- Venus Going Stationary Retrograde at 22 Gemini -

Venus goes stationary retrograde at 11:45 pm PDT on May 12, 7:45 am BST on May 13. 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 Gemini – Is It Harmonious or Frictional to Its Nature?

This one begins at 22 Gemini, and then retrogrades back to the first decan of Gemini, going stationary direct at 6 Gemini. Gemini is a fairly good position for Venus, since the second decan of Gemini is the Libra decan where Venus is at home. However, the second decan is also ruled by Mars, which sets up the tension between that zone being ruled by Venus on the one hand and Mars on the other.

When in Gemini, Venus is in its 2nd sign relative to its natural rulership of Taurus, and in its 9th sign relative to its rulership of Libra. So in Gemini, Venus learns about its values and its truths, and being in an Air sign, is very comfortable with the associative qualities of Gemini.

In Gemini, Venus retrograde indicates that we will be in a reflective learning mode, where past ideas and people can be understood in a new light. It may be we’ll remember someone who precipitated the discovery of new values, or someone who helped us externalize those values. 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 balance out the relationship of your mind to your feelings and your body. At the end of the process we’ll all have a different understanding of the knowledge we need which will ensure us wealth or effectiveness 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. When 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 2013-2014 period began at 29 Capricorn and retrograded back to 14 Capricorn, so it did substantially overlap.

The 2015 Venus retrograde that began at 1 Virgo and retrograded back to 15 Leo substantially overlapped its retrograde span of its late July through early September 2007 retrograde period, which went from 3 Virgo back to 17 Leo. The 2017 retrograde in Aries and Pisces tracked the Venus retrograde period in March-April 2009. The 2017 one began at 16 Aries and went back to 30 Pisces, while the 2009 retrograde began at 14 Aries and went back to 27 Pisces.

The late 2018 Venus retrograde that began at 11 Scorpio and retrograded back to 26 Libra had a similar retrograde path to the Oct-Nov 2010 Venus retrograde period, which went from 14 Scorpio back to 28 Libra. This one, spanning 22 back to 6 Gemini, closely tracks the Venus retrograde period of May-June 2012, which accompanied a once in 120 year Venus occultation event. That one began at 24 Gemini and retrograded back to 8 Gemini, so as you can see, the spans closely parallel each other. Links to the important 2012 event are at the bottom of this article.

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 Gemini, it will make its usual conjunctions with Mercury and the Sun, but this retrograde will be extremely dynamic as it begins with a weeks’ long square to Neptune, a semisquare to Uranus, and an exact biquintile to Jupiter, also going stationary retrograde within hours of Venus! The first intense “storm zone” in the retrograde period is May 21-23 when Mercury conjuncts Venus at 21 Gemini, in an exact square to Neptune at the same time both planets biseptile Mars. The second intense storm zone happens in early June, when Venus RX squares Mars just as it conjuncts the Sun at 14 Gemini, with the Sun square Mars continuing through the entire first half of June!

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 Gemini can help us take a new look at how authentic we are in our relationship expressions and activities, and see where the perception or communication style needs to be recalibrated. We can get new insights from relationships which ended long ago, and find a new way to externalize our feelings, or find new ways to communicate with others. 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

The Sabian Symbol for this Venus retrograde station at 22 Gemini is "A barn dance.” From the Marc Jones class notes in Dane Rudhyar’s The Astrology of Personality, we read the 22nd degree of Gemini is one of "Richness of life in associations based on natural instincts,” “warmth of simple living,” and “natural fulfillment of self.”

In The Astrological Mandala. Rudhyar states this degree is about “the wholesome enjoyment of organic processes and emotional drives.” He offers that this is a symbol of people living in harmony “with natural or seasonal processes, giving free rein to their emotional instincts,” where we find both “mind and natural emotions” active.

He continues that this symbol “stresses the value of rhythmic, healthful activity in a natural setup, for this leads to an often much needed process of bioenergetic rebuilding.” He says it’s in the Span of Restlessness, and is the counterpoint degree in the emotional, social, and cultural sector of the Scene of Exteriorization in the Act of Differentiation.

According to Dr. Jones, creator of the Sabian Symbols, we find this is a symbol of “complete self-fulfillment through the established or normal activities of the community,” where we fulfill our selfhood “by the broadest possible participation in the divisions of labor which constitute a human society.” He offers “richness of living comes from an uninhibited sharing” of potentials, with “a maximum of happy give-and-take between any one individual and another.”

He give us the keyword GREGARIOUSNESS. He states when operating in a positive way, this degree is said to be "an ability to plunge into major and rewarding experiences without the least self-reservation.”

So this is a Venus retrograde where we can find a happy balance between our inner and outer life, or recalibrate how we dance with others, as well as ourselves. We can take a look back and see how we used to find fulfillment in our associations where we all took part in the labor and all found a richness of life through “uninhibited sharing” and a “happy give and take.”

This span involving Gemini can show us how we became more true to our values when we shared with others, or saw them not sharing with us. We can understand prior emotionally stuck people by taking a look at how they had internal contradictions which may not have had anything to do with us. This will show us dances past and present, and why some relationships had to end, clearing the way for more significant relationships.

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. Find ways to see your own problems in terms of their significance to others, and offer what you can about how you worked things through to overcome misunderstandings. 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 more balanced way of demonstrating your power to communicate the potential through power sharing.

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 Gemini, echoing the Venus retrograde of 2012. This one helps us understand why some old relationships had to end, and we can regenerate a lot of spiritual power by revisiting past hurts and misunderstandings within an archetypal spiritual context. This begins by reminding us to balance our body, feelings, and mind in healthy interactions, and will ultimately lead us to a quest for knowledge which can ensure us wealth or influence in the future.

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?