As Venus and Mars are separating from a conjunction, let’s remind everyone that Venus stands for romance, pleasures, seduction and sex, while Mars… not necessarily.
And that’s all that should be said, period, but if you want receipts, then read along.
Venus and Mars traditionally
Taking it back to tradition, Vettius Valens (2nd CE) assigns Venus to desire and erotic love as well as “the parts of intercourse” (which was also translated to “the union of the sexual organs”). He linked Mars to intercourse, adultery and all forms of violent behaviours, including those specifically targeting women. He also states that Mars rules genitals.
Abu Ma’Shar (9th CE) desribed Venus as “a multitude of sexual intercourse of diverse kinds” as well as “the sons of fornication”. I think the line “she rejoices with every thing and seeks every thing and is eager for it” is also crucial here as it outlines Venus as passionate and excited – traits, which currently would be linked with Mars. And when it comes to the malefic, Ma’Shar assigns it to adultery and “foulness of sexual intercourse”. So with both scholars we do have some association between Mars and sex but mostly in a negative malefic sense.
Contemporary astrologers, who aren’t necessarily following strictly modern astrology still agree with this notion. Richard Tarnas in his research gives a similar affiliation:
“Venus: the principle of desire, love, (…); the impulse and capacity to attract and be attracted, to love and be loved, (…) sensous pleasure.“
His Mars delineation highlights the forceful motion of the planet: “the principle of energetic force, harm, violence”.
Traditional scholars seen Mars as either purely malefic or one that had to exhibit bravery and assertiveness when under attact. That harsh nature expressed itself in all kinds of acts of violence and not as the give and take. Mars is cutting, severing, disputes and disruption after all. It’s filthy. In modern astrology it’s most commonly linked with anger. And you guys want to put sex next to all of that? Yikes.
Venus, on the other hand, is all responsible for senses, pleasure, romance and bodily matters. This is why it rejoices in the 5th house of pleasure, procreation and sex.
Mythology and gods
If we go back to the myth of Inanna, the Sumerian preceder of Venus, she was associated with sex and fertility and when captive in the underworld, people would be made not to procreate. Then in the later millenia, the planet now known as Venus was named after and associated with her Greek counterpart Aphrodite, who was linked with love, lust, pleasure, passion, procreation, desire, sex and fertility. Venus, as her Roman version, ruled over the same things (Romans copied Greeks with their mythology pretty much word-for-word; Aphrodite was first and then Romans came up with the name Venus).
For comparison, both Mars and Ares are seen as the gods of war with the latter one having purely destructive and destabilizing nature (Mars seemed to be more into stability but still military-focused).
You can argue that Mars as a planet symbolizes how we pursue and posess and what our energy levels are, which can extend to libido. So loosely, yes, in that sense as a secondary association, we can include Mars as well in certain contexts. I can see how Mars can rule intercourse in itself as it connects to blood flow and a form of exertion. BUT it’s always been Venus in the first place on how we seduce, how we romance, what we find hot and what our erotic nature is. Making love is her forte, no matter if fuzzy feelings are present or not.
Taking that into consideration, I’d still give Mars like 5% of importance here. To quote Meredith Froemke, it’s like a multilayer cake, meaning all of your chart will have some say in the topic (just like with everything else). And as yin and yang, Venus and Mars will compliment each other, just because they naturally balance things out in all matters. And as the myth said, Venus and Mars found themselves in a fiery hot affair while the goddess was married to Vulcan. So hot everyone was talking about it.
Modern times
Symbolically, currently Mars is linked with sex and has been for a while now and it is probably thanks to the masculinisation of pleasure and how the importance of men’s sexual experience somehow outweighted woman’s in the society’s eyes. In astrology, it’s hard for me to find and pinpoint exactly who was the first one to assign sex directly to Mars, at the same time depriving Venus of that role.
According to Alan Leo (18th-19th CE), who was the precursor of modern astrology, “the symbol of Mars will therefore represent to us Desire, Force and Energy.” This sums up its energy in a cohesive way – Mars seizes and is willing to take the necessary steps to achieve the goal in a rather selfish manner. You can connect this with every aspect of life basically, sex included, but it is still yet not highlighted as purely that. He also compared both planets:
“In contradistinction to Mars, who is the planet of discord, typifying the animal, Venus represents the human soul, and until we feel the sweet influence of Venus in our lives, we shall go on seeking fresh experience upon the cross of life. Venus is love, while Mars is passion; Venus peace, Mars strife. (…) These two planets in themselves are helpful to the other.”
Stephen Arroyo, a modern psychological astrologer, made the gender-based distinguishment (which wasn’t present in older texts) but seemed to take a somewhat middle ground at the same time when it comes to the topic:
“Venus represents an inflow and outflow of energy and its placement in the various elements is expressed as the give and take of love, affection and sensual pleasure with others. (…) Venus shows how a woman receives and gives of herself in love and sex. Usually more of a sexual indicator for women than it is for men. (…) Venus is also related to a man’s ideals about love, sex and relationships, however, Mars is much more a symbol of sexual energy in men. In women, though, Venus and Mars energies are both important components of the sexual nature, and they combine and are usually more inseparable than is the case in most men.”
When speaking of Mars, he quickly mentions: “For a man, Mars shows how he projects himself forcefully, assertively and sexually. It indicates how he gives of his power in a sexual relationship”.
So judging by what I’ve gathered, I’m guessing things started shifting with the rise of psychological astrology and the more “energetical” approach rather than archetypal. That meant with women everything is filtered through Venus and with men, with Mars. It further translated into “well a man has the upper hand and has to express his *cough*toxic*cough* masculinity during the act and be macho, so oBviOuSly it has to be linked with a masculine forceful and assertive Mars duhhh” and therefore “Venus=woman=submissive=not into sex=only into affection” bullshit that I don’t dig.
Up to that point, and certainly in traditional and medieval texts, it was consistent to directly relate Venus to all the things I’ve listed in the beginning, while Mars to severing, aggression and conquer and if linked to sexual matters, it is not viewed in a positive light as it is the planet of violation and acts that would be looked down on. And we should stick to that.
Sources:
“Hellenistic Astrology. The study of fate and fortune” Chris Brennan
“The Great Introduction to the Science of the Judgments of the Stars” Abu Ma’Shar
“Cosmos and psyche. Intimations of a new world view” Richard Tarnas
“Astrology for all” Alan Leo “Chart interpretation handbook. Guidelines for understanding the essentials of the birth chart” Stephen Arroyo