How does Astrology deal with women?

A little insight into the depths of Venus

In traditional Astrology there are only seven planets that are important; Saturn, Jupiter, Sun and Mars are male planets, Venus and the Moon are female planets, and Mercury, who is kind of a drag-queen, depending on the context. As you can see, the traditional system is mostly male; it may have something to do with the way the world was percieved back then.

However, before I get a feminist mob in our front door, please do bear in mind that the “sex” of a planet holds very little importance when it comes to the practice. Venus can be in a masculine sign, as well as Mars can be in a feminine one.

In fact, each planet — except the Sun and the Moon, the main male and female principles — has their own male and female signs to claim as their own:

Saturn: Capricorn (F) and Aquarius (M)

Jupiter: Pisces (F) and Sagitarius (M)

Mars: Scorpio (F) and Aries (M)

Sun: Leo (M)

Venus: Taurus (F) and Libra (M)

Mercury: Virgo (F) and Gemini (M)

Moon: Cancer (F)

In practice, this means that every planet has its favourite male and female place to be in. Venus loves hanging around in Libra, and Jupiter in Pisces is as strong as in Sagittarius.

So, in terms of gender equality, Astrology got it right. There cannot be a male without a female, and vice versa. This, of course, goes beyond such equality. We say masculine to the active principle, the positive pole, everything that grows, expands, enlightens; the feminine principle is receptive, the negative pole, all that contracts, shrinks, darkens. There cannot be action without reaction, and viceversa. No male without female. And so on. It is within this principle of action/reaction that all creation exists. There is no escaping from it.

But of course, as mankind usually drifts away from nature´s principles and cycles, at some point in history, some very scared males had enough with female power and decided they should be subjected to men´s will. Other sources claim that women chose to stay in caves while their men went out to hunt, thus avoiding the unpleasant experience of dying or getting maimed by some angry animal. Politics aside, the gap between both genders seemed to get bigger in western civilization.

In the first decades of the 21st century, gender equality is the zeitgeist. A noble goal, sometimes distorted in the light of certain extremist groups on both genders. For a while now, women have been fighting the archetypical image of what a woman should look, think and behave.

This led yours truly to think about what astrology thinks of women. On one hand, we have the Moon: to some modern astrologers it represents the mother, the nurturer and life giver who is forever generous, ever loving, the queen regent. In Astrology, the Moon represents our inner world, our emotions; the female principle in all of us. It has little to do with gender and a lot to do with how we face our own emotions, whether we are born male of female. So even though the Moon is the main female principle, it does not represent the female world in its entirety. There is also Venus.

Venus

The astrological explanation for male dominance is, as usual, a simple one: western society exalted the Moon too much, and undermined Venus´ importance in the female archetype. Then, these principles got mixed up to an unrecognizable concept of what a woman should be, conveniently leaving behind the sharper parts of both Venus and the Moon. This lead to some vague concept of “women” as beings who should look a certain way, obey and be devoted to “their men and children”, hide their imperfections as much as possible, etcétera, etcétera, etcétera. The ideal woman, then, does not belong to the human race. At the same time, we live in a venusian society. Everything is set to please the self, to make us feel happier, prettier, better all the time. There is no room in western society for grief, death, sickness or nastiness — at least, not without a pretty, just, moral or shiny counter part.

I would strongly recommend to read, with a certain care, the Greek mythology surrounding Aphrodite and Diana. They were not your usual Disney princess, that I assure you. Perhaps, those myths tackle some of the deeper corners of female psyche.

Javier Guelfi
@habirwelfen