Sophie-David
Venus, the Queen of Arrows (equivalent to Swords), rests on an orange bed laid upon a field of flowers. It is an interesting bed, like an big inflatable air mattress, or the pupa of a very large butterfly. The flowers speak of a mind full of creative ideas, and the clouds are deep and brooding. The Queen herself has a confident penetrating look, her refined beauty under powerful self-control. A red jewel at her forehead gives the impression of her inner eye by which she exercises an intuitively guided analysis. Two small birds, symbols of the suit of air, hop upon her arm as if they would be fed by her insight. She wears a sensuous golden-white dress trimmed with green and holds one of the arrows of Eros in her hand. These arrows convey the deadly love potion: she is armed and she knows how to use it.
Venus could have been logically associated with Cups, but I believe that placing her in Arrows helps account for the highly developed manipulative control that she exerts in the stories of The Lover's Path. But in most decks I find myself very attracted to the Queen of Swords and this is no exception. From Mary Greer's The Complete Book of Tarot Reversals, page 200, I find this is a good insight into this character type:
Venus is listed as Aphrodite in our mythology reference site, although it is worth noting that astrologically Venus and Aphrodite are quite distinct influences. From the same site, this interesting reference to Adonis suggests that he loved both Aphrodite and Persephone, the light and dark feminine. Adonis was eventually killed in a hunting accident and died in Aphrodite's arms. On page 105 of the text, Kris Waldherr suggests that
Venus could have been logically associated with Cups, but I believe that placing her in Arrows helps account for the highly developed manipulative control that she exerts in the stories of The Lover's Path. But in most decks I find myself very attracted to the Queen of Swords and this is no exception. From Mary Greer's The Complete Book of Tarot Reversals, page 200, I find this is a good insight into this character type:
She is indeed very much like my internal Venus in Aquarius - I can relate!While intelligent and discriminating, she is also reserved and aloof: an ice queen. Her no-nonsense self-reliance can be intimidating, yet you can count on her to speak frankly... She has gained wisdom by courageously learning from her pain and dealing with tragedy and loss, as symbolized by the hanging clouds in the background of the card.
Venus is listed as Aphrodite in our mythology reference site, although it is worth noting that astrologically Venus and Aphrodite are quite distinct influences. From the same site, this interesting reference to Adonis suggests that he loved both Aphrodite and Persephone, the light and dark feminine. Adonis was eventually killed in a hunting accident and died in Aphrodite's arms. On page 105 of the text, Kris Waldherr suggests that
Venus is traced to one of the aspects of Inanna of Sumer at Dr. Bernard Butler's Pagan Queen site and more concisely at Inanna. In Chapter Seven of Bernard's unfinished doctoral thesis he describesThis loss, painful as it was, granted the goddess a wisdom greater than beauty.
Not only did they split the dynamic feminine goddess into three, and reallocate many of her powers to male gods, they arranged for several of the Greek deities to avoid the humiliatingly inconvenience of being born of a goddess - Aphrodite included. Sexism knows no bounds!the Homeric Greeks' problem with a Goddess too big for them to comprehend in one piece. Inanna has three aspects: Love (Aphrodite), War and Wisdom (Athene), and She is the Queen of Heaven (Hera.)