Astrological Aesthetics #4 - Venus Aries
If this is your first time reading ‘Astrological Aesthetics,’ consult the first installment to orient yourself.
Earth Signs focus on textures, the ‘materiality’ of things.
Air Signs focus on line & pattern, the visual and intellectual nature of things.
Fire Signs focus on the individuality of things, their ‘personhood’.
The nature of Earth is objectlike, Air imagelike, and Fire like to individual beings. Let’s demonstrate what this means.
Naoko Takeuchi*, Venus Aries (1) ruled by Mars Scorpio (3); Venus square Jupiter Cancer (5).
Super Sailor Moon (1996)
The impression is that of an individual, strikingly different from all which surrounds her. Cancer’s influence produces the gauzy softness, Scorpio the bold, intense colours.
Nabaka Suzuki*, Venus Aries (1) ruled by Mars Capricorn (3).
Panel from Kongou Banchou, Chapter 1 (2007)
In the simplest way, Aries is concerned with individuals acting. It conveys a striking impression - this as it’s a Martian Sign - and that impression concerns an individual. Capricorn’s influence adds crushing weight & force, the sense of gravity.
Georg Kolbe, Venus Aries (1) ruled by Mars Capricorn (3).
Tanzer Nijinsky (The Dancer Nijinsky) (1915)
Part & parcel of Aries (and Fire more broadly) is the sense of individual freedom, of something self-determining, here manifest in the sense of ‘free movement through space.’
Ainslie Roberts*, Venus Aries (1) ruled by Mars Capricorn (3); Venus square Neptune Cancer (5).
The Dancing Echidna (After 1963)
Aries is the POP, the thing thrusting its face in yours and declaring its existence. Capricorn contributes its metallic textures, Cancer the soft & disintegrating fibers, as well as the animal theme.
Martin McKenna*, Venus Aries (1) ruled by Mars Scorpio (3).
Illustration for Legend of Zagor (1993)
Layered over the Arian POP, Scorpio’s influence gives the impression of something horrific, rotten, tattered, musty, dark.
Zdislaw Beksinki, Venus Aries (1) ruled by Mars Gemini (3) opposite Saturn Sagittarius (7); Venus square Pluto Cancer (5).
Untitled (1973)
The softness of its edges and the sense of injury (of swaddled, wounded flesh) in its bandaged head are the product of Cancer; its eyelessness & the resulting abstractness of its character are the product of Sagittarius; its tight, squiggly limbs are the product of Gemini.
Francisco de Goya*, Venus Aries (1) ruled by Mars Aries (3).
Duendecitos (1799)
Hobgoblins! Aries loves weird little monsters. The fact that this work was a polemic against the corrupt Spanish clergy is also Arian: A moral crusade (Aries) conducted via art (Venus).
David Palladini*, Venus Aries (1) opposite Jupiter Libra (5).
Aquarius (1969)
Here Libra provides flowing lines & symmetry, but with Venus Aries they merely accent the central figure.
Odilon Redon, Venus Aries (1) ruled by Mars Taurus (3); 5th House Scorpio (2).
The Cyclops (1914)
The fuzzy, floral textures are Taurean, the scratchy, gloomy element is Scorpionic.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Venus Aries (1) ruled by Mars Scorpio (3).
Jeanne Samary in a Low Necked Dress (1877)
Scorpio is in the striking red of her lips and the consuming darkness of her eyes.
Michelangelo Buonarotti, Venus in 5th House Aries (1, 2) ruled by Mars Pisces (3, 4) opposite Pluto Virgo (7, 8).
La Pieta (1499)
The meticulous treatment of the stone is the product of Virgo’s influence, while Pisces makes it flow & twist, apparently effortless.
Raphael of Urbino, Venus Aries (1) ruled by Mars Gemini (3); Venus trine Neptune Sagittarius (5); Mars trine Jupiter Libra (7).
Saint Catherine of Alexandria (1509)
Sagittarius renders her contemplative, Libra adds the rhythmic sway to her body, Gemini emphasizes the fingers as discrete, striking points of light.
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