image: Thurstan Redding of model Adwoa Aboah
Beginning on May 13th, 2020, Venus- a planet that concerns our relations, and our ability to create and sustain pleasure and stability- will retrograde; shifting its course and looking to us as if it’s receding.
From Mercury to Pluto, all planets have the ability to retrograde; to appear to the Earth as if they’re going backwards. But this is an Earth-based perception, a time characterized by our unique vantage point- it is not a definitive story of the retrograde experience.
In the West, we perceive time as linear. History is behind us and the future is ahead. We make future-minded decisions and think from start to finish. Astrology reminds us that the universe and life are cyclical.
The effects of this time may pull up troublesome longings for past relationships, obsession over the state, pace and direction of your current relationship, or, for some, it may feel like nothing at all.
These experiences, varied in complexity and impact, are all valid. This is because a retrograde is not a broad-stroke experience but instead a time for a nuanced assessment of our own relationship to progress.
We only carry baggage if we think it’s still useful to us in some way. It’s our job to analyze which of what we’re carrying is worth the weight, and what is compelled by scarcity and fear and thus blocking our swing into the future.
Retrograde is a time to slow down, to allow former iterations of ourselves and our relationships to meet us where we are. To greet them with compassion, knowing we decide the weight of their burden on us now.
During a Venus Retrograde, you might want to leave your job to “move forward,” because the job is “holding you back.” You may feel the same about your relationships. These feelings do not come from a planet’s motion. The motion triggers a unique relationship to time and value that helps us consider how far we have come, how far we are from where we want to be, and the quality of the gap between the two.
Nevertheless, it’s not as much a time to act, but a time to notice.
To let go during a retrograde is a slow-release, a meditation on moving on, and a lesson in the medicine of mutability. The trick is to know that what you cast away may never stop coming back to you. The goal must not be to get rid of the things that haunt you but to change your relationship to them. To contextualize the return of old feelings, desires and memories as an opportunity to reflect.
If you’re feeling nostalgic for a fizzled romance, what are you actually feeling nostalgic for? Being loved and cared for? Mutual support? Someone to talk to? Free food? Or, how that particular dynamic made you feel?
Longing to get specific needs met from a past relationship, job, or otherwise connection, tells you what your needs are, not that the things you rightfully disconnected from deserve any more of your time.
Aching for physical affection from past partner(s) informs you of how important touch is to your happiness, not that those particular people need to repeat this action to satisfy you. This information can now push you to vocalize that need among the people you already have in your life, and the ones to come, instead of reconnecting with someone you intentionally distanced yourself from.
Venus retrograde does not want you to get a snarky text back from your ex reminding you why you ended it, it wants you to think about why you want to send the text and what you are hoping to receive.
To retrograde is to retrace, not to regress.
Our job right now is to allow the pain, joy and frustrations of the past to take up space and teach us about what we want and how far we have come. To shrug these feelings off, we first have to recognize that we were carrying their weight on our shoulders.
The returning ache from past pain is not silly or naive, nor is it coincidental.
A state of recollection can be informative fuel for foresight. Fresh thoughts on stale experiences exist in the present for a reason. So, when you glance back, let yourself do it without attachment or judgement.
Venus retrograde is a magical time for the alchemical transformation of regret into manifestation.
To turn “I no longer have” into “this is what I need.”
A Venus Retrograde is but another cycle. It is up to you to decide to either fight the flow or ride the wave into a new, more glorious and informed iteration of you, who embraces your infinite potential for love, power and success.
Ready to take the next step to see how this retrograde will impact your specific chart and what to do about it? Grab my Venus Retrograde guide here!
*This is an re-visted and re-edited version of an article originally written for The Hoodwitch. You can find the original article here*
