces the most self-aware lovers. Each sign guide names the dignity and what it means in practice.