om śrī mahālakṣmayai namaḥ

sukhī kāntavapuḥ śreṣṭhaḥ sulocano bhṛgoḥ sutaḥ|

kāvyakartā kaphādhikyo'nilātmā vakramūrdhajaḥ||

--Bṛhat Parāśara Horā Śastra, Grahaguṇasvarūpādhyāya

The King of the Watery Element[1]

It is common knowledge that Venus, or Śukra, is the significator of love, affection, marriage and romantic relationships of every nature. Not only because it is the seventh lord of the Kālapuruṣa, but because it is the primary ruler of jala tattva or the primordial element of water, governing tithis and pakṣas. One pakṣa consist fifteen tithis which spans 180°, which is one half of a circle, and comes precisely to the seventh house of love and marriage. It is this jala tattva that causes Venus to be the significator of relationships as jala or water rules emotions and affection and tithis lord relationships. Afflictions to Venus are nothing but afflictions to the jala tattva.

The most potent form of jala tattva is śukra dhātu. Śukra means that which is pure and bright; liquid such as soma or water which is the essence of life. Hence Śukra in jyotiṣa terminology literally means semen, or that essential fluid which is the building block of life. Venus, therefore rules the testicles and the ovaries and the reproductive organs, sexuality and libido, the body fluids, sex appeal, and every kind of desire and wish that arises in the hearts of men. It represents beauty, love, devotion, poetry, the arts, sweetness, marriage, flowers, young couples, attraction, infatuation, decoration, adornment, ornamentation, opulence and the luxuries of the earthly plane through the satisfaction of the sensual desires.

Śukra is the healer, the rejuvenator, the one who brings back the dead to life through its mysterious powers of rejuvenation and healing.  It is in this capacity, that Venus signifies the Mṛtyuṅjaya mantra and the knowledge associated with it known as the Mṛtyuṅjaya vidyā. It is also known as the Mṛtasaṅjīvanī vidyā. This special knowledge was granted to Śukrācārya by Śiva as a result of his great penance and tapasyā. Along with the Sun, Venus is the sthira kāraka for the father, for while the Sun brings the individual soul or ātmā to a body, Venus is the śukra or semen which contains the seed from which life springs. It is the embodiment of the juṁ bīja, the very essence of the Mṛtyuṅjaya mantra.