Venus is the evening star at this point in her cycle, about to go through a period in which she disappears beneath the curtain of sunlight to re-emerge as the morning star in a few months. Veiled in darkness, her radiance shines forth.

Darkness gets a bad reputation these days, a quality that gets associated with danger, crime, and chaos—something to regulate or conquer, something to expel or control. Many of us live in places where we rarely know true darkness due to the persistence of artificial light.

At this moment, Venus invites us to consider the beauty of darkness, or how darkness renders us beautiful and beloved. The stars and planets shine through with brilliance when we can find a place to stargaze that is truly dark. It is awe-inspiring and humbling. Darkness also softens the harshness of bright, unyielding light. So much exposure, so much self-revelation, under the gaze of very accurate cameras tends to highlight the unique textures of our faces in bodies in ways that heightens self-scrutiny, or the judgment of others—and the pressure to use filters, makeup, special angle, and other manipulations to hide those textures and shapes.

In darkness, however, the outer appearance softens and the inner beauty of the heart may shine through.