Denzel Washington - Strength of Venus

Shad Bala of one planet in a person’s chart

Denzel Washington – Venus

I’ll be looking at Venus in the natal chart of Denzel Washington. The qualities that Venus rules over in our life are active and passionate pursuit of the fulfilment of healthy worldly desires that will enhance our life in a positive way and bring us enjoyment and comfort. Venus is gentle and feminine, ruling over love and devotion, it’s an unselfish, giving love (as is indicated by its exaltation in Pisces). Fulfilment comes from the giving. Venus also gives us a sense of direction, purpose, and meaning that helps us focus on long term goals. A strong Venus helps us make healthy choices that will lead us to greater contentment and fulfilment in life. Venus rules poets and even predictive astrologers, as it “finds meaning where there is none” (as stated by Ernst Wilhelm). Venus also rules over our recuperative abilities, a healthy Venus helps us to recover from injury or illness quickly and easily, without complaint. We make the appropriate choices that allow us to heal.

Denzel has a Libra Ascendant with Venus in the Second house of Scorpio. The Second house is the house which rules over our early childhood, our family, wealth, face, food/nourishment, morals/values, speech and sense of security and self-worth. As a Libra Ascendant, Venus is an extremely important planet for Denzel, as it represents him in the chart at a very physical, practical level. Libra Ascendant people value relationships profoundly. They need other people to interact with and to mirror themselves back to them, this is how they learn the most about themselves, through their relationships with others. Because Venus is one of the main self-indicators for Denzel, the Second house takes on extra importance, as this will be a focal point for his life; second house matters will always be highlighted to some degree.

Venus in Scorpio, in the Second house indicates that Denzel had an intense early childhood, which made a profound impact on his life. He is likely deeply feeling and potentially obsessive in relationships – as Venus rules relationships and love - as well as with his moral values and in his pursuit of security and self-worth. Denzel has been married to his wife for almost forty years and he is said to be a devout, lifelong Christian. His solidness and level of commitment to the people and values that he holds dear is certainly admirable, particularly when Hollywood is known for so much temptation that relationships and values are often replaced when they are no longer exciting and the newness fades.

Venus in the Second gives the ability to attract wealth and enjoys spending money on luxury items. Venus in the Second can give an attractive, seductive voice, and can make for a charming, polite way of speaking. It can indicate talent, possibly in music and or singing, artistic talent, and talent that creates something concrete and physical, as the Second house is related to the Earth sign of Taurus.

Venus is conjunct Saturn. While Venus and Saturn are friends, Saturn always starves any planet he is conjunct, and thus Venus has a -67.9 Lajjitadi Avashta score, due mostly to Saturn. Venus is also Rashi aspected by Rahu, Sun, Mercury from Capricorn and Jupiter and Ketu from Cancer. Perhaps this Rahu and the Sun gave Denzel extra ambition to succeed and become well known, as these two planets enjoy fame and success. The Sun is weak in Shad Bala and has a – 43.6% Lajjitadi Avashta score, meaning he can’t hurt Venus too much. Jupiter on the other hand is very high in Ishta (53.6) and has 111.1 points of Lajjitadi Avashta, meaning he can give a great boost to Venus with this aspect and negate some of the enemy planets aspects. This strong Jupiter is probably also a big part of way Denzel is so religious that he even thought of becoming a minister.

Venus is the number one ranked planet in overall Shad Bala in Denzel’s chart, at 503.0 points and 154.2%. This gives Denzel’s whole chart a boost, as having a strong First house ruler allows the person to succeed in life and overcome difficulties much more easily. Let’s take a closer look at the six strengths of his Venus to determine how Denzel uses his Venus in his day-to-day life.

Denzel will be seen as acting instinctively from his Sun, as an inspiring leader, with a regal, authoritative command and strength, because his Sun is highest in overall Sthana Bala points. However, his Venus is a very close second in strength behind the Sun (just .9 points behind at 222.7 points and 167.5% of the necessary strength to perform well), giving Denzel a beautifully Venusian approach to how he naturally projects himself. So there is a graceful command to his whole demeanour that has lent itself extremely well to his career. He cannot help but to stand out and shine in such a creative and expressive field. Denzel’s Saturn is the planet with the most overall Sthana Bala percentage, which has given him the grit, endurance, and stick-with-it-ness to climb to the heights of success in an incredibly competitive profession.

Venus has quite good Dig Bala at 93.7%. Venus gets its greatest directional strength at the fourth house cusp, as Venus is related to our ability to achieve fulfilment and relates more to our inner or emotional happiness. The fourth house is where we see how comfortable and happy a person feels within themselves. So, having Venus in the fourth house and particularly at the fourth house cusp will indicate that the person is able to experience contentment within, without an outer cause. At 93.7% of Dig Bala, Denzel is mostly always able to use his Venus intelligently and effectively. This is quite good, as Venus is one of the planets (along with the Moon) that are most difficult to achieve a high Dig Bala score in, as inner contentment is not something that comes easily for most people. With Venus high in Dig Bala, inner contentment comes from being able to hear the voice of Venus, directing us to make choices that will lead to greater happiness. We will not regret our choices when we listen to Venus as it directs us, because we will have made the best choice we could have made in the moment. A healthy Dig Bala Venus also helps us to take good care of ourselves, getting proper rest and recovery when needed. We won’t tax ourselves from over giving to others. There will be balance.

Denzel’s Venus is not particularly dominant in Kaala Bala, with an overall score of 87.1 points, and 87.1%. This score still is fairly strong. However, Venus is not the planet which has the biggest impact to shape Denzel’s life and which requires the most energy to work with day to day. For Denzel, Mercury is the planet that will have the biggest impact, leading to frequent issues to deal with.

Ayana Bala is the next strength that we’ll look at. Ayana Bala shows us how a person will handle conflict. When planets are low in Ayana Bala, we’ll tend to attract more conflict, or not deal with it well when it does arise. Mars is the most important planet in Ayana Bala, as Mars rules battles and conflict. But Venus is second most important. Denzel’s Venus is quite weak in Ayana Bala, at only 16.3% strength. This indicates that Denzel won’t make good choices when it comes to choosing what is worth fighting over. A Venus weak in Ayana Bala doesn’t make wise choices in battles. They put too much in and lose more. Or they don’t weigh out the value of the fight and get in fights when they shouldn’t. However, the Moon has quite good Ayana Bala points, at 131.7% strength, which is lucky, as the Moon and Venus operate in similar ways in various strengths, and they can help each other out when one is weak. So, the Moon will help pick up the slack of Venus in Ayana Bala, and Denzel will have more maturity in this area that it would seem if only looking at Venus’ strength.

Venus has excellent Chestha Bala in this chart, at 146.3% strength. Chestha Bala relates to how confident we feel in using a particular planet. The more confident we are with said planet, the more we will use it, and thus we will likely get more out of it simply because we aren’t shying away from it. Having a high Chestha Bala can go a long way to make up for low scores in the other Balas. Venus high in Chestha Bala gives a sense of dignity and pride. The person feels deserving and worthy of whatever they want. They feel deserving of love. They have good manners and are naturally able to behave correctly in different situations.

With the last type of Shad Bala, called Drig Bala, we just want to see a positive number, rather than a percentage. A positive number itself indicates that the person won’t have any serious issues or stress arise when they do try to use the planet. For Denzel, with 53.2 point of Drig Bala, there shouldn’t be any major issues or stress arising for him with the use of Venus, so this is great. A person won’t notice if they have a positive Drig Bala score, they will only notice if the score is negative, because they will notice the issues and difficulties that come up. If Drig Bala is positive there is nothing to notice, because that area of life is simply smooth.

All in all, Denzel’s Venus is strong and has lent itself well to his excellent acting career, for which he has received many awards and accolades.

References:

Asheville Vedic Astrology Teachable Course on Shad Bala and other First year classes by Ryan Kurczak