A Guide to Venus Rituals
When we are going through a period of time where our love lives are rocky, or our income feels unstable, or we’re just looking for a source of inspiration, creativity, and joy, we might turn to Venus, patroness of all of the above, for a little help and support.
Here are the tools you’ll need to move through a full Venus ritual, to pledge your devotion to this deity, and in return, coax out a little divine help from above.
A Note on Asking for Favors from Planets
Petitioning a spirit, or a planetary deity, or a guiding force, means that we are asking something of the powers that exist in the macrocosm. These are divine forces we’re working with, and they deserve the utmost care and respect! After all, we wouldn’t demand serious help of a stranger out of nowhere, right? Support comes from a sense of reciprocity, a mutual love or devotion on both sides of any relationship equation. I say all of this to remind us that in order to have fruitful magical results, we should build meaningful relationship with our planets before asking for favors.
By choosing a planet or two that you want to build relationship with, and leaving them offerings and prayers on an ongoing basis, you get to introduce yourself to that spirit or deity, and in turn, be known and adored by them. Magic requires sacrifice—look to any mythic or biblical tale, and the element of giving something up to the gods is ever-present.
Now, I’m absolutely not telling you to give up things that will pain you to part with, no need to sacrifice our first-borns in 2023!! But we’d be wise to remember that little gifts—drinks like water, wine, coffee, spirits, items like shells, mirrors, flowers, stones, sculptures, works of art, letters of intention etc., all fill that niche, and help us build a connection to our chosen divine spirit.
When to Work with Venus
How do you know if it’s the right time to petition Venus? Here’s a list of ideas that might feel resonant or familiar to you:
1) You’re going through an especially challenging period of time in your interpersonal relationships, romantic and otherwise.
2) You’re looking to have a positive experience on a date, a first day of work, or giving some kind of performance (arts centered comes to mind, but anything creative will do)
3) Money is feeling a bit tight and you’re looking for more reliable experiences around abundance.
4) You’re in search of solid artistic inspiration, or a renewed sense of creativity.
5) You’re experiencing some discomfort with body issues and are in need of a boost of confidence, glamour magic, and support from the sacred feminine to help soothe ruffled nerves, or empower and embolden yourself.
If any of these scenarios feel like they’re looming large for you, a Venus devotional practice may be just what the cosmic doctor ordered :)
Materials for Venus Workings
Color Magic Correspondences
Red, pink, green, lilac, peach, copper, yellow, gold - wear any of these to amplify your Venusian style, or include these colors in your altar making to raise the vibration.
Suggested Altar Items for Offerings
Methods
Pick a spot in your house that is available for such offerings as flowers, candles, glasses of wine (we’ll get into specifics below)—somewhere free of pet interference and out of reach of kiddos for their safety. If you can find a North facing wall, that’s lovely as Venus = earth = North. If that’s not available, don’t worry. I’m a big proponent of working with what you’ve got, no gatekeeping in this mini-grimoire.
Once you’ve got your spot picked, every Friday put out a fresh set of offerings. Glasses of wine, flowers, crystals, images of the goddess, etc. No particular order is necessary, no arrangement will save your ass, just leaving things out for her is lovely. If you can do this on Venus’s day as well as her hour, that’s even more potent, but again, sometimes life gets in the way of timing so don’t fret.
It’s as simple as that. Leaving her gifts to soothe and support is the name of the game. Giving comfort to a planet, letting her feel loved, this is all really important so that the more exalted frequencies of the planet can shine through. They’re there! It’s a beautiful placement! Just requires some conscious attention.
A Step by Step Suggested Ritual Flow
After you make the altar, it’s time to do some visualization. Though if you’re pressed for time, it’s really OK to leave your presents and then run out the door to work/grocery store/obligations. But if you do have time after setting up your space, you can do a few things to further deepen the connection.
Light the candles and/or incense, and speak aloud to Venus, saying hi, saying that these offerings are for her, and that you hope to build a connection with her going forward. Doing this your first few times without asking for anything is advised. Sort of like how you wouldn’t ask a stranger for something with no established relationship, we are here to build a relationship with the deity in question.
Sitting in meditation is also supportive, letting the energy of the altar flow to you, and you also sending your energy to the altar. Setting the intention that this support, nourish, and elevate your Venus’s state. Let your meditative state also show you things about what needs to be tended to in your day-to-day life, for a more robust connection to the goddess.
Write a letter to Venus on your third or fourth week of doing this, just listing out things you wish to manifest or hope to set straight, with her help. You can talk about your love life, your money flow, your sense of self, your desire and passion, or just a need for harmony and clarity.
You can read the Orphic Hymn to Aphrodite aloud or any other kind of love poetry/lyric that you think is Venusian and fitting for your aims.
Divine Timing
In ritual, timing can be extremely helpful to empower our practices, like we’re being invited to step into really rich slices of time and space, which can amplify our magical success. For a devotional practice, we don’t have to get too crazy, but I’d recommend doing this work on Friday, Venus’s planetary day, and trying to catch one of her two planetary hours that day will be helpful too. Sometimes our schedules don’t allow for this, and so if you can’t swing the planetary hour, don’t fret. We do the best with what we're given.
Planetary hours can be determined by an app like Time Nomad, or AstroSeek’s planetary hours calculator is wonderful too, linked here. Just remember to adjust for your timezone before you use the table.
