Oh, Venus in Capricorn! Oh, this Venus who shaves their head every couple of years. Oh, this Venus who’s always cleaning out the physical and metaphorical closet. Oh, this Venus with big dreams who moves at a relentlessly slow pace.

This is the Venus of the late bloomer who wows everyone with their brilliance and ingenuity quietly later—much later. This is a Venus that takes its own time. It’s a Venus that, sometimes, feels frustrated with the project of taking its own time but still commits because to hurry would mean forsaking one’s integrity.

This is a Venus that is absolutely relentless with itself. It’s a Venus with drive. And, yet, it’s a Venus that restrains itself because it understands that there is something incredibly sexy about being told to wait.

Loving Venus in Capricorn is about love for the long haul. It’s loving someone who has the patience to plant a tree and to wait for it to bear fruit. Loving Venus in Capricorn is for the superstitious—for the ones who know that the meaning of a casual sign deepens the more and the longer you believe in it.

This is a Venus that refuses adornment. Venus in Capricorn looks for beauty not by putting things on but by cutting away. It wants stripped down beauty, wants barefaced beauty, and it wants to admire the sensations on its own naked skin. This is a Venus that doesn’t say or do more than what is necessary. It’s a Venus that doesn’t need to prove itself.

Venus in Capricorn is a winter’s Venus. During the winter, one does not indulge in preferences. One trims things down.

Just like Venus in Cancer, Venus in Capricorn finds something about themselves when caretaking. Just like Venus in Cancer, Venus in Capricorn thinks of the whole community when it moves. But unlike Venus in Cancer, Venus in Capricorn is more interested in the power of subtraction than addition. Venus in Capricorn is often thinking about what it can do without so that the group can endure longer.

Yes, this is the Venus that is interested in firm clothes, shoes that last for years, and in the relics that last. And, because this is the Venus interested in stretching time, this is also the Venus that is ruthless about subtracting all that does not last.

There’s something very self sacrificial about Venus in Capricorn. Sometimes, loving Venus in Capricorn is loving someone who will do it for you even when they don’t want to—someone who picks up groceries to make you dinner despite the tension in their neck after working for nine hours. Venus in Capricorn is the Venus who sees you struggle and says, “let me do it for you.”

And, so, loving Venus in Capricorn is also loving someone who you must ask, now and then, “what do you need?” It’s loving someone who doesn’t know how to ask for a glass of water from a lover, someone who feels so distraught about asking for something that they can very well provide for themselves that they shrink from it even though asking for things you can give yourself is a profound ask for care.

What makes a Venus in Capricorn recognizable is not its seriousness or its strictness. The way you pick out a Venus in Capricorn is to look for the person who has the habit of providing more than they ask for. It’s Jin-hyung from BTS who big brothers the other members, feeds them, and steps back when it’s someone else’s turn to shine. The subtractive quality of Venus in Capricorn is almost always applied to themselves first. By subtracting themselves, Venus in Capricorn turns themselves into a pillar of dependability. Venus in Capricorn is just as wacky and whimsical as any other Venus—but it will never take before it gives.

There’s something so quietly sexy about dependability. There’s something incredibly sexy about someone who considers you in their plans, someone who shows up when they can, and someone who says no when they can’t. This is why I think Venus in Capricorn is one of the most understated Venuses out there. Loving Venus in Capricorn is like finding a pillar in the wind. You can lean against Venus in Capricorn.

You just have to remember, for all of its quietness and all of its patience, Venus in Capricorn loves attention too. Venus in Capricorn can be anxious about taking its time. Venus in Capricorn can be frustrated when it’s expected to do the tough work unnoticed.

Loving Venus in Capricorn is about celebrating someone quiet—someone who shys away from applause because they blush too hard at it. It’s about loving someone whose ears turn red when complimented. It’s about remembering that the ones who are always there for you are a miracle in and of themselves, that endurance is just as magnificent as surprise. Loving Venus in Capricorn is about the commitment to creating safety together.