The Only Astrology Book You'll Ever Need

by Joanna Martine Woolfold

  VENUS IN GEMINI If you have Venus in Gemini you must have an intellectual rapport with someone before your affections begin to blossom. Basically, you have a lighthearted attitude toward love. Intense, heavy emotional commitments are like an anchor around your neck. You have such a wide range of interests—travel, literature, music, seeing new places (and meeting new people)—that a lover just can’t be the single focus of your life. This lends a certain coolness to your emotions. Your inconstancy sometimes causes you difficulties in love or marriage, but you bounce back quickly. Not even a frustrated lover can be angry at you very long—you are too charming, witty, and funny. You enjoy being with people and have lots of friends, and often more than one lover. (Venus exerts its most flirtatious influence in Gemini.) This position of Venus also stimulates a careless and free hand for spending money.

  VENUS IN CANCER As a Venus-in-Cancer person you are romantic and sensitive. Being loved is more important to you than almost anything else, though you often conceal this need under a shell of reserve. You are not, however, so blindly romantic that you don’t carefully consider future security. For example, if you are a man you may not propose marriage until you have some reliable means of earning a living; if you are a woman you make sure you won’t end up sharing your lover’s poverty or struggling to support him. In a love affair you would much rather be pursued than do the pursuing; you need the reassurance that someone wants you enough to go after you. Once you feel secure you are demonstrative and sensual. You have a wonderful gift for eloquence and you are also intensely sentimental. You will make a big fuss over your lover’s birthday and remember the anniversary of the day you first met. This position of Venus indicates strong family loyalty. Venus-Cancerians are delightfully content to be at home and often love to cook.

  VENUS IN LEO Without doing anything, Venus-Leos are able to attract warm feelings on the part of others. There is something so magnetic, so irresistibly likeable, about you that you enjoy great popularity. You are extravagantly affectionate and generous, buying expensive gifts for those you love and praising them to the skies in front of other people. Of course, what you must have back is intense devotion, loyalty, and lots of attention. You must always be dominant in a love affair. “All the world’s a stage” was written about your emotional nature. No one can make a scene or confrontation as dramatic as a Venus-Leo. Needless to say you are drawn to the world of theater, and many of you are blessed with superb creative gifts. You also love fine possessions—money, clothes, jewels, furs. Though self-indulgent and pleasure-seeking, you are capable of making a great self-sacrifice for the happiness of someone else.

  VENUS IN VIRGO If you have Venus in Virgo, you tend to be cautious about falling in love. You sometimes avoid involvement by taking small defects in a person and blowing them up out of proportion as major character flaws. You hold yourself on a tight rein, because you fear that your feelings will be exploited by someone unworthy. What you want in a love relationship is someone who will regard you as special. Curiously, however, when you do give your heart away it’s often to the wrong person, who will not appreciate your fine qualities. (For some reason, this position of Venus tends to promote scandal.) Venus-Virgos have many virtues. You are refined and intelligent, loyal and sympathetic. Often you are an imaginative writer and teacher; you have an excellent business sense and a quiet but witty sense of humor. Many of our brilliant government leaders and humanitarians are Venus-Virgos who have given their love to the world at large rather than to one person.

  VENUS IN LIBRA You are in love with love. However, you are much more romantic than sensual. You skate gracefully over the profundities of love. Anything coarse, crude, vulgar, or earthy repels you. To you, true love is of the spirit. This is not to say you are sexually chaste. Indeed, you fall in love too easily and often have more than one amour going at a time. However, a love affair for a Venus-Libran must have all the right trappings and ritual. The ambiance created by champagne, intimate candlelit suppers, poetry written expressly for you, and beautiful gifts quite undoes your resistance. You put great store by charming social manners. People who don’t measure up are summarily dismissed no matter what their deeper qualities may be. Venus-in-Libra can be cold and aloof toward anyone who presumes. This position of Venus is superb for an artistic talent or a flair for design and decoration. You are successful working in creative projects within a partnership or marriage (sometimes you combine both). Venus-Librans adore creature comforts and luxury and tend to be extravagant with money.

  VENUS IN SCORPIO With your Venus in Scorpio, being in love is an all-consuming experience for you. There is a profound intensity to your emotions. Your sex life is passionate and demonstrative, and in a love affair it is the sexual side of the relationship that is emphasized. However, you also put love on a spiritual plane. Your deep need is to possess a lover wholly, to make your partner surrender to you body and soul. This, predictably, leads to stormy scenes; it is not easy for anyone to deal with such possessiveness. You are very sensitive to any rebuff; you can bristle like a porcupine. If someone does not respond to your love, you may even become vindictive. (If you have the Sun in Libra or Sagittarius, however, the jealous drive is lightened.) Venus-Scorpios tend to become involved in lucrative marriages or business partnerships. You have a sweeping compelling imagination, and many of you do highly original artistic work.

  VENUS IN SAGITTARIUS Venus-Sagittarians begin love affairs with a spirit of adventure. You like to experience the excitement of love in the same way you search for diversion in the rest of your life. First attractions are always wildly romantic; as a Venus-Sagittarian you never seem to have commonplace or banal love affairs. However, you cannot sustain the emotion, and therefore never completely sacrifice your freedom to another person. What you want is the unobtainable—perfect love—and even if you could find it you would shrink from being possessed by it. With such contradictory attitudes, it’s no wonder you leave your lovers terminally puzzled. Basically, Venus-Sagittarians are high-spirited, outgoing, and highly imaginative. You tend to attract powerful and influential friends and find it much easier to deal with friends than with lovers. For one thing, friendship is less demanding. Luck in creative affairs surrounds projects undertaken in foreign countries or far from home.

  VENUS IN CAPRICORN Venus-Capricorns are as careful and cautious about love as about anything else. You may sometimes be thought of as cold and calculating because you believe in the dictate “it’s just as easy to fall in love with someone rich as with someone poor.” In fact, this was probably said originally by a Venus-Capricorn. However, it is far from telling the whole story. When in love, you are loyal, faithful, and dependable. If you don’t marry rich, you work to give a mate security, and that includes material comforts. You may not be demonstrative and flowery, but what you say you mean. There is a dichotomy between your emotional life and your sexuality: You have earthy passions but keep them separate from your mental attitude. You can be sexually involved and detached at the same time. Venus in this position indicates a personality that is jealous, possessive, and fearful of rejection. Once snubbed, Venus-Capricorn’s reaction is complete coldness.

  VENUS IN AQUARIUS Venus in Aquarius promotes a kind and loving nature. You are helpful, charitable, and giving, but you are not an emotional person. You have an intellectually detached attitude toward love. To you, personal freedom is most important, and any relationship must leave you free to explore varied interests and hobbies, meet new people, and enjoy a wide range of friends. You cannot tolerate jealousy and will walk away from emotional scenes. You believe in fairness and openness. As a Venus-Aquarian, you are most likely to have platonic friendships because sexual involvements are more emotionally binding than you like. You are immensely popular, and can attract a great many lovers; often, however, you choose to direct your personal magnetism toward larger concerns and more enduring verities than mere romance. Aquarius is the sign of hopes and wishes, and Venus in this sign usually grants you what you dream
of (though not until midlife or later).

  VENUS IN PISCES As a Venus-Piscean you are inclined to have tender emotions and a deep capacity for devotion. In love, you are gentle, kindhearted, extremely sensitive—and fickle. It is not that you mean to be inconstant. It’s simply that being in love is such a wonderful feeling, and being loved makes you feel complete. You have an unfortunate penchant for choosing the wrong kind of lover, the kind who will take emotionally but not give back. Venus-Pisceans often have a secret love affair that causes them grief. You are completely intuitive about love, never logical. No other position of Venus can be as self-sacrificing or places more importance on the happiness of loved ones. You have true empathy for the problems of another person. Venus also indicates an imaginative and creative artistic flair, which helps you to put your feelings into writing, acting, or music. Venus-Pisceans are so generous that money slips through their fingers.

  MARS

  MARS IS THE PLANET of physical energy. It governs your sex drive, your forcefulness, and your aggression. Mars is the planet that spurs you into action.

  Are your sexual relationships ardent, tempestuous, and quarrelsome? Do you lose your temper quickly, or do you simmer for a while and then explode? In a conflict do you display cold contempt or heated anger? Is your willpower strong or weak? Does competition bring out your fighting spirit?

  To learn more about your assertive power, you must study the position of Mars in your birth chart.

  From early times Mars has excited and stirred the imagination. Because of its red color, Mars has always been known as a “fiery” planet. It is named after the Roman god of war. Mars, whose name means “bright and burning one,” was a warrior who exulted in battle and strife. Aggressive and quarrelsome, he never hesitated before leaping into the fray.

  In astrology Mars governs energy, boldness, the will to win, the ability to turn ideas into action. It is the planet of passion and sexuality and force. It signifies ambition and desire, courage and strength. A large part of the planet’s domain are your sex impulses, for Mars governs the sex organs. Mars’s position in your chart indicates what stirs your passions and whether you can get your own way. It tells what kind of physical endurance you possess and how accident-prone you are.

  Mars’s influence also brings strife and conflict, tension and anger, accidents and destruction. It rules heat, fire, earthquakes, violence, and war. The negative side of Mars’s power can cause sudden injury or illness.

  When Mars is prominent in your chart you have a go-getting personality with enormous energy and a rugged constitution. You tend to be enterprising, quick, and active, and you hate to be ordered around. Depending on how you use Mars’s force, you may be argumentative, quarrelsome, and reckless and encounter a great deal of discord in your sex relationships. You may be a strong leader, adventurous and pioneering, but may also be quick-tempered, brash, impulsive, and impatient.

  In its highest form Mars represents your unleashed energy and your human will. It is up to you to use this force constructively.

  Where Is Your Mars?

  To find out what sign Mars was in on the day of your birth, consult the Mars Tables on page 497.

  MARS IN ARIES Mars is in its natural home in Aries (the sign that it rules), and emphasizes qualities of brilliance, force, and energy. As a Mars-Arien you are given self-confidence and force of character. Others always know how you feel about a subject because you tell them in no uncertain terms. You are courageous and honest, but the opposite side of the coin is that you can be tactless, blunt, and combative. Your passions are fiery and are quickly ignited. Active and assertive in your sex life, you aggressively go after what you want (whether it’s a long-term lover or just a bedmate for the night). The professions of big business and politics are populated with Mars-Ariens, for natives of this position have a domineering will to win. You are able to make others respond to your ideas. Your youthful springy appearance lasts a lifetime.

  MARS IN TAURUS If you have Mars in Taurus, you tend to triumph through your own determined and persistent efforts. Your vitality is a slow and steady force that drives you on to success. Success to you means money, material possessions, and true love. A great deal of your energy is spent in sexual pursuits; your passions are earthy and voluptuous. In love affairs you try to dominate and to possess, and the firmness to your nature can become downright obstinate. Difficulties tend to arise because you are unwilling to see anyone else’s point of view. Because of your tenacity, you have the power to create almost anything you can envision. Sometimes a bent toward depression or temper tantrums mars your happiness. During your lifetime you often accumulate money and are known as a big spender.

  MARS IN GEMINI Mars in Gemini favors energetic activity of the mind. You are brilliantly intellectual, with a steel-trap brain that quickly grasps concepts and spins new ideas. You are incisive and practical and arrive at conclusions in a flash. The problem is that you lack force of will. You hesitate, vacillate, and think of yet another delay. In matters of sex, you experience desire in the mind before it becomes a reality. You enjoy the adventure leading up to lovemaking and have passions that are easily aroused. However, as soon as an affair loses zest and becomes ordinary you look for the escape hatch. You tend to have a number of affairs and marriages. Mars-Geminis are able to inspire and to lead others through the power of the spoken and written word. Often you have a magnetic voice and a compelling talent to convince others of what you say.

  MARS IN CANCER Mars’s power turns subtle in Cancer. You have great strength of will, but it is never thrust into the open. Like the tides, you wear down opposition by repeated assault. Each wave may accomplish little, but the accumulated effect is overpowering. In sex, Mars-in-Cancer’s approach is emotional. You are sensuous but refined, and your lovemaking is a highly intuitive art. Your passion, however, is dependent on what is forthcoming from a lover. If a lover is insensitive or unresponsive, he or she may find that your get-up-and-go just got up and went. Yet, as a native of this Mars placement, you will cling to a relationship that does not make you happy. You react only in outbursts of temper and nervous irritability. What you often require is an outlet for your pent-up energies. You are noted for your breadth of vision and highly emotional work.

  MARS IN LEO In Leo, Mars’s fire is accentuated. With this Mars position in your chart you are never ordinary. You make grand plans and possess the force and drive to put them into action. No one else can grab the attention and affection of others the way you can. You also have a dramatic sex drive. Hot-blooded and impulsive, you are successful in sex relationships because of your dynamism. You must dominate in affairs and demand a great deal of attention, but you are also warm, expressive, ardent, and affectionate. You prefer to make love in luxurious, rich surroundings. You are creative at work, but at times can be overbearing, authoritative, and a bit condescending. Mars-Leos see events in terms of themselves; it would never occur to you to be an anonymous observer. You are lucky in speculation and gambling, and often attract powerful friends.

  MARS IN VIRGO As a Mars-in-Virgo person, you are a prodigious worker who finds your best success in a systematized approach. You are ambitious and proud, though this is not always apparent on the surface. Extremely strong-willed, you can separate yourself from your emotions when it comes to making decisions. In your work you are shrewd, calculating, and quietly determined. You suspect people who only want to deal with big problems because somehow such people never seem to reach any useful conclusions. Mars-in-Virgo may appear sexually cool, but in truth you glamorize sex. You want it to be both physically rapturous and mentally exciting. Your passions are strong but kept under tight rein. Mars-Virgos tend to be successful in professions where control of emotions is advantageous (such as politicians, psychologists, and investigators). When putting a plan into action you must beware of getting bogged down in detail.

  MARS IN LIBRA When Mars is in Libra the power of this planet seems to fluctuate. You are impulsive and sensuous in your sex
drive. A great deal of your energy is spent forming emotional relationships. Yet you have a languid attitude toward sex and often must be sought after rather than be the aggressor. You are idealistic and esthetic; crudeness of any kind turns you off. You prefer liaisons with cultivated, sophisticated lovers, but tend to become involved in unhappy sex relationships. This position of Mars is excellent for a unique artistic or literary talent. There is a great beauty and balance in your work. You have an enviable ability to make a pleasing impression on the public. Mars-Librans believe passionately in fair play. Your actions are always preceded by a careful weighing of the pros and cons.

  MARS IN SCORPIO Mars in Scorpio underscores persistence and intensity. As a Mars-Scorpio you are a hard-driving and resourceful person whose strength is not so much shown in the heat of action as in determination and relentlessness. Your efforts are well disciplined, always directed toward a purpose. There are no wasted movements or needless expenditures of energy. You have a strong and deeply felt sexuality. However, it is sometimes an emotional sexuality, displayed in jealousy, anger, hurt feelings, and resentment. Though it is possible for you to be ruthless in your relationships, you are far more often simply quarrelsome and touchy. This position of Mars enhances imagination and a powerful creative drive. You are always able to move an audience. Often you are attracted to professions or situations that contain an element of danger or death.

  MARS IN SAGITTARIUS In Sagittarius, the power of Mars exhibits itself in brilliant flashes. It promotes courage, independence, and daring. Dashing and exciting as your actions may be, you are easily distracted. Your attention becomes riveted to a new plan, and your meteoric enthusiasm turns in that direction. This does not mean you do not accomplish anything, for you can produce remarkable results in a short time. Passionate and sensual, you may have numerous affairs because of your open, exploratory nature. You look on emotional commitments as a form of personal restriction. A sex relationship quickly begins, and just as quickly ends. You tend to be impulsive and act rashly. Quick-witted in speech and writing, you have the power to amuse and delight. You make a marvelous first impression.