The more I read about astrology, the more I see Venus being interepreted merely as romance, sex, and love.  I have taken Venus to mean something deeper, not just romance, but your life's passion, what you really *love* to do, and what you find beautiful.  To me this goes way beyond "romance."  But it seems I'm in the minority.  What do you think?

I think you're looking at it from an advanced perspective rather than that of a beginner. I agree with you too.

@JessJ- Venus is about our life-long passions - all of them. The romantic passions as well as the career passions... The things we love, artistic tastes, our security needs... Look to the house your Venus is in to see where your passions lie... It's more than just romantic love, it's about what stirs your insides up...

Speaking just for me and my own chart, Venus does not represent my deepest, life-sustaining, passions. That would be my sun. Venus is my taste, my ideals, my preferences, my loves and tendencies on top of my deeper passion...

Also, my chart ruler ( which for me is Jupiter) represents a lot of my deep passions, too... Oddly enough, now that i think about it though, my Venus trines that Jupiter, so maybe it's Venus, after all. Huh, I thought I had a straightforward opinion to share, and find that I'm confusing myself. So maybe i'll just leave it here for now.

Venus is also what you value and, to an extent, your self esteem.

Think about the houses that it rules (2 and 7); those are Venusian things at heart.  :)

I think it's helpful to distinguish Venus attributes from Moon attributes: what you like vs. what you need.

"our security needs..."

I prolly should have said our material security needs as Satori is right about the emotional needs being a Moon ruled aspect... I stand corrected...

No matter who I read or why, I always, always, ALWAYS say "Venus is who, how and what we love". I think that pretty much sums it up. If someone doesn't understand I expound with an example from my own chart and give something like, "My Venus is in Leo. It is a Fire sign. I tend to be attracted to fiery men (heh heh) and I have a tendency to include a little drama every now and again. I also like the best of everything and my "mane". Hahahah.

So, I'm with you...I see it way more as just romantic love.