As you may know if you’ve been reading this blog for a while, I lost a friend in 2024 when she cut me off unexpectedly. At this time, I was in a 12th house profection year, and since the ruler of my 12th is conjunct Venus in the 12th, Venus themes, Mercury themes, and 3rd house themes were activated. I would consider the person I lost a 3rd house friend because even though we lived in different parts of the country, she was very much a part of my daily routine.
In 2024, we started a new eclipse cycle in Pisces (my 9th house) and Virgo (my 3rd house). This was also my nodal return adding extra emphasis to this particular cycle. Since my South Node is natally in my 3rd house, I have experienced a lot of loss when it comes to close personal friendships, connections with siblings and extended relatives, etc. Mars is also conjunct my North Node in Pisces in my 9th house making this point more malefic than it would otherwise be, especially since Mars is the most challenging placement in my birth chart. This cycle has meant there has been a change in connections to close personal friendships, feeling even more disconnected from siblings and extended relatives, changes to my daily routine, and 3rd house losses; it has also completely challenged my belief system and how I see other people and the world. For example, when I was younger I was very much indoctrinated into religion, forced to go to church every Sunday and Wednesday. It always felt performative to me, because I felt a connection to God (or whatever you want to call it) without going through the public displays of faith. As I got older, I stopped going to church but still considered myself “Christian.” Then I got to the point where I didn’t consider myself religious at all, seeing myself instead as more spiritual. And now, since this transit, I have a hard time connecting with any of it because I am fully aware of the harm religion has caused, and how some versions of spirituality are repackaged religion. It makes people disconnect with life here, it allows them to avoid fighting for what’s right or caring about other people, and that’s just the best case scenario. It’s also used as a justification for the oppression of and violence toward groups of people. I want nothing to do with any of that. This has caused me to pull away from a lot of people I love, because they are so proud to be religious as if that makes them good people, but it doesn’t. Even those who aren’t actually religious are now wearing that as if it’s some badge of honor because of the way things are here now, because it allows them to blend into the dominant group. It disgusts me, and I am not able, nor do I want to, do the same.
The most significant 3rd house loss I’ve experienced, other than the friend I’ve written about so much is my uncle. He went missing under an eclipse in this cycle and his remains were found a year later under another eclipse in this cycle. His death hit me much harder than expected, because it underscored some of the toxic family patterns, trauma, and systemic failures I was already becoming aware of. That on top of the fact that I was already grieving the friend I’d lost and wished I could talk to her about what I was going through, as well as that I could support her through life. Grief just compounds other grief and that’s definitely what I felt. Throughout this cycle, I wrote her a few letters. However, she actually received the final version, which I’d written 5 months earlier, on a Virgo eclipse (my 3rd house & her 3rd house too). After that, I finally felt as if I had closure, and I started letting go of her. I was very proud of the progress I made between March and the next eclipse season in August.
On August 28, there was a Pisces eclipse. I noticed it was activating major placements in this person’s chart, much more than it was activating mine. Then, a couple of days later, as Venus hit its retrograde shadow degrees, she reached out to me. I was, and still am, completely shocked. I was certain I’d never hear from her again. When I wrote her the letter, the best I thought might happen was that she would reach out and we’d have a brief exchange for some closure. However, that isn’t at all what happened. She said she wanted her best friend back while also sending me information confirming what I already knew, that she blamed me for decisions someone else made. Since then we have been texting and she said she was going to write me a letter that would make everything make more sense. So far, I have not received anything of the sort. However, she did say she just felt like we (me and my partner) were meant to be in her life in some way. Right now, I am still very confused, but I have a feeling this will be what my Venus retrograde in Scorpio is all about. Since this is my partner’s ex, this applies to him as well.
Venus retrogrades are all about looking back, revising our connection to love, connection, art, beauty, the feminine. It can bring back connections from the past, old lovers and friendships. It does not necessarily mean you’re meant to be with that person, but more that there is some unfinished business surrounding that connection which needs to be addressed. By the cazimi, how to move forward should be more clear. However, to further complicate things, there will be a Mercury retrograde beginning in the same area during the same time period
Now, I just want to give some examples of how I can already see this Venus retrograde showing up for some people I know and where it falls in their chart.
My partner, who is a Taurus rising, has Scorpio in the 7th house and my friend who has popped back up is his ex. I know another Taurus rising person who is grappling with the memory of a toxic relationship because of the actions of someone else. This person also had multiple previous partners start reaching out as soon as Venus hit its shadow degrees at the end of August. Lastly, I know a Libra rising person who reconnected with an ex as Venus moved into its shadow degrees and impulsively let that person move in with them.
As with any transit, this Venus retrograde will not affect everyone in the same way. How it will impact you depends on your chart. I can see it impacting Taurus and Libra risings the most since their chart ruler is Venus; it will also impact Scorpio risings since this will be in their 1st house, retrograding back into the 12th. This also applies to anyone who is in a Taurus or Libra profection year or month, or if they have placements between 22º of Libra and 8º of Scorpio. To a lesser degree, it may impact anyone with placements in the early degrees of fixed signs (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius) or the later degrees of cardinal signs (Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn).
When Venus is in Scorpio, she is in detriment and playing by the rules of Mars. Venus who wants love connection and beauty is in the sign of Mars who is all about cutting, severing, separation, aggression, etc. But when Venus retrogrades back into Libra, it will be in its own sign and have access to its own resources, allowing for the chance of finding balance, reconciliation, reconnection, and the tools to begin to move forward again.
Hopefully this helps make sense of the upcoming Venus retrograde in Scorpio, as well as how different Astrological cycles often feed into each other, and impact different people in different ways. As always, thanks for reading!