Greetings Anam Cara,
Goodness me, we have a lot of retrogrades this year! Pluto, Saturn and Jupiter, have all started their backwards walk, and if not, soon! But the one to watch is this Venus retrograde starting 13th May. Venus, the planet ruling love, beauty, pleasure, art, indulgences and romance turns retrograde every 18 months for around six weeks, or 40days!
Looking back, we see that Venus was in retrograde from July 25th to 6th September 2015, and 5th October to 17th November 2018. Try to think back to those days, and years in your life- and what happened, especially with regard to love and all matters of the heart. This could give you an insight into the retrograde we will now experience from 13th May to 25th June. The difference with a Venus retrograde, compared to a Mercury retrograde, or Pluto retrograde, is that everyone will experience this energy. Especially with regard to their relationships, both in financial and love matters.
Venus in your astrology chart rules all things beautiful, how you express love in your life, the type of person you’re attracted to and how you like to be treated. Venus personifies love, beauty, creativity, beautiful objects, romance and partnerships. Venus also rules finances, with her natural ruler Taurus in the second house. Whilst Venus is retrograde the things we love come to surface for us to re-evaluate. New romances started now are not what they seem and can often bring huge life lessons. Lovers from the past may surface, bringing complications. If you’ve been cheating or living a ‘double life’ the truth will be revealed.
To put things simply, when Venus is retrograde our perceptions on all things we think we love and make us feel beautiful are pretty skewed. What seems amazing now might not look so great when the retrograde is over. We can enjoy wearing rose tinted glasses during a Venus retrograde with our love life; but think of short and oh so, so sweet.
During a Venus retrograde, Venus, goddess of Love and Beauty, takes us into a six-week journey into the past to uncover what may be the hidden or forgotten places in our relationships. She takes our hand and pulls us into the darkness of all our relationships.
A retrograde period of any planet is a retrospective of that planet’s themes. It’s like going into the deep, dark cave of oneself in whatever area of life is covered by the planet that is retrograde. It will be a time of moving backward, perhaps of going back to pick up pieces lost in the past. It is thus a retrieval, a turning inward, perhaps a letting-go. Since Venus’ domain is relationships, this turning inward happens in that domain. This brings up relationship issues which will not fully resolve until Venus has again turned direct and also passes the degree of Gemini where she turned retrograde, which will happen on July 28. On that day she’ll be done retracing old relationship ground and her mission to teach us about relationships will be over for the year.
All humans want love, but how much of yourself are you willing to sacrifice to get it? And how long are you willing to stay in a relationship where you’re not loved in the ways that matter to you? How long can you tolerate not being valued or being taken for granted? And here’s another question: would you rather love or be loved–and does your relationship force you to choose rather than allowing you to have both? This transit can bring these issues to your attention. It’s super-uncomfortable, but in the end you can find tremendous clarity on your genuine relationship needs and on whether they are being fulfilled. And on how to go about doing that.
A Venus retrograde period is a time to reexamine love in your life: how do you get it, how do you give it, what kind of love matters most to you and what is your type to fall in love with. The Gemini placement means we’ll ask ourselves, “Does my relationship stimulate my mind enough? Is it intellectually interesting? Can I really talk with my partner? Do we have good communication? How could it be improved?” Get better at talking with your partner and really hearing them. This is a great way to use this natural reexamination period to your benefit.
It’s all about love... for the next 40 days... so tread carefully, be aware, and go with your intuition in all decisions. Ground and centre yourself, meditate and contemplate the choices you are making. For remember with each and every choice there comes consequences. So go slowly and with careful tread- and turn this retrograde into something perfect and beautiful just for you.