Venus (Shukra)
शुक्र
Venus, Shukra, is the brightest planet in the sky, the morning and evening star, and in the stories it is Shukracharya, the teacher of the asuras, who alone knew the art of bringing the dead back to life. Its name means bright or clear. In a chart it stands for love, marriage, beauty, the arts, comfort, vehicles and pleasure, and it is one of the natural benefics. Friday is its day. Like Mercury it never strays far from the Sun, and it turns retrograde for about six weeks every year and a half or so. Its setting in the Sun's glare, as with Jupiter, is a time the muhurta tradition closes to marriage, which the site's muhurta finder dates by its visibility at the place. This page gives what the site's tables hold for Venus: the signs it rules, its dignities by degree, its friends and enemies, its combustion distance, its dasha and its readings in the signs and houses.
At a glance
- Nature
- Natural benefic
- Day
- Friday
- Vimshottari dasha
- 20 years
- Directional strength
- 4th house
- Combust within
- 10° (8° when retrograde)
What Venus signifies
The site's table of significations, the natural karakatva the birth report reads, gives Venus: love, marriage, luxury, arts, vehicles, beauty, pleasure.
Venus is one of the natural benefics in the site's table, with Jupiter, Mercury and the Moon. Natural nature is only half the story: what a graha is for a particular chart depends on the houses it rules from that chart's Lagna, which each sign's page sets out.
Signs and dignities
Venus rules Taurus and Libra. Its dignities, as the site's table gives them, by degree where Parashara divides a sign (Brihat Parashara Hora Shastra, the chapter on the planets, tr. R. Santhanam):
- Exalted in Pisces.
- Moolatrikona in Libra from 0° to 15°.
- Own sign in Taurus.
- Own sign in Libra from 15° to 30°.
- Fallen (debilitated) in Virgo.
Friends and enemies
The natural friendships the site reckons with (Parashara's, in the table every dignity and strength is worked from):
A planet in the sign of a friend is comfortable there, in an enemy's ill at ease; the sign pages list who is where.
Aspects, combustion and direction
Venus aspects the 7th sign from the one it occupies. Every graha aspects the seventh. Aspects are by sign, not by an orb of degrees. Venus is combust, lost in the Sun's light, when within 10° (8° when retrograde) of the Sun (Surya Siddhanta). It gains directional strength, dig bala, in the 4th house.
In transit, counted from the Moon sign, the classical gochara table the site uses counts Venus favourable in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 8th, 9th, 11th and 12th houses.
Its dasha and its nakshatras
Venus rules Bharani, Purva Phalguni and Purva Ashadha, one in each third of the zodiac. Its period in the Vimshottari dasha lasts 20 years, of the cycle's 120; a person born with the Moon in one of its nakshatras begins life in it.
Venus in the twelve signs
Varahamihira's readings of a birth with Venus in each sign, as the birth report quotes them (Brihat Jataka, tr. N. Chidambaram Iyer). He adds that a sign's effects come in full only when the planet, the sign and its lord are strong.
In Aries. With Venus in Aries, Varahamihira warns that desire can lead astray, into entanglements in love that cost property and good name. (Brihat Jataka 18.14, tr. N. Chidambaram Iyer (1905))
In Taurus. With Venus in Taurus, Varahamihira describes wealth earned by one's own ability and intelligence, the favour of those in power, a leading place in the family, renown and courage. (Brihat Jataka 18.14, tr. N. Chidambaram Iyer (1905))
In Gemini. With Venus in Gemini, Varahamihira describes service to government or to those in power, prosperity, and learning in music. (Brihat Jataka 18.15, tr. N. Chidambaram Iyer (1905))
In Cancer. With Venus in Cancer, Varahamihira gives a hard reading: more than one marriage, dependence on others, a timid yet proud nature, and much sorrow. (Brihat Jataka 18.16, tr. N. Chidambaram Iyer (1905))
In Leo. With Venus in Leo, Varahamihira describes an excellent spouse, gain through women or a partner, and few children. (Brihat Jataka 18.16, tr. N. Chidambaram Iyer (1905))
In Virgo. With Venus in Virgo, Varahamihira describes a life of hard work. (Brihat Jataka 18.15, tr. N. Chidambaram Iyer (1905))
In Libra. With Venus in Libra, Varahamihira describes wealth earned by one's own ability and intelligence, the favour of those in power, a leading place in the family, renown and courage. (Brihat Jataka 18.14, tr. N. Chidambaram Iyer (1905))
In Scorpio. With Venus in Scorpio, Varahamihira warns that desire can lead astray, into entanglements in love that cost property and good name. (Brihat Jataka 18.14, tr. N. Chidambaram Iyer (1905))
In Sagittarius. With Venus in Sagittarius, Varahamihira describes a person of excellent qualities and good wealth. (Brihat Jataka 18.16, tr. N. Chidambaram Iyer (1905))
In Capricorn. With Venus in Capricorn, Varahamihira describes someone liked by all and much swayed by a partner, who does well to choose company with care. (Brihat Jataka 18.15, tr. N. Chidambaram Iyer (1905))
In Aquarius. With Venus in Aquarius, Varahamihira describes someone liked by all and much swayed by a partner, who does well to choose company with care. (Brihat Jataka 18.15, tr. N. Chidambaram Iyer (1905))
In Pisces. With Venus in Pisces, Varahamihira describes a learned and wealthy person, liked by all and respected by those in power. (Brihat Jataka 18.16, tr. N. Chidambaram Iyer (1905))
Venus in the twelve houses
The readings the birth report gives for Venus in each house, counted from the Lagna:
In the 1st house. Venus in the 1st house gives charm, beauty and a pleasant, refined nature; you are attractive, artistic, diplomatic and fond of comfort and harmony.
In the 2nd house. Venus in the 2nd house blesses wealth, sweet speech and a refined family life; you earn through arts, beauty or luxury and enjoy good food and finery.
In the 3rd house. Venus in the 3rd house gives artistic communication and pleasant relations with siblings; you express yourself gracefully and enjoy creative pursuits.
In the 4th house. Venus in the 4th house blesses the home with luxury, vehicles, beauty and domestic happiness; comfort, art and a loving mother enrich your life.
In the 5th house. Venus in the 5th house grants romance, artistic talent and joy through love and children; you are creative, charming and fortunate in matters of the heart.
In the 6th house. Venus in the 6th house can bring relationship complications or indulgent habits, yet it softens conflicts; you may work in arts, beauty or service.
In the 7th house. Venus in the 7th house is excellent for marriage, giving an attractive, loving partner and harmony, romance and pleasure in partnerships.
In the 8th house. Venus in the 8th house brings hidden passions and gains through partner or inheritance; relationships are intense, transformative and sometimes secretive.
In the 9th house. Venus in the 9th house gives refined values, love of beauty in philosophy, travel and culture; fortune and pleasant journeys come through grace and charm.
In the 10th house. Venus in the 10th house favours a career in arts, luxury, beauty, diplomacy or entertainment; charm and aesthetic skill raise your public standing.
In the 11th house. Venus in the 11th house brings gains through art, women, luxury and pleasant friendships; desires for comfort and beauty are readily fulfilled.
In the 12th house. Venus in the 12th house favours pleasures of the bed, foreign romance and spiritual love; it grants comforts in seclusion but warns against indulgence.
Observances
The tradition's observances for Venus, as the site's reference lists them. Friday is its day and Goddess Lakshmi its deity. Its mantra is "Om Shukraya Namah", and its beej mantra "Om Draam Dreem Draum Sah Shukraya Namaha", recited 108 times. The customary gifts: donate white sweets, sugar or white cloth on Fridays; respect the women in your life. Its stotra is the Lakshmi Stotra.
Its stone is the Diamond (Heera). The site advises a stone only from a chart: its remedies page strengthens a planet whose Shadbala falls short of what it needs only where that planet is a friend of the chart, and never from a transit or a sign alone.
Use the tools
- See where Venus stands in your chart and how strong it is by Shadbala: free birth chart.
- Its present sign and the day's panchang: panchang; its transit through your Moon sign: horoscope.
- All nine: the grahas.