by Agni Jnana Yannanda
featured photo Jana Astanov performing with Niko van Egten as ASTRALOOP: Cosmic Serpent Journey – shamanic hypnotic trance with the Mother Island grande finale.
Retrograde phases are a good time to slow down, and to take a little extra time and care with communication. Yet it’s also possible to approach them as a journey of discovery and reclamation. As Venus turns retrograde once every year and a half for around 6 weeks, she makes us revise everything that concerns our relationships, beauty standards, value system, self-worth scale, and in case of the retrograde in Capricorn ruled by Saturn, also our relationship with the consensual reality, and how much we sacrificed to comply to the external demands versus how well we fulfill our own needs.
Venus retrograde starts on December 19th going backwards though the sign of Capricorn (from 26º to 11º Capricorn about 6 weeks). She stations direct on January 29th, then goes forward at 11º of Capricorn.
On January 8th Venus retrograde conjuncts the Sun at 18 degrees of Capricorn, before this conjunction she is the Evening Star which highlights the more loving side of Venus. However once she conjuncts the sun through the inferior conjunction she reappears as the Morning Star, the Warrior Venus aspect.
Venus, the Goddess of Beauty as ruler of Taurus, and the Goddess of Love as ruler of Libra, teaches that our quality of life is a reflection of our emotional state of being, which attracts experiences and relationships into our life. The Goddess descent and the retrograde motion pulls us deep into a personal process of emotional alchemy. It’s an opportunity to deepen the understanding of the inner workings of our hearts. This periodic exercise in heart intelligence works individually and in relationships, developing throughout our lifetimes helping us to learn what we need from our relationships in order to grow.
When Venus goes retrograde, relationships are affected, we may be inclined to engage in some soul searching and retrospection. This concerns not only our love relationships, but also our friendships, partnerships, business associations: in short all of the relations we form in the world.
The sign Venus retrogrades in is significant to determine the quality of this time, and as the retrograde period takes place in Capricorn ruled by Saturn, it’s important to assess the condition of your natal Saturn and its position to the current transit of Saturn in Aquarius by house and aspects. It can be a time of evaluation of how much our relations really serve us, do we give more than we receive, is our love partner a good provider, do we have enough shared goals to make it last, do we feel we act in full integrity, and even – as Venus in Capricorn is concerned – can we elevate ourselves socially by being together.
As the current Venus retrograde conjuncts Pluto, the God of the Underground, it is echoing the original story of Venus-Inanna-Demeter, the one who descended into the darkness in order for humanity to be reborn. Expect similar themes in your life – a great clean up ahead and exciting renewal of the value system. Everything that belongs to the domain of Venus is undergoing a deep transformation whether those are relationships, or the daily routines relating to health, beauty, and fitness. Depending on what Venus represents in your chart (she is my chart ruler for instance!), she may well surprise you with stirring your creative deep soul currents to emerge on a higher octave of self-expression!
Once Venus turns direct on January 29th at 11º of Capricorn, we shall re-emerge from this journey with a new sense of self, more aware of what we need from the love relationships and business partnerships we form, and hopefully having some new strategies of how to hold the space for our own needs so as to manifest a more fulfilling life.
With Cosmic Blessings,
