Venus retrograde in Leo survival kit. 7.24.23.
Image description: A fierce blonde leonine woman in a leopard print coat is in a staring contest with a majestic lion, both seated on the ground against a desert backdrop.
Happy Leo season, beautiful souls!
And oh-my-goddess has the past week brought a ton of incredibly rich astrology for us all to navigate and work with. Along with the nodes of the Moon changing signs on July 17th (from Taurus/Scorpio to Aries/Libra) (more on this soon!)—-over the weekend, Venus, the goddess of love, and Chiron, the wounded healer, both stationed retrograde (on June 22nd and 23rd, respectively).
While transits like these are always interconnected, for purposes of this edition of Practical Woo, I’m gonna be focusing primarily on the Venus retrograde stretch that runs July 22nd to Sept 3, 2023—a powerful portal during which “we have the chance to redecorate our inner self,” in the words of astrologer Darby Costello.
This particular Venus retrograde is speaking to me as an extra-potent portal for transformation and healing for three reasons: 1) it’s taking place opposite Pluto; 2) Chiron also just stationed retrograde; and 3) the chart for the exact time of Venus’s station in a shape astrologers call the “mystic rectangle”—an aspect pattern the ancients associated with initiation.
So in lieu of your standard Practical Woo fare, to help you accept Venus’s initiatory assignment and work with the energy constructively (what I call “alchemy of the zodiac”)—I’ve put together a little **Venus retrograde survival kit** to help you make the most of the powerful portal that’s open until September 3rd. Some of the themes we’re especially being invited to explore as Venus retrogrades through Leo include: love (including self-love), relationships, values, pride, courage, and forgiveness.
Scroll on down for more on how to work with the Venus retrograde cycle including: key dates; a tarot spread with journal prompts; suggestions for crystals to work with; and more. Sending you so much love and many blessings for this Venus retrograde in Leo stretch and as always, take what resonates and leave the rest. :) <3
XOXO,
Rebecca
P.S. For folks looking to go deeper, I’ve blocked off a few days this week/weekend to offer customized Venus retrograde unpacks just for returning clients and Practical Woo subscribers—$45 for a 45-minute reading where we’ll dive into down how this astrology is impacting you personally based on your birth chart. (Click here to book.)
Image description: a reproduction in the painting “Venus in Pompeii” - the goddess of love reclines elegantly, floating upon blue water, with cherubs to either side.
What is Venus retrograde?
On Saturday, July 22nd, Venus stationed retrograde at 28 degrees of Leo—the sign she’ll be slowly backstroking through for 40 days and 40 nights. She’ll end her retrograde stretch on September 3rd at 12 degrees and 12 minutes of Leo (repeating numbers always jump out to me, and 12+12=24=2+4=6, which in the tarot is, fittingly for Venus, the Lovers card).
The goddess of love stations retrograde roughly once every 9 1/2 months. You can think of Venus’s 40-day retrograde stretches like the goddess of love taking regularly scheduled trips to the underworld, where she invites us to journey with her to explore the shadow landscape of her domain to learn deeply about ourselves and our energy patterns.
I especially stan the Venus retrograde cycle because it offers a powerful tool for long-term reflection. This is because, as Venus travels around the zodiac, her every-9-months-or-so retrogrades—and more specifically, the “cazimis” when she meets up with the Sun at the heart of each retrograde stretch—form a beautiful 5-pointed star across the zodiac over the span of 8 years. This makes for an 8-year cycle astrologers have come to call the Venus Star.
How do I work with Venus retrograde?
When a planet stations retrograde, it slows down and then appears to move backwards in the sky. As with all retrogrades, the “as above, so below” invitation to all of us on Earth is to mirror the planet’s movements by slowing down ourselves and turning backwards to review and reflect on the themes that planet rules (in the case of Venus: love, self-love, relationships, and values) and how they’re showing up in our lives.
As she descends into the underworld, Venus invites us to reflect on the past so we may more consciously participate in whatever is unfolding now and in the weeks, months, and years ahead within these realms. In addition to Venus’s usual themes, since Venus is retrograding through Leo, additional themes that may be coming up for review include pride, courage, and leadership. And, cutting across many of these Leonine and Venusian themes: one of the highest vibration potentials of this particular Venus retrograde in Leo stretch as I read it is forgiveness—of those we’re in relationship to in some way and of ourselves.
Reading rec: Learning to Love Yourself by Gay Hendricks (h/t astrologer Tony Howard who reminded me of this wonderful little book in a recent webinar on Venus retrograde).
Crystals to work with: There are plenty of options, but a few that are speaking to me right now include Rose Quartz, which is a handy, easy to find crystal that supports and amplifies the vibration of love. And Okenite and Pink Calcite are both pretty easy to find and are great to support the vibration of forgiveness, if that’s part of what comes up for you. (If you’re new to crystals or looking to learn more about how to work with them, I recommend The Crystal Bible by Judy Hall.)
Key dates to work with for reflection.
To help us deepen our reflection on these themes, as with all astrological cycles, the Venus cycle helpfully offers a set of specific dates to look back on (and forward to)—with the awareness that what’s going on in our lives now in the areas of love, relationships, our values, pride, etc. are a continuation of the themes and patterns we were working with during Venus’s previous retrograde stretches.
Dates Venus is retrograde in Leo. July 22 - September 3. This entire 40-day stretch is when the portal is open—but it will be especially potent on August 13, when Venus conjoins the Sun at 20 degrees of Leo. That’s a day to be extra open to downloads, insights, or just to mark as a great day for meditation and journaling on all these Venus in Leo themes.
8-year cycle. 2023’s Venus retrograde in Leo marks the ending of an 8-year cycle that began in August 2015 (when Venus was retrograde in Leo). It also marks the beginning of a new 8-year cycle that runs September 2023 - July 2031 (when Venus retrogrades again through Leo). Key for how to approach whatever events unfold while Venus is retrograde, with awareness of this 8-year cycle, include being open to what’s coming while surrendering to what falls away.
Past Venus retrograde dates. Each Venus retrograde that took place during that 8-year cycle offers breadcrumbs for deeper reflection on our energy patterns in these areas of life. Here are the timeframes of the Venus retrogrades (and cazimis) that took place during this longer-term cycle: October 2022, January 2022, March 2021, June 2020, August 2019, October 2018, January 2018, March 2017, June 2016, August 2015. (For folks who want to go even further down the rabbit hole, here’s a full list of dates going back decades, h/t astrologer Arielle Guttman.)
Image description: a pile of tarot cards with The Lovers card on top.
Venus retrograde tarot spread.
Here are the prompts for the 5-card tarot spread that I crafted to work with this Venus retrograde in Leo energy at its highest vibration. (Why 5 cards? 5 for the 5-pointed Venus Star, and because Leo is associated with the fifth house in astrology). As always, feel free to use any/all of these as journal prompts and to skip the cards. <3
How am I doing when it comes to giving and receiving love and the people I choose to love? What relationship patterns are coming to light now that I’m feeling called to review and revisit?
How have I been developing and deepening my foundation of unconditional self-love since August 2015? What have I learned about the connection between my own self-love and the relationships in my life during this 8-year cycle?
How does pride show up in my life and in my relationships? Where am I feeling called to find a healthier or more balanced expression of pride in my life now?
What shifts am I feeling called to make when it comes to my collaborations with others, at work or elsewhere in my life?
How have my values shifted since August 2015? What am I ready to change about my outer life to align with those shifts?
NOTE: Anyone can explore these themes generally while Venus is retrograde, whether or not you know your birth chart. BUT to go deeper, if you know which house of your chart is ruled by Leo, you can target your reflection this Venus retrograde to the areas of life associated with the house ruled by Leo in your chart. (Ex: Leo is on the cusp on my 9th house, so this Venus retrograde is activating that house for me—so I’m especially reflecting on love, relationships, values, pride, etc. within the realm of 9th house topics like politics, law, astrology, belief systems, higher meaning, etc.).
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Much love to you all in this powerful Venus retrograde in Leo stretch, and feel free to holler with any questions this sparks for you!
And for folks who want to go deeper—click here to schedule a $45/45 minute Venus in Leo retrograde unpack to support you in this Venus retrograde season <3
