Venus Retrograde in Capricorn 2021

When we hear about retrogrades coming up in the stellar world, there is often a lot of trepidation. This article unpacks some of the wider context of Venus retrograde, what we can expect from this 2021 cycle in particular, and how you can work with this stellar influence in a generative way.

If you want to know more about how this retrograde will be affecting your chart and your life specifically, book a consultation here and get 10% off an astrology session with the code VENUS when you book before January 1, 2022. If you want to learn even more Venus and how to bring more of her energy into your life, be sure to get this free class!

The Planet Venus in Astrology

First things first. Before we talk about retrogrades, we need to first understand whose journey this is and what the planet represents.

In the sky, the planet Venus is very bright and stands out beautifully, like a diamond, amongst the other stars. Some ancient texts refer to Venus as the “Light Bringer” or "Lucifer" because Venus is the brightest of the planets that can be seen with the naked eye.

Venus is the archetypal representation of love, the beautiful, the artful, the valuable. Venus represents our capacity to connect and relate harmoniously, peacefully. Venus is also that which is attractive, comfortable, sensual. In ancient Greece, this archetype was called Aphrodite. In ancient Rome, she became Venus — the goddess of love and war. We find this archetype of the Great Goddess who rules over pleasure and fertility in many other cultures as well, including : Inanna (Sumeria), Ishtar (Babylon), Orisha Oshun (Yorubá), and Lakshmi or Saraswati (Vedic).

Venus is the archetypal representation of love, the beautiful, the artful, the valuable. Venus represents our capacity to connect and relate harmoniously, peacefully.

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Venus in your Birth Chart

So we've talked about Venus in general, but what about Venus as the planet specifically relates to you and your natal chart?

In the birth chart, Venus can represent many things, including :

• relationships

• how we attract what we find valuable

• what we are attracted to + what we find beautiful

• how we interact or relate to pleasure

• artistic + aesthetic expression

• the erotic — whether that expresses via sexuality or other creative endeavors

Venus also rules over the signs of Libra and Taurus, so she is also in charge of those topics in your life. Click here to read more on the houses and what they represent in your chart.

The Venus Retrograde

Venus retrograde cycles, like the planetary archetype herself, recur in an orderly and geometrical fashion. Her patterns of retrograde and conjunctions with the Sun even create regular, symmetrical, pentagram shapes in the sky. Venus only gets up to 48 degrees away from the Sun, at which point she turns "retrograde." Venus retrogrades occur every 584 days, approximately every year and a half.

While we now know the planets don't actually move backwards when they go retrograde, they do appear to move backwards from our perspective on planet Earth. Therefore, the qualities + values that this planet represents — both in general + in your chart — tend to change directions, require review or redoing or reunion. Venus topics may reverse, slow down or come to a screeching halt.

Underworld Cycles + Myth

the myth of Inanna

What does it mean when the planet that represents our relationships, pleasures and diplomatic capacity goes retrograde?

The Venus retrograde lasts for 40 days and 40 nights, an epic length of time that we find in myths like the Great Flood of Noah or Inanna's descent into the Underworld.

In Sumerian myth, Inanna is the Queen of Heaven, both Lady of the Morning and Lady of the Evening. Likewise, Venus also appears in the sky in the morning and the evening, depending on where she is in her cycle. Venus retrograde cycles have long been linked to the myth of this Sumerian goddess and her journey into the underworld.

"From the Great Above she opened her eat to the Great Below ...

Inanna abandoned heaven and earth to descent to the underworld."

— translation by Wolkstein + Kramer

But to enter the underworld, she must give up her earthly powers. As she descends through each of the 7 gates, she is stripped of her talismans and identities that grant her strength, power and desirability in the above-world.

In this myth, the underworld journey is a feminine journey — one where we encounter the stripped core of who we are, the shadowy and neglected sides, the alternatives to the more "light" and "bright" versions of self.

Other Underworld Journeys

Mystically, underworld cycles and rituals often contain a "rebirth" experience. When the journeyer returns, they emerge anew. In many traditional societies and stories, not everyone is "called" to the underworld. But those who are, and who re-emerge, carry with them a special knowledge and power that they bring back in service to their cultures and the world. In modern times, we may call these seasons of life "dark nights of the soul."

In the story of "Skeleton Woman" in Women Who Run with the Wolves, the house of Love is what initiates us into the Life/Death/Life cycle. Love is what takes us down into death and back into life again. These doors to the underworld are one of the gateways to meeting and embodying "wild self."

“The doors to the world of the wild Self are few but precious. If you have a deep scar, that is a door, if you have an old, old story, that is a door. If you love the sky and the water so much you almost cannot bear it, that is a door. If you yearn for a deeper life, a full life, a sane life, that is a door.” — Clarissa Pinkola-Estés

In the myth of Eros + Psyche, Psyche is punished with wanting to know, wanting to “see” her beloved. One of her quests given to her by Aphrodite was to descend into the Underworld. In this lesson, the Underworld is required in order to "see."

Venus Retrograde in Capricorn 2021

In 2021, Venus first entered Capricorn on November 5. Because Venus is also undergoing retrograde in this sign, Venus will be in Capricorn for a long time — until March 7, 2022! Venus will station retrograde on December 19, 2021 and will station direct again on January 29, 2022.

Venus in Capricorn is staying in Saturn's Airbnb. It's sort of like trying to take a warm bubble bath with flowers and champagne, but the water is cold, only cold. In Capricorn, there is confinement and mountainous terrain, adding obstacles and cliff hangers to our Venusian journeys. While the past couple years have been immensely Saturnian, Venus staying in Saturn’s sign for such a long time feels like our relationships, our pleasures and spending will be heavily boundaried and perhaps more removed, distant, uncomfortable, accomplishment driven. Relating may ask our commitments, responsibilities, duties, our long-term lenses and the construction of sure-footed structures.

Venus in Capricorn may bring more formality, more traditional undertakings and bring a more serious tone. Creative commitments will also take on more of the Saturnian personality — bringing more black, retrospectives, looking back, rules and melancholy.

Another unique characteristic of this particular retrograde cycle is that Pluto is also in the sign of Capricorn right now. In fact, when Venus stations retrograde she will do so conjoining Pluto (occupying the same degree of the same sign). In other words, they will be close... very close. This means that Pluto's characteristics and influence will very much inform this retrograde cycle.

So what is Pluto bringing to this party? Pluto was the Roman god of the Underworld. While, Venus retrogrades cycles already have an Underworld quality to them, Pluto is intensifying this more shadowy, cavernous aspect. Pluto can add intensity in general, or even an obsessive quality to Venus. Sometimes that manifests in behaviors that look like stalking or an inability to just "let that shit go." The topics or interactions coming up in relationships (whether interpersonally or societally) may have a higher volume, more power play and more "dirt" involved. It may also look like some of our relational secrets, desires or shadows coming up to the surface (or asking to be buried).

What the Venus Retrograde 2021 Means for You

Needless to say, Venus will be spending A LOT of time in the Capricorn area of our life reviewing, re-evaluating, and going back over topics and lessons that we will need to move forward. Do you know what area of your life lives in the sign of Capricorn? Be sure to read this article and get the free graph to find out what topics in life Venus will be treading over.

How to Work with Venus Retrograde

So what do we do when Venus is in retrograde? Well, as mentioned above, we can expect some challenges or obstacles when it comes to relating and getting along with one another. But, I always like to remind my clients:

Just because something is challenging, doesn't mean it (necessarily) has a negative outcome.

Often, we find ourselves stronger, even more connected and more in love once we have weathered a storm or challenge together. So how can we work mindfully with this Venus retrograde? Here are my top 3 recommendations. You can use these as questions for reflection, divination or journaling.

1. Take stock of your relationships, including family, friends, colleagues, partners.

   Who are the people who you are in relationship with? What are the expectations and boundaries that exist between them? Are they reciprocal? Do they bring pleasure? Are they healthy? Are you contributing in a harmonious, beautiful way to one another's life? Are there any relationships that need new expectations or reunions? Are there any connections that have run their course or come to completion?

2. Evaluate your relationship to pleasure + beauty.

   Are you someone who consistently delays pleasure or joy? In your daily life, how can you actively incorporate practices or objects that make you feel good, beautiful? How can you incorporate the beautiful, the pleasurable as medicine for what could be a more dry time? One of my favorite mantras for this that I always give clients is —

   What can I do, with what I have, that feels good?

3. Slow down.

   In our contemporary capitalist culture, when things start to feel "slow", the initial impulse is to speed it up. But what if you work with the slowness? What can we see or understand differently when we move at a slower pace? What if we weren't trying to push somewhere or get somewhere else? What is the value of being here right now? What we learn right now is what we will need for the future. Appreciate the beauty of this moment.

Book Recommendations for Venus Retrograde

Dark Nights of the Soul by Thomas Moore

Women Who Run with the Wolves by Dr Clarissa Pinkola-Estes

Underland by Robert Macfarlane

Inanna : Queen of Heaven and Earth, Diane Wolkstein + Samuel Noah Kramer

learn more about Venus + Venus Retrograde

For more tips + practices for working with Venus, check out this free video class all about the planet Venus and how to invite more of this energy into your life.

If you want to know more about how this retrograde will be affecting your chart and your life specifically, book a consultation here and get 10% off an astrology session with the code VENUS when you book before January 1, 2022.