Venus who?
Closest planet to Earth, Venus is the brightest planet in the sky (while Sirius is the brightest star). Now you can see her in the western evening sky, she reached her brightest stage on Dec 6th. From the onset of 2014 it will be harder to see her as she goes to the underworld Jan 1-16 (Capricorn's tarot card is the Devil after all) but fear not, she will reappear in the eastern sky as the morning star from Jan 17 to September 2014. Mythologically speaking, these two phases of Venus as morning star and as evening star has different manifestation and orientations. As the morning star, rising during the bloody dawn of Aries, Venus is associated with blood and war, a wrathful goddess of revenge. The ancient Greek called her: Venus Lucifer. As the evening star, Venus Hesperus (setting in west), she is seen during the magic hour of Libra sunset, and thus is associated with love and romance . Until Jan 1st Venus will be more compassionate (good news for Christmas and New Year's celebrations). From Jan 17th...well, with Mars retrograde in March-May, we might have some blood on our hands as well as some warmongering.
What are the areas of life governed by Venus?
Venus, in astrology, is associated with beauty, art, luxury, design, relationships and partnership, finance, values, self-esteem, justice, lawyers, diplomacy, agreements, pleasure and sensuality. All these aspects will feel out-of-whack between Dec 21-Jan 31. Below you will see some suggestions of how to deal with Venus retro.
What happens during Retrograde?
When a planet retrogrades it appears to be moving backward in the heavens from the viewpoint of an earthling looking at the skies. Obviously, it is not really going back but because of the difference in the orbiting speed between earth and Venus, it looks like she will be driving in reverse (see diagram below). During Venus retrograde you might reconnect with lovers/relationships/partners from past lifetimes or your past in this lifetime. Check out your new "Friend Requests" on facebook during the retro period and see who Venus brings back into your life. On a personal level, it might be harder to show affections or to perceive them even if your partner is being affectionate.
Money might be held back, contracts going back and forth, people underestimating your talents and general miserableness, the kind that is only slightly elevated by having something sweet. Arguments abound relating to money and finance as well as values. People tend to breakup for no or little reason and then come back together (lawyers love it, great for their business).
What to do?
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Perreault Magazine / January, 2014 49
>see p. 50