by Robert Wilkinson
Venus goes direct at 6:20 pm PDT on September 3, 2:20 am BST on September 4. This is a threshold from which we move forward in many Venus-ruled areas of our lives. Much that we’ve been reviewing between late July and now has enabled us to remember our heart and release much that would hinder our spiritual effectiveness in the future.
This indicates we’ve begun a period where Venus will move through its shadow zone between 13-29 Leo for the third time, giving us a chance to apply what we have learned during its retrograde period. This offers us the ability to cultivate skill in using our Venusian planetary functions within the lessons indicated by the degree spans it’s transited.
As I've pointed out in previous articles outlining how the retrograde influence works, we first experience the sign lessons when planets cross those spans. Then we get a new look or new experience of those sign lessons when planets retrograde across those spans. Then we get to weave these two approaches or understandings together and apply them when the planets again go direct and cross the span a third time.
What Has Venus Retrograde Brought Us, and Where Is It Going?
In this case, Venus, the planet of love, relationships, values and resources, having begun its retrograde at 29 Leo, has now moved back to 13 Leo, where it is going direct. Its time in Leo has given us insights into old relationships, old desires, and old losses, or helped us reflect on past Leo interpersonal issues so we could remember why we had to leave some behind by taking a look at what we wanted and why we wanted it. This could apply to any Venus-ruled area.
As Venus rules resources and how we used them, a Venus retrograde gives us a look back to see if we’re being driven more by subconscious cues or making conscious choices. As our only resources are time, energy, and money, we get a new look at these during Venus retrograde.
As I mention in my book Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend, Venus’ planetary duality is Wisdom/Folly. We are told this part of us is how our subconscious mind responds to our self-conscious perceptions. Venus retrograde has allowed us to review some Leo elements of this internal mental relationship to see how past likes and dislikes affect our current subconscious reactions.
If there were reconnections with people and values from the past, we can now move forward in more thoughtful and natural ways. The reviews, rewinds, and remembrances we’ve experienced the past month and a half have shown us how relationships in the past helped us get a new perspective on others, especially “the law of unintended consequences,” or old conflicts resulting from misunderstandings or perceptions which should have been taken a different way by us or our peers way back when.
We now can move forward in the life areas indicated by the houses where we have 13 through 29 Leo. Obviously it also impacts the houses where we have Taurus and Libra in our chart, just as it has influenced any planets we have in Taurus or Libra, giving them a Leo flavor since June.
How To Apply This Knowledge In Your Chart
By way of illustration, in my chart the Venus retrograde fell in my 1st house. Among other things, I got a Venusian "review" of several health issues which while actually improving over time, got my doctor triggered through my unwillingness to take drugs which in the past have given me very bad side effects. I had to review some past and present relationships and update my response to imbalances and presumptions on their part.
The retrograde began at 29 Leo, a degree of “longing for a new order of selfhood,” and is a “critical point in emergent evolution,” all of us have been searching for a new way to evolve wherever we have 29 Leo. As it’s in my first, I have seen these themes in play, as I understand I’ve already found myself at “a new order of selfhood” and stand poised to move forward these next few months in a new evolutionary development in my life.
As Venus rules my 3rd and 4th houses, and co-rules my 10th as an intercepted sign, I’ve had delays and postponements in factors involving those houses. However, I also wound up doing a forward to a book that a friend and client of over 40 years has written about the “four Soul-ful qualities,” which seems to be perfect for Venus in Leo! I also heard from one of my oldest friends who is unexpectedly going to be in my neighborhood, and been reflecting on who appeals to my heart.
This period has made some things perfectly clear which were hung up going in circles before the retrograde. In an unexpected turn, I found myself abruptly withdrawing from a Venusian project due to a lack of support and gratitude for my efforts up to this point. In the process I had to swat down false comparisons with others who I have nothing to do with, and resolve to do as I my heart told me to do.
So while I’ve revisited some old relationships, I’ve set clear boundaries in others which were badly needed due to their misunderstanding about boundaries. One of the themes for me seems to be related to the I Ching admonition about preparing the ground and making sure of the relationship before presuming to ask for something, as that has happened twice during the retrograde when people wanted something they should not have asked for.
As usual with Venus retrograde, I’ve been thinking back on prior homes and moves, and have been reviewing how I came to see things in my early life. It has also led me to an understanding of my need to love myself in ways which strengthen my heart, allowing me to move forward with confidence to achieve what I want to accomplish in the future.
The Sabian Symbol for Venus Stationary Direct
Venus goes direct at 13 Leo. We are told the symbol for the 13th degree of Leo is "An old sea captain rocking.” In the original notes from the Marc Jones class on the symbols published in The Astrology of Personality,, Rudhyar says this degree is one of “Reward of growth from outer to inner realms,” Serenity through the overcoming of storms,” “Self-gained mellowness,” and “Retirement.”
We are told in The Astrological Mandala that this symbolizes "the quieted mind’s recollections of crises and joys long past,” where we can see how we’ve “steered the ship of (our) ego-consciousnesss through seas and storms, maintaining the integrity of (our) individual self-hood while in close contact with the collective Unconscious.” That enables us to distill wisdom from those trials and triumphs through contemplating past and present realities, gently rocking us into peace.
He gives us the keyword as “Quiet recollection.” So we begin a time when we can use our Venus function to see how to find new forms of individual assurance or confidence in our mind or individuality to stabilize our creativity, either as a result of new information or old ideas and truths seen in a new light. He says it falls in the span of "Assurance” and it’s the synthesizing degree in the individual-mental level of the scene of Combustion in the Act of Stabilization.
According to Dr. Jones, creator of the Sabian Symbols, this is a degree of humanity’s “great love for re-living (our) experiences in memory, and of (our) gift for achieving a mastery in advance of whatever new situations (we) may face” through seeing our relationships in terms of their potential. He offers that with this degree we fight the ever-recurring battles in our world in our imagination over and over since we bring life under leash through mastering recurring challenges.
He says the keyword is RETROSPECT. He states that this degree, when positive, is "each person’s unlimited capacity for calling up afresh the powers (we have) gained in (our) struggle toward self-fulfillment.”
So now, through our Venusian function, we get to contemplate past trials from an angle of peace, as we get ready for greater heart adventures to come! We can now tap into past powers which brought us to where we’re at right now, and use our Venusian wisdom to find peace with our past as we move into a new realm of relationships.
From Here Our Venus Areas Move Forward
This sets a platform for Venusian realizations along these lines and the ability to move forward with a sense of opening to a new sense of our heart, our creativity, and our ability to dance with others in our world. If it’s not fun or creative, if you can’t put your heart into something, just smile and dance in a new direction. This is in play through the next Venus retrograde which begins at 11 Aries in March 2025, which retrogrades back to 25 Pisces.
One thing which may be important is that in April 2015 Jupiter went stationary direct at 13 Leo, and so the coming Venus months will in some way echo Jupiter’s 2015 April to August Leo transit. Perhaps the promise or teachings of that period will in some way be brought back into focus between now and the beginning of October.
Obviously, if Venus makes aspects to your natal planets from 13 Leo, then by those aspects your planetary functions will be challenged or understood, used productively or become specialized according to the specific aspect Venus makes to your planets. This will impact both the life areas of the houses these occupy, as well as the houses they rule.
So now that Venus is direct in motion, it means the life areas ruled by Taurus and Libra (the houses with those signs on the cusp, or edge of the house) should now show some movement forward after many weeks of being slowed, stopped, or even seeming to go backwards. Venus retrograde has given us all a chance to slow down in our interactions, take a new look at old relations to see what was of value, what was blocked, and if they created insecurity or suspicion in our relationships since then. We’re now done with a period when some Venusian things were on hold and can proceed from here, since we know what to expect now that Venus moves forward in Leo.
Elaborating on the concept that Venus a background effect for those areas ruled by planets we have in Taurus and Libra, I have Neptune in Libra in the 3rd, spiritual ruler of my 5th and 8th. Venus going direct will affect my Neptune function, and so indirectly my 3rd, 5th, and 8th house. That's definitely looming large in my life!
So from here we move forward in the Taurus and Libra sectors. The interesting thing is that Venus now begins two months of septile, sextile, and then back to septile aspects with Mars, as well as its third square to Jupiter and Uranus in middle and late September and its third Yod with Neptune and Pluto in early October.
Venus has had the Sun as its dispositor the entire time it’s been in Leo. That meant Venus had a Gemini, Cancer, Leo, and Virgo background during its time in Leo up to now, with Libra being the final dispositor influence the last week of September and the first 8 days of October.
Planets going from retrograde to direct challenge us to move forward with a view to what we’ve just been through. At least Venus has shown us what is true, good, and valuable in the changes we are considering. Much of what we’ve just been through will be much clearer when Venus leaves its shadow zone in early October and forms earth trines to Jupiter, Uranus, and Pluto in October and November.
(On a side note, it will repeat the very favorable evolutionary configuration triggered by the Sun in early Virgo when it too opposes Saturn while tredecile Jupiter and Jupiter is quintile Saturn. October 8-12 should be a great time when many interactive gifts and blessings come forth!
So as you move forward, open to having fun contemplating old dramas you’ve retired from as you open to moving forward in October. We’ve now had releases of the heart and spiritual understanding and are moving toward a new order of life. Follow what you value and let your Soul speak! Be alert to more playful and enjoyable ways to do whatever you’re doing in your Taurus, Leo, and Libra houses. Allow your Taurus and Libra planets to be more playful and creative as well!
And of course, Mercury is now retrograde, so don’t be surprised if there are still delays in some of your life affairs. Just enjoy having looked back at Venusian things through the Leo lens, and apply that heart wisdom to the new information and insights you’re getting about what standards you wish to live by and uphold in the future. Have fun taking your “wisdom after the review” with an eye to using those insights in the near future. And the beat goes on and on and on...
The Magic of Venus: Friendships, Soul Mates, and Twin Flames.
Now that we’ve gotten acquainted with Venus in Leo for the past 3 months and counting, we should have a new appreciation of that area of our life! This should have brought beauty or something of value to wherever we have Leo in our charts, and people with significant Leo planets or points should be loving the fire they’re feeling in their interactions.
You can find out a lot more about Venus retrograde cycles and how Venus retrograde manifests, as well as in direct motion, by getting your copy of The Magic of Venus: Friendships, Soul Mates, and Twin Flames. It is the most comprehensive book on Venus ever written, and explains why we attract the people we do, as well as how to re-shape our Venus to create more satisfying relationships in the future. It features an entire chapter on Venus retrograde and how it can manifest in a natal chart which is sure to give you insights about this and past Venus retrograde periods!
This work examines the psychological dimension of Venus, the spiritual dimension of Venus, and the astrological dimension of Venus. It offers practical techniques for how to attract your heart’s desire, and how to make your relationships more fulfilling by living a Soul-ful life. You’ll find out about why you like or don’t like people and things, why you’ve attracted people in the past and present, and how to attract those who are more aligned with your Soul purpose in the future. A major theme is understanding why Soul Mates come into our lives, and how to know the difference between a Soul Mate and our Twin Flame.
It has chapters on the qualities of each sign’s natural mate, the qualities of Venus in each sign, Venus retrograde, and when crucial choices and changes are made, affecting who we attract in the future. It was written for both astrologers and lay people, and as it has a thousand gems for better relationships, with self, others, and Source, please consider getting your copy by going to the link above! (And when you’re done, please leave a review on Amazon, since it helps the book and all other books on astrology as well!)
For your review, all the Venus retrograde articles.
Venus Retrograde In Leo – All The Articles
© Copyright 2023 Robert Wilkinson
Thank you Robert. When will your book about Venus be available on Kindle?
Posted by: OpenHeartTravel | September 01, 2023 at 04:13 AM
Here is the direct link to the kindle edition.
The Magic of Venus kindle edition
Posted by: Robert | September 01, 2023 at 08:20 AM