It’s time to dive deep into the Divine Feminine waters, to remember your power, your gifts, and what is truly valuable to your heart.
From now – November 13th Venus is making her 40 -day journey through the Underworld to be reborn as the Morning Star.
This happens every 18 months, and this time she’ll be retracing her steps from 8° Scorpio through 22° Libra.
If you know what house(s) these degrees fall in your chart, this will be the area of emphasis for you over the next 6 weeks.
Venus governs love, beauty, what we value, relationships, money, aesthetics, and creativity. Her symbols are the rose, the 5-pointed star, the dove, the swan, the sparrow, and the bumblebee. Her colors are all shades of rose & green, and she is deeply connected to the beauty of nature.
Venus in Scorpio is deeply passionate, intensely emotional, erotic, mysterious, magnetic, seductive and sensual. Venus in Scorpio is the deepest, darkest water, which holds the key to ancient memory – the seat of our true feminine power.
Venus in Libra is in her home sign & feels very comfortable. Here she is charming, elegant, sociable, and interested in art & culture. Venus in Libra is egalitarian, seeking harmony & balance in relationships.
However in her journey through the Underworld, the Goddess is purging all of the shadows of both of these signs.
From now – November 24th she is clearing out power imbalances, secrets, manipulation, control through withholding, cruelty, and sexual addiction/abuse/perversion (as we have witnessed recently).
Then from November 25th – 13th she is purging codependency in relationships, comparison, projection, gossip, and inauthenticity throughout the realms of Venus: love, beauty, what we value, relationships, money, aesthetics, and creativity.
Every Retrograde is a Trilogy
I always say that every Retrograde cycle is like three books, or three movies, in a trilogy.
Book One is when the Planet first moves through what is called the Shadow Period, crossing the same degrees it will retrace during the actual Retrograde. In Book One, we are blissfully unaware, frolicking along, and somewhere along the way we pass some important information without registering it, overlook an important experience, or drop & misplace something we were carrying on our journey.
Venus Book One: August 31st – October 2nd. Basically, everything that happened in September is up for renegotiation & new depth.
Book Two is when the Planet Stations Retrograde & turns around to retrace its steps all the way back to when it first entered the Shadow Period. In Book Two, our attention is more focused inward, & we go on an inner alchemical journey, consciously or unconsciously looking for whatever it was that we missed, dropped or overlooked in Book One.
Venus Book Two: October 3rd – November 13th
*Also of note, Mercury will also be stationing Retrograde from October 23rd-November 13th from 20°-5° Scorpio. And both Venus & Mercury station direct, on November 13th. (More on that later).
Book Three is when the Planet Stations Direct & now, moving forward, walks back over those same steps for the third time, also called the Post Retrograde Shadow Period. In Book Three, we have hopefully found, retrieved or experienced whatever it was that we missed the first time, & can now apply those lessons moving forward in our lives.
Venus Book Three: November 14th – December 15th
It’s kind of like we are in a fairytale where we must journey through the dark forest, narrowly escaping the demons & beasts that lurk in the shadows. But then we get to the end of the forest only to find a locked door. On the door, there’s a note that says the key to the door can only be found by answering the riddle of the creature that lives in the swamp back at the beginning of the forest. So we go back, this time facing the demons & beasts, finally making it back to the swamp, where we answer the riddle & finally receive the key.
Then we journey back through the forest for the third time, which is now filled with light & life, making friends with those creatures that haunted us before, until we finally make it back to the door where the key fits perfectly, and we continue on our journey, much stronger, more grounded & more confident than before.
Is this a time to be afraid of difficulty in your relationships, finances & creativity? Absolutely not.
Venus Retrograde is an invitation for us to slow down & deepen our own connection to what is truly valuable to us (as opposed to what others value or what society has taught us to value). Whether this is in your finances, your relationships, your sense of beauty, aesthetics & branding, it’s time to come home to your heart & reconnect to what feels truly meaningful to you.
It can be a wonderful time to make investments in things you’ve already been considering, or offerings that come back around. You may also receive money or resources from past endeavors or situations.
You may also find yourself reconnecting with certain people (whether these are romantic or business relationships & collaborations). Now this doesn’t mean when your ex calls you up that it’s a sign from the Universe to get back together (which will be even more tempting when Mercury joins the retrograde party on October 23rd). You’ve been warned.
There could also be certain connections or collaborations that you haven’t been able to give your attention to in the ways you really want to, and Venus Retrograde can bring those opportunities back around again. And that may be a good thing. Trust your intuition.
The Deep Water Medicine
In the mythological story, Venus rises from the depths of the ocean on the half shell. Venus in Scorpio is the deepest, darkest water, the seat of our hidden power our gifts & all that we value… Currency, streams of income, cash flow, liquid assets. All of the words we use for money are water words.
This is not a coincidence.
This retrograde is an invitation to work with water as the supreme yin, feminine medicine. Baths, ocean swims, time near rivers or rain. Water has a way of loosening what needs to move. Hidden memories, gifts, wisdom & healing abilities that have been swirling just beneath the surface of your ordinary awareness become more accessible now.
On a practical level, this can be a good time for investments in things you have already been considering carefully. Offerings from the past may come back around. You may receive money or resources from past endeavors you had almost forgotten about.
Trust your intuition. If something returns that once felt right, it may deserve a second look. And if a connection or collaboration comes back around that you haven’t been able to give your full attention to, Venus Retrograde may be bringing you exactly what you needed the space to receive.
What does Venus Retrograde mean for you personally?
Find your Rising Sign below to see where Venus is activating your chart from October 3rd through November 13th. If you don’t know your Rising Sign, you can get your free chart at astro.com. ✨
ARIES RISING
Something is returning to your 7th & 8th houses of partnership & deep intimacy. It may come as a deepening, a collaboration finally ready for its full moment, a connection asking for one more honest chapter. It may also come as a completion: a relationship that needs a real ending, not a fade-out, so that you can both move forward with your power intact. Whatever returns, it is bringing something it couldn’t offer before: clarity. Trust what you feel when it arrives. That is your answer.
TAURUS RISING
The 6th & 7th houses of devotion, the body & partnership are where Venus is doing her most tender work for you. Someone from your past may reach back out. A creative partnership may resurface with better timing. And some of what returns may be asking for completion rather than continuation: an honest conversation, a final release, a reclamation of the energy you’ve been giving away in small, quiet doses for a long time. Your body already knows the difference. Listen to it.
GEMINI RISING
Your 5th & 6th houses of creativity, joy & the body are alive with Venus’s light, and she is moving backward through all the places where your gifts live. An old project may resurface ready to be finished. A collaboration that once lit you up may return with new possibility. And some of what comes back is here to be completed with love: the creative partnership you outgrew, the expression that belonged to an earlier chapter of your story. Both are medicine. Your joy is not frivolous. It is yours.
CANCER RISING
Rooted in your 4th & 5th houses of home, lineage & creative self-expression, this retrograde is returning something that belongs to you. It may be a creative collaboration or relationship from the past, asking to either deepen or finally be put to rest with integrity. It may be a story from your lineage, ready to be rewritten in your own words rather than inherited ones. What returns is offering you a choice: carry it forward, or set it down gently, and reclaim what was yours all along.
LEO RISING
Your 3rd & 4th houses of voice & roots are glowing with this retrograde’s light. Words are returning to you. So are conversations. Some that want to open into something new, and some that have needed to be had for a long time. A person from your past may reach out. What they bring may be an invitation deeper, or it may be the closing of a loop that has kept part of your energy tethered. Either way, speaking your truth is the medicine. Let your voice catch up to who you have actually become.
VIRGO RISING
A new relationship with your own worth is being born in your 2nd & 3rd houses of resources & voice. Old income streams, past collaborations, work you nearly wrote off may come back around. Some are ready to be received. Some are ready to be completed and released with clarity. The question Venus is asking you is not just what is returning? It is what do I actually want? The things you kept saying yes to out of obligation rather than desire: this retrograde is giving you permission to answer differently.
LIBRA RISING
This retrograde is as personal as it gets for you. Venus moves through your 1st & 2nd houses of self & resources, returning you to yourself. Past connections may resurface. Some carry genuine new possibility. Some are asking for the conversation you’ve been too gracious to have. The pattern of abandoning yourself to keep the peace, of giving your energy for less than it’s worth: that is what Venus is here to complete. What comes back around during this time is a mirror. Look at what it’s showing you.
SCORPIO RISING
There is a gift moving up from the depths through your 12th & 1st houses of the inner realm & embodied self. And there may also be an old energetic agreement rising with it, one that has been quietly draining you because you never found the words to close it. Venus retrograde in your chart is doing both things at once: returning gifts you had forgotten you carried, and surfacing connections or dynamics that are ready for completion with love & integrity. You have always been braver than you believed. This will confirm it.
SAGITTARIUS RISING
Your 11th & 12th houses of community & inner sanctuary are where Venus is weaving her retrograde light. Someone you haven’t spoken to in a while may reach back out, and what they bring with them might be real new possibility, or it might be the conversation that finally brings a friendship into its honest truth. A circle or collaboration that once felt like home may be asking whether it still fits. You are not the same person who joined it. Let this retrograde show you which connections deepen you and which ones you are finally free to release with love.
CAPRICORN RISING
The territory of your 10th & 11th houses of purpose & community is alive with returning energy. A professional relationship or collaboration from your past may resurface. Sometimes with genuine new potential. Sometimes asking for a clean, clear completion that gives you both your power back. Someone who saw your gifts before you fully claimed them may come back into view. And someone you have been holding space for out of loyalty rather than resonance may gently step back. Both are gifts. Let the retrograde sort what belongs in your next chapter.
AQUARIUS RISING
Something you once believed in, and then set aside, is asking to be looked at again. Your 9th & 10th houses of vision, expansion & calling are lit up with Venus’s retrograde light. A collaboration aligned with your true calling may come back around, ready now in a way it wasn’t before. And a philosophy, a teacher, or a path you followed out of borrowed certainty rather than your own knowing may be asking to be released. The ideas that keep finding their way back to you are not accidents. Neither is what finally stops pulling at you.
PISCES RISING
Venus moves through your 8th & 9th houses of deep intimacy, shared resources & expansion. She is retrieving something precious, and also surfacing something ready to be completed. An old relationship or partnership may return. Sometimes to go deeper. Sometimes to have the honest conversation that was never quite finished, so that you can both move forward free. The dreams you set aside because someone else’s reality became the organizing principle of your life: this retrograde is asking whether you are ready to reclaim them. The answer, if you listen, is already in you.
VENUS RETROGRADE JOURNAL PROMPTS
- What patterns in your relationships have you been aware of but not yet named out loud?
- Where have you been accepting less than what you truly desire in love, connection or partnership?
- What would it look like to love yourself the way you most want to be loved by someone else?
- If your finances are a mirror of your sense of self-worth, what is currently being reflected back to you?
- What memory, gift or hidden ability is asking to resurface during this retrograde?
- What are you ready to stop carrying that was never really yours to carry?
Are you navigating Venus Retrograde & want to understand exactly what it means for your personal chart?
I would love to sit with you in a private session. We will look at where Venus is retracing in your natal chart, what it is activating, & what this transit is specifically here to heal & reveal for you.
With endless devotion to your eternal empowerment,
Rakai’el
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