How did you fare throughout October, the month of intense highs and lows thanks to Venus! On 8 October, Venus went Retrograde and started taking us down deep into hidden issues. Being Retrograde in Scorpio, the zodiac sign of depth, it was a case of ‘double deep’ for many of us. Venus is Retrograde from 8 October to 19 November. Yet when we take into account the ‘shadow’ (pre- and post- Retro period) we can date the whole Retro influence from 5 September to 21 December. That’s four months of DEEP.
All up, Venus is in Scorpio from 9 September to 8 January (with the exception of three weeks in Libra this month), so whichever way we look at it, at some stage over September to January, each of us will face Venus issues doubly deep. The more obvious Venus associations are love, relationships, beauty, what we value, money and self-worth. From September to January, these themes get more than their usual fair share of attention.
We’re being challenged to see what goes wrong for us when it comes to relationships and money, but more importantly, we’re being shown how to bring the love, beauty and abundance back. We’re being given an opportunity to be brutally honest with ourselves. Venus represents the ‘law of attraction’. Our self-esteem determines the ‘vibe’ we give out and therefore what we attract to ourselves.
I’ve heard many Venus Retro in Scorpio stories from clients and friends. People have been telling me how they’ve either been reuinted with estranged loved ones or have suddenly fallen out with someone. One client is facing the truth about her gambling habits, another is grieving a miscarriage. Huge decisions about relationship crossroads are being made. Secrets are coming out. The blinkers are coming off in a variety of ways. Perhaps feelings for an old flame have erupted and threaten a current relationship. Or perhaps we’ve become frightened by our debts, financial or otherwise.
Often we feel quite icky when Venus is Retro. We notice every wrinkle, wart and bit of cellulite. We fear no-one will ever love us or that we’ll end up broke and on the streets. As these fears come up, we notice the ways we’ve subliminally clung to or tried to please others so that we won’t feel abandoned or alone. The deeper cosmic purpose beneath the current upsurge of scary feelings is to have us unplug from behaviours born out of fear. Our challenge is to build consciously agreed upon support deals with others that don’t leave us in negative unspoken dynamics of who owes who, or tit for tat.
The upside of the Venus Retro in Scorpio theme is the ability to create beautiful experiences of intimacy, trust, respect, mutual understanding and love in relationships. Yet there’s a catch. This requires effort. It’s important to raise and talk about feelings of vulnerability, not to pretend we’re okay when we’re really feeling hurt, angry, jealous or devastated. We all need the same things and we all freak out when these things are in limited supply: food, shelter (which we need money for) and love (which we need healthy relationships for). On a primal level we also need to know that what we value is respected, especially our self-value.
No one is immune from the ups and downs of destiny. In fact, Venus Retro in Scorpio takes us deep into the mysteries of soul contracts, karma and fate. When Scorpio is strong, fate often plays its hand so that soul contracts and karmic conditions can be honoured. My take on karma is that it provides us with a (necessary) opportunity to experience what the soul needs. That is, the cause and effect of ‘divine judgement’ puts us into different life situations, in this lifetime other lifetimes, that help us experientially understand what we need to or want to learn.
If during this Venus Retro in Scorpio time you find yourself stuck in repeating patterns that feel addictive, there might be soul contracts or karmic conditions at play. If you’d like to get to the bottom of what they are, come along for an astrology reading. In a session I can explore destiny’s timing and help you plan ways to break the karma chain. I’m able to delve into past lives and destiny patterns, not only through astrology but also through energy healing. Beyond that, astrology gives insights into your soul’s dreams, desires and unique purpose.
From 5 to 22 November, Pluto (Scorpio’s ruling planet) and the North Node travel together, making their closest alignment on the 9th. If we’re holding onto old soul contracts that are past their use-by dates, Pluto and the North Node give a powerful cosmic push to let go of the old and bring in the new. If the new hasn’t materialised yet in your life and your patience is wearing thin, around the 9th is a great time to energetically reach out to your new beloved, new job or other new direction you’ve been putting out for.
The bottom line is that with Venus Retro in Scorpio and Pluto aligned to the North Node, we are under the perfect cosmic energies to put out for the kind of authentic relationships that we want as well as for the material possessions and money earning level that we’d like. We are encouraged to find and release the subconscious sabotages that block those successes. When it comes to the beauty side of Venus, rather than go over the top on the latest beauty fixes, we can trust that if we do the inner work and transform our self-doubt into self-love, our true beauty will shine through.
Despite the predominant background energy of Venus Retro and in Scorpio, there are some wonderful cosmic shifts this month that bring optimism and movement out of the dark into the light. Neptune and Chiron both shift Direct on the 7th, helping us understand and empathise with others so that differences can be bridged and opposing perspectives understood. They also help us ease up on self-criticism and forgive our past blunders.
On the 19th, Jupiter moves Direct. The planet of opportunities, adventure and positive outlooks comes out of its introspective phase and gets luck flowing. On the same day, Venus goes Direct. This will start to lighten up the intensity of the Venus Retro period, but remember that we’re not completely out of the Venus Retro shadow period until 21 December.
These four planets shifting Direct in November ease tension and start opening up doors. They’re all moving quite slowly and won’t really pick up momentum for a number of weeks, but they signal positive movement forward.
November is the month when we get a few weeks reprieve from the Venus in Scorpio phase. On 8 November, still moving Retro, Venus heads back into Libra. When she shifts Direct on the 19th she does so in Libra, but on the 30th she moves back into Scorpio where she will stay until 8 January 2011. Yet from 8 to 30 November we get three weeks of Venus in lighter, easier Libra. In this sign she helps us communicate and negotiate our needs with grace, diplomacy and charm. She gives us some enjoyable social times, helps us make new relationship contracts and gives our self-esteem a boost.
The New Moon this month falls on the 6th in, you guessed it, Scorpio! Taking time on that day to envision our deepest dreams for authentic relating and money-making will help us plant the seeds for the next 12 months and give positive momentum for the rest of the Venus in Scorpio time, ending in January.
November’s Full Moon falls in Taurus on the 22nd and yes, you guessed it, Taurus is ruled by Venus! At the Full Moon greater awareness of our true value is likely to emerge. Under this full moon if anyone doesn’t treat us with the respect we deserve, we’re likely to get fired up to do something about it.
And, finally, here’s a special note about Venus to really highlight what a show stopper she is lately! You might recall how bright Venus got in September and October as she set with the Sun in the West, but by 19 October, she’d totally disappeared from view. From then until now Venus was so close to the Sun that the Sun’s light completely blocked her out, making her invisible. But from 4 November, Venus is visible again, this time rising just before the Sun at sunrise in the East.
The ancients were intrigued by this particular phase in Venus’s cycle with the Sun. For a couple of months she’d be the Evening Star, setting in the West after the Sun before completely disappearing. Yet when she re-emerged it was on the other side of the sky, rising in the East before the Sun. Venus in her Morning Star phase gives hope for fresh beginnings, because while in this phase she’s at the start of a new 18 month cycle. As Morning Star she’s rebirthed after her invisible phase and is on the hunt for new levels of intimacy, new connections, new love, new cash flow and new good feelings about herself.
May you journey well through the alternating fields of dark and light this month and touch the core of your soul’s deeper wisdom.