Venus Retrograde: Dark Lady Laughed and Danced

This week, Venus goes retrograde. I can feel this energy building for at least the last week. Venus’s forward motion is very slow at this point - as it heads to the stationary period, and then turns retrograde this Friday in the afternoon for US Time Zones.

Venus is in the sign of Scorpio, which is her detriment. So, let’s talk about that for just a second. Planets rule signs, and each planet rules a particular sign. For each sign, the planet that goes best with that signs energy is called the ruling planet. For example, Mars is very active and aggressive, it’s connected to motivation and initiative and it rules Aries which is similar in those attributes. Aries get their way a lot of the time, and so does Mars. That’s called the ruler or ruling planet.

When the sign and the planet have an affinity for one another then, that’s the ruling planet for that sign.

The sign that is the detriment for a planet, is the one that’s opposite the ruler. Venus rules Taurus. Scorpio is opposite Taurus. So, Venus is in her detriment when she’s in Scorpio. And, just as you would imagine about a planet in its detriment, Venus functions worst when she’s in Scorpio. We want to keep that in mind when we make predictions or look at how this retrograde Venus will affect us.

Since, Scorpio is about sex and death, and Venus is about love, you can imagine why it’s a detrimental combination. Love is not sex. Not exclusively, anyway. Love is not death, unless you’re Dracula. It’s just a bad mix all the way around. But there must be something redeeming about having Venus in Scorpio and also about this retrograde period, that we’re all about to go through. Remember, Venus retrograde starts this Friday, but it doesn’t end or go direct, until November 15th; a long six weeks, which will thankfully be over by the holidays!

The title of today’s show could give you some clue as to what energy we might expect from this retrograde. Venus in Scorpio is a bit of a playgirl. She knows how to have fun – especially in that provocative and wild way. But that’s not all she’s about.

Sure we could have expected to see the type of sex scandals that are rocking our media presently. Venus in Scorpio is salacious. She is not afraid of getting dirty, even if that means having a public mud fight, she is ready and able. Real intimacy is about feelings and about expressing those feelings – even if it’s raw and wrenching.

Usually, we see this energy expressed as confrontation – and there are likely to be plenty of those for the next six weeks, but it could equally be about private, close encounters with someone we love. It could definitely be about an intimate moment when we confide in someone. This is powerful energy, even if it’s not easy harnessed. Scorpio governs intense emotional experiences that we share with others or with one other. And Venus rules love. The possibility for us to go very deep in our sharing with another person is heightened at this time. And so is the healing that comes from that.

When we have fears, they may lie dormant and work on our conscious minds like a termite eating wood. They become destructive. That’s because not all fears are easy to discuss. There’s a lot of judgment that comes from the mind. But Scorpio as an energy – will not tolerate denial or spin. The need to examine and live in our truth is paramount. It is the path to conscious existence.

Venus in Scorpio may be in her detriment but she is also love connected to emotional honesty, and the depth that results when we allow ourselves to go there. It is a release to let go of fear and worry and this Venus retrograde has the potential to do just that.

One other thing - Pluto, the natural ruler of Scorpio is at play here. In order to really understand the effects of this retrograde we need to connect Pluto qualities with Venus. Pluto is dark, foreboding, and dangerous. He rules over death. But he also rules resurrection; the rising up from death into something new. Pluto is the transformative energy that abolishes old forms and builds something new out of the ashes. Love, and Venus, have some of the same qualities. Just look at anyone who has broken up with someone they didn’t want to leave. Or someone who has lost a loved one unexpectedly. Love can sometimes feel like it kills or like we’ve died. Or even another simpler example might be how love can cause us to see a flaw on ourselves…or to apologize. Many times that feels like death. When we need to come to terms with some part of ourselves that needs to be abolished or severed from our personality, it’s a letting go. And if that sounds gruesome…it is.

Because Venus in Scorpio is love that causes us to change – it cause us to grow through emotional intimacy and the powerful experiences of openness and vulnerability. Okay, so, it’s really hard to imagine being in that place for long – but the retrograde Venus will inevitably show how desperately we all need to go there right now.