What is Venus retrograde
Words: Emma Vidgen // @emma_vee
Image Oladimeji Odunsi // Unsplash
You’ve heard of Mercury retrograde, but what the hell is Venus retrograde? Like its Mercurial cousin, it’s a regular astrological cycle that falls about every 18 months where it appears Venus is moving backwards through the sky from where we are on earth. Every planet in the solar system retrogrades (although none are literally moving backwards, it just looks like they are from our perspective). It’s only the luminaries (the sun and moon) that don’t experience a retrograde cycle.
What does Venus retrograde mean?
Like all retrograde cycles, Venus retrograde marks a period of introspection and evaluation. Retrogrades always mark a time for us to call on all the “re” words – review, reassessment, revise, recalibrate, reconsider. Venus rules love, relationships, beauty, money and aesthetics, so when she moves through a retrograde cycle we are called to bring an eye of discernment and really do an audit of all these areas of our life. Venus is all about connection so reconnecting – to people, passions, values and our bodies – are all natural territory for Venus retrograde.
what does Venus retrograde have to do with past loves, old friends and exes?
Venus retrograde can coincide with events that force us to revisit issues and themes from the past, especially connected to money and relationships. It’s often a time when old flames and long-lost friends reappear in our lives quite unexpectedly. Often, particularly with exes, their reemergence is sweet but brief, and helps bring closure to an old storyline we’ve been hanging onto.
HOW DOES VENUS RETROGRADE AFFECT YOUR STAR SIGN?
Venus retrograde will impact each star sign differently according to what sign its moving through. During the May/June 2020 retrograde, it will engage with the whichever the Gemini part of your chart.
No matter what your sign, like all retrogrades it’s a time to slow down. Reflect, recalibrate, review and refine the way you relate and your relationship to what you value (especially money) and what how you connect to beauty. Because Venus is the ruling planet of Taurus and Libra, people with Taurus and Libra rising may feel the affects of all Venus retrogrades more noticeably.
This coming Venus retrograde in Gemini will also be more potent for mutable signs – Gemini and Gemini rising, Virgo and Virgo rising, Sagittarius and Sagittarius rising and Pisces and Pisces rising. This is because the retrograde will take place in one of the angular houses which reflect our identity, our home and family, our romantic relationship and our career.
When does Venus retrograde occur?
Venus retrograde last between 40 and 43 days and occur every 18 months (the last was in November 2018). Venus retrogrades in the same sign every eight years. On 13 May 2020, Venus will turn retrograde for around six weeks. The last time Venus was retrograde in the sign of Gemini was in May and June 2012. You can cast your mind back to that time to get some clues on what kind of themes may reemerge.
WHAT IS THE VENUS RETROGRADE SHADOW PERIOD?
When Venus stops and “moves backwards” it appears to be retracing a part of the sky it has already traversed. The issues and situations that arose on those days may be revisited as Venus “backs up” over that same part of the sky, then resolved after it stops (known as “stationing”) and then begins moving forward again.
All retrogrades work on this forward/backwards/forward basis. It can help to imagine the planet like a car. Imagine an Uber drives up a residential street, passing houses with street numbers 2, 4, 6, 8. It stops at 8 (this is the planet stationing) then reversed back, passing the houses 8, 6, 4, 2. It stops at 2 (its final station) and then moves forward, passing those same houses a third and final time before heading off.
It’s common that an issue or problem will present itself on the first leg, then reappear during the retrograde (as the planet reverses back over the same territory), and then finally gets resolved as the planet moves forward for the last time.
This coming retrograde, Venus will stop (station) on 13 May, then retrace its steps all the way back to the part of the sky it crossed on 10 April. It will take it up until 25 June to get there, then it will stop and move forward one final time, finally clearing that familiar patch of sky on 29 July. This means the Venus-related story that began for you in April should be resolved in late July. Phew!