New York Post From July 22 to September 3, Venus, planet of love, attachment, assets and aesthetics is going retrograde in the roaring, regal sign of Leo.
Aphrodite (or Venus to the Romans) goes retrograde roughly every two years for a period of several weeks, transitioning in visibility from being an evening star to a morning star. This go round the planet will spend a biblical forty days and forty nights in its backspin.
Venus is named for the Roman goddess of love and fertility. The feminine counterpart to warlord Mars, Venus was born from sea foam and the severed d–k of Uranus, emerging tits out in a scallop shell with bliss as her governing principle.
In kind and under good lighting, Venus is the ruling planet of Taurus and Libra and governs all the feel good/look good things like love and money, walking the velvet rope between gratification and gluttony.
Etymologically, Venus derives from the Latin word for desire. Apropos of this, the planet’s retrograde is an invitation to reevaluate our relationship to wanting and our own hierarchies of pleasure.
Venus retrograde in Leo
Venus retrograde is an invitation to reevaluate our relationship to wanting and our own hierarchies of pleasure.
As Leo rules the heart, it is avowed first and foremost to authentic expression and it is at that altar that this retrograde asks each of us to worship.
Yet, the path to the altar of authenticity ain’t paved my babies and retrogrades, while always necessary, are rarely without struggle.
Venus in Leo asks, what does love look like to you? How are you actively creating the life you want?
Does the design of that life come from a place of self-worth? How are the people in your life amplifying or muting your proverbial shine? Are your entanglements challenging you or merely distracting you?
Venus in Leo is pure protagonist, it will not stand for neglecting the self in service of a relationship nor will it settle for a minor role or second billing.
Apropos of the apex predator that Leo represents, during this transit, we cannot hide from our needs or the hunger that’s created when they go unmet.
Now more than ever clarity and conversation equal compassion.
Don’t be a scaredy cat (pun intended) when it comes to reflection and revision.
The time is nigh to identify the story we have written about love thus far in our lives and decide if we’re ready to welcome a plot twist or burn the script and write it anew with ashes and the fresh sweat of summer sex. (I vote yes.)
As an aside, cosmetic procedures are a bit of a dice roll when the planet of aesthetics slows down, focus on inner work rather than external polishing if possible.
Full heart, inner child
Apropos of the apex predator Leo represents, during this transit, we cannot hide from our needs or the hunger that’s created when they go unmet.
Leo rules the fifth house of pleasure and play, fertility and creation; the romper room of the inner child.
Venus retrograde in Leo allows us, if we choose, to connect with that skinned knee, juice ring around the mouth, nary a f–k to give youngster and identify what brings us unmitigated joy, slack jawed wonder and bare foot freedom.
This kid energy can also help us find creative solutions to money matters and resolve and release conflict with those close to us.
Relationships that end during this transit will reach that terminus because of a misalignment between need and availability.
It will become acutely clear who is a value add and who is an all out drag. Make your team cuts accordingly and trust that whatever is revealed or released needed to be.
The season of the ex
Exes love to exhume themselves during a retrograde and this is especially true during a Venus retrograde. Often this reappearance has more to do with challenging us to create new patterns versus falling into familiar cycles of romantic rot.
This may be a time to reconsider someone you cast aside or to resolve lingering issues that have hindered your forward momentum. Because Leo is a fixed sign, the fixed signs; looking at you Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius placements, will be feeling the effects of this backstroke more than most.
“My intelligence and talent are held with higher esteem than my heart. But my heart is my sole pride…The things I know anyone can know. But I am the only one who can possess my heart.”
Goethe
I leave you with the words of power Virgo Goethe in the hope that they will serve you this retrograde, “My intelligence and talent are held with higher esteem than my heart. But my heart is my sole pride…The things I know anyone can know.
Yet I am the only one who can possess my heart.” Let your heart be pride, guide and power to you now and ever. While not all among us have serious Leo placements, we all have the big cat somewhere in our birth charts. Read for your rising sign to determine how this retrograde will affect you.
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This retrograde is lending its lessons to your fifth house of play Aries, inviting you to amend the relationships you have with the children in your life and the child that you were. Where do your creative hesitations lie? When do you allow fear to hinder your expression?
I ask you to consider these words from writer Elizabeth Gilbert,“Your fear will always be triggered by your creativity, because creativity asks you to enter into realms of uncertain outcome, and fear hates uncertain outcome.” Love yourself madly as you make your way through this uncertainty.
This retrograde is digging in and dredging up matters related to your family of origin, Taurus. You are more likely to pretend you are fine than admit that you are hurting and Venus, as your ruler, is here to remind you that failing to request or accept help and/or resolution is in itself a kind of masochism.
The common misconception is that Taurus is symbolized by a regular beast of burden but in fact, the constellation is a representation of the god Zeus in animal form. I hope you take this as evidence that your are both divine and corporeal, Taurus, tied to your history and wholly capable of transforming its effects.
This backspin is tumbling through your third house of communication, Gemini. You are never at a loss for words but are there verses have you been rehearsing but not speaking? What questions are you afraid to ask? Requests to make? Where there is fear, let there also be curiosity and a concerted effort to lead with need rather than rationality. Hold close the counsel of Queen Rania Al-Abdullah, “We are stronger when we listen and smarter when we share.”
This retrograde is activating your second house of wealth and worth, Cancer. Questions to consider: Where do you place value and how do you see yourself? Worthy or wanting? How is you financial situation a reflection of your self-concept? What is your currency?
I hope these answers become clear to you in the weeks ahead and that you emerge from this season of reflection feeling sure of what you want and sured up about serving yourself. If you’re in a relationship, make sure equitability is at the forefront moving forward. Neither martyrs nor leeches are to be emulated or tolerated.
Greetings to you big cats. Venus retrograde in Leo will be a profound transit for your people as it is going down in your first house of the self. This extends to how you appear to the world and the ways you accept and deliver love.
This transit asks you to discern the trappings, triggers and tendencies of a wounded ego from what roars true and whole from your highest, purest and most heartfelt self. Move in that direction and watch with wild wonder as the world rises to meet, and treat you well in return.
Venus is retrograding in your twelfth house of isolation, the esoteric, the unconscious mind and self-sabotage, Virgo. This is an ideal time to start or deepen therapy work or your meditation practice.
As a Mercury ruled sign there can be a marked disconnect between the hallowed ground of your heart, the quicksilver of your mind and the ancient ephemera of your spirit. Fashion a rope and allow others to lend their love to its braiding.
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Venus retrograde is going down in your eleventh house of community and activism, Libra. How do you express love outside of your romantic relationships? As the sign of partnership you operate best when you have someone to work with or against.
Yet, if you choose to decentralize the love interest and/or the adversary from your story you allow yourself to be affected more deeply by your friends and directed more fully at a cause greater than yourself. You are more than someone’s significant other and your grace and goodness are made to flow further than your front door.
This retrograde is illuminating your tenth house of career and legacy, Scorpio. Apropos of the crest and creed of Leo this transit wants you to know your worth and stand firm but not defensive, in that confident conviction.
You can be both strong and open, true and receptive. In the arena of vocation, are you being celebrated and are you being compensated? If either or both are falling short, it’s time to ask for more or move it along. Richer roads lie ahead.
You love a game of chance and a healthy gamble, Sagittarius but this retrograde asks you to put all of your own cards on the table. Show up bold and bare in your relationships. Lead with the truth and acknowledge and release the patterns of the past.
Blow them a kiss and send them sailing on fair weather winds towards the land of before and turn towards new shores.
Lights up on your basement energy and your darkest desires, Capricorn. This retrograde is effecting your eighth house of sex, death, jealousy, and other people’s resources. It’s an excellent time to investigate the relationship between discontent and unrealized potential.
How can you reframe envy into aspiration or realign your needs to match your means? The eight house is also home to secrets and transformational intimacy; your greatest ROI may yet lie in coming clean and correct, ready to mine the depths of your soul and offer that shaky pan of gold to another.
You’re getting seriously served by this retrograde Aquarius as it is affecting your seventh house of partnerships; platonic, contentious, romantic and otherwise. A lone wolf, ‘keep your feelings off my space boots’ type you are inclined to disengage or disappear from the muck and mire of human exchange.
How much of that resistance is informed by past disappointments and a story you continue to write about the futility of your own intervention? Do not be afraid to feel or to invest, to commune and to connect, water bearers. The world needs your weird.
You’re a dream weaver Pisces but does the prospect of having those dreams come to fruition cause you anxious upset? Could it be that you have been sabotaging your happiness by living in the safety of fantasy? Would you rather wax poetic about the past and the love you’ve lost or actively partake in the present.
Get accountable and get to accumulating my babies. You can have everything you can gather under the blanket of desire. Your magic trick is a simple one; start acting not only like you deserve it but that whatever you want, wants you back.
Astrologer Reda Wigle researches and irreverently reports back on planetary configurations and their effect on each zodiac sign. Her horoscopes integrate history, poetry, pop culture and personal experience. She is also an accomplished writer who has profiled a variety of artists and performers, as well as extensively chronicled her experiences while traveling. Among the many intriguing topics she has tackled are cemetery etiquette, her love for dive bars, Cuban Airbnbs, a “girls guide” to strip clubs and the “weirdest” foods available abroad.
This article was originally published on New York Post: Lifestyle
