Astrology in July-August 2015 - Venus Going Stationary Retrograde at 1 Virgo

by Robert Wilkinson

Venus goes retrograde at 2:29 am PDT, 10:29 am BST on July 25. What can we expect?

Let’s begin looking at this Venus retrograde by examining some things about Venus. Venus symbolizes what we like, what we value, what we appreciate, and our overall aesthetic inclinations. So when Venus goes retrograde, it definitely affects everyone’s values, pleasures, love life and other close relationships.

When Venus is retrograde, we can find different ways to relate to others, or different ways to image what we like and how we like it. It can bring back old relationships, old memories of relationships, or old relationship patterns updated for the present. Given Venus rules values, it can bring back old value systems for new evaluation, or the return of old memories of things we valued and appreciated in the past.

During a Venus retrograde period, we have a chance to review, revalue, reevaluate, and rework our appreciations and our ways of relating to others. Because Venus is associated with Narcissus, we can get different looks at direct and indirect forms of narcissistic behaviors, or how people in our past exhibited these, as well as our subconscious vanities and superficialities which enable us to be seduced by the passing fancies of our world.

Venus Retrograde in Virgo and Leo – Is It Harmonious or Frictional to Its Nature?

This one begins at the first degree of Virgo, and then retrogrades back through the last half of Leo. Earthy Virgo is in harmony with Venus’ rulership of Earthy Taurus, but in conflict with Venus’ exaltation sign of Pisces. Venus in Leo is in harmony with its Libra quality, but in conflict with its Taurus nature.

Since the majority of the time it will be in Leo, it will be very socially productive to its Libra qualities. And, since Leo is the “lower” or waxing square to Taurus, Venus retrograde in Leo will give us a new look at its energy as the “grounding platform of Taurus,” so overall this should be a very productive and stabilizing retrograde period.

This also will help bring a long term Venus multi-approach focus to the promise that Jupiter has brought us this past year. Especially since it conjuncts Jupiter in Leo twice, and then conjuncts Mars at 15 Leo when it goes stationary direct in early September, you can bet Leo energy will be very prominent for many months to come.

In fact, it will have conjuncted Mars THREE times in 2015, certainly a major event! The first time was at 2 Aries in February, the second time will be at 15 Leo in September, and the third time will be at 25 Virgo in November. This sets all kinds of trigger points for the other planets, including when Jupiter crosses 25 Virgo in August 2016 as the Sun vitalizes and powers up whatever is promised by the 15 Leo conjunction in September.

Also, I should note here that Venus has a recurring cyclic dance it does with the Sun. The last time Venus was retrograde in Dec 2013 and Jan 2014, it closely tracked its retrograde span from late December 2005 through early February 2006. During that earlier period Venus went retrograde at 2 Aquarius, and retrograded back to 17 Capricorn. The last one began at 29 Capricorn and retrograded back to 14 Capricorn, so it did substantially overlap.

This Venus retrograde will closely track its retrograde span of its late July through early September 2007 retrograde period. During that time Venus went retrograde at 3 Virgo, and went back to 17 Leo. This one goes from 1 Virgo back to 15 Leo, so they will substantially overlap. I can’t find anything I wrote from that period, which is strange, but I may not have written anything at the time.

What Is Venus Retrograde and How Can We Use the Energy Wisely?

When Venus goes retrograde, it’s a great time to begin reflecting on values and relationships. This would include our relationship to money, wealth, and things in general, as well as why we value what we do in our relationships, and whether we're working off of old tapes, old hurts, old attachments, and old aversions in relationships that bear no resemblance to what we're living with today.

Most of the Venus retrograde will be in Leo conjunct Mercury, the Sun, and Mars. That offers us a tremendous focus of our Leo energies, and as these trine Uranus, it’s very favorable for innovation, renovation, original thinking and creative expression. This can help us update our likes and dislikes to current values and conditions freed from old subconscious tapes that are not useful in our present day to day relationships to people and things.

It may bring memories of old hurts and misunderstandings, but in re-experiencing old wounds we are given opportunities to free ourselves of subconscious patterns that seduce us into suffering. We can break free of the old patterns by superimposing our mature self's values and short circuiting the echoes of memories of perceptions based in prior ignorance or victimization.

That some people hurt others is a reality in this impermanent world. Still, we do not have to suffer needlessly based in old emotional habits that do not serve our need for love, wisdom, veneration, compassion, and self-respect.

I have found that even when these are absent, and hurtfulness is all around, by maintaining these higher values within me, I can transcend the outer conditions, and no longer struggle with those who want to suffer, or dish it out to others. A very wise man once said words to the effect that life is painful, but we do not have to suffer.

It does take courage, strength, and good will to transcend the tendency to suffer, but in releasing the habit of suffering, we take control of our magnificent eternal consciousness and are able to find a tremendous compassion and power. Using these, we are able to enter into the pain and suffering wherever we find it, and break the link between the two.

So as you move through these times, whether they are cheerful or painful for you and those you are with, try to remember that regardless of what's going on around you, we have the choice to BE however we need to be in that moment to bring forth the highest self we are able. It is that which is beyond the fluctuations of personality, and the means by which we can be the light in the darkness of this impermanent existence.

The Stationary Retrograde Sabian Symbol

The Sabian Symbol for this Venus retrograde station has a major significance beyond the normal influence, due to Venus being conjunct TransPluto at 1 Virgo. TransPluto, or Divine Mother, has been dancing between 1 and 2 Virgo for many months, indicating a shift in our larger Era related to how we conceive of God the Mother. This would imply that the coming Venus retrograde period will be a profoundly Venusian expression of Divine Mother energy, and bless and release many from old Venusian troubles and challenges. I’ll be publishing an article about this next week.

We are told the Sabian Symbol for 1 Virgo is “A Man’s Head.” From the Marc Jones class notes in Dane Rudhyar’s The Astrology of Personality, we read this is a degree of “the shaping power of idea or ideal over outer form and behavior,” “completeness of realization,” “pure aggrandizement,” and “intent.”

In The Astrological Mandala, Rudhyar states this degree involves “the capacity to picture to oneself clearly the salient features and the overall meaning of any life situation.” He says this sign is about harvesting, “but it is also the Path of discipleship, and of all strongly determined processes of training.” This is about learning lessons of “significant form” and seeing “life situations as wholes of experience, and to discover their meaning by distinguishing their most characteristic features.”

He continues that the keyword is Discrimination, combining analysis and intuition, and this degree can help us figure out the place and function of differences in us and circumstances. This degree is in the Span of idealization, Act of stabilization, and the first degree of the actional level of the Scene of characterization.

Dr. Jones, creator of the Sabian Symbols, offers that this degree “is a symbol of full maturity,” emphasizing “personal integrity” where our inner ideals are manifested “through some self-accepted responsibility on which others can count.” He goes on to state that “ambition has its high dignity” by “the distinction with which it endows those who remain most faithful to its exactions” and “become most conscious of its rewards.”

He offers us the keyword CHARACTER. He says that when operating positively, the degree is “an effective self-assurance and an ever-clear vision of each emerging opportunity in life.”

So don’t be surprised if these themes show up in your social life, or in a reconsideration of values from previous times in life. There may be interesting returns that open new vistas and opportunities, or remembering old hurts that a new love will cure forever. Open, remove obstacles to self-expression, and take a new look at old relationships or misunderstandings, since you may find you took things harder than you needed to, and by removing those blockages find a new naturalness, love, play, or creativity.

On a final note....

For a final reflection, let’s take a brief look back at the extremely important Venus retrograde period in Gemini in 2012, since that was a rare event. That Venus retrograde period in Gemini featured an “occultation,” or a Venusian eclipse of the Sun. It conjuncted the 2011 Solar Eclipse points, and was followed by Jupiter transiting the zone of that Venus retrograde just after that, which boosted the overall Eclipse effects.

While relatively rare, a Venus occultation of the Sun (a type of retrograde phenomenon) usually occurs every 120 years, mas o menos, though it has been known to occur more often. That particular “event” tied together past and future in a huge way, in that it will be in play for the 10 Jupiter cycles that began then.

As I pointed out at the time, that Venus RX period and the subsequent Jupiter transit triggered some long wave energies directly related to themes set into motion around 1889-1895 when Neptune conjuncted Pluto in Gemini, beginning a 500 year period. Everything that’s happened in the past 120 years is directly related to the seeds set into motion by that conjunction. As I told you then,

Neptune and Pluto danced around the conjunction, going stationary at 2, 5, 7, and 8 Gemini before actually conjuncting at 8 and 9 Gemini in 1891-92. After that they danced on their stations near each other at various points between 8 and 16 Gemini before moving out of range. Themes related to this “primum mobile” will be explored and expanded to whatever degree thanks to this Venus retrograde coupled with Jupiter’s transit of this span in Gemini over the next year.

So say goodbye to an old 120 year cycle, and hello to a new one! This is a "change of season" in the 500 year Neptune-Pluto cycle, and marks the beginning of a new quarter cycle, or "season" in that long wave influence.

Now we have another Venus retrograde in favorable aspect to that one, echoing the Venus retrograde in the Summer of 2007 that was in play between then and Spring 2009. This one helps us understand some details of past hurts and misunderstandings within a larger context, and will lead us to the liberation of our heart, our creativity, our natural self-expression, and our love!

Copyright © 2015 Robert Wilkinson

Comments

[Melissa]

But is it a good time for me to buy a new toothbrush? ;) Seriously, though, thank you for this, Robert..this article made a lot of connections within me, just like your analysis of last year's Grand Cross did. I like your bigger picture view and understanding of True Self. Makes the ride so much more enjoyable when I can expand my view rather than worry if "today is the right day to do this or that." Utterly fearless astrology...

[Roxana]

Such a wonderful and inspiring article. Thank you for your work!

[Jo Garceau]

Superlative! I love what you say about separating pain and suffering. And the reference back to the Pluto Neptune conjunction in the late 19th century is tremendous...that we are beginning another phase of that cycle. WOW. And then there is the influence of the Cosmic Mother. Wow and wow. Just tremendous. blessings...

[Robert]

Hi all - Great off and on discussion over at the FB page. I figured I said some things there that bear posting here. One person posted that it was "pretty intense, and not even begun." I offered that it's been sitting on its SRX degree since last Saturday, so the stationary retrograde effect has been with us for the past 6 days.

Estrangement was brought up, and I noted that Venus RX can also bring old internalized hurts to the surface so we can heal them. Estrangement is an internal condition, and while it involves difficult non-interaction with others, we are not trapped by that condition. I may be alienated from unkind people, but not from my loving heart.

When the discussion turned toward being alienated from those who are unkind and inconsiderate, I offered that one of the hardest lessons I ever learned was not to allow my kindness and compassion to be mistaken for weakness, and not to allow unkind people to assume they had the right to be that way toward me. When we stop letting them assume they have the right to be unkind toward us, we go a long way toward embracing the Soulful life. And though the unkind people may believe we are the ones who are crazy, I noted that in the asylum the sane are believed to be crazy. Just remember that in the land of the blind, the one-eyed person rules.

Another offered that she found it to be a time when things or people we loved from the past come up again for consideration. Also, considering whether to revive interests or hobbies we used to enjoy can come up. Definitely not the best time to begin a new romantic relationship, though, or to start anything new that relates to where it falls in our own chart and with our natal Venus.

I agreed, and said that Venus retrograde can bring the return of all good Venusian things, and a time to heal the not-good internalized Venusian things in our past. It could also bring the return of a love from this or another life for reconsideration of its value and a new appreciation for events and processes that led each to where they are now. These are the ones that move forward after a slow period (since ultimately that's what a retrograde is.)

[Judy Murphy]

Robert, I love you & your writing. When my husband was in graduate school & I was home with babies, I graded all his papers for his engineering class that he taught. His advice to me was only give an A to those who have made you say "gee, I wish had said that". I give you an A.

[Peggy]

Off topic
I think Pallas should rule Libra and Venus rule Taurus solely

[helina]

I got a message where old friend had just pass away. My past lover, which never developed more than that, because we break up.

We break up so beautifully! We had a nice moment together having tea and wished everything well for each others. Of course I wish I would have known him longer, be near when he had all the hardest (long disease). I am sad he didn't tell and wanted to break up completely.

And I am happy he made it so beautifully; gave me a gift, encouraging me to do things which have made me so happy past years.
Just Love <3

[Kate Minogianni]

Such a well written and informative article, Robert. I wondered what Venus retr. at 1o Virgo may mean. And conjuct Regulus!!! At ecactly that degree has been for long time my progr. North Node - con. Pluto and IC in the natal. I am making career diretion changes, having started months ago. Still lots to do!!

[Sheila]

Things are looking up, this is so encouraging! Thank you!

[Angel]

Looking back at what you wrote on the Venus retrograde, the description is spot on. It took me a while to think back on what Venusian quality impacted my life most in 2012 and what is happening in my life again in 2015. What has become clear to me is that Venus represents beauty, wonder, attachment, emotional suffering and eventually expansion of conscious awareness. I don't know if I like Venus all that much, but I am learning to respect her.