by Robert Wilkinson
Venus goes stationary retrograde at 4:36 pm PST on March 1. What can we expect?
We’ll begin 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 Aries and Pisces – Is It Harmonious or Frictional to Its Nature?
This one begins at 11 Aries and then retrogrades back to the third decan of Pisces, going stationary direct at 25 Pisces on April 12. Because Venus has a different response in Aries than in Pisces, let’s take a look at what we can expect given Venus is RX in Aries in March and RX in Pisces in early April.
Fiery Aries is the sign of “exile” for Venus, since it is the sign opposing Libra, one of the “home signs” of Venus. So Venus is in an energy that opposes its Libra qualities. However, Pisces is the sign where Venus is “exalted,” meaning that energy is where Venus finds its grounds for greatest growth.
So when in Aries, Venus is in the 7th sign relative to its natural rulership of Libra, and in its 12th sign relative to its natural rulership of Taurus. Venus in Aries is in opposition to its Libra nature, and in a closure sector of its Taurus nature.
When in Pisces, Venus is in the 6th sign relative to its natural rulership of Libra, and in its 11th sign relative to its natural rulership of Taurus. Venus in Pisces is in service to its Libra nature, and in a visionary sector of its Taurus nature.
Since the majority of the time it will be in Aries before it goes direct in Pisces, it means that whatever beginnings are promised by Aries must be re-evaluated, or appreciated in a new way, before the natural forward motion of Venus can proceed. However, since we’ve already “done” Venus in Pisces, we already have had the experience of “the end of the end” in some Venusian area of our lives, and had ample time to practice letting go, forgiving much, and generating compassion as old ways and things slipped down the time stream.
In Aries, Venus retrograde indicates that we will be in a reflective “I am” mode, where past relationships can be understood in a new light. It may be we’ll remember someone who helped us like ourselves, or appreciate ourselves, or helped us value a “new us” which began with them. This is a “backward looking” period in our Venus ruled areas of life where we can re-evaluate or appreciate someone or something in a new way before the natural balanced forward motion of Venus can proceed.
Take a look at old relationships, and see which helped you find a new identity, or appreciate a new way of seeing yourself, or someone who made a significant difference as you hit a point of “emergent spiritual knowledge” or spiritual relationships. At the end of the process we’ll all have a different understanding of why we had to let go of old likes and loves, or why we need to let go of them or those memories in our Venusian areas of life.
Recurring Venus Retrogrades
Also, I should note here that Venus has a recurring cyclic dance it does with the Sun, which I recently gave you in the article Cycles of Venus Retrograde – Echoes of the Past Affecting the Future. As I explained there, in May/Jun 2004 Venus was RX from 27 Gemini back to 10 Gemini. That was paralleled in May/Jun 2012 when Venus retrograded from 24 Gemini back to 8 Gemini. This sequence was echoed in May/June 2020 between 22 and 6 Gemini.
Venus was retrograde in Dec 2005/Jan 2006 between 2 Aquarius and 17 Capricorn. The next RX in the cycle was Dec 2013/Jan 2014, when Venus retrograded between 29 and 14 Capricorn. The next in the sequence was the 2022 retrograde, moving from 27 to 12 Capricorn.
The Jul/Aug 2007 Venus RX occurred between 3 Virgo and 17 Leo. That was echoed between late July and early September 2015 when Venus retrograded from 1 Virgo to 15 Leo. The RX in 2023 was part of this series, which moved entirely into Leo as the RX was from 29 to 13 Leo.
The final span we’ll discuss today was when Venus went retrograde in Mar/Apr 2009 between 16 Aries and 30 Pisces. That one before that in this series was the Mar/Apr 2001 Venus RX between 18 and 2 Aries, and was echoed in Mar/April 2017 when Venus was RX between 14 Aries and 27 Pisces.
This is the series activated now, as Venus begins at 11 Aries and retrogrades back to 25 Pisces. So March/April will give us a review of what we’ve learned about our Venus expression relative to where we were at in March-April 2017, as well as the same months in 2009.
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.
While in Aries it makes its usual inferior conjunction with the Sun, but this retrograde will be extremely dynamic as it begins with a weeks’ long semisquare with Uranus, followed by a biseptile to Mars in mid-March. By the third week of March it makes a sextile to Pluto, a tredecile to Mars, a quintile to Jupiter, and a septile to Uranus.
After that it moves back into Pisces, where it conjuncts Neptune, the North Node, finally going direct at 25 Pisces with Mercury also in the last 5 degrees of Pisces and Saturn sitting at 25/26 Pisces. That will be a very heavy and “compressed” period, with Venus bringing new appreciation to Saturn and what it’s teaching in late Pisces.
All in all, a very productive and specialized period where we get to see the “fork in the road” in our relationships relative to our uniqueness. This will enable us to do what we have to do in early May when Venus makes its final septile with Uranus.
Venus retrograde 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.
Venus retrograde in Aries can help us take a new look at how authentic we are in our relationship expressions and activities, and see if there needs to be new blood, or new fun, or new spontaneity in our interactions. We can get new insights from relationships which ended long ago, and find a new way to release old feelings based in misunderstandings.
Perhaps old hurts can be seen for their value in liberating us from frustrating interactions and possessions we no longer valued. A Venus retrograde is good for reconnecting with those we once loved, or having a new appreciation for people in our past who allowed us to express ourselves and not feel shamed or devalued.
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
A planetary retrograde station sets the themes for what will be reviewed, remembered, or renewed. This station falls at 11 Aries. It is said that the second third (decan) of any sign deals with the social and emotional levels of life, and being the second decan of Aries it has a sub-influence of Leo/the Sun with an added dose of the Sun. While I've given you a sense of this degree up to now, this is where we go into depth.
The symbol for the 11th degree of Aries is “The president of the country.” From the Marc Jones class notes in Dane Rudhyar’s The Astrology of Personality, we read this is a degree of "fine stewardship of collective racial ideals,” “good and necessary, but unimaginative conformity to standards,” and “idealization.”
In The Astrological Mandala he states this degree is one of "the power resulting from the formal integration of the collective desire for order.” He offers that this symbol shows us this stage is about some sort of order “which transcends and seeks to rule the emotional and instinctual drives of the individual,” but also how that order is “ruled by collective pressures.”
He continues that “a desire for a larger type of integration has now emerged. It is no longer biological-impulsive … or emotional-personal, but social-collective and institutional.” He states “the integrative principle is the limited, more or less narrow ‘I am’ realization,” related to personal ego, and that this degree “indicates a centralization of power.” We are told this falls in the Span of Realization, and is the initial degree of the individual-mental and spiritual level of the Scene of Desire in the Act of Differentiation.
Dr. Marc Edmund Jones, creator of the Sabian Symbols, says this is a degree of “high ego on the impersonal side, evident in the complete and naïve dedication of the individual to some part (we) choose to play.” Here we select a role that “will have maximum breadth of recognition,” so we can find ourselves in “a reality which (we) would be quite unable to sustain by (ourselves).”
He states this is about our “subordination of all other considerations to one primary act of individual assurance.” He offers us the keyword IDEALIZATION, and explains that when operating in a positive way, this degree is “the self-sacrifice required of anybody who would become the creative representative of eternal value.”
So this is a Venus retrograde where we can experience our ability to embrace a formal order requiring self-sacrifice and perhaps conformity to standards, valuing and/or appreciating rulership to be administered wisely as a good steward. This begins a look back at a new identity for us in our Aries sector, promising us some form of power role where we can become a representative of something of “eternal value.”
This span involving Aries and late Pisces can show us how we became more true to our values when we saw our “unedited self” which led us to say goodbye to an old way of life and identity. We can understand prior emotionally stuck people by taking a look at how they weren’t able to allow us to be ourselves, naturally and spontaneously, or how they couldn’t be spontaneous with us. This will show us dances past and present, and why some relationships had to end, clearing the way for more better ones.
Every Venus retrograde gives us the chance to examine and heal hurts and misunderstandings we internalized in the past. This Venus retrograde can show us how we chose to leave unhealthy relationships behind, or those which gave us mixed signals and confused messages. With this retrograde, we can re-evaluate internalized blocks and suspicions, as well as resentments, and resistances so we may show our Highest Self to the world.
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 a deeper understanding of past relationship dynamics, or show you opportunities to adjust your efforts to find renewed cooperation from others. This will help us get to internalized antagonisms, and open perspectives and insights into human motives and folly.
The Magic of Venus Retrograde
Venus direct and retrograde in Aries and Pisces promises us 4 months of learning to like all things Aries with a review of what we like or don’t about Pisces! This will bring beauty or something of value to wherever we have these signs in our charts, and people with significant Aries planets or points will love the fire they’re feeling in their interactions, while those with planets in late Pisces will feel the love they share with all in the collective field.
You can find out a lot more about Venus retrograde cycles and how Venus retrograde manifests 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 offers a multi-faceted view of why we attract the people we do, as well as how to re-shape our inner Venus to create more satisfying relationships in the future.
This work is an in-depth examination of the psychological dimension of Venus, the spiritual dimension of Venus, and the astrological dimension of Venus. It offers practical techniques for changing your image of what you want to attract your heart’s desire, and how to make your relationships more fulfilling because you are living a Soul-ful life.
You’ll find out about why you like or don’t like people and things, why you’ve attracted who you have in the past and present, and how to make those attractions more aligned with your Soul purpose in the future. A major theme weaving the various dimensions together 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!)
On a final note....
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 2012 “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.
As I promised, here are the articles on the 2012 Venus “occultation event.”
Venus Transit of the Sun – What Is It, How Does It Happen, and Other Historical Transits of Venus
Venus Retrograde Conjunct the Sun June 5, 2012 – What Does That Rare Event Mean?
Copyright © 2025 Robert Wilkinson
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