Venus in Libra Talisman Collection
The Venus in Libra Talismans celebrate the star of Aphrodite in her airy temple. The sanguine nature of Libra accentuates the social blessings of Venus, including her cheerful wit and charisma. Delighting in her natural abode, Venus in Libra fashions relational bonds, initiates dialogue, and facilitates pleasurable interactions with ease. Her keen eye for beauty and aesthetic harmony fosters the appreciation and creation of artful work. The Venus in Libra talismans embody the refined taste, enchanting style, and spirited cleverness of Aphrodite directly expressing herself.
While the charming grace of Venus in Libra and her affinity for harmonizing are coveted traits, to truly live a life of beauty, we must connect with our own authentic desires. This was made clear from the onset of this working when the essential qualities of these talismans - purification, renewal, and devotion - became clear to me. I understood these qualities to be essential to fostering alignment to one’s heart and core values. While I already had a devotional practice with Venus, the presence of Aphrodite while creating these talismans was requiring me to renew it. In doing this I connected more deeply with my own desires in ways that brought forth an outpouring of creativity and joy.
As I began the creation of the Venus in Libra Talisman Collection, a vision of white silver and dove claws clutching pearls came to me. I understood the color white to be a symbol of purification, doves to be birds sacred to Aphrodite, and pearls both the sacred gems of Venus as well as emblems of purity and beauty. Creating these talismanic jewels became a journey that required a clearing away of distractions and self-limiting thoughts to reconnect with my core creative desire: untethered artistic expression. This collection is my most extensive yet, a labor of love in which I have reimagined the forms talismanic jewelry can take, all in honor of Venus.
Dove claws are central to this collection, as a claw collected from a mourning dove is the basis for most of these talismans. The dove is sacred to many goddesses associated and syncretized with Venus: the Greek Aphrodite, the Mesopotamian Ishtar, and the Syrian Ashtarte who emerged from an egg nurtured by doves. The ancient Greeks called the dove "peristerá," and it is believed this could be derived from "peraḥ Ištar," meaning "bird of Ishtar." During the Aphrodisia- the sacred festival of Aphrodite in ancient Greece - her altars were purified with dove's blood. In the flood narrative found in the Book of Genesis, the dove is a symbol for the kind of hope found in the darkest of times that can also be associated with Venus. After the destruction of the deluge, Noah released a dove to determine if the flood waters had receded. It was the dove’s retrieval of an olive branch from land that signaled that the waters had indeed subsided, heralding that their hope for a new beginning had finally been realized.
Rather than an olive branch, the Venus in Libra talismanic dove carries a pearl, a gemstone sacred to Venus, in its claws. Yet the powerful symbolism of renewal found in the image of a dove carrying an olive branch resonates with the way I’ve experienced the Venus in Libra talisman to be a facilitator of purification and renewal. This Venus teaches us the art of letting go and putting our skeletons to rest so that true desires may emerge and be recognized. A life lived accumulates skeletons, and when the skeletons pile up or clamor for attention, they mute our true desires. Laying these skeletons to rest involves finding an inner serenity that brings us back into the moment, so that we are able to experience and create beauty in our lives - the field tests upon these talismans to date place this as a central theme.
The election chart features Venus in Libra conjoining the midheaven during the hour of Venus. The Moon in Leo, applying a beneficial sextile to Venus, is enclosed by Jupiter and Venus. While the Moon is in the 8th house, Venus at the midheaven effectively mitigates any potential challenges posed by the Moon’s position according to the Picatrix. Additionally, the Moon is applying closely to harmonious aspects with both the midheaven and the ascendant degrees reinforcing the chart’s auspiciousness. Venus and the Moon are both free from hard aspects with Mars and Saturn.
I know that some people may have questions about the South Node of the Moon in this election and so I want to clarify my position on this. It's important to recognize that as eclipse points, the nodes predominantly impact the Sun and Moon as they do not extend their eclipsing effect to the other planets. In fact, each planet has its own node just as the Moon does. The nodes of the Moon, being hypothetical points, do not possess an orb of influence like the other planets. In this chart Venus has moved past the South Node and it is beyond her orb, placing her outside of its influence.
However, in this working I did recognise a connection with Venus having previously passed through the South Node's gate that resonated with the themes of purification and renewal—themes that are also apparent in the visual symbolism I have utilized. I envisioned a story of Venus, our Queen, dignified in her airy domicile of Libra, stepping through a mystical gate into a vast watery abyss, reminiscent of the waters from world flood myths. In this purifying aquatic realm, Venus sheds the debris she accumulated during her journey around the wheel. This debris, once a sticky tar encasing her wings and hindering her flight, is washed away. Transformed into her mermaid form, Venus dives deep into the abyss, seeking pearls of wisdom. She marks each pearl she retrieves with her sigil so that they are inspirited with her wisdom and love and then entrusts them to her sacred doves. The doves carry these talismans, each a facet of Venus's newly purified essence, as the reawakeners of true desire.
After her transformative journey through the gate, Venus re-emerges in her aerial form, spreading her gossamer wings. She is ready to soar anew:
“And then she was gone, aloft to Paphos,
Happy to see her temple again,
where Arabian Incense curls up from one hundred altars
And fresh wreaths of flowers sweeten the air.”
—Virgil
The Venus in Libra Talismans are a collection of handcrafted pieces made in a tarnish resistant solid sterling silver with most pieces incorporating a mourning dove claw within the design. They are set with baroque and round pearls and Lapis Lazuli. We find lapis lazuli listed as a gemstone of Venus in Agrippa and pearls listed in the Picatrix, we also find pearls connected to her throughout history - in artistic depictions and poems. It is thought that the water that drips from Aphrodites skin when she is born in the sea becomes pearls and Shakespeare writes of her tears being pearls. The underside of the gems were engraved with the sigil of Venus during the election window. You can view the collection [here].
