Venus Retrograde: 24th December 2005 to 3rd February 2006
One day before Christmas Venus will turn retrograde. This happens once every 18 months or so, and lasts for around 6 weeks. During this period it is a good time to ask ourselves questions like:-
- What is the quality of my relationship to myself? Do I neglect myself? Am I my own best friend? Do I like my own company? Am I lonely? Am I present to myself, or divorced from myself?
- What is the quality of my relationship to my partner? Do I neglect them? Over-indulge them? Does the relationship still hold future potential, or would I/we be better off separating?
- What about my friends? Do I appreciate them? Am I appreciated by them? Are my friendships healthy, or would I be better off moving on from some of them?
- How is give-and-take working or not working in my life? Where do adjustments need to be made? What can I do to balance things out better?
- Where am I out of balance? In what ways am I lopsided? Biased? Extreme? Out of whack? What within me needs to change to bring me back into balance?
- Where am I at war in my life? What will it take to end the conflict? Am I ready to do what it takes?
- Where am I at peace in my life? What can I do to enhance that peace? Do I genuinely want more of it?
- Where am I being overly diplomatic? Where am I not being diplomatic enough?
- Where am I too focused on other people? Where am I too focused on myself? What can I do to correct that?
- What is most important to me now? Are my priorities skewed? Am I living in harmony with my deepest values? What do I need to do so that I am living in harmony with them?
- What in my life brings me joy, pleasure, and fulfilment? How can I enhance those experiences?
In your natal chart, the house position of Venus will show which area of your life that most needs to undergo this re-assessment, but it is a good time to re-evaluate your whole life and take stock generally.
This also applies if Venus makes an aspect to planets in other areas of your chart during this time.
Venus & Chiron
On 24th December, when Venus appears to stop moving, it will be conjunct Chiron. This sets a tone to the retrograde period. The message is about stuck and repetitive relationship patterns, obstacles to dispute resolution, and healing the pain other people have caused us and that we have caused them.
This retrograde period could be one of reconciliation and moving on from painful situations if we are prepared to let ourselves and other people off the hook, so to speak. It depends on whether we continue to go down the blind alleys of projecting our issues, or choose instead to sort out what we carry with us into relationships, and into life.
Here is a diagram showing Venus and Chiron in the sky together from November 2005 to February 2006, showing Venus's retrograde motion and loop:
On
Christmas day Venus is close to the centre of this diagram,just to the
left of where the horizontal and vertical lines cross.
Chiron's motion is shown as a curved line above Venus's elongated loop.
Chiron's motion is shown as a curved line above Venus's elongated loop.
Venus's 8-year cycle
Every 8 years Venus returns to approximately the same part of the sky. The following table shows this:
| Retrograde | Direct | ||||
| Date | Time | Degree | Date | Time | Degree |
| 26 Dec 1997 | 21:21 | 3 Aquarius 56 | 5 Feb 1998 | 21:26 | 18 Capricorn 28 |
| 24 Dec 2005 | 9:36 | 1 Aquarius 28 | 3 Feb 2006 | 9:19 | 16 Capricorn 01 |
| 21 Dec 2013 | 21:53 | 28 Capricorn 59 | 31 Jan 2014 | 20:48 | 13 Capricorn 34 |
You may have an 8-year cycle in your relationships. You may also want to think back to what happened in your life between December 1997 and February 1998 and check your diary if you kept one during that time, to see if you had any particularly outstanding developments in your love-life or friendships, your finances, or your values. If you did, then this year's Venus retrograde cycle may involve completing unfinished business from eight years ago.
During this instance of Venus retrograde, the central point of the retro period is 13th Jan 2006 at 23:59 GMT. This correlates with the greatest illumination of issues requiring re-evaluation, and is the point where the reassessment and rebalancing process theoretically reaches its greatest intensity.
The graphic below shows Venus's orbit, viewed top-down as if you were positioned above the Earth. The loops are the retrograde periods of Venus. This diagram was formed using the motion of Venus from the year 2000 to 2008, so you are looking at Venus's current motion.
Some examples: Blair, Bush, Cameron, UK, USA.
During Venus retrograde, politicians sometimes are sacked or resign. It is in the nature of Venus retrograde for a situation or person to turn into its opposite, for a reversal to occur. It is famous for peace and war issues, and diplomatic crises. Blair and Bush are certainly no stranger to either of those.
Tony Blair's chart receives a transit from Venus while it is retrograde. Venus, the planet of diplomats, negotiations, finance, peace and war, will move back across Tony's MC (goals, direction, public image) on 10th January. When Venus stations and turns direct on 3rd February, it will form a trine to Tony's Sun and a square to his Venus. We can expect Tony's belligerance and penchant for public relations overdrive to be highlighted during these times, and perhaps some alterations in his direction and presentation of himself.
George Bush receives a transit to his Moon, Jupiter and Chiron from Venus when it stations on 3rd February. The aspect is a square, so perhaps some feathers will be ruffled somewhat. Again, presentational changes may be likely, and both domestic and international issues may come to the fore simultaneously. (As President, 'domestic' could mean his family, or his decisions regarding the nation's domestic issues.) The involvement of Chiron suggests that the things that politically hobble George in these two areas are up for review.
The new Conservative party leader, David Cameron, will have his Jupiter opposed by Venus when it stations on 24th December. Two ways that this could manifest are as a concerted PR exercise or a diplomatic crisis about foreign policy issues. Venus will form several aspects with David's natal planets as it retrogrades, so this could be a very active time of assessment and re-assessment for him: clearly the public will be assessing his performance and perhaps learning new things about him which may bring about a re-evaluation; his party will also be doing something similar, as will the Labour party in wondering how to best tackle him; and of course David himself will be putting into place his diplomatic strategies and policies. When Venus stations and turns direct on 3rd February it will square David's Sun, so a diplomatic issue involving him may be in the news at that time.
Both the UK and USA will experience retro Venus transit too, to various planets in the national charts. For the UK it will focus on the people's relationship with the government, and the country's alliances with other countries. For the USA it will focus particularly on economic problems and debt, followed by putting the spotlight on the top leaders of the country themselves.
This article was written & published on 19th December 2005
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