Blindfolded Couple in ForestPinVenus, the planet of love, pleasure and beauty goes into retrograde roughly every 1.5 years.

You’ve probably heard about (if not felt) it’s back-spinning motion over the past month or so, since the planetary Goddess stationed retrograde at 10º of Scorpio, on October 5th, 2018.

In Astrology, retrogrades always cause a touch of trepidation, as their primary motivation is to force us to retrace our steps and re-evaluate certain aspects of our lives (in this case, love, romance, beauty, pleasure, and money).

Venus rules Taurus and Libra and represents the big two issues: love and money. Within this, beauty, romantic relationships, partnerships. You can read more about the effect of Venus retrograde 2018, according to your specific zodiac sign > HERE < but suffice to say, it hasn’t all been fun and games in the land of romance! And because this planet, in particular, resonates on the level of the human heart, for a lot of us, when it works its tricky magic, it cuts to the very core.

When Does Venus Retrograde 2018 End?

November 15th is when Venus finally stations direct, at 25º of Libra, and it’s then we can all breathe a collective sigh of relief and get back to life and love as we know it…

OR can we??

What & When is the Venus Retrograde Shadow?

In truth, Venus retrograde isn’t completely over until we are released from its shadow.

This little liminal pocket of time is how long it takes before Venus hits the same degree – in this case 10º of Scorpio – that it went retrograde on.  And this year, it’ll occur on December 17th. Which means that for little over a month, your love life’s still not home and dry.

Essential Lessons from Venus Retrograde – It’s Integration Time

If you’ve spent the last couple of months sheltering under a storm of relational upheaval, it’s unlikely you’ve been able to stop and smell the roses. Venus retrogrades are notorious for shaking already shaky partnerships, re-introducing past loves and illuminating past mistakes (and our repeats of them!) The good news is, with Venus stationing direct, all that will very soon come to an end (hooray!!)

But another important phase follows in its wake, and that’s the time of integration.

Use the shadow to think back over what’s gone on in your life over the month, since October 5th, when it comes to love.

  • How did your experiences of love and relationships change, break, go askew, turn to chaos or even burn in flames!?
  • What patterns emerged?
  • What thorny issues arose?
  • Which of those are still unresolved?
  • How did your heart feel during it all?
  • What emotions arose?
  • Now consider your reaction to all of the above. And the result of your reaction?

Answer these questions and you’ll begin to slowly piece together the real reason Venus retrograde entered your life when it did (because nothing in life is accidental – planetary transits included!) And now the dust is settling, can you move back through your memory bank, and look with fresh eyes at the lessons this planet and Her back-spin through your life brought about?

Anything you need to Revisit from Before Venus’ Retrograde?

As you move through this essential time of integration, be especially aware of anything significant that was happening in your love life and relationships, during the pre-retrograde shadow period. Just as there’s a post-shadow, there’s a pre-shadow too, and this can be exceedingly useful to scour back over now (at times like this its super-handy if you keep a journal!)

Think back to the month of September (in particular from Sept 3rd- Oct 5th) whilst Venus was moving between 25 º of Libra and 10º of Scorpio for the first time. Now that these same astrological degrees are being activated once more, it’s very likely that any themes in your life, any issues or edges that were being pushed then, will be re-awakened now. This is another chance to figure out exactly what the blueprint of the stars is trying to show you!

But Take It Gently…

As well as inviting you to reframe your perspective and integrate your lessons, the Venus retrograde shadow is disarming. Your loving prowess and your clarity of judgment and decision making when it comes to matters of the heart may still not be up to optimum capacity until you’re released from the post-shadow. So despite urges to jump back into the love current with both feet, wait until at least December 17th when the coast will be clear. Take it gently. Turn up the volume on self-care and self-love before turning your focus back out into the world. Be tender and keep your boundaries intact.

Love will have the momentum of the stars, just in time for Christmas!