Venus Sextile Mars: Knowing How to Turn Affection into Action

With Venus and Mars two signs apart, what you like and what you want to do help each other. You are tactful with people without being passive, and the more you use this, the better you get. This page starts from what Venus governs (love, taste, values and money) and what Mars governs (drive, desire, competition and conflict), then looks at how the sextile makes the two interact, how it tends to show up in everyday life, its strengths and blind spots, and some advice for it.

Venus Sextile Mars at a glance

Percentages are our own calculation from 8,401 charts of people born in Taipei between 1960 and 2005 with random birth times, using the same orbs as our chart calculator.

The core meaning of Venus Sextile Mars

Venus is about appreciation and closeness. Mars is about desire and making a move. In a sextile the two planets sit in compatible signs. One senses whether the other person is right, the other decides whether to approach, and they are on speaking terms. When you like someone, you know how to show it without putting pressure on them. When you want something, you know how to go after it in a likable way. Pursuit and consideration can exist in you side by side, with neither one sacrificed.

Compared with the trine, the sextile is a little less effortless and asks you to do a little more yourself. What it gives you is an ability that can be trained: speaking up at the right moment, and stepping back when the other person needs room. If you are in the habit of waiting for others to declare themselves first, this aspect just sits there. Once you begin doing the inviting and the proposing, you find your sense of timing is better than you imagined, and it grows more natural each time.

How it feels inside

You are fairly sure of your own preferences. When attraction strikes you do not fall apart, and you do not feel a need to suppress what you want. The warmth inside is moderate, just enough to get you moving. You are seldom so lovesick that you cannot eat. Mostly, if you like someone, you try getting to know them, and if it does not work out you do not agonize. That balance makes life easy. Now and then it also makes you wonder whether you are invested enough. In truth you simply have less need to prove you care through intensity.

In love and relationships

In relationships you are easygoing and fun. You plan dates, remember what the other person likes, and are willing to say how you would like things to go between you. When the two of you disagree, you can usually talk it out in a light tone before the mood turns stiff. Among friends you are often the matchmaker who knows who will get along with whom. To deepen a relationship, practice voicing your stronger feelings too, and do not stop at the pleasant ones. The harder things you leave unsaid are part of intimacy as well.

At work and in getting things done

At work you are good at moving things forward through goodwill. Pitching to a client, negotiating a price with a vendor, bringing a new hire up to speed: situations where you tend the relationship while hitting the goal cost you little effort. You have a good eye and are willing to build what you imagine, so jobs that weigh taste and execution equally suit you. Opportunities tend to come from the step you take first. When a collaboration interests you, ask about it. That pays off more than waiting to be invited.

Strengths

• A sense of when to move: You know when to step forward and when to give space. The way you pursue and ask puts no pressure on people, so you tend to get a kind response.
• Fun to be with: You put thought into your relationships and are good at planning activities and starting conversations. People are seldom bored around you.
• Taste put into practice: You go and make or learn the things you like and do not stop at admiring them, so an interest can slowly become a skill worth showing.

Blind spots

• Waiting for a nudge: The conditions are there, yet you are used to waiting. If you always let the other person go first, the benefit of this aspect never gets used.
• Lukewarm heat: Love comes smoothly, without the intensity of “it has to be you.” A partner who expects strong expression may feel you are not invested enough.
• Skirting the sharp edges: You are skilled at keeping the mood pleasant. When a problem truly needs arguing out, you sometimes joke past it, and it stays where it was.

Advice for Venus Sextile Mars

The key to this aspect is initiative. Each month, find one chance to speak first. Ask someone you would like to know better to dinner, bring your manager an idea you think is good, or sign up for a class you have been considering for ages. You will find that the way you ask usually puts people at ease and the response is better than expected. After a few rounds, taking the first step becomes a habit.

What to keep in mind when reading this aspect

1. The tighter the orb, the more it matters. In our calculations, only 13.6% of all major aspects are within 1° of exact, and 41.2% are within 3°. If your Venus sextile Mars is tight, the traits on this page will be more noticeable; if it is close to the 5° limit, they will be much fainter.

2. Applying and separating. An aspect is applying when the two planets are moving toward the exact angle and separating once they have passed it. Tradition holds that an applying aspect is still taking shape and acts more strongly. Our chart calculator marks which one you have.

3. Watch for out-of-sign aspects. Two planets in sextile are usually two signs apart, in compatible elements (fire with air, earth with water), but an aspect is measured by actual distance. In our calculations, 9.5% of sextiles do not match the usual sign relationship (one planet late in a sign, the other early in another). The nature of the aspect is still there; it just shows up in a less typical way.

4. Most people born on the same day share this aspect. Venus and Mars move only a little in a day. The difference lies in which houses they fall in on your chart, and that depends on your birth time; see Planets in the Houses.

5. Then look at each planet’s own placement. The signs Venus and Mars are in decide how each one expresses itself; see Planets in the Signs. If either planet has other aspects, read them together. For a complete reading, use the In-Depth Chart Reading.

Other aspects between Venus and Mars

Conjunction · Sextile · Square · Trine · Opposition

The sextile with other planets

Venus: Moon sextile Venus, Mercury sextile Venus, Venus sextile Jupiter, Venus sextile Saturn, Venus sextile Uranus, Venus sextile Neptune, Venus sextile Pluto.

Mars: Sun sextile Mars, Moon sextile Mars, Mercury sextile Mars, Mars sextile Jupiter, Mars sextile Saturn, Mars sextile Uranus, Mars sextile Neptune, Mars sextile Pluto.

All Venus aspects · All Mars aspects · Planet aspects overview