Since Venus is about to go retrograde in a little over a week, today we’ll discuss Venus cycles.

Venus has an interesting set of cycles, since it repeats its retrograde and direct pattern every 8 years. Wherever Venus goes retrograde in our charts is approximately the same place in the same signs as it was 8 years ago, 16 years ago, and 24 years ago. This helps us understand “past as prologue,” and allows us to understand how parts of our current life relate to the distant past.

All retrogrades represent periods of reflection, returns, regression, and looking inward. When Mercury is retrograde, we look back via the mind. When Venus is retrograde, we get a look back, or a look at subconscious factors related to our likes, vanities, and values. And as all retrogrades bring things from the past up for re-evaluation, they’re usually times when past, present, and future overlap to some degree.

What Is Venus Retrograde, and How Does it Affect Us?

Like Mercury RX, Venus RX takes us on a journey back. Not merely back to the beginning of the shadow span of the current retrograde, but literally “back” to previous Venus retrograde periods. The signs show us the specific focus of those Venus retrogrades, and link our Venus response in the life areas represented by the houses with repositioning ourselves in the present which will have an echo 8 years into the future. The house(s) Venus retrogrades in indicate the life areas where we’re “going back,” “going within,” reviewing and reflecting as per Venus’ glyph, the hand mirror.

A Venus retrograde period gives us a look through the mirror at the recent past, the distant past, and maybe even “through the past darkly,” so we may remember our difficult Venusian experiences in the past and see how they shaped our responses so we may heal those wounds. A Venus retrograde gives us a new angle on our likes, affections, values, and anything in the subconscious mind which could seduce us into illusions or false values.

As I wrote in Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend,

Venus’ duality is Wisdom/Folly. This is the aspect of consciousness describing our subconscious response to self-consciousness, affecting our "mental offspring." By our Venus function we live our vanities, selfishness, or narcissistic ways of relating, so we may come to know how to capture more beautiful forms of an inner picture of a higher, refined, elegant life and relationships in the perfect ways, places, and times.

All of these things can be seen from a different angle when Venus is retrograde. We can see how our subconscious mind works when liking or not liking someone or something, and allows us to form a new view of how to express the value of the sign in which it’s retrograde.

While Venus direct in a sign and house gives us an experience of the value or perspective of that sign and house, when it’s retrograde it throws the ongoing transiting experience of our Venusian filters into reverse in the house it is transiting, and also gives us a “look back” at the affairs of the houses with Taurus and Libra on the cusp. If we have a planet in Taurus or Libra, we get an inward turned look at that planetary function and how it was shaped in the past. That gives us an objective angle to correct that planetary function.

So if we have Sun in Taurus or Libra, a Venus retrograde will give us a look back at how our light has expressed itself in various ways throughout our lives. If we have a Moon in Taurus or Libra, the RX will give us a look back on old habits and ways of feeling and experiencing our lives.

The last Venus retrograde was in Leo in July-August 2023, so the review, reflections, and returns happened with a Leo filter. The retrograde before that in Dec 2021/Jan 2022 happened in Capricorn, so the review and reflections were through that sign energy. The coming retrograde in March-April 2025 will happen between 11 Aries and 25 Pisces, showing the reflections and review will be through those sign energies. The RX after the one coming soon is in October-November 2026 and will happen between 9 Scorpio and 23 Libra.

Venus Retrograde Cycles Through the Years

Venus was retrograde in Oct/Nov 2002, moving from 16 Scorpio back to 1 Scorpio. That was paralleled in Oct/Nov 2010, when Venus retrograded from 14 Scorpio back to 28 Libra. That sequence was echoed in Oct/Nov 2018 when the retrograde span was between 11 Scorpio and 26 Libra.

After the 2002 retrograde, the next one in May/Jun 2004 was from 27 Gemini back to 10 Gemini. That was paralleled in May/Jun 2012 when Venus retrograded from 24 Gemini back to 8 Gemini. It is this sequence which was echoed in May/June 2020 between 22 and 6 Gemini.

Venus was retrograde in Dec 2005/Jan 2006 between 2 Aquarius and 17 Capricorn. The next RX in the cycle was Dec 2013/Jan 2014, when Venus retrograded between 29 Capricorn and 14 Capricorn. The next in the sequence was the 2022 retrograde mentioned earlier, moving from 27 Capricorn to 12 Capricorn.

The Jul/Aug 2007 Venus RX occurred between 3 Virgo and 17 Leo. That was echoed between late July and early September 2015 when Venus moved from 1 Virgo back to 15 Leo. The RX in 2023 was part of this series, which moved entirely into Leo.

The final span we’ll discuss today was when Venus went retrograde in Mar/Apr 2009 between 16 Aries and 30 Pisces. That one before that in this series was the Mar/Apr 2001 Venus RX between 18 and 2 Aries, and was echoed in Mar/April 2017 when Venus was RX between 14 Aries and 27 Pisces.

This will be activated in the 2025 retrograde period which begins with Venus at 11 Aries and will retrograde back to 25 Pisces. So this March and April will give us a review of what we’ve learned about our Venus expression relative to where we were at in March-April 2017, as well as the same months in 2009.

By noting the retrograde Venus function in the various houses in our charts where these retrograde happened, we can get a better sense of how we have evolved in those areas, using 8 year “steps” to see our evolving Venusian awareness in our lives. Have fun reflecting on these “action beats” in various parts of your life, and especially whatever Venusian insights, rehearsals, reflections, and revelations happened in the Spring of 2009 and the Spring of 2017.

The Magic of Venus Retrograde

Venus direct and retrograde in Aries and Pisces promises us 4 months of learning to like all things related to these signs! This will bring beauty or something of value to wherever we have late Pisces and early Aries in our charts, and people with significant late Pisces and early Aries planets or points will love the fire or water they’re feeling in their interactions.

You can find out a lot more about Venus retrograde cycles and how Venus retrograde manifests by getting your copy of The Magic of Venus: Friendships, Soul Mates, and Twin Flames. It is the most comprehensive book on Venus ever written, and offers a multi-faceted view of why we attract the people we do, as well as how to re-shape our inner Venus to create more satisfying relationships in the future.

This work is an in-depth examination of the psychological dimension of Venus, the spiritual dimension of Venus, and the astrological dimension of Venus. It offers practical techniques for changing your image of what you want to attract your heart’s desire, and how to make your relationships more fulfilling because you are living a Soul-ful life. You’ll find out about why you like or don’t like people and things, why you’ve attracted who you have in the past and present, and how to make those attractions more aligned with your Soul purpose in the future. A major theme weaving the various dimensions together is understanding why Soul Mates come into our lives, and how to know the difference between a Soul Mate and our Twin Flame.

It has chapters on the qualities of each sign’s natural mate, the qualities of Venus in each sign, Venus retrograde, and when crucial choices and changes are made, affecting who we attract in the future. It was written for both astrologers and lay people, and as it has a thousand gems for better relationships, with self, others, and Source, please consider getting your copy by going to the link above! (And when you’re done, please leave a review on Amazon, since it helps the book and all other books on astrology as well!)

Reprinted on crystalwind.ca with written permission from Robert Wilkinson. Copying this article to other blogs is strictly prohibited. It is copyright protected. 

© Copyright 2025 Robert Wilkinson

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