Venus turned retrograde on December 21, 2013, just a few hours after the winter solstice. It won’t regain its forward motion until the last day of January 2014, when it will stick its head out, a bit warily, like that famous Punxsutawney groundhog.
There are at least a couple schools of thought about interpreting planetary retrograde periods. One is the “hide and wait until it’s over” school, which offers a prescriptive list of what to avoid doing, thinking, or being during the retrograde period. Another approach recommends a more thoughtful, synchronistic perspective: What can we learn from the retrograde?
I’m not very fatalistic, but experience has persuaded me that there is something to that prescriptive list of retrograde “don’t”s. For instance, Venus rules marriage, and researching hundreds of marriage charts convinced me that marriages actually did fail more often and with greater acrimony if they began while Venus was retrograde.
Venus also rules major purchases, like real estate. When a close friend purchased his first house while Venus was retrograde, it turned out to be a triumph of architectural misadventure and mold. Soon after the housing market collapsed, leaving him owing far more on the place than it was worth. Eventually he had to walk away, leaving a scar on his credit rating.
So I’m inclined to agree that Venus’ retrograde periods are no time to marry, make major purchases, launch a business you hope will make money, or host an important social event. Such arrangements will almost certainly turn out very differently than you’d hoped.
But why? What does it mean when Venus is retrograde? Is it simply that we’ve been naughty and the heavens wish to punish us?
Retrograde motion is a matter of perspective. That is, the planet isn’t moving backward, it just looks that way to us. This is crucial. Nothing is “wrong” with the retrograde planet; it’s your way of looking at the matters related to the planet that may be askew.
So initiating new relationships is not good Venus retrograde work, because your perspective on relationships is going through a wonky phase. And spending huge wads of cash on things is unwise because there is the chance you lack crucial information (mold!) or that you’re doing it for the wrong reasons (buying a luxury car you can ill afford, just to show the world you’ve truly arrived).
Putting the past to rest
Retrograde periods represent those moments when we have to put things to rest in order to move forward with a lighter heart. Have you ever wondered why so many people who lose a lot of weight end up regaining it, with interest? It’s because that’s what happens whenever you try to change your life from the outside in, rather than from the inside out. If you don’t change the underlying mindset that led to the weight gain, there’s little hope of changing your body permanently.
Starting a new relationship or buying something new and shiny is exciting, and often entirely appropriate. But while Venus is retrograde, it’s the astrological equivalent of losing 50 pounds—an attempt to change your life from the outside in.
On the other hand, taking care of old business is an excellent item to place on your Venus retrograde agenda. Watch as old friends, colleagues, and foes turn up out of the blue. It’s kind of like an extended high school reunion (and often, about as pleasant). These are people with whom you need to finish up old work, or who prompt you to examine something unfinished within yourself.
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Venus will be retrograde in Capricorn, so the storyline running through the entire retrograde period is about respect. The Capricorn house in your chart indicates where you long to prove that you’re a person of substance. It’s the area of your life in which you need to instead examine whether you are convinced of your substance.
When desire flares up, ask why—why this person, why this thing, why now? When someone from the past appears, note the feelings they inspire, and go ahead and wrestle with those feelings until Venus tells you what they mean.
The symbol for retrograde is the same glyph that doctors use to refer to prescriptions: Rx. Here is your Venus retrograde prescription: Put your wallet away. Place all new relationships on probation. Revisit the past and learn what you can from it. Respect yourself. And let others greet 2014 with an energetic leap out of the starting gate, while you hold back and take the time to understand what you really want. That’s how you can begin to change your life from the inside out—and that’s the way that brings lasting satisfaction.
© 2014 by April Elliott Kent
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