Venus retrograde begins this week. What’s the good, the bad, and the ugly of it? (by Liz Worth)

Venus, the planet of love, art, and beauty, begins its retrograde period this Friday, October 5 at 3:04pm in the sign of Scorpio.

Some say that Venus has trouble getting comfortable in Scorpio. She has to function a little bit differently in the sign of scorpion. Venus wants things to be gentle, easy, and beautiful all the time. But Scorpio takes her underground into deep, powerful places.

Scorpio pushes Venus to look beyond her own exterior and get to the core of her truth, and her potential to transform.

In Scorpio, Venus becomes a goddess of shadows and magic, honesty and power. This retrograde will find all the places where truths are hidden, and where the magic is waiting to happen for us.

This Friday, we can each begin to take a 41-day journey into our own personal depths. Venus highlights love and relationships, needs and desires, beauty and self-esteem, creativity and artistic expression.

What happens to those areas of your life when Venus is retrograde.

Registration is now open for my new online course, Tarot for Self-Recovery and Reclamation.

If you want to deepen your tarot practice through ritual, healing, and personal growth, I invite you to learn more: lizworth.com/heal

Relationships

Some people worry that a transit like this will destroy their relationships, or create some kind of conflict. Beware of the doomsayers. Astrology doesn’t make any promises, only speaks to the possibility of what’s to come, and helps you understand what it’s time to put your focus on.

Relationships cannot dissolve because of what the planets are up to. Relationships dissolve because they are not functioning the way they need to anymore. All people involved in a relationship are also responsible for the direction things take.

But Venus retrograde can be a time to work through any disconnects within a union. From October 5 to November 16, you might become more aware of how certain needs are not being met within a relationship. Or, you might find that you are being asked to offer more to someone else.

With Scorpio in the mix, sexuality will likely be a major aspect to these conversations. Don’t be caught off if sexual incompatibilities become the elephant the (bed)room, or if sexual tensions arise from unexpected encounters.

Trust that whatever surfaces within your relationships at this time, the universe is giving you and those you love a chance to mend, heal, and change what is not working. Use this time to fix the gaps and do the work any relationship requires.

Retrogrades give us second chances. They are a time to get things right, especially if they were missed or ignored the first time around.

Just beware of exes and past love interests that come out of the woodwork over these next few weeks. Many of us tend to be haunted by relationships of years past when Venus retrograde kicks in, and while some of these encounters may feel fated or destined, they might not amount to much. Instead, you could end up with a big reminder as to why those relationships didn’t work out the first time around.

Self-image

Venus retrograde is also a potent time to focus on your relationship with yourself. While some people experience strong self-doubt and struggle with self-image during Venus retrograde, I always encourage you to find ways to work through that, no matter what feelings get stirred up for you.

Remember that retrogrades ask us to focus on the “re” – review, reassess, reflect. I also like to add in reclaim when we are talking about Venus.

Reclaim your sense of self. Reclaim your body. Look at where and how you have been robbed of the pride, contentment, and comfort you could have within the home of your skin and bones and let yourself call it all back.

Define your own presence, appearance, and expression – whatever that may be for you.

Scorpio’s influence at this time can offer a deep container for your own healing.

Creativity

Venus retrograde also helps us to reconnect with old projects, ideas, and creative passions. This can be a great time to keep a dream journal, or revisit old notebooks for sparks of inspiration that you might have forgotten along the way.

If you have a project on the backburner, or got stalled during the summer when Mars and Mercury were retrograde, give yourself some creative space now to reconnect with any lost momentum.

Remember that Venus brings blessings as she moves through the sky. This is not a planet that exists to push your boundaries or knit-pick at your life. Listen to what gets stirred for you at this time, and pay attention to what speaks to you as October wears on.

This retrograde period can be a time of personal change and reflection. Yes, there may be times when you realize you need to let go of something, as we see in the Eight of Cups, but it be a change that allows you to rise higher. To feel more joy, and more comfort in your own skin.

Until next time,

Liz xo

p.s. Registration is now open for my new online course, Tarot for Self-Recovery and Reclamation. If you want to deepen your tarot practice through ritual, healing, and personal growth, I invite you to learn more: lizworth.com/heal

About Liz

www.lizworth.com
lizworth@gmail.com

Liz Worth is a Toronto-based tarot reader, astrologer, and author. She uses tarot and astrology to help people find clarity, guidance, and purpose.

Liz regularly offers workshops and seminars about tarot, astrology, and magic, believing that these are tools everyone can learn and benefit from. In 2017, Toronto Life magazine and She Does the City listed Liz as a go-to reader and tarot teacher. Her horoscopes have appeared in Flare Magazine and Spiral Nature, and her writing has also been published by Biddy Tarot, Little Red Tarot, and the Numinous. She is currently working on a follow-up to her book Going Beyond the Little White Book: A Contemporary Guide to Tarot.