Energy Update Venus retrogrades 28-12° Leo, July 2023

Here we are again coming up fast on another Venus retrograde. This time Venus will retrograde from 28° Leo on 7/23 to 12° Leo on 9/3. Here we combined the fickle come hither energy of Venus with the fixed fire energy of Leo. In its immature form, Venus in Leo energy is all ego; in its mature form Venus in Leo has the big heart energy of a true leader. We each can make the choice of which side of the Venus in Leo coin we walk during this retrograde season, but, for some, this choice will not be an easy one.

The Set Up

Venus retrograde is comprised of three stages: the pre-retrograde shadow which begins on 6/19 at 12° Leo, the retrograde period which begins on 7/23 at 28° Leo and ends on 9/3 at 12° Leo, and the post-retrograde shadow which ends on 10/07 at 28° Leo. She will make three major aspects during this time: three squares with Jupiter in Taurus, three trines with Chiron in Aries, and three squares with Uranus in Taurus. It is notable here that all three of these celestial bodies will also station retrograde during or immediately after Venus’s retrograde.

The Nitty Gritty

Leo (and to a lesser degree the other fixed signs Taurus, Scorpio, and Aquarius) will be in the hot seat for the entirety of the Summer as we experience a very prolonged Venus in Leo transit. Venus in Leo can be incredibly open-hearted and loving, but it can also be incredibly narcissistic and self-involved. Generally, this is determined by the upbringing and maturity levels of the individuals involved. We will likely all see and experience some fluctuations between both of these extremes as we experience this transit in our personal lives and witness it play out in the world at large. Though the fixed signs (and very early Virgos) will experience this transit more acutely than others, it is worth remembering that retrogrades of the personal planets are experienced by everybody.

I’ve seen a lot of astrologers talking about this Venus retrograde and its impact on Big R Relationships, which is fair as Venus (along with Mars) does rule romantic and sexual interactions, but this is fairly short-sighted. Venus rules pleasure in all forms and most especially esthetic pleasure. She is the patron of all of the arts and of all things that make us feel good: good food, good drink, luxurious clothing, objects of beauty, and so much more. She is also one-half of all conflicts – the half that seeks to find common ground and compromise (the other half being Mars who almost always wants to fight it out). When Venus is poorly aligned in our skies – either by planetary placement, by aspect, or in retrograde – it is harder to do Venusian things. It is harder to make art. It is harder to find patronage or get tips. It is harder to seek out a compromise and avoid conflicts or war. It is harder to find joy or just enjoy your life as a whole.

The last time that Venus went retrograde was in early 2021 (in Capricorn if you’re counting) and that transit was one of the big astrological factors that lead to the ongoing genocide that Russia is perpetrating against Ukraine. This isn’t meant to be scary tacticy but to illustrate how Venus’s retrogrades can affect the world. Not all Venus retrograde cycles result in wars but they do all involve some level of interpersonal conflict.

There are a couple of points worth highlighting about this retrograde specifically. Venus will retrograde from 28-12° Leo and so it will impact anybody with a personal planet in Leo most acutely followed by Tauruses (due to the squares with Jupiter and Uranus in Taurus) and then Aquarius and Scorpio by square or opposition, and Aries and Sagittarius by trine, and Gemini and Libra by sextile. The closer your personal planets are to 12° or 28°, the stronger the effects of this transit will be. When considering how in particular this transit may affect you, I suggest considering the planet that falls in aspect with this retrograde by sign, house, and aspect. A trine or sextile would be likely to be a less severe impact than a conjunction, opposition, or square.

Keep in mind that any aspect you experience between one of your personal planets and this Venus retrograde will be experienced thrice: once while Venus is moving forward during her pre-retrograde shadow, a second time while she moves backward in retrograde, and a third time when she is moving forward again in her post-retrograde shadow. These pressure points will likely represent an ongoing lesson in your life. The standard metaphor for this is that of encountering a hole in the ground. On the first pass of the transit, you fall in the hole. You didn’t know it was there. Oops. The second pass of the transit, you see the hole but often you still fall into it. That’s a hole. You vow not to do it again. As the third transit approaches, the goal is to see the hole ahead of time and avoid it. Apply this to your own life as necessary. You can check an ephemeris for the exact movements of Venus to determine when the exact transits of this Venus retrograde will affect you if you so desire.

Secondly, there are certain signs and certain types of people that Venus retrograde will always have a stronger impact on. Taurus and Libra are both ruled by the planet of Venus and so are always strongly affected by her retrograde cycles (look to the Sun, Moon, and Ascendant here). Those that work in the arts, sales, or who otherwise rely on tips (especially tip-based jobs that rely on your appearance such as SW) will find their work affected by Venus retrogrades. Additionally, anybody who has a strong Venus in their charts – particularly Venus conjunct the Ascendant, Venus in the 1st house, or Venus in Taurus or Libra may find themselves strongly affected by Venus’s retrograde cycles. Anybody who regularly does Venus magic (think love magic or glamour magic but other things may apply) may find that their magic is affected by Venus’s retrograde cycles.

Thirdly, there are a few things that we can tell about the feeling of the upcoming Venus retrograde cycle based on the repeated transits that Venus will make. She will square both Jupiter (the planet of luck and expansion) and Uranus (the planet of revolution and unexpected changes) in Taurus, and trine Chiron (the asteroid that represents our core wounding) in Aries. Since collectively Venus and Jupiter are the two planets that control finances AND Jupiter is in Taurus which is one of the signs that rules accumulation of wealth, we should expect money issues to rise to the surface during this retrograde cycle. Be aware of overspending and try to stick within your means, if you can. Uranus is too unpredictable to try to quantify but we can expect some serious upheavals as Venus squares off with them. Chiron will bring the kind of pain that leads to lessons if you are willing to look for them.

As I mentioned above, all three of these celestial bodies will retrograde during Venus’s retrograde or immediately after during her post-retrograde shadow. This shows that the lessons we encounter as we fall into those proverbial holes will run deeper than just this retrograde cycle – that we will need to internalize them further before they come to completion. Both Uranus in Taurus and Chiron in Aries are long-term ongoing transits that have been strongly affecting our world and this Venus retrograde cycle is going to dial these transits up to 11.

I don’t mean to sound all doom and gloomy here. Said another way, all retrogrades involve the planet in question walking the low road. The low road gets a lot of flack in our “love in light” culture. It is certainly not an easy path because it leads deep into the shadows. If you are afraid of the dark, this retrograde might be quite a challenge. If you’ve learned that the hard times often produce the greatest personal growth, this retrograde cycle might be a time worth looking forward to. Inevitably, it will require work. To navigate a retrograde cycle well, you need to be able to self-reflect. If you want to pretend that you are perfect and that you never ever fall into holes well…

That’s where the immaturity versus maturity of Venus in Leo comes in. The ego always wants to believe that we are the best, the most important, the only. We have to forgive Leo their ego stories, they are ruled by the Sun and that light shines bright. But the maturity of Leo is something else, something deeper. When we see what we are good at and where we need to change and grow, we become something else. We see that our gifts have a purpose and that they can be applied to help and lead and heal. The mature energy of Venus in Leo energy goes against everything that our “Me First” Western Culture stands for and, for that reason, we need it so very, very much.

The immaturity of Venus in Leo says: nobody helped me so nobody should get any help.
The maturity of Venus in Leo says: nobody helped me so I should make sure that others get the help that I couldn’t.

As I said, it’s Big Heart Energy. It’s being the bigger person. It’s leading by example.

That’s your way out of the Venus retrograde in Leo mess if it becomes too much for you. Find your heart. See and name your ego. It will always be there but the more that you look at it, straight in the eye, the less that it controls you. See if you can find a way to be a little softer or just a little bit kinder. Empathy will be extremely low in the collective, so every bit of it you can manage will help. Whatever way that you have found to tap into your heart energy will be highly helpful in mitigating the harsher effects of this transit.

The Details

6/11 – Venus in Leo squares Jupiter in Taurus, 1
6/19 – Venus enters her pre-retrograde shadow, 12° Leo
6/29 – Venus in Leo trines Chiron in Aries, 1
7/2 – Venus in Leo square Uranus in Taurus, 1
7/21 – Venus just barely doesn’t trine the North Node in Leo (until 7/26)
7/23 – Venus retrogrades, 28° Leo
7/27 – retrograde Venus conjuncts Mercury 28° Leo
8/9 – retrograde Venus in Leo squares Uranus in Taurus, 2
8/13- retrograde Venus in Leo conjunct Sun 20° Leo
8/14 – retrograde Venus in Leo trines retrograde Chiron in Aries, 2
8/22 – retrograde Venus in Leo squares Jupiter in Taurus, 2
8/23 – Mercury retrogrades
8/28 – Uranus retrogrades
9/3 – Venus stations direct, 12° Leo
9/4 – Jupiter retrogrades
9/15 – Mercury stations direct
9/17 – Venus in Leo squares Jupiter in Taurus, 3
9/23 – Venus in Leo trines retrograde Chiron in Aries, 3
9/29 – Venus in Leo squares retrograde Uranus in Taurus, 3
10/07 – Venus exits her post-retrograde shadow, 28° Leo