~ Saturn in aspect to Venus ~
" A New Look At An Old Devil " .. by Liz Greene
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Saturnian contacts to Venus, when they occur in the charts of those who are not predisposed towards introspection or self-understanding, are some of the most painful contacts to deal with. This is particularly true for the charts of women. In both men's and women's charts one of the traditional interpretations , which seems to be accurate enough, is that of failure or sorrow in marriage and in love with a subsequent residue of disillusionment, bitterness, fear, and a great sensitivity to rejection which colours all successive romantic encounters with a certain aloofness and mistrust.
It is probable that the initial failure - and there is generally one very painful one - is not the only key to the patterns of behaviour which are so typical of Venus-Saturn but that an additional and more important key may be found in childhood, in the individuals relationship to his parents and particularly to the parent of the opposite sex. This is not a new concept but has been suggested before in reference to Venus-Saturn configurations. Saturn's associations with parents bring this element into all Saturnian contacts with the personal planets.
Venus seems to have importance in relation to one's capacity to be happy in the conventional sense, to be at peace or in harmony with oneself and with the environment. More than any other aspect Venus-Saturn appears to strike at a persons happiness, and the usual feeling with the aspect, even if its more drastic forms are not expressed, is a nagging discontent and the feeling that one will never be able to be happy or take pleasure in life. This contact, even the "harmonious" aspects of trine or sextile, strikes also at a woman's basic attitude towards her own femininity and her worth as a woman and affects a man's basic attitude towards women.
Although it may be argued by the more esoterically inclined that personal relationships are of minor importance on the spiritual path, nevertheless loneliness and rejection, in the case of people with Venus-Saturn contacts, can ruin the entire life, and the importance of relationships as they are symbolised by the descendant of the chart is not to be underestimated. This is one of the cardinal points of the birth chart and of the individuals life. While the setting for Sun-Saturn contacts is a broader and more abstract stage, where the issue of one's significance to oneself and one's role in life are at stake, the setting for Venus-Saturn contacts is the sphere of intimate relationships, and it is often in the private recesses of the bedroom that the final effects of these aspects take their toll.
In fine balance to the great unhappiness and isolation which often accompany Venus-Saturn aspects, there is also as great potential for a deep and meaningful and permanent relationship based on complete understanding and on free choice rather than mutual need. The mysteries of union are within the grasp of the person with this contact for although he stands to lose much - and usually must spend a good portion of his life without a companion or without true companionship - he also holds the key to a relationship which is lasting and real.
Libra is the sign of Saturn's exaltation, and Venus-Saturn contacts are similar and perhaps even more clear in their inference that relationships are the path to self-knowledge and self-development.
The connection of Venus-Saturn to sexual inhibitions, particularly the varying degrees of sexual defensiveness which we term fridgity, is rarely mentioned since "sorrow in love" is somehow expected to imply this often sorrowful area of experience as well. But Venus-Saturn contacts cannot be consciously utilised in a constructive way unless an effort is made at honesty with oneself. As with all Saturnian aspects we must consider the workings of the unconscious with its tendency to hold compensatory or opposite attitudes and feelings in relation to the conscious personality and efforts of the individual. Regardless of how badly the person with Venus-Saturn wants to express sexuality and emotionally, there is usually an equally intense unconscious fear which makes defense neccessary at all costs.
Venus -Saturn combinations imply a certain amount of emotional pain and rejection in the early home life. This may be of an obvious kind, such as the home where nobody touches each other or expresses any overt display of affection or warmth. It may also be of a more subtle kind, where much material display is offered, many gifts given, and a great effort made to provide the physical comforts but where there is no real recognition of or love of the child in a straightforward way. It is common with these aspects to find parents who love their child because he is their child but do not actually like the child when it comes to a real appreciation of his individuality. This kind of "love" is very frequent in connection with Venus-Saturn contacts. It is particularily common among parents who have children because it is the accepted thing to do but who do not themselves, unconsciously, want the responsibility.
There are many similar and equally complex patterns which may be found with Venus-Saturn, but they generally involve a lack of real love in the home from one or both parents. Their child is usually better off away from his parents as soon as he is old enough to stand alone, regardless of how much guilt and havoc this may create in the home. The longer he remains in the family fold, the greater his sense of inadequacy will be in later life.
The capacity for expression and receipt of affection symbolised by Venus, is often cramped and twisted because there is so little genuine affection in childhood; and the individual often finds that he cannot untwist himself later in male-female relationships because he has grown so accustomed to his defenses. There is usually a deep and almost compulsive need to be loved which accompanies Venus-Saturn contacts along with the characteristic Saturnian coolness and defensiveness. It may be said of people with this contact that there is often a feeling of being unloved, and in consequence they find it difficult to express love themselves - except in that slightly demanding, sometimes possessive, discontented yet painfully sensitive and vulnerable manner which is more often seen in children of about three or four years of age.
In some fashion the affectional nature has been frozen and remains in a childlike and awkward state while the rest of the temperament, including the defense mechanism, grows up around it. There is often much sophistication in people with Venus-Saturn contacts because their search for happiness may take them into some strange by-ways in pursuit of a love which does not bring pain. But the emotional nature in this area remains essentially that of a child.
We have all encountered those children who because of their fear of being unwanted can only express their need for affection through destructive actions, or an attempt to inflict pain, or sulking and weeping; if we transfer this rather extreme picture to the adult body and mind of the Venus-Saturn individual, and include the skill at portraying surface coolness which he has usually developed, we will hold the key to his peculiar and often misunderstood emotional nature. Of course not all people with Venus-Saturn contacts behave in this fashion. But there is a touch of this quality present although it may be beautifully masked or outweighed by more self-expressive factors. It is particularly rare to find men who express the real vulnerability of the contact since it is far less acceptable in our society for a man to admit that he is afraid of being unloved. So he will very likely affect the traditional Venus-Saturn exterior: coldness which can extend to heartlessness, callousness to the emotional hurts of others, a suspicious and jealous nature which expects, constantly and in spite of reassurance, to be eventually betrayed, and yet a very deep and unshakable loyalty to someone who may be abusive, dependant, or the least deserving of objects.
If we remember that these are people whose emotional growth, in the realm of relationships, has been stunted in childhood, it should be possible to see past the reputation this aspect holds for being incapable of love and understand that what we are pleased to call love is often the expression of need and of sentiment and that this expression, to be convincing, must be observed and experienced in childhood. The Venus-Saturn individual is often awkward when confronted with the world of sentiment; it makes him acutely uncomfortable because he is not used to it. For him love is often linked with sacrifice, and he will either avoid it entirely or make of himself - or his partner - the sacrifice which he believes is required.
In a woman's horoscope Venus, besides being the symbol of the affectional nature, is also symbolic of femininity itself - not the maternal aspects of femininity, which is the province of the Moon, but the ideal companion who expresses beauty, harmony, grace, and charm. Venus is the archetype of the hetaira or courtesan rather than the mother, and these two faces - Venus and the Moon - together symbolise the female principle on a personal level. Venus-Saturn contacts usually affect a woman's confidence in herself as a woman - not only by society's definition of womanhood but by her own inner definition as well. It is usual to find Venus-Saturn women in the competitive world of business, and this type of woman often excels in her profession. She may be driven to achievement not only because she has a genuine love of work, responsibility, and creative self-expression but also because she may feel that she cannot properly function in any feminine capacity. Only the masculine world is left to her then.
Venus-Saturn contacts in their unconscious form do not appear to be analogous to the truly liberated woman who has found her own centre; they appear to be more concurrent with the woman who is frightened of being a woman because she thinks she will fail at it. These two creatures are often apparently similar, but the typical Venus-Saturn woman carries deep feelings of inferiority and unattractiveness - regardless of how physically appealing she may be. It is also common to find Venus-Saturn women in the performing arts, as models, and even as the modern equivalent of the hetaira, with perhaps less glamour. For these woman it is terribly important to be loved, admired, and thought beautiful. This is hardly liberation; it is closer to an enslavement to fear. It is no wonder that Venus-Saturn aspects have the reputation of making a woman unpopular with her own sex. As she despises and fears this sex within herself, she attracts resentment and fear from other woman.
The prostitute symbolises one extreme of Venus-Saturn, and this is perhaps the most difficult expression for a woman because of the loneliness of this way of life. The woman at the opposite end of the spectrum - the celibate 'spinster' - is not so opposite as she first seems to be, for both these woman have found a way to avoid the pain of a deep emotional involvement without having to admit to themselves that this is the basis of the behaviour pattern. To love in the sense that Saturn requires it to cost something, for this kind of love can entertain no illusions and cannot be based on the satisfaction of a personal need. Many people with Venus-Saturn aspects are afraid to pay the price, although opportunity is given them to develop this deeper side of the affectionate nature and to learn about the more meaningful aspects of relationships.
These two extremes also bear some resemblance to the more typical Venus-Saturn woman who plays the role of modern housewife; for she has sold her soul and her dreams in exchange for the security and safety of a house, an automobile, and the guarantee of maintenance payments if the marriage fails. She will often choose a partner not because she loves him, or because the relationship seems a valid one, but because he is safe and cannot hurt her or reach her more vulnerable feelings. No punishment is meted out by the angry gods to these women who have escaped from paying Saturn's dues. The endless frustration and isolation of a meaningless life is payment enough .
We may find Saturn over-compensating on occasion, and this kind of pattern is equally frustrating because it is just as isolating. It is common to find a person with Venus-Saturn following a pattern of relationships where the partner is a burden, emotionally or mentally or physically "inferior" in one way or another. Venus -Saturn women are often burdened with husbands or lovers whom they despise or who are in some fashion a source of unhappiness; yet they will not let go and will offer any one of a hundred excuses for maintaining the relationship with such men. Martyrdom of a self-imposed kind is a common Venus-Saturn manifestation; and the familiar cry, "I've given so much to him, and all he does is abuse me" must have first been given by a woman with Venus in aspect to Saturn.
It is in situations such as these that the deceptiveness of these contacts is evident for it is as difficult to see one's motives clearly with a psychological pattern of this kind as it is to see the bottom of a murky lake. It takes courage to tackle this aspect and make something constructive of it; but it can be so unpleasant in its manifestations that it often has the knack of bringing out a person's latent source of courage. Most important is the acceptance of responsibility for, as with all Saturnian contacts, the "sorrow in love" is not the cruel hand of blind fate at work but the natural response to an unconscious pattern.
It may seem that in the light of the psychological convolutions which generally accompany Venus-Saturn contacts, there is little positive to be said for them. But the rule seems generally to be, at least with Saturn, that his benefits are in direct proportion to the amount of pain he can engender. The individual with a Saturn-Venus aspect, particularly with the conjunction, square, or opposition, has his work cut out for him. This can unquestionably be a very distressing aspect, particularly to a person who is sensitive or romantic by nature. If he is willing to take an honest look at the motives within himself which have helped to create the patterns of disappointment which he experiences, he can learn a tremendous amount not only about himself but about the nature of love and the nature of relationships.
This knowledge, which eventually develops into wisdom, can help him establish a fully conscious and free relationship with a minimum of unconscious projection and a maximum of honesty. Only the person who has truly loved in freedom, from the heart and not from the solar plexus, can appreciate the nature of the gift offered by Saturn aspecting Venus. It is a question of first learning to love oneself.
The man with a Venus-Saturn contact may not have quite as difficult a time as his female counterpart, but with men these aspects often are symbolic of a general mistrust of women. There is often the fulfilment of the usual pattern of the "safe" partner, and a great deal is often made of something which is referred to as duty but which is closer to martyrdom. Sometimes there is great resentment or hostility towards women, with fear behind the resentment, and this kind of man will generally dislike a woman who expresses any degree of intelligence or individuality because he maintains his security by keeping his women under control. This is one of the aspects which can incline toward the proverbial "male chauvinist pig" so despised by the Woman's Liberation Movement; ironically, however, this movement in its more extreme forms is populated by woman with the same Venus-Saturn contacts. With infinite gentleness and patience the universe informs us yet again that like attracts like.
Venus-Saturn contacts are highly important for several reasons, and it is worth the exploration of their nuances and subtleties to get a clearer idea of the amount of power they wield. There is an unmistakable stamp which often accompanies people who have the aspect on the natal chart, and although Venus is a personal planet without much power in the orthodox sense, the entire personality is often shaped by the presence of a strong Venus-Saturn contact. There is an inference in all of this which suggests that Venus is perhaps a more important a planet than we give her credit for being and that she has a deeper meaning than ornamentation and affection.
Esoteric doctrine tells us that Venus is the twin sister or alter ego of the earth and that in the coming centuries she will have greater power both astrologically and symbolically. There is obviously no way to demonstrate at this point whether this piece of esotericism is of value. But in spite of our modern declarations to the contrary, meaningful relationships - whether we call them marriage or not - are of major importance in the life and growth of the individual psyche both because of the actual experience and because of the inner reality which it symbolises. We have only to look briefly at mythology and folklore, and also at the alchemical "coniuctio" or marriage of Sun and Moon, to glimpse the enormouse psychic importance of the marriage rite as a symbol of union and integration.
Even those who for religious reasons eschew relationships must find a suitable psychological substitute; so the nun becomes the Bride of Christ, and the priest offers service to Mother Church. It is in the area of relationships that human beings are the most vulnerable, and consequently it is here that they can make the greatest steps in growth and self-understanding. Saturn, as we know, is in exaltation in Libra, and some of this opportunity is reflected when he is in the seventh house or aspects Venus. The path of building a relationship based on love and free choice is as valid, and as difficult, a path as the most abstruse of esoteric disciplines.
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above text is from "A New Look At An Old Devil" by Liz Greene