LOVE AND DEATH: The Strange Affair of Venus and Saturn

"Spectarunt nuptas hic se Mors atque Voluptas - Unus (fama ferat), quem quo, vultus erat"

"Death and pleasure already saw themselves wedded, and their two faces made only one face"

This quote recorded by D'Annunzio in the Vergine della rocce really illustrates the relationship between Venus and Saturn. Two planets that at first seem like they must be polar opposites and you wonder why on earth Saturn would be exalted in Venus' sign of Libra.

In fact, the connection between suffering and death to pleasure and sexuality is well documented throughout ancient and modern literature. 

In the poem, Amore e morte, Leopardi writes that "a desire for death" is "the first effect of true and mighty love". 

Both love and death offer a very similar liminal experience. Both offer glimpses into the transcendent and promise a dissolution into Unity. How many times has a lover uttered "I would die without you", or the common wedding vow "until death do us part"?

How interesting, then, that Saturn is considered a malefic while Venus is considered a benefic. Many ancient deities were simultaneously both deities of love and death. 

To be in love is both the greatest pleasure and the greatest suffering. 

It is likewise interesting to note that the Venus-ruled Libra is a an underworld sign, related very closely to death. While it is easy to see the Venutian connection to the earthy, fertile, spring-like, sensual Taurus, without understanding the connection between love and death, one might be left perplexed as to why Venus would also rule a sign associated with the plunge into the dark half of the year where everything is dying.

But it is perhaps only in death that the absolute union of two lovers can take place, beyond the material limitations of this world.