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Of all the planets, Venus spends the smallest proportion of time in retrograde, although generally speaking, it is felt the most.
In ancient astrology, it was believed that when a planet shifted into retrograde, it descended into the underworld, taking a part of each of us with it. It was understood to be a journey downward and backward into our shadow, a place within us waiting to be acknowledged, witnessed, claimed, and reintegrated into our consciousness. As we emerged from this descent, these parts of ourselves also surfaced, allowing us to claim a more authentic expression of ourselves.
The part of us to be explored was determined by the planet in retrograde. During these six weeks of Venus retrograde, we are invited to journey into the depths of our heart to witness all the spaces within, those that have felt loved and unloved, nurtured and neglected. We are being asked to hold space for a judgement-free exploration of whether our needs are being met within relationships with others and ourselves.
When is Venus Retrograde 2023?
Venus begins her retrograde in the sign of Leo on July 22, 2023, and stations direct on September 3, 2023. Venus retrogrades every 18 months, spending approximately 40 days in her descent.
What is Venus Retrograde?
If Venus lived as an archetype within us, it would be the parts of ourselves represented by and concerned with beauty, desire, love, intimacy, partnership, and connection. Venus draws us into pleasure, art, and romance, and reveals to us the value we place on ourselves, others, concepts, places, and money.
During Venus retrograde in Leo, these are the themes that will be highlighted, reviewed, witnessed, reframed, visited, and perhaps even healed. This time also invites a reflection of our relationship with money and earnings, the worth we place on our skills and creativity, how we appreciate art and beauty, and whether we feel secure in ourselves to express who we are.
This retrograde may feel like a mirror, revealing insights into past experiences seeping into the present by recreating certain dynamics, and how our present reflects our past by continuing stories that began years ago. What experiences from the past are influencing your present? What patterns and narratives around love, intimacy, worthiness, or beauty are you ready to witness, heal, and rewrite?
What Venus Retrograde 2023 Means for You and Your Sign
You can better understand how Venus retrograde may influence your life depending on the zodiac placement of your ascendant, also known as your rising sign, rather than your Sun sign. For a more personalized exploration of the upcoming six weeks, learn which house in your birth chart is occupied by Leo, as that is the sign in which Venus is retrograding.
Aries Rising
Creation doesn’t arise only from the mind, Aries. Creation pours forth from your lived experiences, your perspectives of the world, your identity, and your pleasures. It overflows from your relationship with yourself, both light and dark. It comes from your unique light from within. As Venus journeys through the underworld, she invites you to explore, along with her, your underworld and the depths within you that influence your creative expression.
This Venus retrograde is an opportunity for you to reconsider, realign, and revive your creative pursuits and expression of self. Whether this asks you to sit with hurtful narratives around sharing your light, revisit old ideas, or rekindle your passions so you can pour yourself into your art. As you emerge from this retrograde, you will find that your joy, your message, your creativity, and you will be in a new space.
Taurus Rising
Venus retrograde initiates a descent into your foundation, your younger years, and your lineage, Taurus. There is an invitation to explore your deeply rooted beliefs and narratives around love, pleasure, and worthiness. Have wounds been passed through the generations? What are the narratives shared in your family that are embedded deep within? Have experiences in your formative years shaped the way that you love and receive love, sink into pleasure, and witness your worth? What are your perceptions surrounding your strengths and gifts? You’re being asked to follow them until you meet their origins.
These six weeks of retrograde can feel like an opportunity to reparent yourself. As you trace the origins of your beliefs to your past and look at how they still influence your present, you will finally meet the needs of your younger and your present self.
Gemini Rising
As Venus moves through her retrograde, there is an opportunity to realign your mind, Gemini. Think of it as inviting the light into your room each morning and adorning your space with fresh flowers. Meditation, journaling, hypnosis, or affirmation practices can offer awareness throughout this time. Hold the intention to rewrite the narratives shaping your reality, the colors of your daily thoughts, and the space that you offer yourself in your mental sphere.
There is a journeying through your belief systems around love and worth, beauty and connection, and any past experiences with these themes that you are ready to revisit. May you think only love in relation to yourself. And may the thoughts in your mind be kind enough to speak to your loved ones.
Cancer Rising
There is a sense of belonging that’s ready to make its way back into your felt experience during this retrograde, Cancer. A reconnection with security and stability. An embodied worthiness related to being in this world and creating the life you desire.
Venus rules the ways in which we value ourselves as well as the value we place on the things around us. These are inextricably tied together. What is your current relationship with money, whether receiving, accumulating, or giving? How does this reflect your sense of belonging in the world, your perceived self-worth, and the security you feel in your reality?
Like all retrogrades, this time is an invitation to reflect upon, to see from new eyes, to reclaim what has been left behind, and to renew and realign. There is healing available for you.
Leo Rising
This is a personal retrograde for you, Leo. As the planet of love journeys through the underworld under the influence of your sign, there is an invitation to review your light. The light you shine into the world. How bright it is. How much space it illuminates. How it changes in certain spaces or around certain people, dimming or brightening. How it reacts to the identities that you or others place on you. How it changes according to memories held in your heart. How certain practices, rituals, or habits support it or diminish it.
Retrogrades offer us the space to realign and recenter ourselves before we move forward once again. There is an entire self-realignment desiring to take place for your sign, whether it’s your identity, your narrative, your desired path in this lifetime, or your approach life. Your light and the way it shines will be your compass throughout this realignment. Follow it and you will emerge renewed.
Virgo Rising
Retrogrades slow things down so we can find space in between our actions, our thoughts, our movements, and our busyness. This space is where your medicine lies, Virgo.
This retrograde invites an element of inner retreat for you. It is through this inward retreat that your body and subconscious is offered the opportunity to communicate what is ready to be brought into your awareness, especially around themes of intimacy, pleasure, vulnerability, and especially love, both in relation to yourself and others.
Move slowly and delicately, offering yourself graceful support each step of the way. Listen to the way your body shares its fears and wounds, and give it the space it needs for healing. As this retrograde journeys through the realm of the subconscious, you may even find healing within your dreams. A journal practice may provide profound insights.
Libra Rising
Nothing exists in isolation. Not us. Not the Earth or planets. Not our dreams or our goals. As Venus retrogrades over the next six weeks, she invites you on a journey of reflection, collecting scattered pieces and insights from your inner world, revisiting memories and ideas, and exploring relationships and inner narratives.
You can then draw them together to reveal the undercurrent of dynamics and your connection with the larger ecosystem that you live within. The groups that support and build you. The groups that you support and build. The friendships that see you, your vision, your goals, your desires. The causes you desire to feed into and the causes that feed into you. The hopes you hold for the future for both yourself, and the collective as a whole.
As the planet of love moves through her retrograde, there is an invitation to stand back and look within so that you may see more clearly without, including who you want to be in the larger body of humanity. As you make space to reflect on your unique needs and desires, the clearer your ideals can become.
Scorpio Rising
Venus retrogrades in the sign of Leo, which is ruled by the Sun. Simply by being itself and doing what is in its nature, the Sun brings light, warmth, and vitality to humanity. While there may be a nature of privacy to you, Scorpio, there are parts of you that are here to shine, to be seen by the world. And simply by being you, you offer your gifts to others.
As Venus retrogrades, it invites a reclamation of the parts of you that desire to shine, especially in your professional and public-facing spheres. Your journey through the Venusian underworld is a journey through the undercurrents that drive your career—the connections, the fears, the desires, the pleasures, and the worthiness you feel for your vision. Throughout this retrograde, turn inward so you may witness the patterns and narratives, the drives and desires, the wounds and hurts that create your outward semblance.
Sagittarius Rising
As Venus draws you inward throughout this retrograde, there is an invitation to retrace the experiences that have shaped your perspectives of the world—the beliefs you hold about the existence of reality, the philosophies, the teachings, and the wisdom to be gained, whether from a book or a hike.
How have your experiences shaped the way you view the world? Is your view still in alignment with who you are? Or are some past experiences or teachings waiting patiently to offer even greater insight? There is something beautiful about allowing life into our hearts to an extent that we can’t help but be changed by the experience, whether it’s a fleeting moment admiring a flower or a life-changing teaching. Find a way to connect to a vaster energy throughout this time. It will hold answers.
Capricorn Rising
Both Venus and Leo invite a level of vulnerability from you, Capricorn. Creativity and expression require vulnerability. Collaboration and partnership with another, whether a romantic or a business partner, require vulnerability. Love requires vulnerability. If we want to realize and embody our dreams or swim in deep intimacy with another soul, we must tend to the walls we place around ourselves and our hearts. This is where Venus retrograde welcomes you.
Throughout these next six weeks, allow yourself the space to review with curiosity the areas of your life that ask you to open to greater vulnerability. The areas of your life where you are required to trust another just as they must trust you. What does this bring up in your body? Do you feel safe here? What is it within you that desires love and acceptance? What can you do to help yourself begin to flourish in these partnerships?
Aquarius Rising
Venus retrograde invites you to descend from your head into your heart, Aquarius. This time is all about love for you. Your experiences with love. Your fears around love. Your stories around love. Your perspectives around what you deserve and what you are worthy of in partnerships. Your approach to potential relationships, whether romantic, business, or friendship.
However you explore your inner world, allow yourself to sink into those spaces over the next several weeks. Start to understand the undercurrents within you that shape your outer reality in relationships, whether you do this through journaling, moving, or talking with a trusted person or a professional. Allow your curious and objective nature to show you the way deep into your heart.
Pisces Rising
These six weeks hold an invitation to realign your daily movements, your small steps, your rituals that hold and support you, and your habits that bring you closer to yourself.
Venus asks you to consider how do you bring beauty and pleasure to your actions? How do you offer yourself love and appreciation when you take a step for yourself? How can you celebrate your daily movements, no matter how small they feel?
As Venus journeys through the underworld, there’s an opportunity to reflect on your relationship with your worth, work, habits, body, and structure in life. Rituals that invoke a sense of love and adoration for yourself do not need to be earned through hard work. Rather, they can buoy you into habits that you know are good for you.
Learn more about the influence of astrology in your life, including astrological events the Moon cycles, your Sun and Moon and rising signs, how journaling can help you connect with the current influences, and more with Jordane Maree at Girl and her Moon.
About Our Contributor
Jordane Maree is the founder of Girl and Her Moon, a platform and community exploring Soul through the lens of astrology, tarot, and energy healing. She is a writer, intuitive astrologer, energy and soul guide, and host of Girl and Her Moon, The Podcast. She is inspired, every single day, to be the mirror for you to see all that you truly are, you in all your infinite abilities, in total expansion, in infinite opportunity and love.
