Venus in Capricorn

Cold and dry by the reckoning of Lilly 1659, Capricorn shares only half of Venus's cold, moist temperament. He gives her a share of the earth signs by day and terms in the first six degrees, which is her whole standing here.

The sign is Saturn's in Ptolemy (Ashmand's 1822 translation) and the exaltation of Mars, so those two hold its higher offices while Venus holds the lesser ones. Alan Leo 1899 pictures a goat climbing steadily up a high mountain, and Adams 1928 calls the sign overbalanced toward severity.

Modern astrology usually describes a cautious and loyal style of affection for this Venus and connects it with time and reliability, and those associations are modern. Ptolemy's reasoning on Venus concerns moisture, which this sign lacks.