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| Venus and the Pleiades star cluster, April 6, 2012. Image copyright Fred Espenak. |
Venus Retrograde In
Capricorn 2013
Dec 21, 2013- Jan 31, 2014
Shortly after the Sun enters Capricorn on the day of winter
solstice (here in the northern portion of the globe), the planet Venus turns
retrograde. You may have noticed her
brightness and captivating beauty gracing the night sky just after sunset.
She’s hard to miss. Venus is always at her brightest a little over one month
before she conjoins the Sun.
One look at her stunning visual brilliance and it’s certainly
no surprise the ancients named her in honor of the goddess of beauty and
desire. For those so attuned to the
magical and energetic pulsations of the cosmos, one glance at Venus creates a
slight tug on your heart chakra.
Venus has a powerful magnetic appeal and resonance. Aside
from her obvious visual beauty in the heavens, her cycle around the Sun, from
our geocentric perspective, is mind boggling in its precision, perfection and
accuracy.
Venus’ synodic cycle forms a near perfect rose shaped
pattern. And within this perfectly symmetrical natural formation lies a
stunning pentagram--each end formed by her retrograde stations that alternate
between five zodiac signs.
[For those visual learners or for the people wondering what
the hell a synodic cycle is, check out an article I wrote for the last Venusretrograde in 2012.]
The cycle of Venus moves to a very predictable rhythm and
beat, with her retrogrades occurring in approximately the same location (within
2 or 3 degrees) every eight years.
This knowledge alone explains her archetypal affinity with
aesthetic beauty, symmetry, homeostasis and equilibrium. These qualities are
embedded and etched into her cyclic structure.
As Venus travels through the great firmament, she weaves a
beautifully intricate web that interconnects various timelines. She weaves our
fate, so you could say, and when Venus turns retrograde many “fated” encounters
begin to emerge from the shadows of time.
The same could be said of a Mars retrograde cycle too (which
will begin in March of 2014). New people, or creatures, with a familiar vibe
suddenly emerge. Have we met them before? Perhaps from another life—perhaps a
long time ago in another dimensional plane of existence, or another planet,
maybe.
That sense of familiarity is important, and it’s all that
matters. From that point on you know: there’s some important business to
settle, some desire to exhaust fully. If not now, then maybe later, maybe next
retrograde. If not, we’ll meet again, that is, until we feel complete with this
whole crazy trip.
Venus is magnetic and attractive. These connections reemerge
because of this attractive force field inherent to the psyche. This whole
matrix, this web of Maya, the illusion, it’s enticing. It draws us in; it draws
us deeper.
We associate Venus with Libra and Taurus, which reveals some
level of deeper understanding. Libra is all about making associations (between
people, objects, concepts, creatures and constructs), building bridges, and
maintaining balance and homeostasis. When Venus turns retrograde, we must
re-connect bridges we may have burned but regretted. We must balance the scales
in some way.
We turn our gaze backward; our “karma” attracts some
“unfinished business” with a particular association or experience our soul (or
maybe ego) felt was incomplete, unresolved or unfulfilled. Something deeply
fateful begins or comes to conclusion.
Either way, the pain, the joy, or the indifference is
curiously familiar. It’s all happened before. This is a familiar crossroads.
There was a lesson we didn’t learn, and now we get a chance to see it.
Taurus is all about the moment—the beauty of the here and
now. Taurus also deals with personal values, our sense of self-worth, and what
we accumulate that makes us feel valuable. That equates to physical objects,
ideas, beliefs, people or places.
When Venus turns retrograde, as with all retrogrades, we
must reassess some things. With Venus one keyword is reevaluation. Our value system gets scrutinized, by ourselves or by
others. Our relationships reveal shadows and blind-spots we usually push aside
to keep the peace or to maintain a veneer of social grace or politeness.
A Venus retrograde can bring about a reevaluation of issues
of dependency, self-sufficiency and emotional communication within
relationships. Whether her dark side or light side emerges, something shifts,
something changes. Values are called into question, as well as the personal
sense of feeling valuable, lovable and worthy.
Into The Heart of the
Sea Goat
Venus will be doing a sort of tango with Pluto. As she turns
stationary retrograde, in Capricorn, she slowly makes her way back to conjoin
Pluto and fire up the “sign of the times”, the Uranus and Pluto square.
That’s pretty significant. But probably not worrisome like
the upcoming t-square with Mars retrograde in April. I’ll get to that later (in
another article). Venus, even when retrograde and revealing her more “unsavory”
or shadowy side, has a calming and rejuvenating nature.
Venus is more aesthetically, artistically and peacefully
inclined. Coming into contact with the Uranus and Pluto square could set off
some truly remarkable and “out of the box” artistic, scientific and
philosophical creations.
This retrograde cycle can be incredibly useful because it
helps to create or reevaluate strategies to effectively and precisely break
free of controlling or stifling circumstances. The seriousness and focus of
Capricorn lends well to getting to the bottom line, dealing honestly and
authentically with things we don’t usually see, and very efficiently dealing
with unresolved and deeply embedded karmic issues.
I would imagine this cycle in Capricorn will direct our
attention to tremendously stifling material that’s inhibiting forward growth
and the ability to direct one’s own life they want to; or preventing the
collective energy from moving forward in more positive creative directions.
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| Radar image of the surface of Venus. Photo by NASA via Wikimedia Commons. |
Venus retrograde in Capricorn is about changing and
reevaluating priorities, ambitions and social roles. Use this time to seriously
examine all the things you give the most attention, time and energy toward.
Look intentionally into the dynamics of your relationships and the people
currently in your life.
In addition to her conjunction with Pluto, Venus will oppose
Jupiter in Cancer. The past and the future are at odds here. A desire to
mature, grow up and restructure our lives finds a strong counter desire to
remain in the past, to keep from rocking the boat.
And because the past hits us like a tidal wave of nostalgia
via all this retrograde madness (just beginning, mind you), we may feel that
sense of paralyzing immobility. But while Venus is retrograde, we must keep in
mind that this is a natural time of reflection and reassessment. The ghosts of
the past come out to bring us messages and reveal lessons. This is a highly growth oriented cycle.
At the heart of Capricorn is a profound need for solitude
and inner validation. Capricorn requires time alone to deeply reflect and rejuvenate
its soul. This may be more of a time for intimacy with oneself, to practically
restructure personal goals, relationship needs, and inherent values. This may
also be a time of sorting through or processing painful emotional material.
With the presence of Pluto in the sign of Capricorn, this is
a cycle that deeply emphasizes letting go and allowing those decaying elements
to leave our experience. This may be a time to sever connections with rotting
attachments we are afraid to let go of.
With Venus turning backwards, there may be a profound change
of heart. There may be a need to face deeply embedded fears and realities that are holding us back. Whatever happens, Capricorn, and its ruler Saturn, teach
us about trust. Can we trust the process at hand? Can we trust that letting go
will eventually lead to something new and rewarding?
Technical details
The last time that Venus was retrograde in Capricorn was Dec
2005-Feb 2006. You are likely to find yourself dealing with similar themes and issues
from that cycle.
All cardinal signs will be the most impacted by this retrograde
process: Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn. Significant planets or placements
in any these signs, such as the Sun, Moon or Ascendant—and to a lesser extent
Mercury, Venus or Mars—will respond most strongly to this particular retrograde.
Venus turns stationary retrograde at 28 degrees of Capricorn
and 57 minutes, and will turn stationary direct at 13 degrees of Capricon and
34 minutes, closely conjunct Pluto. The 28 th-29 th degrees of any
sign are highly sensitive points. They tend to indicate a critical process of
culmination, or events with an explosive quality or symbolism.
Venus entered the shadow of her retrograde on Nov 20, 2013.
Venus will turn retrograde on Dec 21, 2013, the day of the solstice transition,
when the Sun enters Capricorn. Venus turns direct Jan 31, 2013 and will leave
the shadow on March 5, 2013, just after Mars turns retrograde.
The Venus/Sun inferior conjunction takes place on Jan 11,
2014, sextile Saturn in Scorpio.