Venus repeats its retrograde and direct pattern every 8 years. This means that wherever Venus goes retrograde in our charts, it’s in the same place relative to where it was 8 years ago, 16 years ago, 24 years ago. These periods of reflection, returns, regression, and looking inward via the Venus function are important in showing us our likes, vanities, and values.

What Is Venus Retrograde, and How Does it Affect Us?

Like Mercury RX, Venus RX takes us on a journey back. Not merely the “back” of the shadow span of the retrograde, but literally “back” to previous Venus retrograde periods. The signs show us what’s going on. The house(s) it falls in our charts shows us where we’re “going back,” “going within,” reviewing and reflecting as per Venus’ glyph, the hand mirror.

Venus retrograde gives us look through the mirror at the recent past, the distant past, and maybe even “through the past darkly,” so we may remember our difficult Venusian experiences in the past and see how they shaped our responses so we may heal those wounds. A Venus retrograde gives us a new angle on our likes, affections, values, and anything in the subconscious mind which could seduce us into illusions or false values.

As I wrote in Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend,

Venus’ duality is Wisdom/Folly. This is the aspect of consciousness describing our subconscious response to self-consciousness, affecting our "mental offspring." By our Venus function we live our vanities, selfishness, or narcissistic ways of relating, so we may come to know how to capture more beautiful forms of an inner picture of a higher, refined, elegant life and relationships in the perfect ways, places, and times.

All of these things can be seen from a different angle when Venus is retrograde. We can see how our subconscious mind words when liking or not liking someone or somethings, and can get a new approach to the value of the traits of whatever sign it’s retrograde in.

A Venus retrograde throws the ongoing transiting experience of our Venusian filters into reverse in the house it is transiting, and also gives us a “look back” at the affairs of the houses with Taurus and Libra on the cusp. If we have a planet in Taurus or Libra, we get an inward turned look at that planetary function and how it was shaped in the past. That gives us an objective angle to correct that planetary function.

So if we have Sun in Taurus or Libra, a Venus retrograde will give us a look back at how our light has expressed itself in various ways throughout our lives. If we have a Moon in Taurus or Libra, the RX will give us a look back on old habits and ways of feeling and experiencing our lives.

The coming RX is in Gemini, so the reflection and returns and review will be through the Gemini function. The last retrograde in Oct/Nov 2018 was in Libra and Scorpio allowed the RX process to unfold through that energy. At the next retrograde in Dec 2021-Jan 2022 will happen in Capricorn, the reflections and review will be through that sign energy.

Venus Retrograde Cycles Through the Years

Venus was retrograde in Oct/Nov 2002, moving from 16 Scorpio back to 1 Scorpio. That was echoed in Oct/Nov 2010, when Venus retrograded from 14 Scorpio back to 28 Libra. As if just gave you, this sequence was echoed yet again in Oct/Nov 2018 when the retrograde span was between 11 Scorpio and 26 Libra.

The next one in May/Jun 2004 was from 27 Gemini back to 10 Gemini. That was echoed in May/Jun 2012 when Venus retrograded from 24 Gemini back to 8 Gemini. It is this sequence which is echoed yet again in May/June 2020 between 22 and 6 Gemini.

The coming Venus RX begins at 22 Gemini, and retrogrades back to 6 Gemini. This parallels the Venus RX of 2012 which began at 24 Gemini and retrograded back to 8 Gemini. So this Summer will give us a review of what we’ve learned about our Venus expression relative to where we were at in the Summer of 2012, as well as the Summer of 2004.

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 Capricorn and 14 Capricorn. The next in the sequence will be the 2022 retrograde mentioned earlier, moving from 27 Capricorn 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 moved from 1 Virgo back to 15 Leo.

The final span we’ll discuss today was when Venus went retrograde in Mar/Apr 2009 between 16 Aries and 30 Pisces. That picked up on 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.

By noting the retrograde Venus function in the various houses in our charts where these retrograde happened, we can get a better sense of how we have evolved in those areas, using 8 year “steps” to see our evolving Venusian awareness in our lives. Have fun reflecting on these “action beats” in various parts of your life, and especially whatever Venusian insights, rehearsals, reflections, and revelations happened in the Spring and Summer of 2004 and 2012.