Venus Goes Retrograde On July 23rd, 2023

Venus transits into its retrograde phase until September 3rd, allowing us to review where we’re settling for less concerning love and finances.

Venus in LeoPhoto byImage by author

“When we know our worthiness, we set high standards for ourselves.”

As we exit the pre-shadow, we shift into the retrograde motion of Venus in Leo. So, now we will cover important ground regarding this planet and the zodiac placement combination.

For this reason, we will look back at scenarios occurring since June 18th concerning romantic scenarios and financial issues that need our attention. This celestial body rules over our finances, self-worth, values, worth, interests, social interactions, love life, self-adornment, fairness, sensory, reciprocity, and the things we attract energetically.

As a result, we must reexamine and address the imbalances in these spheres of life.

Since this is combined with Leo, we will review the ability to step forward concerning leisurely pursuits, casual dating, revisit skills we put on hold, repressed creativity, and inner child work. Also, it's a phase to get honest with ourselves and raise our standards regarding love plus finances.

And we will work to improve problematic behavior such as pomposity, overly dramatic conduct, thinking we're too good for something, the need for approval, and the dangers of self-aggrandizing behavior on the lower vibrations of this energy.

The fixed modalities, Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius, between 10 and 29 degrees of these zodiac placements, will be the signs most impacted by this retrograde cycle.

Don't forget to check out the Venus retrograde horoscope for your zodiac sign.

Venus's Retrograde Motion

From an astrological perspective, Venus is the planet that shows what we enjoy in our natal charts and transits. So, if you're looking for a good time, call on this planet for a dose of fun! This celestial body also demonstrates what we value, what pleases us, and how we perceive the world.

Venus only experiences retrograde motion about 8% of the time, giving us about 18 months, so it’s not as frequent as Mercury or the synodic cycles of the outer planets. Mars is the only other heavenly body with a rare regressive process, only going into its backward motion 7% of the time every 2 years.

What this means is when Venus enters its inverse phase, it has a jarring effect.⁠ ⁠This is because the more infrequent an alignment, the more crucial it is along with the transit’s potency level. On top of that, the regressive cycle of this heavenly body is longer than Mercury's, taking approximately 40 days and nights in reverse motions.

Venus RX helps us take off our rose-gold-colored glasses concerning love and money, which causes us to see unappealing things that need attending to for the betterment of us.

Because of this, when it switches to retro mode, it's like seeing life without a Snapchat or Instagram filter; our flaws, as well as others, stand out more.⁠ Under this influence, we see the unpleasant truth about our love lives and financial situations, realizing that things weren't as wonderful as they seemed.

Venus Retrograde in Leo Reflective Questions

Venus Retrograde CahrtPhoto bySirius Software

On June 18th, 2023, Venus entered its pre-retrograde shadow, so consider what was happening in your life concerning Leo themes.

What was occurring surrounding your love life, finances, self-esteem, values, and sense of self-worth?

Venus RX In Leo Vibes:

• Have you examined your standards concerning your love life?
• Has this been a period of seeing why you’re worthy of more than the bare minimum in romance?
• Realizing you need more passion and intimacy in your romantic scenarios?
• Ready to walk away from relationships that bring nothing but drama?
• Learning why you must be selective with who you are loyal to?
• Understanding that you require someone who gives you the attention you are worthy of?
• At a point where you see you deserve to shine?
• Seeing why it's time to weed out untrustworthy types in all your close unions?
• Understanding the reasons you need to put yourself out there regarding love instead of sitting on the sidelines?
• Wanting to become more magnetic in terms of attraction?
• Are you seeing the importance of allowing your talents to shine through?
• Learning to accept attention from those who are interested in you?
• Seeing why it’s crucial to put yourself first for a change?
• Feeling like it’s time to work through what’s blocking your ability to create?
• Or at a point where you’re coming back to old artsy projects?
• Recognizing you need to be more expressive?
• Working on your relationship with money?
• At the point where you want to work on lavish spending?
• On the flip side, seeing why it’s okay to want nice things in life?
• Become aware that your ego needs a tweak.
• Understanding the importance of expressing yourself?
• Realizing you need to take credit for the fantastic work you’re doing?
• Acknowledging that it's time for you to take up space in the world just like everyone else?
• Have you gradually developed the courage to display your extraordinary talents to the public?
• Learning that it's necessary to take pride in everything you do and yourself?
• Recognizing that you don’t always have to be so humble?
• Working on the areas where you can be too demanding?
• Seeing why you can't take nonacceptance from others so seriously?
• Working on rejection dysphoria?
• Learn how to be reasonable when you aren’t getting rewarded?
• Working on pride that blocks you concerning love and money?
• Seeing how self-involvement has created strife in your unions?
• Understanding why arrogance keeps you stuck?
• Seeing how having a dominant personality starts drama?

Leo is a sign that teaches us the importance of standing out for our uniqueness, gaining attention, delving into our creativity, being more demonstrative in love, passion, enthusiasm, leisure, pride, and regal ideals for ourselves.

Therefore, we must explore how to enrich our lives with these themes.

Due to Venus governing aesthetics and Leo’s being associated with our creative side, it could also be a period to work on inspirational projects that will get us to the next level of our goal. Through this inverse phase, we could work to build ourselves up healthily, allowing us to shine in the areas of life we put on hold.

Another association of this energy is kids because Leo also governs some aspects of childhood. So, it could be a phase to reconsider your priorities for youngsters or whether you will or won’t have any of your own. Also, it could be a time to re-establish a relationship with your inner child through personal growth work to help you reconnect with lost parts of yourself.

Under this influence, we could finally see why taking center stage is important instead of always fading into the background. Through this phase, there could be lessons about expressing ourselves in the areas of life Venus governs, which will be vital to being more open in romantic and financial scenarios.

Concerning our love lives, we could use this retrograde to reexamine if our situations are making us proud. In other words, this will be a phase to recognize why selling ourselves short and settling isn’t getting us the level of commitment we deserve. Therefore, this retrograde will be a time to raise our standards and choose a worthier individual for a relationship.

Over the course of these next 40 days, we could also see why it's time to retweak our professional lives if we’ve become stagnant. Therefore, for those at jobs or self-employed individuals, it will be a time to create a system that helps you stand out and gain better-earning potential.

Of course, we must also acknowledge the Venus in Leo scenarios that have gotten out of hand, leading to a lower expression of this pairing in retrograde.

With a vibe like this, we could become aware of how theatrical behavior in love is problematic. Issues regarding how our ego is damaging to the relationships in our lives are a significant theme to be spotlighted under this energy. Therefore, pompous conduct will come up to be modified so we aren’t sabotaging our unions.

Also, it could enunciate why we need to work on unhealthy attention-seeking behaviors. The tendency to feel entitled and as though everyone owes us something is another aspect of this energy that needs to be reworked during the regressive cycle. So, there may be lessons about not putting on a show to improve our sense of self-worth.

Another issue could be related to finances and work situations, so it will be a phase to revamp monetary habits that keep us small.

It could be a time to check our ego at work and realize that entitlement is holding us back from the promotion we’re demanding. With a vibe like this, we could see why having an I’m better than you attitude due to financial status isn’t serving us. Because of the extravagant nature of this pairing, we may begin to understand why spending and overdoing it on the finer things in life is literally coming at a cost to us.

Now, not all of these questions will be relatable because retrogrades give us one topic or 4 depending on how this regressive cycle is aspecting your natal chart. Changes here will depend on how Venus Retrograde is transiting in your horoscope and which house it is placed in.

If this retrograde isn’t aligned with vital points in your chart, you may still witness it unfold among friends or collectively. And, of course, on a vibrational level, you could experience more of the subtler energies of the inverse phase. Stay tuned for the Venus Retrograde horoscopes to determine how this will aspect your chart.

Venus will go direct on September 3rd and finally leave its post-retro shadow on October 7th, 2023. Here’s to a constructive Venus in Leo's regressive cycle that helps you step into your opulent energy.

• Venus Retrograde Dates
• Enters Pre-Shadow RX 6/18/23
• Regressive Motion 7/22/23
• Stations out of Retrograde 9/3/23
• Leaves Post-Shadow Phase 10/7/23