The upcoming Venus Retrograde is not for the faint of heart. To begin, Venus entered Capricorn November 9th and will quadruple her normal residency in a sign, leaving for Aquarius on March 6th, 2022. That’s a lot of Venus in Capricorn!
She’s got some heavy lifting to do during her retrograde as she re-examines the slab and mortar that formed her perceptions around love, friendship, partnerships of all kinds, relationships with women, beauty, self worth and money: all the things we look to Venus for. Venus retrograding in Cap—a Saturn ruled sign—reconsiders the structural supports around relating, attracting and cultivating what we desire, whether it be beauty, love, money, likability or all of the above.
In Capricorn, a sign associated with the past and with ancestors, a lot of the material in those structural supports was handed down to us which we assimilated during early childhood conditioning or embedded in the libraries of our DNA. It’s up for reappraisal during the retrograde and will appear in the most provocative ways such as projecting past relating-pain on to a current partner or having an ex crawl out of the woodwork to activate latent triggers once again.
But as my teacher always used to say: You can only pass a test if you take the test. When we’re put in the cosmic cauldron that truly gauges our mettle, there’s an opportunity to make different choices than the ones that would have us hurt ourselves and others again. Facing our wounds is the first step to healing them.
Incoming: Pluto
This Venus transit is exceptionally intense as it includes a soirée with the Lord of the Underworld, Pluto. If Pluto can be relied on for anything, it’s that he dials the emotional intensity way up, not unlike pouring alcohol into contestants on the “reality show” The Bachelor to reveal the parts that are primal and usually well concealed. Lower type feelings that can typically occur during Pluto-Venus conjunctions include jealousy, constantly checking/verging on stalking, feelings of betrayal bordering on paranoia, possession, power struggles and control issues. But then there’s the more evolved manifestations as well, such as getting to the core truth at what’s going on. Empowerment through shedding everything that is no longer true. Being so vulnerable and willing to deeply and honestly connect, that understanding can finally occur.
There’s shades of intensity here. Some of us might go through our own War of the Roses from now until March while others will get a fantastic beauty peel and have a heart-to-heart with a friend. So much depends on our personal charts and how they interact with this transit as well as the final Saturn-Uranus square. Roughly speaking, this transit will impact you stronger if:
- Your Time Lord is Venus
- Your Ascendant is ruled by Venus (Taurus or Libra Risings)
- Your Descendant is ruled by Venus
- Your sect light is Taurus or Libra. This means if you were born at night, your sect light is the moon. Day: Sun. If your sect light is Taurus or Libra, this transit can be more noticeable in your life.
- If your profected house of the year falls in the sign of Capricorn, Taurus or Libra, this transit may feel significant for you.
- If you have important planets or angles between 22° to 30° of the Cardinal signs: Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn.
Look back
Look back eight years ago to December of 2013 and January of 2014 for how this quality of time might theme out for you. Venus retrograded in the same part of the sky back then. As Mark Twain allegedly said: “History doesn’t repeat Itself, but It often rhymes.”
To end, here are the dates we want to keep an eye on:
- NOV 9: Venus enters Capricorn
- DEC 11: Venus conjunct Pluto at 25°
- DEC 19: Venus turns retrograde 26°
- DEC 25: VenusRx conjunct Pluto 25°
- JAN 8: Venus cazimi the Sun 18°
- JAN 23: Venus appears from under the beams of the Sun
- JAN 29: Venus turns direct 11°
- MAR 3: Venus conjunct Pluto 27°
- MAR 6: Venus conjunct Mars: both enter Aquarius the same time
Summary: There’s a story beginning in December, coming to some kind of consideration on Christmas, and then resolving and/or fading the beginning of March. Remember, you can only pass a test if you take the test. If you find this transit hitting you hard, you might look at it as necessary soul surgery so you can finally leave the past in the past and grow boldy and gracefully into your future.
Video still from Shine by Yael Naïm