The Myth of Venus

Venus is the Roman goddess of love, beauty, fertility, and prosperity, equivalent to the Greek goddess Aphrodite. She holds a central place in Roman mythology, embodying the ideals of love, desire, and the aesthetic aspects of life. Venus is often depicted as a stunning and seductive figure, emphasizing her association with physical beauty and attraction.

Venus was born of the ocean foam rising from the severed testicles of the god Uranus. She is the epitome of feminine charm, gorgeous and irresistible, but also vain and faithless, prone to jealous rage and capricious violence. By the numbers, her legacy of lovers is dwarfed by the victims left in her... ahem, wake.

One beautiful boy who didn't return her love was turned into a crab. An entire island's women were struck blind for failing to honor the goddess. And then there’s the well-known tragedy of Narcissus, who spurned her affection and was cursed to fall in love with his own reflection in a pool of water. In some versions, he drowns trying to consummate with the object of his desire. In another version, he dies of starvation, unable to tear himself away from the water’s edge. Love hurts.

Venus, Libra and the Autumn Equinox

Besides being the badass goddess of love and beauty, Venus is the ruler of Libra in Western astrology. Libra is the sign represented by the scales, symbolizing balance, compromise, the quest for perfection and the expression of grace and harmony. On September 22, the sun moves into Libra and we also celebrate (if that’s the right word) the transition of summer into autumn in the Northern hemisphere. You can listen to Alison Price and I talk about the Libra equinox on the Starzology podcast here.

The Art

My version of Venus came about from one of the Dr. Sketchy’s sessions a few years ago, before the Vancouver branch disbanded during Covid. I attended these monthly drawing classes almost every month, for close to 10 years, and the drawings that came out of those sessions eventually became my Badass Goddess calendars and recently-published Amazon book, Badass Goddesses. Many of them are also available in my Red Bubble shop on clothing, phone cases, home and office products and in posters, prints, etc.

Next month, I’ll be joining many other artists around the world in the Inktober challenge, which I’m calling (what else?) Pinktober. Check out my blog post about it here and consider taking up the challenge!