Thanks for the info M! Here are the degrees of the planets:
Sun 9°05' Taurus
Mercury 11°14' Taurus
Venus 14°50' Taurus
Mars 3°09' Taurus
I had a reading recently that caused me to pause and reflect on Mars' activity in my life. I know that Mars takes two years to transit through the signs, and noticed a pattern in my life that repeats itself every two years. Seems I uproot myself and move or make huge strides and changes in my life bi-annually (interesting too, that it's always in the Spring). Would that be evidence to Mars being ruler, or is that Mars just doing it's *thing*?
What would I be looking for if Venus came out on top?
Yes that is interesting!! The two year cycle seems to be significant Astrologically - have you checked for how close it is to your Mars return or to your natal Ascendant degree?
A fair number of Astrologers that I have read would take all these planets to be conjunct , as long as there isn't an out of orb pair in the middle. Mars is well within a reasonable orb for the Sun and Mercury, and Venus also (but on the other side).
From a Hellenistic point of view all these planets fall into what they termed 'assembly', that is a moderate conjunction and none of them qualify for 'adherence' which is a strong conjunction (less than three degrees). The separation of Mars and Venus keeps them at no more than moderate relative to each other.
You are a night birth, Venus and Mars are the benefic and malefic of sect - that is despite Mars being by nature a difficult planet, it is not going to be associated with major difficulties and indeed may well be constructive. Venus will be more likely to be associated with good events than Jupiter. Again it would be interesting to see how much the biennial changes match your Venus return, to see how closely these two planets work together - especially if you see these changes as beneficial.
Mars is closer to your Ascendant (though as I don't know the degree of that, I still can't give a decision on which is tops. If your Ascendant means that Venus is very near the second house cusp, I'd take Mars as the more likely.
I'll go further if you PM or post your natal details, as there are a few tests I can carry out on the chart as a whole.
I hope it's not rude of me to piggyback in on MaineGirl117's question, but it provides the perfect opportunity for me to ask a question that I've been grappling with as I try to make the trek from "beginning astrologer" to "intermediate" level... Here it is:
As she's detailed for us, she has a stellium in Taurus. The Sun and Mercury lie in the middle of the cluster, and then Venus and Mars are located to either side of them. The latter two planets are each conjunct the inner two (the Sun and Mercury), but are nearly 12 degrees apart from each other, and therefore technically not conjunct each other. My question, though, is whether they would be attributed conjunct status by virtue of having those other two bodies between them to which they are both conjunct? Does this all count as a true stellium even though every planet involved isn't conjunct every other planet involved if we use a strict ten-degree orb (assuming that's the proper orb to be using...?)? And should her chart be interpreted such that Venus and Mars are deemed sort of "effectively conjunct?" I ask because I have something similar happening in my own chart and in the charts of a few other people I'm trying to interpret. Thank you for any feedback -- sorry for any hijacking here!
You're not highjacking - it's a reasonable question. As I said in response to MaineGirl117, I'd take these four planets to be in conjunction using the range of 15 degrees, used by Hellenisitic Astrologers, though none of them are closer enough for a tight conjunction on their definition.
A lot of modern Astrologers would take this as being a multiple conjunction (stellium) too, though I guess you will find Astrologers (both modern and traditional) who would treat Venus and Mars as being out of orb. Most traditional Astrologers seem to be more concerned with planets in the first (or whatever relevant house) rather than how close they are for most topical readings or for forecasts, though proximity matters when it comes to assessing strength, when a benefic or a malefic are involved - benefics (Venus and Jupiter) add to strength when in close conjunction or aspect, malefics (Saturn and Mars) reduce strength in the same circumstances.
By all means launch a new thread on this, as there may well be others who want to contribute but are not aware of the theme. It would also allow comeback questions and this thread would not meander off topic.
This seems interesting. Mars and Venus have been traveling closely together since they joined up in Pisces (I think) and over the past 4 months there have been steady positive results across... well I would say all areas of my life, but specifically self-esteem, motivation, and finances. Venus and Jupiter are set to be in positive alignment towards the end of the month (think they'll be conjunct?). Last year around this time these two planets sent me on a work related trip that proved not only interesting but highly sociable 
