Venus, the planet of beauty and love, is in retrograde motion for approximately 40 days every one and a half year. This means that less than 10% of the population have the planet retrograde in their natal chart. A retrograde natal planet means that its energies are turned inwards, at least for the beginning of the native’s life.
Any planet being retrograde during the native’s birth indicates that the planet and the things it rules in his life are strongly connected with previous lives through karma. As Venus is the planet responsible for the person’s feelings of affection, such a natal condition makes him radiate its energies towards the inner world of the native, instead of manifesting in the material reality. Thus, this can create problematic situations; the person finds difficulty in expressing love towards others. He will frequently reconsider before releasing his emotions for another person. This pattern can lead to repressing feelings and keep them buried inside for a long time.
Of course, this can be utterly unhealthy; when love is not externalized, it can manifest as an emotional cancer. When all these positive feelings are obstructed from flowing, they can even have psycho-somatic effects on the native’s body. In addition, when they reach a critical point and overflow, their expression can be explosive. This is not bad by itself, yet they can be directed towards the first random person that appears in the native’s love life. And of course, nobody can guarantee that this would be the right person to direct such feelings. On a personal level, the native may feel like exiting from a prison and not caring where he is heading to. On the other hand, this can lead to wrong choices concerning the person’s love life.
Having Venus retrograde is probably the most difficult natal placements, as it directly affects self-esteem. The native has a lack of self-confidence and is easily hurt. He may not feel beautiful – even if he is. Any comment that is not positive about his appearance or behavior is received with quite a lot of sadness and pain. The person tends to take such comments as proof of being ugly or undesired. In addition, the lack of positive comments will be frequently considered as silent proof of not being desired. Such people depend too much on what other people express. This is an antidote for their own lack of expressing love towards themselves.
These behaviors can be connected with a fear of rejection and can be deeply rooted in the native’s childhood and teenage years. People with a retrograde Venus may have felt rejection from their crush in school, humiliated for their appearance or elsehow ridiculed for their feelings. Venus retrograde natives usually are rather shy to admit their affection to the person they desire, and probably experienced failures while doing that. The emotional pain they experienced creates a wall, which is preventing them from trying again in similar situations.
As Venus is the natural ruler of the 2nd and the 7th house, the retrograde motion of the planet may affect the native’s approach to matters of these houses too. He may have delays and obstructions in creating his own fortune or getting married. The absence of self-consciousness can impact in making him a late bloomer. In addition, he will frequently save money for the “rainy days” and be rather secretive about his income and belongings. Also, he usually judges himself depending on how much money he has. There can be fears concerning material stability, while also possible repulsion towards marriage.
A Venus retrograde person has karmic debts concerning love from previous lifetimes. They can have experienced traumatic events concerning affection, which lead them to be quite careful in their approach during this lifetime. The quest to reach healthy ways of experiencing the virtues of love will be their most important life lesson. They will have to break down their internal walls and open up to give and receive love, even if this means risking getting hurt again.
In some occasions, money and belongings become the tool that a Venus retrograde person will use for drawing other people towards him. His insecurity may make him feel unwanted for what he is, so he instead considers attracting people for what he has to offer. In such circumstances, the native will frequently make gifts, pay for the other person and generally try to buy the other’s affection. Of course, this can be even risky for attracting people that hunt for money and benefits, tending to manipulate others for their own purposes.
Most people have more than one planet retrograde in their natal chart, and it is rather difficult to find a person that has all his natal planets direct. Therefore, we should understand that the karmic connection to previous lives is a rule affecting most of the population, and should be regarded as a tool to understand ourselves.
A remedy for helping Venus function in a better way is getting involved with anything that promotes art and beauty. If you have this natal aspect and your Venus is underdeveloped, try starting an artistic hobby. It does not matter if you are talented or not, just let the planet bloom through your activities. Painting, dancing, and singing can be great tools, even for empowering your self-consciousness. In addition, it is very important to take more care about your body and appearance, as the results will directly manifest. Offer to your body everything it needs to feel more desired. After all, the biggest problem that retrograde Venus can bring, is that you do not like your own self as much as you should. When you empower Venus and start liking yourself, you will radiate this towards the world too. And the world will start treating you differently.
Of course, the Venus retrograde gives a lot of different traits depending on the house where it is located. Even though there is no general rule of when a retrograde planet starts to function properly, expect that by your thirties you will notice the planet to operate outwards too. Different astrological systems suggest various ways of calculating the change of a planet’s direction through progressions.