Okay everyone. I’m finally doing it! Substack has made blogging ‘cool’ again and I have no other excuses to put off creating this space. I’m not exactly sure what this space will look like down to every detail, and I’ll be figuring that out with you along the way, but there’s an overarching vision and purpose that I’ve been sitting on for a while and that I feel is my duty to release into the world.

For several years, I’ve been contemplating creating a romantic online space dedicated to art, creativity, and beauty as a whole. Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve been drawn to art of various forms, history, mythology, and global culture as manifestations and explorations of what it means to be human. Whether it’s a beautiful work of art, a carefully curated home, a global destination, or a piece of literature, the common thread is that beauty, both natural and man-made, is a spiritual experience that pulls us back to our magical existence and shows us how to live. At least it reveals a glimpse into how I want to live. We place so much emphasis on technology, innovation, and productivity in this century, only to find ourself grasping for the beautiful little things that make life worth living and make us human in the first place.

This page is a curated refuge for all these romantic and beautiful things. It’s a call back to the feminine, a sort of 18th century salon. The name I chose for this space, Venus et La Lune, was carefully chosen. Venus, also known as Aphrodite, is the goddess of love, beauty, and passion, and brings together the masculine and feminine in a wonderful union of expression. She represents beauty in all its forms and the powerful strength in femininity. I have an image of Botticelli’s ‘Birth of Venus’ etched in my mind and am reminded of the beauty from the Renaissance and Roman/Greek antiquity. Venus is an ode to beauty and the manifestation of the feminine in the material world. She symbolizes the inner-goddess and divine feminine, the strength in womanhood, creativity, and receiving.

La lune, which is French for the moon and also feminine in nature, hints at the splendor of the universe we call home to and the multitude of processes we can’t fathom, as well as the processes and stages we ourselves go through. The moon is soul, emotion, cycles, and our connection to mother-nature. She directly circles back to the feminine source we’re trying to connect with in Venus- the pursuit of art, relationships, rituals, and travel. For thousands of years, people of various religions and cultures celebrated the feminine in moon rituals and ceremonies. Women in particular felt a direct connection to the moon, looking to her for guidance.

While I’m still contemplating what this space will look like, I’m intentionally calling this a ‘space’ rather than just a blog or Substack because I want this to be more than that. I see Venus et La Lune as a community and conversation pertaining to all things romantic and soulful. Venus covers explorations on beauty, so all forms of art, design, and natural synchronicities in the environment, as well as love, pleasure, rituals, and connection to the divine feminine. La lune, or the moon, encompasses themes of spirituality, emotions, cycles, and journeys. I’ll be exploring the stories of people and places and associated their associated histories as a reflection of our collective story and lessons.

I’m also going to be tying in a lot of my own experiences, reflections, and anecdotes as a woman in her mid-20s trying to figure it out and the rituals and practices I’m testing. Hopefully I can provide a few laughs along this journey of how I’m trying to figure out how to live a life of beauty, femininity, adventure, deep meaning, and highest self-expression. I don’t think I’m the only one feeling a call towards something deeper and I hope this can be a refuge for others who feel a little lost in this century too.

Here’s to romanticism! I hope you enjoy.

xo,

Zoë

Le Premier

VENUS et LA LUNE