Venus, the planet of love and value, is in retrograde for 40 days and during this time it is essential to be aware of how seductive and tempting the darker side of Venus can be.

Venus is believed to be both the goddess of love and the goddess of war.

The first few days of Venus’ phase can be a particularly dangerous time as people are far more passionate than normal and can rush headfirst into love affairs without properly first thinking them through. Whilst Venus is in retrograde it is advisable to heed with caution before getting too deep into any affair where love is concerned, or any other area of our lives where we feel passionate.

During Venus retrograde many lessons will be brought to alert us to the truth behind either current relationships, or those that may be floating in the air or hanging heavy on our minds. Any troubles, problems or difficulties with relationships of all kinds will possibly be brought to the test to see if they are worthy or to check if we are seeing the full and realistic picture. Basically, we will find it very difficult to keep turning a blind eye to certain issues. We will be forced to take a look further and see things for what they really are.

Although we may find out who our true friends or lovers are and who are not, Venus retrograde is not a time for taking action. It is a time for contemplation and reflection as we must also remember that no one is perfect and so it is vital that everything is weighed up before any sort of decisions are made. Sometimes, we do not need to discard someone from our lives just because we have found out certain things that change our perspective. Instead we can shift our priorities away from particular friendships or relationships and keep those we cannot trust at a safe arms-length or even learn a great deal about the expectations we often place on people.

For old relationships, Venus retrograde is a time whereby our eyes will feel fully open and our awareness heightened so that we have to be honest with ourselves instead of living under illusions. Any troubles, difficulties or differences will be laid out on the table so we have the opportunity to view what is in front of us and then to try to understand what has been causing the problems.

Whilst Venus retrograde is a time to reflect on the relationships we have currently around us, this will only be the case for those that were formed before the retrograde began.

Once Venus has begun to retrograde any new relationships that begins from this point forward will not deliver the same opportunity for reflection. This is why it is imperative that we are cautious as to whom we choose to connect with during this time. This is because our perspective will alter significantly during this period, so we will not have had a chance to gather enough information about those we have only recently engaged with. We are likely to jump to conclusions, misread signals and make wrong presumptions as our perception will be distorted and unbalanced.

The Venus retrograde period is the perfect time for reconciliations as we are in a phase of reflection, which can also make us feel a little disappointed that certain friendships or relationships have bitten the dust. We may either find that past lovers or old friends reappear, or it could be that it is us that are tempted to contact those with whom we have parted ways. Even if no communication takes place, we may find it a good time to get our head straight and accept once and for all why particular relationships did or didn’t work out.

Rather than Venus retrograde being a means to resurrect old relationships, it can be a powerful tool for self-reflection. By looking to the past and working out what exactly failed miserably or passed us by, and why it did so, we can look at the stage of our lives we were in at the time those relationships were offered to us. We often attract people and relationships who are a reflection of how we feel on the inside, therefore, we can look deeper and see what relationships dug at our self-worth and self-value and why we either attracted or repelled them.

Our relationships continuously offer us lessons, if we are brave enough to take a look at them and recognise them. As we all too often hear, lessons will be repeated time and again until we finally come face-to-face with them and accept what it is they are showing us. The Venus retrograde is an emotional time both for love and for dragging up what may have felt as war, however, we can use the period to forgive, accept and love ourselves a little more by understanding that everything that we have allowed in our lives has been there for a reason.

We can only truly attract genuine love, care and affection when we fully offer those things to ourselves. Our hearts and souls will be opened out during this Venus retrograde, it is up to us what we choose to let out and just as importantly, what we choose to let in. It is a transformational period and when we finally release all lingering emotions and instead focus on creating vibrant new ones, we can stop repeating similar patterns and behaviours that have been haunting us for far too long.

It can be a painful period, but a very worthy one if we are brave and find the courage to hold up a mirror and look at the person that has caused ourselves emotional carnage. Waking up to this and reliving the hurtful memories is not always easy, but it is essential so that we can renew, refresh and make way for a new level of love and happiness.

The relationships that we leave by the wayside after Venus has retrograded will have been left behind for good reason as we finally have a heightened sense of clarity regarding the people around us, but more importantly, we will have learned to value, accept and cherish ourselves.

Venus only retrogrades once every 18 months, so we should make the most of the opportunity to dive in soul deep, sweep away old cobwebs and create space so we can rise like a phoenix out of the charred ashes of past versions of ourselves as we fly from old flames up into the light where new adventures can begin.

Relephant Read:

The Benefits of Being Present in Relationships.

~

Author: Alex Myles

Editor: Travis May

Image: Flickr/katmary