Philosopher, Lao Tzu once said, “being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.”
Within every human heart is a longing to be cherished and to be seen. Yet in a world where social media provides a brittle veneer of connection, a lonely absence of deep love and true intimacy pervades our culture.
On October 3rd Venus pivoted in the heavens at at 8º Scorpio. Venus travels Retrograde through Scorpio and Libra over the coming weeks, stationing direct on November 14th at 22º Libra.
Astrologers pay attention to these planetary turning point moments. These are “heart of the matter” times that may deliver epiphanies, push us toward a deeper understanding of who and what we love. Popular astrology associates Venus Retrograde periods with the return of the ex. People who have played important roles in our lives reappear, either quite literally, or in a sudden tightening of our heart as we hear a song that transports us back to a time of innocence and wonder.
These rear-view glimpses of relationships past may give us an opportunity to let go of any residual heaviness, or deliver a razor-sharp reminder that love should not hurt.
Scorpio is a fixed water sign. Intense, often unyielding, always deeply emotional. As Venus journeys Retrograde through Scorpio this month, she exposes shadowy power dynamics: jealousy, manipulation, control and cruelty. Venus’s realm also encompasses money, and those things we truly value. When she moves through Scorpio, we look to other people’s money: debts, inheritances and taxes, investments, joint accounts.
Power struggles and secrets erode trust in our relationships, financial debt strips us of our sense of agency.
October 24th marks the midpoint of the Venus Retrograde cycle. Venus meets the sun in the heavens at the exact same point in the zodiac: a symbolic turning point, called a cazimi.
Venus will glitter at dawn from October 24th, when she reappears as a morning star, and she will have greatest morning brilliancy from November 27th. Mercury also stations Retrograde in Scorpio on October 24th, as we revisit unresolved issues, confront uncomfortable truths in our relationships, perhaps notice how we curate our own stories about what someone did or said. This month’s full moon in Venus-ruled Taurus on October 26th, offers a brief respite from the hard edges of this world, a wondrous moment in time to appreciate the sensual pleasure of a tender embrace, the sweet sound of a robin’s song at dawn, the glittering beauty of Venus as she rests on the horizon in the early morning.
Venus retrograde cycles are important, as they don’t happen frequently. The last time Venus moved through the Libra/Scorpio section of your own horoscope was in 2018. It might be helpful to notice any reoccurring themes. If we are struggling with one lingering deep and complex issue, take some time for self-reflection, or simply remind ourselves that there is nothing we could have done differently.
As Venus moves Retrograde, womens’ issues surface in our collective consciousness. The Guardian reports that 23-year-old woman, Najmeh Amini, has been sentenced to death for blasphemy in a social media post.
Christa Gail Pike was sentenced to death at the age of 20 for the torture and murder of her classmate, a crime she committed when she was 18 years old. Christa’s childhood was one of abuse and neglect by alcoholic parents. She was raped as a toddler and again repeatedly during her teens. She attempted suicide at the age of 12 and was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.
After 30 years, on death row, mostly in solitary confinement, Christa Gail Pike was due to be executed by lethal injection on September 30th as Venus in Scorpio slowed ahead of her Retrograde station and conjoined unpredictable Uranus in her birth chart. She received two doses of the lethal phenobarbital and survived, her badly damaged arms still shackled to her hospital bed despite pleas from medical staff for the removal of restraints. Christa is now experiencing a Chiron return, a time of deep wounding, quite literally, as she has pneumonia, a blood clot and is unable to move her badly swollen and needle damaged arms. Chiron return times are important milestones in our human journey. They can also be times of deep spiritual healing. She is reported to have received compassionate care by the first responders and medical staff attending to her after the botched attempt to execute her.
Helen Prejean, a catholic nun who has called repeatedly for the abolishment of the death penalty in America, told the Guardian: “this is the essence of cruelty. Take a conscious, imaginative human being, give her a date for her death, have her anticipate it over and over again, and then take her out and try to kill her.”
Venus Retrograde in Scorpio is a deep dive into the collective and personal shadow.
Trump has approved the execution by firing squad of Nidal Hasan. He is due to be shot to death on December 3rd as Venus, now direct, lingers poignantly on the final critical degree of Libra.
As Venus moves through the still dark waters of Scorpio, she reveals the dark underbelly of toxic masculintiy and misogyny that pervades so much of our society. The obnoxious sexual predator Russell Brand appears in court on trial for rape and sexual assault during this Venus Retrograde period. Back in September 2023, when Venus was blazing through Leo, Brand was in the throes of the second of three Pluto oppositions to his beleaguered Venus/Saturn/Chiron configuration. Now, transiting Saturn (fate, the law) conjoins his moon and Mars in Aries. Carl Jung is often quoted as saying, “until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”
In a world that feels so fast, so broken, Venus Retrograde periods distil the essence of what it is that we hold dear to our hearts. Venus in Scorpio demands that we examine the stories we tell ourselves about our relationships – are our power struggles about power, or about trust, or our innate human need to be truly seen?
“Nurture your commitment,” advises couples therapist Howard J. Markman. A great marriage is predicted not so much by your finding the right partner as by your being the right partner.” Now, as Venus travels through uncompromising Scorpio, may we replenish our courage to share difficult truths. May we have the courage to love deeply.
Everything that is in the heavens,
on earth,
and under the earth
is penetrated with connectedness,
penetrated with relatedness.
—Hildegard of Bingen.
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