Venus, Lord of BEAUTY, represents the urge to harmonize with ones environments (internal & external). Through communing with the beautiful things of the world we are thrust into a visceral awareness of the bliss of existence and reminded of the joyous celebratory aspect of Divinity. From here Venus relates to our capacity for love and evaluation — identifying that which creates harmony in our lives versus that which does not. Venus thereby governs specific objects of pleasure, as opposed to the more general realm of appetites (controlled by the Moon). Finally it relates to virility and passion — not a specific passion or goal in life but instead our capacity to bring passion and beauty to any and all aspects of life.

 

In the Sufi doctrine Venus is Imagination (al-khayāl) which allows one to envision and comprehend things beyond the pale. Through imagination we come into contact with what is possible beyond our current state of being, thereby taking the first step toward turning our dreams into reality. It is the sense of “that would be wonderful”. Imagination ultimately allows us to envision the world or life we wish to create through the Will (Sun). At its worst Imagination can become empty escapism and nihilism. 

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“The mode of working of the mind which is complementary to reason [Saturn] is imagination (al-khayāl). In relation to the intellectual pole of the mind imagination may be considered as its plastic material; for this reason it corresponds by analogy to the materia prima on which the plastic continuity of the “cosmic dream” depends just as, subjectively, it depends on imagination.

            If the imagination can be a cause of illusion by binding the intelligence to the level of sensory forms it none the less also has a spiritually positive aspect in so far as it fixes intellectual intuitions or inspirations in the form of symbols. For imagination to be able to assume this function it must have acquired in full measure its plastic capacity; the misdeeds of imagination come not so much from its development as from its being enslaved by passion and feeling. Imagination is one of the mirrors of Intellect; its perfection lies in its remaining virginal and of wide compass”.

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— Introduction to Sufi Doctrine, by Titus Burckhardt