Venus retrograded on the 1st at 10 Aries–but what does that mean? Venus, an energy we experience in highly personal ways, in apparent backward motion will mean different things to different people, depending on where and in aspect to what it contacts the natal chart; what we all share is the way Venus retrogrades in the same part of the chart/ sign, within a couple of degrees, every 8 years. With such a loop to the Venus retrograde cycle, we may not immediately recognize that we’re in territory we’ve trod before–or that we’re seeing the results of our previous, 8-years-ago responses, whether they take the same shape or are the same challenges in a new Venusian get-up.

Retrogrades are ‘re-‘ periods, times when we can (and often must) review and reconsider our usual stance on any number of, in this case, Venus-themed areas, but the 8 year cycle places those circumstances of review and revision in an area where we’ve already experienced them–and now, as noted before, we face either the renewal of the situation, as if no time has passed, or we find the same issue dressed up in a new form, with the possibility that we don’t notice the echo-quality of what’s happening; we may believe we’ve already dealt with this Venus issue satisfactorily, ‘putting it to bed’ 8 years previously, or that what’s before us is unrelated to anything that’s come before–and in both instances we’d be wrong.

This time Venus retrogrades in Aries, an energy she’s inherently uncomfortable in, as she is receptive, seductive, looking for pleasure, and Mars-ruled Aries is assertive, aggressive, looking to impose the Will. It’s hard to be receptive when the surrounding energy is urging one to go out and get what is wanted–and yet, that’s one way we can reconcile the disparities here: Venus wants, as well, and if she can modify her usual seductive or appealing-to-the senses stance to seek actively, as Aries does, she can find a way to be effective within an atmosphere that’s less than sympathetic to her preferred modus operandi.

Then we have the question of where this retrograde happens in the individual chart. It’s incumbent upon each of us to look back at our situation 8 years ago–and in particular, to look for those echoes, those repeats, the re-emergence of what we thought long settled. Say this retro occurs in your 3rd House, and 8 years ago you and your sibling discussed going into business together. It didn’t pan out, but now you find yourself considering the idea again, or your sibling has gotten in touch, just lost their job, asking if you ever consider going for that food truck you both talked about? Or it falls in your 5th: 8 years ago you were head-over-heels for someone, and now you’ve just found out you’re pregnant (by another partner–haven’t seen that 8-years-ago guy in 7 years). What’s the connector? Romance and children are both products of the 5th; 8 years ago you were considering the value of the relationship, while today you’re considering what having a child will mean to you. Both are relationships that fall under the 5th, and both are Venusian, two different versions of Love. It may take a little detective work, but finding the thread will help us understand what’s at stake, and how Venus retro may shape things going forward.

Beyond the Venus-keyed patterns we see, we’ll also deal with the garden variety Venus issues that spring up during a retro period: changes in our customary tastes, our attitudes toward relationships, toward Love, toward aesthetics, toward sharing and cooperation, toward diplomacy, Art, comfort and sustenance, and in our values, preferences, and wants. We must be ready to experience changes in what we find attractive or pleasing–and we must be aware that our tastes, once the retro is over, will bounce back to the shapes and styles we had before the retro, meaning that we must be careful what aesthetic alterations we make during this part of the cycle. We’d be wise to do things that aren’t permanent, to experiment, but not in an irreversible way; if the change or adventure leads to something that we’ll have to live with, we’d be wise to save the idea until after Venus goes direct–then if it still appeals, go ahead. Otherwise, dye your hair, but don’t get a tattoo; date someone new, but don’t marry them, just yet; vacation in a part of the world you’d never found appealing before, but don’t decide, between flowery umbrella drinks, to move there. It’s a time for exploration of the senses and what pleases us; choose something irreversible (or at least difficult to alter) and you risk being stuck with something that ‘just isn’t you’.

Venus goes direct 12 April at 24 Pisces. If you experiment, and are considering a permanent step, please wait until after this point; then, evaluate, and measure, according to your more usual tastes and feelings. Though it’s not as much fun as off-the-cuff change, assessing things in a sober light is worth it (because that’s what it can feel like during the retrograde, like we’re drunk on some kind of Venusian punch, a high that undercuts our judgment in favor of a momentary feeling of invincibility). We deserve to enjoy Venus in a form most supportive of who we are–and we can only have that when our senses aren’t distorted as we make choices and invest in ourselves.

Mercury retrogrades on the 14th at 9 Aries, making for a period of reconsideration and review around what we do (Fire sign). Are we happy with our choices, with the way we’ve expressed our Will, with our leadership role(s) or lack of them? Have we gone after what we want, and are we okay with what we had to do to get it? Remember, at this time the mind and the mentality are, in certain ways, ‘blind’ to the facts, to communications, to the details, or these are actively not being shared–and that means that, even with the most careful efforts, we’ll still be making decisions and coming to conclusions without a full and complete picture of the situation. Inevitably, post-direction, we find out things we didn’t know during the retro period, but sure wish we had. Usually I’d encourage everyone to rely on the feeling nature to supplement/ circumvent the mind, but with Venus retro, that leaves only the intuitive faculties of the Moon as reliable–and even then, our feelings may color things so that what we think is accurate could be distorted by emotion and even leakage from the atmosphere around us. Maybe hold off on significant decisions for the retro period, as well as the usual don’t sign, don’t buy warning, which goes through direction on 7 April. Try instead a ‘go with the flow’, noncommittal attitude, leaving yourself as many options as possible, and a gentle refusal to judge or condemn yourself or your actions as you review them; by the time Merc reaches the direction point, in Pisces, the imagination may have supplied more possibilities than the mind could on its own, offering up potentials Mercury normally would’ve overridden before the idea even dawned.

All the outer planets are direct through March and April, with the spell being broken by Pluto’s retro on 4 May at 3 Aquarius. Since Mars was recently retro, and Merc and Venus will be, this imparts a difficult to sort personal picture but a crystal clear Big Picture. Our difficulty may be in discerning where, exactly, we fit in that larger scenario–but again, definitive statements of ‘I Am’ can wait until Merc re-enters Aries, 16 April. Pluto’s turnaround, by the way, will probably feel like a mental scouring pad; don’t over react–just remind yourself, It’s good to give things a thorough scrubbing! No matter how raw we feel immediately afterward.

Neptune moves into Aries on 30 March. This may feel as if someone lit a fire under our imaginative, creative, or idealistic inclinations–but the thing is, that’s fire applied at the end of a watery journey through Pisces–and fire applied to water is–steam! Will we harness it, and use it to move forward, ‘Little Engine That Could’ style, or will we just complain about the humidity? It all depends on your relationship to your own creative energies, and to reality–do you know where you stand? Because that’s required, if you want to make choices that will really matter. Prepare by (before the Mercury retro) going over recent creative efforts and where they stand–and remembering that our sense are affected right now by the Venus retro, so that making practical rather than aesthetic judgments is probably the best use of time.

And, just before Mercury retrogrades, we have a Total Lunar Eclipse in Virgo. More to come soon!