Venus Retrograde 2018 starts on October 5th at 10° Scorpio. Venus retrograde will last for 40 days, until November 15th when Venus goes direct at 25° Libra.
Venus is the Goddess of love and relationships. When retrograde, your relationships are being tested.
You have 40 days to review, revisit, re-evaluate your love life and your relationships.
If Venus Retrograde 2018 is already giving you chills, listen to this: Venus goes retrograde in Scorpio, the most intense sign of the zodiac. Death, sex, finances, and taboos – in general, what people never talk about – are Scorpio’s territory.
Can you imagine what it means to have the Goddess of Love going through Scorpio? The Valley of death, the inferno?
Let’s put it like this: If Romeo and Juliet was an astrological transit, it would have been Venus Retrograde in Scorpio.
An Alchemical Process Of Transformation
But no reason to be afraid: Scorpio’s death is metaphorical. Nothing will literally die during this Venus retrograde, but your life will be transformed to an extent you never thought was possible.
Venus Retrograde in Scorpio will be challenging, but it will bring a rebirth of the heart.
There’s no coincidence that Venus is retrograde exactly for 40 days. Number 40 is a sacred number in pretty much every religion and is usually associated with fulfillment of promises, BUT ONLY after a period of testing, trial and probation.
The purpose of the “trial” or the retrograde period is to guide you back to your heart.
Venus Retrograde will thrust you out of your comfort zone and into the unknown. Yes, it can be challenging. Yes, it can be painful. It can feel like an unending, uphill battle against the world. But it will be totally worth it.
Venus In Scorpio – All Or Nothing
As you know, Venus is a symbol of the feminine. Venus rules love, relationships, money, and personal values – the most important things in life. The key word here is value – Venus is our unit of value exchange.
What about Scorpio? Scorpio rules the big cycles of life and death, our legacy, what we “share” with others and with the universe as a whole, those things we have no say in. You have no say when you are born. You have no choice but to die, sooner or later.
Scorpio rules the deepest corners of our psyche – our instincts, our reflexes, our reptilian brain. Scorpio also rules our secret desires, our taboos, all the things we choose to keep secret from others, and sometimes, even from ourselves.
In Scorpio, Venus is deeply seductive. She craves all-consuming love and deep emotional connections – and she’s not afraid to dig through the dark side of things.
Venus Retrograde in Scorpio will remind you of that one thing you always wanted to have but never got. And it will inspire to try to go and get it. This time, it’s all or nothing.
The first part of the Venus Retrograde 2018 (from October 5th to October 31, when Venus is in Scorpio) is highly intense. You can experience obsessively intense feelings and all-consuming attraction.
Venus In Libra – It’s All About Relationships
But there’s much more to this Venus Retrograde than the obsessive intensity of Venus in Scorpio.
While Venus retrograde starts in Scorpio, Venus Retrograde ends in Libra.
And this is where (in Libra) we will have the final outcome, the resolution of this transit.
Libra is the sign of the ‘other’, the sign of relationships so the outcome of this Venus Retrograde will likely be connected to your relationships.
Libra is the only sign of the zodiac that is not a human or an animal – it’s the only inanimate object of the zodiac. Libra is the sign of reason.
The ultimate goal of this Venus Retrograde 2018 is to show you how to find reason in passion, how to find objectivity in what otherwise is your subjective perspective.
This can take different forms. Maybe you will learn that in order to get what your soul craves so much (Scorpio) you need to first understand what the ‘other’ wants (Libra). If your deepest desires aren’t being met is maybe because you need to revisit the underlying principles of ‘give and take’ and strike to find a better balance.
The Dance Of Venus And Venus Cycles
We cannot talk about Venus Retrograde without talking about the strikingly beautiful dance of Venus.
The Earth-Venus dance for 8 years creates this beautiful 5-petal flower with the Sun at the center.
As you can see, the tight inward loops represent a Venus retrograde.
Every 8 years (and 5 Venus cycles) Venus comes back to the same area of sky, activating the same area of your chart. In any given century, there are only 5 points in the sky where Venus goes retrograde.
Venus doesn’t go retrograde in Libra, Sagittarius or Pisces for example. Venus only starts her retrograde in one of the following signs: Scorpio, Leo, Gemini, Aries, and Capricorn.
Why Is This Venus Retrograde So Important?
From all Venus retrogrades, Venus in Scorpio retrogrades are the most profound and bring the greatest transformations.
Many of my clients mentioned the Venus retrograde in Scorpio as being the most life-altering Venus retrograde of their lives.
For years I wondered why is that. What makes that portion of the sky (the first decan of Scorpio and the last decan of Libra) so special?
And then it finally struck me.
What makes Venus Scorpio retrogrades so special is that almost everyone alive has a transpersonal planet (Uranus, Neptune, Pluto) on Venus’ retrograde path (25° Libra to 10° Scorpio).
And transpersonal planets are the most mysterious, life-changing energies in the universe. When a personal planet like Venus travels over a transpersonal planet, it comes with once-in-a-lifetime, fated events.
No wonder everyone feels Venus retrogrades in Scorpio much more intensely than any other Venus retrograde.
Let’s have a look how Venus Retrograde 2018 will affect you depending on which transpersonal planet she makes a conjunction to…
Venus Retrograde Conjunct Natal Neptune – The Longing Of The Heart
If you are born between 1953 – 1962, your Neptune is on Venus’ retrograde path. This means Venus Retrograde 2018 will conjunct your natal Neptune.
Neptune is the planet of higher love and idealism, but also the planet of fog and confusion.
Neptune blurs the lines between reality and imagination and paints beautiful pictures that may or may not be real.
Venus with Neptune can make you want to drown in love. Your desire to experience an out-of-this-world connection is stronger than ever.
Venus Retrograde 2018 conjunct natal Neptune can make an ordinary connection with another human being feel fated and can confuse the most rational person on Earth. If you are born between 1953-1962 you will have a longing to experience a soulmate connection.
Venus Retrograde Conjunct Natal Uranus – Heartbeats
If you are born between 1973 – 1977, your Uranus is on Venus’ retrograde path. This means Venus Retrograde will conjunct your natal Uranus.
For you, Venus Retrograde 2018 will be an unsettling transit, for good and for bad. Something will change, suddenly and irremediably.
Venus conjunct Uranus makes me think of the machine used to bring patients with cardiovascular arrest, back to life.
With Venus and Uranus, it’s of course, a metaphorical return to life.
When you don’t live from your heart, you are a walking dead. You don’t even know who you are and what you want any longer.
And in this place of apathy, all you need is a trigger, an impulse to connect you with your heart again.
If you’ve been feeling apathetic, Venus Retrograde 2018 conjunct Uranus will change that. Expect major changes of heart, even if nothing seems to be happening in your life right now. This transit may turn your life upside down, but by the end of it you’ll be free and live more authentically.
Venus Retrograde Conjunct Natal Pluto – The Essence Of Love
If you are born between 1981 -1988 your Pluto is on Venus’ retrograde path. This means Venus Retrograde 2018 will conjunct your natal Pluto.
Pluto’s intensity can be sometimes too much to handle for lovey-dovey Venus. Pluto will get to the core of the matter, and will ‘distill’ the characteristics of Venus. A metaphor for Venus-Pluto is perfume.
Perfume is made by extracting oils from flowers by pressing and steaming them. Perfume oils are then aged for several months or even years. It’s a laborious process. But then the result is the very essence of that flower.
The flower may have died years ago, but its essence remained. The essence – the perfume – is in the same time ‘less’ (thousands of flowers have to die to make a perfume), and in the same time, ‘more’ (the fragrance is much more intense than of a thousand flowers together and can last forever).
Venus with Pluto will make you want to experience that type of love that never dies.
During this transit, you will feel that there is no sacrifice not worth taking so that you can experience such love.
If you were born outside these date ranges, you don’t have a transpersonal planet (Uranus, Neptune, Pluto) on the Venus retrograde path. However, you may have other planets (Moon, Sun, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn), an angle (ascendant, descendant, IC, MC) or a lunar node in Libra or Scorpio. To find out, generate your natal chart and check whether you have any planet between 25° Libra and 10° Scorpio.
Is Venus Retrograde 2018 A Bad transit?
Venus Retrograde 2018 can certainly feel like a difficult transit. And this is because Venus Retrograde can bring unfinished business back into your life: past lovers, (including past life lovers), old friends, or repeating patterns in your relationships.
And we humans are wired to avoid having to deal with unfinished stuff. Otherwise, we would have dealt with the ‘stuff’ in the first place.
Unfinished stuff is heavy, energetically consuming and requires hard work and sacrifice. But if you don’t solve it, then it lingers somewhere in the background, and it ends up consuming even more energy and effort in the long run.
And this is where Venus Retrograde chimes in. She will challenge you to change what you are most comfortable with.
Let’s say you’re used to be the “giver” in relationships. Venus Retrograde will make you see the reality for what it is. Maybe people take advantage of you. No more hiding and fooling yourself that these people love you for who you are.
Or maybe you are the one taking advantage of others. Venus Retrograde will expose any unfair advantage or manipulation attempt in order to maintain power.
If the passion in your relationship has faded, you will want to do something about it: either by exploring new paths of intimacy with your partner, or by falling in love with someone else. This doesn’t mean you will start an affair (although this is certainly a possibility when Venus is retrograde) but you will most likely project this desire into something, or onto someone.
Because of all these examples, you may be tempted to believe that Venus in retrograde is a bad transit. Yes, Venus Retrograde will likely bring heartache. Yes, it will challenge you to the core of your being.
But Venus Retrograde 2018 is not a bad transit.
The reason Venus Retrograde comes with difficult choices is to allow a new you to emerge. A better you.
You can only become this better version of yourself when you open your heart, do an honest introspection and explore your deepest needs and motivations.
This is what Venus Retrograde can help you with.
“Be thankful for every heartbreak, for they were planned. They come to your life just to reveal another layer of yourself to you, and then leave. Their purpose is to shake you up, tear apart your ego a little bit, show you your obstacles and addictions, break your heart open so new light can get in, make you so desperate and out of control that you have to transform your life. And you do.”
Venus Retrograde 2018 Opposite Uranus – A Once In A Lifetime Transit
The most important transit Venus makes while retrograde is an opposition to Uranus.
This is particularly important because it will last unusually long – until the beginning of December!
What normally is a five-day transit will last for 3 months. Uranus is disruptive even in small doses. This means this retrograde will be unusually disruptive.
When I say disruptive, I don’t mean it in a negative way. Disrupting your ‘business as usual’ can be a good thing, because it will ultimately bring you the freedom and liberation you desperately needed, even if you didn’t know you needed it.
Uranus will ask you to become honest with yourself and look into your heart in order to make the changes you need to make.
This transit is usually associated with “love at first sight” but what is really behind love at first sight, is the desire to acknowledge the truth of who we are and what we really want.
Who says love and freedom cannot coexist? The purpose of this transit is to teach you how you can have both.
Venus Retrograde 2018 Dates
In mythology, Venus (or Innana) is described as descending into the underworld as an Evening Star during the first part of the retrograde, experiencing a rebirth while she’s invisible (conjunct the Sun), and then emerging anew as a Morning Star.
Let’s have a look at the most important aspects Venus makes while in retrograde:
PHASE I – Venus dims as an evening star
- September 3rd – Venus enters shadow at 25° Libra
- September 8th – Venus (29° Libra) is square Mars (29° Capricorn)
- September 9th – Venus enters Scorpio
- September 12th – Venus (2° Scorpio) opposite Uranus (2° Taurus)
- September 16th – Venus square the Nodes of the Moon
- October 5th – Venus goes retrograde at 10° Scorpio
- October 10th – Venus (10° Scorpio) square Mars (10° Aquarius)
- October 15th – Venus is conjunct Mercury at 8° Scorpio
PHASE II – Venus invisible: Venus goes into the underworld
- October 18th – Venus becomes invisible, falling below the horizon and into the underworld
- October 26th – Venus conjunct Sun. A new 584-day Venus cycle begins. The conjunction marks the transition of Venus from an evening star to a morning star
- October 31st – Venus (0° Scorpio) is opposite Uranus (0° Taurus)
- October 31st – Venus goes back into Libra
PHASE III – Venus rises as a morning star
- November 5th – Venus becomes visible again, this time as a morning star
- November 9th – Venus (26° Libra) is trine Mars (26° Aquarius)
- November 15th – Venus goes direct at 25° Libra
- November 30th – Venus (29° Libra) opposite Uranus (29° Aries)
- December 2nd – Venus re-enters Scorpio
- December 18 – Venus gets out of shadow at 10° Scorpio
Take Action
Even if every Venus retrograde is different, Venus retrograde cycles follow a clear pattern.
Unlike other retrogrades, like Mercury retrogrades or Mars retrogrades, Venus retrogrades are very cyclical. Remember the beautiful flower pattern?
Venus cycles repeat in fact 5 times over a period of 8 years. Each Venus retrograde is a repetition of the Venus Retrograde that happened 8 years ago, 16 years ago and so on.
Every 8 years Venus goes back to the same area of your chart.
Last time we had this was October 2010. Venus retrograde activated the same area of your chart. What happened back then in your life? Check your diary, look in your social media feed, or search your mailbox to find out what was going on in your life.
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