Aphrodite rules all aspects of love, desire, sex and beauty. She is the Queen of laughter and the mistress of pleasure. This Goddess radiates the energy to give love and to receive love.

Aphrodite is erotic, beautiful, uninhibited, desirous, desirable, and love itself. She is the goddess who symbolizes sex, passion, love and nudity without shame; passion in all aspects—art, music, dance, and celebration.

Possibly the most valuable gift that Aphrodite bestows is the ability to attract, to connect and to enter into a relationship. Once Aphrodite influences a relationship, her powers goes beyond the romantic and sexual love to include deep friendship, understanding, rapport and the connection of souls.

The gentle winds carried Aphrodite across the sea, to Cythera and then to Cyprus, by the god of the west wind, Zephyrus. There, Aphrodite was welcomed by the Graces who dressed her up, adorned her with precious jewels, and then took her to the Immortals, to Olympus.

As you can imagine Aphrodite’s arrival caused quite a stir! The gods were all clamoring to marry her and the goddesses were eager to get her married to anyone (well, anyone besides their own husbands). It was Hephaestus, the god of fire and precious metals, who won the lottery and took Aphrodite as his wife. According to legend, Hephaestus was not very attractive and was physically disabled (He broke his legs when his father threw him out of heaven because he was so repulsive). But he was very crafty and being the god of precious metals and the forge he was able to present Aphrodite with many beautiful gifts.

One of the gifts was a magical girdle that made Aphrodite irresistible to all mortals and immortals. What was he thinking? As predicted, Aphrodite strapped on the girdle, said see you later to Hephaestus, and took off to try out the powers.

Aphrodite did have many encounters with both mortal and immortals but remained devoted to each of her lovers with all her heart, while she ruthlessly used to punish those who angered her. This just goes to show that you cannot own love or resist its pull on your heart.

Things sacred to Her:

• To stimulate the heart chakra on yourself or your lover, massage the area over the heart with rose oil, gently circling your fingertips in a counterclockwise motion, eyes closed. Envision the heart, strong and healthy, opening and radiating the earth’s richest, most vibrant hue of green. As the heart chakra opens, the throat chakra responds. The synergy between these two subtle energy centers creates expressive and compassionate communication between you and your lover. You are liberated from the inability to share your thoughts; you no longer feel self-conscious. The throat chakra vibrates in a hue of brightest blue and is activated by the scent of lavender and chamomile!

The Awakening of Adonis: John William Waterhouse
Painted in: 1900

Why Aphrodite?

For most of my life I have been at odds with Aphrodite. We all know the type of woman: she walks into a room and heads turn because she is just oozing with sex appeal. She always gets the hottest guy or girl in the place. And how she manages to wear that shade of bright red lipstick and look magnificent has always mystified me. I have always hated, envied, feared and at the same time desperately wanted to be like this woman!

Learning to embrace Aphrodite was a slow process for me. I learned to make peace with my body and to even like it a little bit! Slowly I was able to see Aphrodite as the seat of self esteem. She became an ally who encouraged me to take better care and helped me to realize the self destructive habits that kept me from loving and being loved with the intensity and ferocity that I had always dreamed of.

In order to really walk with Aphrodite, a person needs to have a healthy dose of self esteem. What good is it to be the desirable, sensual and oh so lovely when you cannot even look at yourself in the mirror? After all I think Whitney Houston said it best when she sang “Learning to love your self; it is the greatest love of all.”

Self Esteem Ritual

Here is the ritual to give your self esteem a boost! It is best done when the moon is waxing (going from new to full) because your intent is to increase self esteem. Plan a time you will have a couple of hours alone. You will need the following:

• Smudging sticks
• Scented bath salts, body washes or bath oils
• Incense of rose, vanilla, chamomile, or jasmine
• small pink and red candles, larger white and black candles
• soothing music
• bowl fill with sand or dirt
• strips of papers and pen
• new piece of jewelry

Start the music playing softly. Write down each negative message, image or memory you would like to release. Then take a long, luxurious shower or bath. Use your bath salts and body washes as much or a little as you desire. As you bathe, visualize all negativity, self hate and worries being washed away. When you are finished dry yourself. Then purify yourself with the smudge sticks by directing the smoke over your head, down toward your feet, across the soles of your feet, and up toward your shoulders.

Light the incense and the pink and red candles. Sit down, listen to the music and breathe in calm, healing energy and breathe out all negativity. Light the black candle and pick up one of the strips of paper. Read it out loud then carefully place the tip of the paper to the black candle’s flame. Place the burning strip of paper in the bowl of sand and as it burns says “I release ____.” Focus on the burning strip of paper and exhale slowly as the paper burns. Imagine the negative message flowing out of you with each time you exhale. Continue this process with each strip of paper until all negativity is released.

When you are finished, sit quietly and focus on the flame of the black candle and say “at this moment, I release all negativity and hurt. From this moment forward, I welcome only positive and supportive energy. As I will it, so must it be.” Light the white candle with the flame from the black candle and then extinguish the black candle.

Take the new piece of jewelry and charge it with strong healing, protective and positive energy. Wear the jewelry as a charm to protect against the attacks to your self esteem and as a reminder of your contract with yourself. Every so often reward yourself for doing things that build up your self esteem. Some women have purchased a charm bracelet and simply add a charm to the bracelet when it is time for a reward.

Usually I suggest focusing on the qualities you desire in a relationship rather than focusing on winning the favors of a particular person. However, there have been times that a certain someone just needs a gentle nudge. So here are two spells I have come across: one is a spell to draw people toward you and the other is a spell for a particular person to notice you.

Sometimes the problem isn't finding Mr. or Ms. Right, but meeting anyone at all! The following short and simple spell is designed to bring more people into one's life. You will need:

• One stone* to represent yourself-a birthstone or carnelian for a male, rose quartz for a female
•Six stones* to represent persons you would like to meet-again, carnelian for a male, rose quartz for a female. Six is a number sacred to Aphrodite.

Cleanse and consecrate all of the stones, and charge each with the appropriate gender energy. Charge the "me" stone by carrying it with you for a day or two. To get generic male energy, set the stones in full sun for a day or two. For female energy, leave them out under a full moon for 3 nights.

Once the stones are all charged, find a place where they can be left undisturbed for several days. Place the "me" stone in the center of the space and name it with your name. Then place the other around it in a circle, placing them clockwise, as far away as the space will allow, repeating one of the following invocations:

"I am surrounded by lovely ladies, gracious goddesses, and wonderful women. They all come to meet me!"
"I am surrounded by handsome hunks, glorious gods, and marvelous men. They all come to meet me!"
"I am surrounded by beautiful brains, fabulous folks, and provocative people. They all come to meet me!"
Each day, at about the same time, move the stones into the center a little bit and repeat the incantation. When the stones are all touching, put them in a small bag and carry them with you when you go out.

Write the name of the one you love on the base of an onion bulb. Plant it in earth in a new pot. Place the pot on a windowsill, preferably facing the direction in which your sweetheart lives. Over the bulb, repeat the name of the person you desire morning and night until the bulb takes root, begins to shoot, and finally blooms. Say the following incantation daily: