How Venus Retrograde Will Change Your Relationships & Love Life Until 2022
The choices we make ultimately make *us*.
getty Life gets a little more complicated but the potential to be a lot sweeter as Venus turns retrograde in the air sign of Gemini on May 13th. Venus retrograde will remind us that we always have a choice, even if we wished we didn’t.
In astrology, Venus is the planet of love, beauty, and physical and material pleasures. This is the planet that determines how we love, how we need to be loved, what attractiveness means to us, and what a life well-lived means for us.
Depending upon the zodiac sign this goddess of love moves through, we feel those areas of our lives most affected, regardless of what sign Venus was in at the time of our birth in our individual natal chart.
With Venus retrograde, it’s not just that we’re feeling that area of our lives affected differently, but it’s a sign to get ready for the fireworks or the explosions, because it could go either way.
Venus is a planet that tends to turn retrograde every two years or so, for 40 days; it's a reference that’s often seen in biblical and other spiritual texts. The 40 days of Venus represents a journey, and for each of us, depending on where we are on ours, it will determine the course of this transit.
While retrograde occurs from May 13th to June 25th, we first entered the pre-shadow phase at the beginning of April, and will linger in the post-shadow phase until July 29th. This means that while only in unprecedented territory for 40 days, our journey through what we’re meant to discover will lead us directly through to Eclipse Season, when we know it's the wild card time of the year.
While this transit ends on June 25th, the energy and choices we make will be in effect until the next Venus Retrograde in January of 2022.
While this planet turns retrograde every couple years — giving us the opportunity to review some of our choices about love, money and pleasure — it does so with a different purpose each time, because of the sign she is moving through. For a hint as to what’s to come during this 40-day journey, reflect back to the autumn of 2018, the last time Venus was in retrograde.
Including the pre- and post-shadow phases, much of September to December was under this energy. So, taking time to remember what was going on then may help us anticipate what will come back up for review now.
During the last retrograde phase, it was all about the truth — seeing, feeling and living the truth of our relationship and of ourselves. This means that a lot of relationships blew up around this time, or incurred unexpected or chaotic events.
For many. the last Venus retrograde was a true test — not just about who we are, but if we rise to the challenge when faced with difficulty, or retreat back to the comfortable. But now we’ve had two years to be in the lessons of truth that Venus last brought us. We've had two years to see how we felt and if the choices we made then really aligned to who we are.
This brings us directly to the theme for this 40-day trasit: choices.
This particular Venus retrograde will be interesting because while the last one was about uncovering truth, this one aims to show us the choices and decisions that exist for us, both in our love lives and in our general life path.
The reason is because the sign Venus is moving through is Gemini, an air sign that represents both mental stimulation as well as the duality that exists within life. Because even on our worst day, we always have a choice; sometimes, it’s just that we don’t want to see it.
We’re going to be asked to look the different paths and options that exist around us during this retrograde. And, yes, because it’s a retrograde, we can expect that issues or even people from our past may come back.
But part of our lesson is to understand that it doesn’t always mean we’re destined to repeat the mistakes of our past; sometimes, we really do need to have conversations or other interactions with those significant people from our past to refocus and move forward in our lives with greater clarity.
To have a better idea of where this might hit you the hardest, look at what you’ve been trying to ignore or deny.
When there's something so difficult you don’t really even want to deal with it, that’s exactly where Venus’ arrow will strike. In order to make the most of this time, instead of fearing what may arise, it’s best to try ahead of time to do as much of your own work as is possible.
Try to lean into taking responsibility for your choices, the triggers or wounds that led to difficulty or hurt, and forgive yourself for having to go through whatever process you did in order to get to where you are now.
While Venus retrograde does come with some serious no-no’s, especially in terms of meeting someone new and running away with them during this time, think of whirlwind romances. It actually favors coming to new agreements or situations with people from our past.
While breakups aren’t favored during Mercury retrogrades, during Venus retrograde (especially if the feelings were present prior to May), they are encouraged.
These next 40 days are all about choices, options and decisions. This is truly the fork in the road, and while we always have free will to ignore that any choice has to be made, it doesn’t mean the choice involved still won’t occur.
It’s best to enter this time with an open mind and ready yourself for all of the unexpected twists and turns that this retrograde is famous for.
Because while we can’t always make predictions, especially in matters of the heart, the one thing that is clear is that, come September (once Venus retrograde and the wild card Eclipse Season are over), life will look dramatically different.
While the choices we make create the life we live, it's sometimes the choices that end up making us who we’re meant to become.
Kate Rose is an artist, writer, passionate yogi, spiritual astrologist, relationship and life coach, and motivational speaker. As a spiritual intuitive, she practices the religion of astrology and love. For more of her work, visit her website.