chart where it ruled all of the feminine signs: the Bull, the Crab (Cancer), the Virgin
(Virgo), the Scorpion (Scorpio), the Goat-Horned One (Capricorn), and the Fishes.
As for rulerships of bounds and faces (or decans), tables can be consulted to determine
these, as they require exact degrees of signs to determine.
Astrology was introduced to the Romans by way of imported slaves. They
embraced the Hellenistic practice without alteration, except that they renamed
Aphrodite for their goddess of fertility, joy, and beauty—Venus. Through their associ-
ation with the Alexandrian Greeks, the Romans came to view Venus primarily as the
goddess of love and the planet Venus as her abode. Eventually the planet would be
thought of as Venus herself, a substitution for the goddess, and the name for the sec-
ond planet remained Venus on into modern day.
Classical astrology of the Middle Ages had some similarities to the Hellenistic,
however the associations for Venus show quite a few variations between them, particu-
larly as to the rulership of body parts, but also in a propensity to expand on the nega-
tive, underworld significations of Venus. It represented the force of attraction as well as
love and beauty and ruled physical beauty, parts of the face, the throat, the female sex
organs, and sense of taste. Like Hellenistic Aphrodite, Venus symbolized women, art,
music, and relationships, and was fertile and creative. However, it also signified adul-
terers, flirts, incest, infertility, kidney and venereal disease, prostitutes, and scandal.
The system of essential dignities had Venus ruling Taurus and Libra and exalt-
ed in Pisces, a practice that has not changed throughout history. The classic dignities
also included tables of Triplicities, Terms, and Faces that varied according to the prac-
tice of the astrologer. William Lilly gave the diurnal, or daytime, triplicities of Taurus,
Virgo, and Capricorn to Venus; while the Dorothean, or Ptolemaic, tables added the
water signs Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces to that list. Venus had no nocturnal triplicity
rulerships. The terms were signs divided into five parts by degree. The terms of Venus
are best consulted in those tables. The faces were essentially decans, or 10° increments
of signs. Venus was in her own face in the first 10° of Cancer and Aquarius, the second
10° of Virgo, and the third 10° of Aries and Scorpio.
Vedic astrology, or Jyotish, has some similarities to the Hellenistic methods of
astrology. Venus rules Taurus and Libra, and is connected to the wife, marriage,
women, beauty, art, and music. Venus is called Sukra (Shukra), but is seen as a male
god. The deities associated with Venus are Lakshmi, the goddess of love and pleasure,
as well as Indra, the thunderbolt warrior god who also represents desires and yearn-
ings. Sukra rules the face, kidneys, and reproductive system and is associated with har-
mony, flowers, happiness, and pleasure as well as laziness, vanity, and addictions. He
represents love and the ability to relate to another. Sukra’s colors are multicolored, his
gemstones are diamond and white sapphire, and his day is Friday.
As a benefic, Venus enhances the house in which it is placed as well as provid-
ing a good influence on planets associated with it by house or aspect. Sukra (Venus) is
a friend to Mercury and Saturn, is an enemy to the Sun and Moon, and neutral with
Mars and Jupiter. In the zodiac sign of a friend it is joyful, contented, glad, and rejoic-
ing. In the sign of an enemy it is sleepy, drowsy, and numb. Sukra (Venus), as in west-
ern astrology, is exalted in Pisces. Jyotish defines the exact degree of exaltation as 27°Venus
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