THE STORY OF VALENTINES DAY
by John Hayes
Every February, flowers, chocolate, cards and gifts are sent and received in the name of St. Valentine. According to the Greeting Card Association, an estimated one billion valentine cards are sent each year with approximately 85 percent purchased by women.
Valentines Day is named after a priest named Valentine who lived in Rome during the reign of Emperor Claudius II in the third century AD. At the time Rome was involved in many bloody campaigns and the emperor found it difficult to recruit soldiers. Claudius cancelled all marriages and engagements within the City of Rome, believing single men made better soldiers than those married with loved ones. Valentine however, continued to perform wedding ceremonies in secret, defying the emperor's decree. Eventually arrested and imprisoned, Valentine was sentenced to death. While imprisoned Valentine fell in love with the jailer's blind daughter who visited him, offering her encouragement and praying for her. Valentines prayers were answered and the girl was healed. On the eve of his execution, Valentine wrote a farewell message to his love assuring her she was not to blame for his death, signing his note: "From Your Valentine."
Valentine's story represents many aspects of love. In astrology we look to two different areas of the horoscope when considering our approach to love. The 7th House governs relationships while the 5th House governs sensual delights and love affairs. Have a look below at the interpretations based on your Sun sign to see what the stars have to say about you.
Relationships
Naturally dynamic and competitive, when it comes to relationships persuasion rather than pressure is the key. You seek individuals who can bring beauty and harmony into your life but may attract people who will do anything to keep the peace. Away from the world, when you can stop fighting for your daily bread, you need love and romance more than most. Others find your rugged individualism attractive but are surprised to discover how sentimental you can be.
Sex
Tempestuous and passionate, you love to perform, to take the lead and be the dominant one. You really shine when things get intimate and a little sticky. You’re never short of admirers since your prowess between the bedposts keeps them coming back for more. But woe betide anyone who takes your love for granted because once your pride is hurt, you can sever a tie completely, no matter how much it hurts you to do so.
Relationships
Very tactile and sensual, you need deep, meaningful companionship and loyalty. Not easily swayed, when you start something you’ll often stay in and work at a bad relationship rather than end it. When endings are inevitable they bring about deep-rooted change in your life. You’re drawn to individual who are intense, charismatic, powerful and somewhat secretive, partners who may be aloof at first but deep, mysterious and occasionally dangerous when you do get up close and personal.
Sex
You consider sex as therapeutic; a necessary vice providing the glue that keeps people together. Be careful not to let your critical eye prevent love from entering your heart. You take an inordinate interest in discovering how to make your lover’s toes curl, gravitating to positions where satisfying your lover becomes a source of great pleasure for you. However, try to avoid becoming somebody’s plaything, leaving little room for love to work its magic.
Relationships
Never short of attention, it may be difficult to make a commitment when pastures have a habit of looking greener elsewhere. Drawn to individuals from different social or cultural backgrounds with a happy-go-lucky approach to life, you like freedom to do your thing, often preferring companionship to commitment. When you do get involved it is usually on your terms and it’s important that your relationships have a consciousness raising affect on you, broadening your view on life.
Sex
Charming, attentive and with impeccable manners you are generous when showing your affection and have a gift for making others do your bidding in the bedroom. Very romantic when it comes to sex, you don’t like too much coarseness or vulgarity when you become intimately involved. Others may not always take your needs seriously if your reluctance to rock the boat means you’re continuously putting the sexual needs of others before your own.
Relationships
Very sensitive and intensely emotional, you need someone who can offer you security, emotional and financial, and are often drawn to more mature individuals who are established in the world in some way. But be careful not to let your maternal instinct prove restrictive to your lover. Since your major decisions are more influenced by your heart than your head, you need to choose wisely because once committed you’re very reluctant to change.
Sex
You’ve powerful and tempestuous instincts and a sense of urgency that adds intensity to your desires. Drawn to all that is mysterious, forbidden and taboo you attract mysterious, charismatic lovers but sometimes end up in the sewer. You offer devotion but demand commitment in return. Once someone touches your heart, however much of a rogue or misfit they may be, you believe you can change them because of your deep conviction in the transformative power of intimate love.
LEO
Relationships
You demand a lot from life and are drawn to individuals, who have something more to offer or at least something different. Your sense of pride demands a faithful partner but you also want your freedom and independence. Others find your private persona very different from the one you present to the wider world. Unconventional in your approach to love, you make a devoted mate but would rather end a promising relationship than compromise your values.
Sex
Enthusiastic, frank and open when it comes to sex, your easy-come easy-go attitude makes you a popular sexual partner. Restless and easily bored, you need variety in the bedroom although your natural curiosity may be mistaken for promiscuity. If things grow stale and your lover stops making your juices flow, you’re apt to be off in search of some other sexual target, somehow knowing it’ll all work out in the end.
Relationships
Your practical, analytical approach to life can be very effective at getting things done. However the more efficient you become, the more likely your relationships will be chaotic. Drawn to people who may be totally unsuitable you idealize your mate, often adopting an attitude of unconditional self-sacrifice. Try to relate equally to your partner and not let your critical eye prevent you from getting personal with someone who may be able to meet your deeper needs.
Sex
You take your love life seriously and need to be careful not to treat sex like a commercial arrangement or make too many demands too soon and frighten off potential lovers. Your sexual needs are primitive and instinctual. You can be a real contradiction, getting a perverse pleasure from playing the puritanical vicar in public, while in private you’re a randy old goat, and so often attract those who feel their chastity is safe in your hands.
Because you’re such a smooth operator it comes as a surprise just how pushy, competitive and even aggressive you can be when you see someone you want. Your usual approach to getting your way is via flattery and persuasion, smoothing ruffled feathers, but if blocked or frustrated you can be formidable. You attract active, go-getting types whose rough edges and coarse manners are often in sharp contrast to your social grace and easy charm.
Sex
A meeting of minds and
exchange of ideas is as important to you as a meeting of bodies and an exchange
of fluids. You enjoy romance and the social whirl too much to give your heart
away easily, if at all, regardless of your eloquent and romantic pillow talk.
Drawn to the unusual, perverse and even the scandalous, you may entertain
attachments with brilliant or strange individuals, eager to experiment and
engage in unusual sexual practices.
SCORPIO
Relationships
Very private, even secretive, you give off a certain magnetic allure that hints at your deep and passionate nature. You’re drawn to tactile, sensual individuals who offer you a sense of security, emotional and financial. Since you’d rather go it alone than get involved at a superficial level it can be difficult for someone to get to know you, but when you do let someone into your heart you stick by them, steadfast through thick and thin.
Sex
A romantic dreamer and a bit of a fantasist you can be very emotional and sensitive about sex. Your gift for expressing your passion in subtle and imaginative ways makes you a prized lover. Because your love and passion recognise no boundaries your appetite and longing to melt and merge in an elusive ideal love could lead you into the sewer, as you become increasingly entangled in compulsive sexual activity, enslaved and at the mercy of your desire.
SAGITTARIUS
Relationships
You need a meeting of minds as much as emotional harmony and physical attraction, and your happy-go-lusty approach to life and love make you a popular companion. You’ve a weakness for foreigners, wanting someone who can keep you amused and entertained, allowing you freedom to roam, to flirt and who responds to your good-humored repartee. Restless and curious you’ll look elsewhere if you are not stimulated enough by one single individual.
Sex
You’ve a healthy appetite for human flesh and a tendency to shoot first and ask questions later. Very passionate, you’re drawn to strong-willed, sexually demanding people. Your need for freedom and romantic adventure could turn your bedroom into a battlefield if you’re desires are frustrated. You like to take the initiative and enjoy plenty of energetic, vigorous sexual activity which may make some of your more fainthearted lovers feel safer under the bed than under the covers.
CAPRICORN
Relationships
You can be quite an enigma for others to fathom and it may not be until you are into your thirties before you make a serious commitment. You’ve a lusty temperament but seek someone homely, sensitive and nurturing who enjoys the simpler pleasures of life. Drawn to intensely emotional individuals, you have a wonderful maternal quality, which you express in close personal relationships, away from it all with your partner where you can feel comfortable and secure.
Sex
Deeply sensual and sexually
indulgent you appear unruffled and a little conservative but this belies your
true nature. Very tactile between the sheets you’ve a slow, sure touch and like
to work steadily with patience and stamina, building up gradually to a
passionate climax. You love luxury and indulging yourself and your lover in the
finer things in life. When you meet someone who satisfies your sexual needs
you’re unlikely to look elsewhere again.
AQUARIUS
Relationships
Your approach to relationships is dramatic and extravagant and you attract people who are larger than life, individuals with “star appeal” who can take center stage and enjoy the limelight. Nevertheless you can be formidable when it comes to getting your way, you hate restrictions and given the choice of toeing the line in a stable situation or greater independence in a rockier one, you’ll choose the option that gives you greatest freedom.
Sex
You need to be turned on mentally and so a sense of humour and flirty repartee is more likely to arouse your interest than a beautiful but brainless body. You need change and variety in your sex life and enjoy discussing different techniques and positions. Desire for novelty and experimentation could lead you into threesomes, open or bisexual relationships. Ingenuous and versatile, you have excellent timing and when you express yourself sexually, you can be very persuasive.
Relationships
When it comes to relationships you can be a real perfectionist and need a partner with their feet on the ground who can provide the ballast you need to make your dreams a reality. You’re drawn to hardworking, efficient individuals who demonstrate an attention to detail and a concern for a healthy diet and virtuous lifestyle. Your partner will idealize you and it’s their job to look after the small print, that’s why you chose them.
Sex
Surprisingly tender on an intimate level, your emotions colour your attitude to sex, making you an extremely tender and sensitive lover. You need to be in the right mood for sex so cuddles and caresses are important, before and after making love. Your great sensitivity won’t stop you making the first move, but romance is never straightforward since your moods and feelings are susceptible to great change, making your love life an emotional roller coaster.
Spring 2006