Venus in Capricorn & Aquarius (Nov 5, 2021 - April 4th, 2022): Through Hell & Back
Are you feeling it now, Mr. Krabs?
Yeah, Venus is almost retrograde, still conjunct Pluto for now. On top of tough astro weather as of recently, this is a difficult one to get through. Lots have been said about this upcoming retrograde, as it is not that common of an occurrence (at least compared to Mercury retrogrades), as we get one every 18 months on average. This one has the added benefit of going retrograde one degree away from Pluto, bringing us the heaviness of the Lord of the Dead.
What I’m interested in here is the longer story of Venus’ journey through Saturn-ruled signs, and her co-presence with malefic planets. Rulership? Malefics? What? Let me explain.
In astrology, to get more details about what a planet is up to, we look at its “lord”, meaning the planet that rules the sign it’s in. For example, someone with a Gemini moon has Mercury as the lord of their moon, because Mercury rules the sign of Gemini. The lord of a planet has the final word on it and dictates a lot of its action.
So in order to understand Venus’ journey, we have to understand her lord and what he’s up to. From November 5th to April 4th, Venus will be in Capricorn and will then move into Aquarius — these are both signs ruled by Saturn, the planet of restrictions, time, boundaries and destiny. Additionally, Saturn is known as one of the two malefic planets (with Mars) because it is excessively cold & dry, bringing in challenges that come with extreme influences (while the benefics, Venus and Jupiter, are moderate in influence). Yeah, fun stuff. We have a very interesting narrative unfolding with Venus through these signs, though. Let me tell you this story, and what it could mean for you.
Venus in the sign of Capricorn isn’t having the best time, especially in the later degrees. Different reasons to that: numero uno, she’s averse to her lord Saturn. This means that because they’re in two signs that are right next to each other, they don’t form aspects and therefore can’t “see” each other. Think of being in someone’s house, but not being able to reach that person — it’s not really a place where you feel at ease, you don’t know how anything works, and you’re obligated to abide by the rules of this person, but you can’t communicate or ask anything at all. That’s stressful… Especially if you’re in a difficult position. That’ll be the case for Venus as she goes retrograde. The most difficult part of a retrograde isn’t necessarily the “moving backwards” part, as this can be necessary and gratifying as you’re fixing or reviewing past issues that cause problems in the present, but rather the “standing still” part.
You see, in order to start moving backwards, a planet needs to slow down to the point of quasi-stillness (like making a U-turn in a particularly tricky turn). These points are critical and often feel draining or frustrating because we’re literally not moving. So making this delicate manoeuver while you can’t receive any support from the person in charge (Saturn) is… challenging, at best. Buckle up cause that’s where we’re at!
Additionally, Pluto brings in that ~ extra ~ heaviness and charged, somber energy. I like to think of Pluto as mud. Mud isn’t pretty, it’s very difficult to move through it and it just takes up so much energy to get out of it that you end up forgetting about all the rest. That’s where its obsessive energy may come from, too. So Venus going retrograde super close to Pluto — she’s fighting for her life there. Obsessions and “muddy” energy may come back, in the form of guilt from past pleasures or relationships, seemingly unjustified focus on old loves… Or plain old “muddy” fatigue. Things that usually feel easy and nice might be temporarily overshadowed by past regrets or heavy nostalgia. That’s normal and okay, it’s part of the process. (That’s between Dec 10-28).
Buuuut… that’s not the whole story, and it doesn’t stop there. Far from that.
As Venus picks up a little bit of speed and makes her way back to the earlier degrees of Capricorn (where she will get some resources and minor strength in her own bound between Jan 3-17), we get a new development on January 24. Comes in a new (literal) player: Mars!
He’s hot, he’s a mess, he’s a hot mess. And you’re gonna hear from these two, because at that point Venus is days away from stationing direct! (Meaning she stops moving backwards and moves in the right direction again). Basically, that’s a hot duo for several reasons:
In that situation, Mars is exalted, meaning he’s very comfortable and has lots of resources to do optimum Mars stuff. In Capricorn, he’s cooled down, controlled, and strategic. He’s also in a superior position to Venus (because he’s earlier in zodiacal order). So we have an interesting situation here where the nocturnal malefic (Mars) is coming to join the nocturnal benefic (Venus) as she moves direct, although still slow. To me, this combination is super action oriented, but also very strategic. As all things Venusian have been carefully pondered & reflected on, there’s certainly been a halt to things. This is even more true as Mercury will also be retrograde during that period, conjunct Pluto too! Obsessing over details, going on over and over again about the same things. That’s not very good for action, and it can almost lead to a sort of melancholy, an unhealthy nostalgia over the past that doesn’t do anything but make us sink deeper and deeper into the mud of the past.
Don’t get me wrong: these periods are necessary. As we have been going through two extremely difficult years and a lot of grieving has yet to be done while the rich & powerful remain unmoved by contestations and rightful sorrow & anger, Venus & Mercury retrograding over Pluto reflect just that. An important time for reflection, for stillness and making room for the unspeakable pain of grief.
As powerful, tactical and strong Mars moves towards a freshly direct Venus, we finally feel empowered to take action from this grief. Venus’ station at 11° Capricorn, in a tight, almost exact trine to Uranus at 10° Taurus brings action in an unexpected yet powerful way. There could be manifestations of violence, unexpected yet calculated moves towards a strong move for power.
Through their transit in the sign of Capricorn, the charged exchange between Mars & Venus speaks of power negotiations. Implicit or forceful, old ways or visionary tactics, this discussion shakes up a lot of things and brings in different perspectives of strength. This is especially true as they will both rule the newly ingress Nodes on the Taurus/Scorpio axis, therefore ruling future eclipses.
In your personal life, this could speak to how you articulate your response to past pain. What influence does it have over your life? Our painful experiences shape how we approach and react to the world around us, and the lessons Mars & Venus bring is that we have the power to better articulate the type of power past knowledge brings. With Uranus thrown in the mix, it necessarily breaks from past patterns. This comes to a height in early March, as Venus, Mars and Pluto conjoin.
That’s very much Angelina-&-Billy-Bob-wearing-each-other’s-blood-in-a-vial-&-practically-fucking-in-front-of-the-cameras type of energy. The mesmerising, soul-consuming horniness is REAL. So yeah be careful around this energy because that’s some charged shit.
And it happens right before these two move into Aquarius. With Saturn there. Mother, we reunite at last! It’s not all fun and games for Venus there either because she’s makes her last conjunction to Mars in Aquarius before definitely taking her distances… And moving towards Saturn. That’s a tense position because Venus will be “enclosed” for some time there, meaning that she will be sandwiched by the two malefics. So even though she does get along with Saturn because he “receives” her in his own sign… It still kinda sucks! In fixed air sign Aquarius, Venus is forced to be pragmatic again (the planet of pleasure, harmony and nice things… Being pragmatic? I thought we were done with this!). And she’s moving between an excessively hot planet (Mars) and an excessively cold one (Saturn)… She’s also away from the rest of the gang (Jupiter who’s having a ridiculously good time in Pisces, the Sun and Mercury too…), and she has to negotiate between these two extremes…
I think that this period in March is likely to bring out the beginning of an extreme period. Although Venus is playing negotiator… That’s still not a fun time, and we may be more focus on calling things down and dealing with restrictive environments again instead of enjoying ourselves. This will last a while, until…
April 5th. Fuck. Okay. She’s done and she’s OUT. On April 5th, Venus moves into Pisces, the sign of her exaltation. Her new ruler, Jupiter, is the total opposite of the previous one. Not only is she a guest of honour in Pisces, but the new ruler is this super cool guy who says yes to everything. Whatever we’re feeling, we’re FEELING it baby.
The benefits usually have a cooling influence, but this particular configuration makes me think of letting it all out. Like a window of opportunity to finally let loose. It could be finally processing grief, feeling all the shit out, dancing, laughing, fucking, crying, loving, whatever. And that’s where I’d like to leave it, because even that’s not the end of the story, but that feels like a nice end to this chapter, at least. The malefic will get to do their own thing in the sign of Aquarius and that could potentially cause a lot of trouble. Mars will move into Pisces and be moderated by the benefics’ influence, and that’s such an interesting story in and of itself that I prefer to leave it to another time.
The moral of our story? I don’t think there’s one, but that we’ll focus on morale (see what I did there?)
Venus is about compromise, but it’s also about our breaking points. We’re able to put an end to harmful scenarios not only when we have the courage to say “enough”, but also and most importantly when we have the resources to do so. The dance of Venus in the upcoming months is one of grief, it’s one of being able to face the hurt and trauma of the past, without having answers or solutions — simply space to hold them. And then letting life power us forward.
As we move through these hard yet precious times, I wish you the courage of your convictions. And obviously, all the sweetness you will need.
With all my Martial love,
Héloïse