The Venus-Mars opposition places the person on an axis between tenderness and aggression, acceptance and conquest, love and struggle. Venus wants to be loved, desired, valued; it wants peace and reciprocity. Mars wants to act, take, defend itself, attack, and prove strength. In the opposition, these parts are often projected into relationships: the person keeps one pole for themselves and meets the other through a partner, rival, or object of passion.
The aspect gives strong attraction to love and sexuality, but rarely makes this area calm. The person may quickly move from softness to sharpness, from adoration to irritation, from the wish for closeness to the need to defend. Sometimes they unconsciously gravitate toward people with whom there is struggle, unavailability, roughness, conflict, or emotional danger. Warm and reliable partners may seem too simple until the inner link between love and tension is healed.


