Retrograde Venus Transits

Venus is a fast moving planet, making a full circuit of the Sun approximately every 20 months. A transit of Venus to a natal planet or angle is therefore only a one day event, which may not materialize into anything more than having a pleasant encounter or two.

A retrograde Venus transit is a more significant event though because when retrograde it travels back and forth over the same degrees of the zodiac three times.

This Venus Retrograde lasts from October 8 to November 18 and covers 27 degrees of Libra through 13 degrees of Scorpio.

If you have any planets or angles in those degrees of Scorpio or Libra, or in the opposite degrees (27 degrees of Aries through 13 degrees Taurus), it’s a transit worth paying attention to. (You can get your chart at http://www.alabe.com/)

What Does This Transit Mean?

Going over what every individual Venus transit might mean would take up a lot more space than I have here and it depends on what planet or angle it is transiting….but generally speaking Venus transits are meant to be pleasant, sociable, romantic. However, this retrograde transit, mostly in Scorpio, takes things deeper than that. It’s a time to review Venusian things and how you express and handle them. Venusian themes include relationships, values, self worth, how we share and give and yield to others, the soft and sweet side of life, the feminine, emotional stuff, the things that money can buy, how attractive we feel, what and who we are attracted to.

Because we are talking primarily Scorpio here for this Venus transit, this brings the urge to purge in Venusian areas of life, the need to check whether our handling of all things Venusian is healthy, or whether we are straying into the shadow side of Venus. Examples could be a tendency to give yourself away to please others, or letting yourself be pushed around in a relationship. Or perhaps you are taking advantage of others who are trying to please you. Such questions may need to be asked if this Venus retrograde is forming a transit in your chart. Money questions may also need to be asked. Are you spending too much on luxuries or are you denying yourself the good things in life unnecessarily? Where do you need to ‘balance the books’ in your life? Consider what your core values are. Are you living them? Do you need to get back to them or redefine them?

That all said it would be wise to put off any major relationship or financial decisions until the retrograde is done and dusted. Even though Venus turns direct on November 18, it will not be clear of its retrograde shadow until December 20, so this date should be noted if you’re looking for a benchmark.

Another Clue To Your Retrograde Venus Transit…The Venus Eight Year Cycle

Venus has a synodic cycle* of eight years. This means that if you go back eight years in an ephemeris you will find that Venus occupied the same degree of the zodiac. So, if this current retrograde Venus is making a transit to one of your planets or angles, think back eight years for a clue about what it might mean. How did you relate back then? Have you outgrown certain relationships over the last eight years? How have your social and personal values changed? Do you need to get back to a past and more authentic way of relating? Or do you need to move on from past relating habits? Only you will know the answers and in fact, only you will really know the questions to ask.

Around the Houses

It’s also worth noting which House Venus retrograde is traveling through, whether it makes a connection to a planet or angle or not. For example, the whole retrograde will occur in my Sixth House, so issues of work and service will come up for review. Do I give too much to my work or not enough? Do I value the work I do and does the work value me? How do I serve others, how do others serve me? Are my relationships healthy, or are they making me ‘sick’ on some level? Questions I will be considering.

Some First House Issues for Venus Retrograde: Ego values, relationship with self, self-esteem issues, self enjoyment, how you present yourself to the world physically and socially.

Some Second House Issues for Venus Retrograde: Money ~ how you earn it and what you spend it on. Your personal and physical assets, what you value, how you value yourself.

Some Third House Issues for Venus Retrograde: How you connect and communicate with others, relationships with siblings and neighbours, your attitude to learning and education and what value you place on it. Your mindset.

Some Fourth House Issues for Venus Retrograde: How you value your roots, heritage and family background. Your atttitude and values around home and family, how you relate to family members.

Some Fifth House Issues for Venus Retrograde: How you value your own creativity and self expression. Your relationship to your children. Your attitude to gambling and risk taking.

Some Seventh House Issues for Venus Retrograde: How you relate to signficant others including marriage and bussiness partners. Your open enemies. Issues around the type of people you attract / are attracted to.

Some Eighth House Issues for Venus Retrograde: Money issues, especially the resources of others or money you don't earn (such as inheritances etc.) This transit could be a good opportunity for some profound healing around your relationships or financial management.

Some Ninth House Issues for Venus Retrograde: Your values, ethics, religion, spiritual ideas and life philosophy could come up for assessment. Questions around higher education, travel, foreign matters.

Some Tenth House Issues for Venus Retrograde: How you value status and reputation. Your ambitions and the relationships/connections you need in order to achieve them. Professional collaborations. How your boss values you and relationships with parents and authority figures.

Some Eleventh House Issues for Venus Retrograde: Your relationship to peers, friends, acquaintances and groups. How you value group efforts. Your social conciousness and the value you place upon it.

Some Twelfth House Issues for Venus Retrograde: Where you are your own worst enemy. Dealing with unhealthy relationships that sabotage your emotional/social 'health'. The value of service, retreat and the spirtual life.

What About You? What Planet/s will Venus retrograde transit? What House/s will Venus travel through? Leave your comment below...

Wishing you a healthy, productive and pleasant Venus retrograde time.

*It’s not necessary to understand the synodic cycle to understand this article, but if you are astronomically minded and/or curious to learn more you can read about it here: http://www.lunarplanner.com/HCpages/Venus.html

Image credit: NASA/JPL/USGS

With love,
Mandi
http://www.mandilockley.com/