Venus Retrograde in Scorpio until Nov 18th

This week the patterns that permeate the season are born into being.  The New Moon comes Thursday, laying the orphic egg of the month to come.  Also on Thursday, Venus finally goes retrograde, beginning her season-long underworld journey in earnest.  The tension between elegantly balanced plans and meandering passions that defines this week is the seed pattern for weeks to come.

New Moon: The Anatomy of Equilibrium

The New Moon in Libra comes this Thursday, bidding goodbye to a fast paced month of intense communications and beginning one of intense passions.  This New Moon  is conjunct both Mercury andSaturn, only a day before their conjunction on Friday.  Not only that, but this New Moon, in Venus-ruled Libra, comes only a day before Venus’ turn retrograde.

This New Moon, conjunct Mercury and Saturn places an emphasis on formulating and concretizing a plan or discipline which preserves balance.  Although rarely a terrible idea, this plan to retain balance is absolutely necessary this year, largely due to the Venus retrograde.  For as Venus canoes the waters of the underworld rivers, visions of fear and desire line the banks.  Her retrograde through Scorpio will pull people into these dark rivers, with powerful emotional responses temporarily distorting priorities.

In all, the night sky’s configuration challenges us to remain balanced as we explore emotional terrain that is anything but.

Venus Retrograde Station:  Rafting the Dark River

Venus finally stations retrograde this week, beginning a backward journey through emotional underworlds that will last until Nov. 18th, when she begins to paddle her light canoe back to the surface realms.  Each Venus retrograde is not just a movement backwards, but also a movement downwards, an exploration of depths usually left untouched.  With Venus in Scorpio, the emphasis on this statement is doubled.

And so we’ll journey to the heart of the relationships and flows of money connected to the shining planet.  But the path is not always clear, for the underworld rivers do not flow in straight or orderly lines.  Instead they twist and meander, the direction of the course often seeming to contradict their destination.  Follow the winding road of the dark rivers as they twist and turn, revealing the forgotten truths about the course of your desires.  Mirages of forgetful pleasure and despair are to be found along each bank.  Note them but do not stop too long.  This trip is one of truth and transformation, with pleasure and pain as mere moments along the way.

Ships In The Night

Although theoretically possible, I’ve rarely, if ever, seen a relationship began under the auspices of a retrograde Venus end in a satisfying conclusion.  This goes for professional relationships as well as romantic ones.  Often the people who come into one’s life during a Venus retrograde emerge in order to help facilitate one’s emotional transition, not to become permanent fixtures.   Explore the relationships that emerge this time, but do not commit or attempt to make permanent what is still unknown.  If it was meant to be, it still will be in 6 weeks.

That said, people born with Venus retrograde seem to be largely exempt from this set of warnings.  To see whether you have Venus retrograde natally, go to astro.com or a similiar website and pull up your chart.  If there’s a little “R” next to Venus’ symbol, then you’re one of the “lucky” ones.

For more on the Venus retrograde, check out “Love’s Basement” and “Venus Retrograde Basics.”

http://austincoppock.com/2010/10/06/venus-scorpio-retrograde-station/