Venus Retrograde through the Signs

It occurred to me the other day that I might have a go at doing some Sun Sign astrology, by making predictions for each sign for the month of November. It turned out as I did them that I was focusing on Venus, because it is going backwards in the sky at the moment, getting us to go back and re-examine various issues, before moving forward with them later in November as Venus changes direction. Venus is connected to relationships, finances and values. With Sun Sign astrology, you assign a house to each sign, with the Sun Sign as the 1st house. So if you are a Capricorn, then Venus, which is in Scorpio, will be in your 11th House, 2 Houses before the 1st House which is Capricorn. You then bang together the meaning of Venus and the meaning of that House and take into account they’re a Capricorn and see what comes out. That’s the astrologer’s art – banging symbols together!
Venus retrograde is currently in Scorpio, moving into Libra on the 7th of November. So the emphasis for the last few weeks has been on experience which is maybe uncomfortable but real, that cuts to the core of an issue. As Venus moves into Libra so will we be more able to see and to articulate what has been happening as we move from Scorpio’s underworld into the Libran realm of conscious weighing up and understanding. Then there will be resolution as Venus moves once more into Scorpio at the end of November.

Aries
For some weeks now you have had the shadow side of your relationships rather in your face. As an Aries you don’t like to be introspective, and you are quick to blame others when something goes wrong. But Venus retrograding in Scorpio has made you look at your own part in those marital fights. The hardest part of this will be over as Venus changes sign on the 7th and backs into sunnier Libra, when the focus shifts to your ability to operate in partnership. Your strength as an Aries is your fresh, unique way of seeing things, and ability to get things done; your downfall lies in not letting others in, and therefore not allowing the simple clarity of your vision to be modified by the actuality of things, which is always more complex and shaded. So this Venus retrograde cycle, which continues right through the month, is an important time for you to learn more about relationship and what it can contribute to your understanding. The New Moon in Scorpio in the middle of November, just before Venus goes Direct, could be an important turning point, a moment of personal insight.

Taurus
As a Venus-ruled sign, you have a natural warmth that draws people to you. Venus has been retrograding through your 7th House of Relationships, and will be for another week. The basis of your relationships is instinctual, and often that serves you well. But sometimes it doesn’t, when what you think of as intuition is your own fears and neediness speaking. This disempowers you in relationships. So now is a time to stand back a bit from feeling, and weigh up others and your relationship to them as others might. The emphasis over the last few weeks may have been discomfort that you do not understand, but as Venus moves back into Libra on the 7th, so will your underworld journey move into the light of day. From the middle of the month you will feel able, in the light of this new understanding, to re-empower yourself and your relationships as Venus once again enters Scorpio and there is a New Moon in Scorpio.

Gemini

Venus in Scorpio is passing through your 6th House of Work and everyday life. Geminis have an interesting relationship with Scorpio, because Gemini itself is light and dark, consciousness and shadow. Geminis tend to display the light, but they have an undertow that needs to be properly honoured. This is where Scorpio comes in. Venus in Scorpio is challenging you in the workplace and in your everyday routines. As a Gemini you can get by on sparkle and talent as you juggle several different things, never quite doing any of them properly. (If you make an arrangement with a Gemini, prepare to be juggled and then maybe cancelled at the last minute!) To the extent that you are like this, you are likely to have been coming unstuck over the last few weeks. Venus is challenging you to go deeper from the point of view of your values – the importance to you of doing things well and in a considered fashion. And also your motives. This is perhaps the bigger issue. As a Gemini you can get what you want through charm and manipulation. Venus in Scorpio wants straightforwardness and honesty, even if it is not to your immediate advantage. Integrity is the keyword here.

Cancer
It is not always known that Cancer is one of the creative/artistic signs, and it does so from a very emotional place. As Venus has backed through your 5th House, so have you been digging deep for new inspiration, for the seed of something real. From around the 7th of November, you will be thinking about how to express it in a way that is harmonious and beautiful. Venus will turn Direct on the 19th, shortly after the Scorpio New Moon on the 16th, and that will be the time to put pen or paint to paper. Recent weeks have also been a time of thought around children, their place in your life, and their ability to bring out the worst in you. This period of reflection will lead to a new harmony in your home life from the 7th as Venus moves into Libra.

Leo
As a Leo, the search for, and expression of, your unique individuality is paramount. Venus retrograde requires you to go back to your roots, your family background and inquire how that has made you what you are. This is not a denial of your uniqueness, but an acknowledgement that you do not stand alone. Venus in Scorpio is doing an Underworld journey, not natural territory for a Leo, but one which gives a sure foundation for your ever-youthful talent. As Venus moves into Libra next week, so can you begin to understand this difficult territory you have been in for the last few weeks.

Virgo
As a Mercury-ruled sign, Venus retrograding through your 3rd house is not unfamiliar territory. It is your mind and the way you think that is being challenged – particularly since Venus is relationship, your tendency to be remote from others, to be in your own mind-based world, is being prodded. This may come through the actions of neighbours or siblings. But also your need to be useful, to be of service is being challenged: now is a time to look at who and what you are serving, and not to let your own need to be busy and useful stand in the way of a critical stance. As Venus moves into Libra next week, so will it be time to look at your values, and particularly issues around self-worth, which your desire to be helpful can be a cover for.

Libra

As an idealist who wants to create a better world, it is important that you learn to get your hands dirty, or apparently so, and where better to do this than through money? For the last few weeks money has been rearing its ugly head, and what you are and are not prepared to do to earn what you need. As I write, an unnamed UK firm has appeared in the news for supplying Arizona with the drug needed to execute prisoners on death row. This is just the sort of issue to get you thinking right now. As Venus moves into Libra on the 7th, the emphasis will broaden into a general consideration of what really matters to you, and how you express that – and what is the dividing line between genuine reflection and dithering procrastination.

Scorpio
Venus has been moving backwards through your 1st House of self-expression. You are good at getting your way through being defensive rather than offensive, moving sideways rather than directly. But how do you treat other people in the process? A sense of power is all-important to you, but at what cost? On the other hand, Venus may be showing you the opposite, that you hand your power over in order to please others. In either case, there is a question of integrity, either towards yourself or towards others. In the last few weeks the experience has been mainly one of discomfort, but as Venus moves into Libra and your 12th House next week, so you will be able to withdraw and reflect and understand your patterns, and emerge renewed in the second half of the month.

Sagittarius
Venus is passing through your 12th House. This is a place of withdrawal and introspection, which is uncomfortable for an outgoing Sagittarius. But in some ways it’s exactly where you need to be. You have your eyes set enthusiastically on the horizon, but you are not always very vigilant about why you are doing what you are doing. Motive can seem like a tiresome detail. So Venus is taking you into the watery depths, into pure experience, if you like into reality, instead of the beliefs or ideologies which can pass for reality. The 12th House provides the experiential background for your natural abode of the 9th House.

Capricorn
You have been finding out who your real friends are, and you weigh this up in a very practical way. Are they loyal to you, do they take their turn to buy a round of drinks, would you lend them money? As a Capricorn, you can be a worrier, and when Venus is highlighted, as she is now, you will tend to worry about money. Capricorn likes everything to be solid, and money, so important to Capricorns, is anything but solid. So you have a problem! After the 7th, as Venus backs into Libra, you will start thinking about money and career/vocation. You are very capable, but does your salary reflect your abilities? And what about vocation? You are very good at achieving conventional success, but what sort of impact on the world would you really like to have?

Aquarius
There are 2 types of Aquarian: the conventional, Saturn-ruled types, and the unconventional Uranian types. Yours is a sign of the mind, and career is where you get your hands dirty, where you put your brilliant ideas into action in the world and meet reality. This deepens you. If you are the more conventionally-minded Aquarian (which you are unlikely to be if you are reading this), then career is not a problem for you, as you fit in well, albeit slightly eccentrically. But like the Capricorns, Venus has been stirring up that cosy conventionality, getting you to think about what sort of impact you really want to have on the world. As she moves into Libra next week, you will be able to see the bigger picture of your life more clearly.

If you are an unconventional Aquarian, then it is time to make some of those forward-thinking ideas real. What sort of impact do you want to have on the world? It can be just as cosy to sit in your unconventionality, at odds with a world that does not seem to understand you. Venus is attempting to take you out of this Aquarian hubris and complacency and asking you to connect with other people in a real and ordinary way. As Venus backs into Libra next week, you will feel like you are back on home territory, contemplating the bigger picture of life – but leavened by a new appreciation of real people and the real world.

Pisces
Venus is currently in your 9th House, causing you to re-assess your personal relationship with God! And he’s darker (Scorpio) than you thought! Joking apart, Venus has been backing through your 9th House, getting you to look at your beliefs, your notions of what is ultimate, and asking you to include Pluto, ruler of Scorpio and Lord of the Underworld. Though you may as a Pisces have a strong sense of the interconnectedness of things, and the ecstasy that comes with it, Scorpio requires an embodied spirituality, one that recognises the sacredness of ordinary, material reality. And Venus also wants you to claim your power in relation to any teachers or traditions or belief systems you have aligned yourself with. Also, it is not enough to have a sense of the mystical reality around us: it needs to some extent to be put into words as ‘higher truth’. This will hone your intuition, separate what is dreamy complacency from what is real and insightful. As Venus moves into Libra next week, she will be moving into Pluto’s House, so the pressure will continue, but you will be more articulate with it.