Venus Retrograde in Scorpio & Libra: The Pulse of Desire

"...Love is based on a desire to live in anguish in the presence of an object of such high worth that the heart cannot bear to contemplate losing it. The fever of the senses is not a desire to die. Nor is love the desire to lose but the desire to live in fear of possible loss, with the beloved holding the lover on the very threshold of a swoon. At that price alone can we feel the violence of rapture before the beloved."

Georges Bataille, Erotism: Death & Sensuality

Venus retrogrades are an intimate excavation of desire. In Scorpio and Libra, even more so. What do I want to pour my heart into? Do I desire what I have? Will it be taken away from me at any moment? Do I desire too much? Can I continue pursuing something I don’t want or doesn’t want me? What’s the chasm in between? Every eighteen months we claw our insides out until our nails are bloody with an instinctual, compulsive hunger for answers to these cyclical questions—to locate the pulse of a relationship, a desire, a dream. What we are left with in the end is maybe not what we initially hoped, but rather the removal, by death, sacrifice or reconfiguration, of residual, negative space between ourselves and a desire in its most shameless form. 

Throughout this piece of writing, I intend to provide a symbolic narrative to this astrological alignment through intimate relationship. While romantic power dynamics and soul-desecrating introspection are likely to be experienced literally, it won’t show up this way for everyone. The themes described here can translate to any event, relationship, desire or dream you may experience viscerally at this time. 

The Descent / Disorientation of Passion

Venus begins her retrograde journey in the sign of her detriment, Scorpio, and runs into a square with Mars in Leo almost immediately. She connects with the Sun while Mercury stations retrograde in Scorpio, then returns back to her sign of domicile and forms a sextile to Mars in Leo. After stationing direct, Venus is mutually separating from Saturn in Aries. Lastly, she forms a sextile to Jupiter in Leo. 

Don't you let me down if you let me drown
I'll die in your arms again, I'll die in your arms
I won't make a sound, blood on the ground
When they take my crown, if they take my crown

Reflections Laughing, The Weeknd, Florence + The Machine, Travis Scott

Once Venus stations retrograde, she runs into the sword of Mars in Leo. Mars has the upper hand in this configuration by rulership and by superior position in zodiacal order. In Scorpio, Venus answers to Mars while his blade is in her heart. Thematically, Mars is Venus’s opposite—her enemy, her lover. Mars severs, Venus reconciles. At his worst, Mars in Leo is stubborn, self-serving and arrogant. He withholds his love. Venus is betrayed by these qualities. Her vulnerability, that which she holds so privately and tenderly in Scorpio, is exposed and exploited. She is raw, embarrassed. She drowns in anguish and vengeance and yet her passions continue to serve his royalty. She is powered by desire that is unfed—survival.

And to think you would get me to the altar
Like I'd follow you around like a dog that needs water
But admit it that you wanted me smaller
If you would have let me grow
You could have kept my love

Ode to my two thighs
I still want you to kiss 'em 'cause they're lonely
And why are you so surprised?
And when I said “I miss you,” you never believed me?
And we were so depressive
You and me together, we were gemini feed

Gemini Feed, BANKS

So where do we go from here? What does it mean when a person or desire we answer to, that which represents our “home” or “authority,” has the dominating force in a manner that does not serve our best interest at heart? How do we subvert that? How do we comprehend the power dynamics in a relationship where the needs and desires of the other come before ours? How is self-centeredness corrupting our relationships? What is our relationship to our own power here? What is our relationship to the power of others? How do we get our needs and desires met in a situation where there is little room to breathe? Do we leave? Can we leave? Does a clever way of survival reach us? However we decide to proceed, we know in this moment that an unfed desire requires a mess to be made, a rearrangement of our bleeding hearts and ties to one another. Things will not be the same. From this anguish, rays of renewal emerge, however there is much more journeying to be done.

On a less dramatic note, relational conflict or dissatisfaction of any kind will be magnified and difficult to avoid during this time period. Venus is looking to Mars, succumbing to his desire for severance and turbulence. Her heart breaks in hopes she can become whole and renewed again. She is far from herself and fights to return, with her needs and desires fed, perhaps at any cost. 

While Venus experiences her inferior cazimi at 0º Scorpio, Mercury stations retrograde, joining her descent in Scorpio within hours. This is where we receive a glimpse into the pulse of desire we have been yearning for, a pulse taken from us or forgotten. Not without complication, however. Venus inferior cazimis typically signify a turning point or moment of clarity in the retrograde narrative, yet Mercury’s retrograde station obscures this opportunity. While we may receive brief visceral wisdom from Venus’s union with the Sun, the path ahead will keep moving. The tangibility of reconciliation is non-linear and therefore unclear. Trust is hindered. Needs and desires are contradicted. Perhaps Venus is realizing the amount of harm she has experienced and lashes out while simultaneously sinking her teeth deeper into the entanglement. Perhaps she realizes the intricacies of the power dynamics she underwent, but blames herself. Maybe she encounters a deep well of jealousy without realizing her desire lies at the bottom. There's missing wisdom yet to be uncovered. To return to the core of renewed desire requires additional wandering through muddied waters. Sitting in solitude with anguish. Licking wounds. Seeking truth and restraint. We become aware of this. And deep in our hearts, we know which sacrifice or reconfiguration is being asked of us. Allowing ourselves to admit and answer the call is a different story. 

Something's missing and I don't know why
I always feel the need to hide my feelings from you
Is it me or you that I'm afraid of?
I tell myself I'll show you what I'm made of
Can't bring myself to let you go

Don't want to cause you any pain
But I love you just the same
And you'll always be my baby
In my heart, I know we've come apart
And I don't know where to start
What can I do?
I don't wanna feel blue

Bad girl, drunk by six
Kissing someone else's lips
Smoked too many cigarettes today
I'm not happy when I act this way

Bad Girl, Madonna 

Shortly after the cazimi, Venus enters the sign of her domicile, Libra, followed by a Full Moon in Taurus. As much as she'd like to forget, Venus returns home with memory of the betrayal, blind vulnerabilities and extraction of power she encountered in Scorpio. Her internal dissonance is magnified. Venus retrograding in her own sign is a bit contradictory. She is subtly reacquainted with the idea of what healthy union with desire requires, but is perhaps forced to fathom the negative space between this and the entanglement she currently finds herself in. Alternatively, she may feel the need to fabricate harmony, security, to make things work, yet her instinct and vision continue to be obscured. As she rises as a morning star, she is left only with her reflection in the mirror, but is unable to trust what she sees and feels alone. Deliberation, done out of love, begins. What does it mean when we only have ourselves to answer to and we are uncertain because trust has been stripped of us? How do we find our way back to ourselves? How much longer can we bypass what needs to be sacrificed? Are we willing to make the call, to sever the blade? Harmony and rhythm with the soul is what we yearn for, but a chosen death is required. Nobody else can tell us what to desire or where the pulse of our desire can be found.

While Venus slows down to station direct in Libra, she forms a sextile to Mars in Leo. They are mutually applying; she reaches to him, he reaches to her. This time, Venus has more autonomy. This is where Venus wholeheartedly accepts the strife that has taken place. More importantly, she accepts the sacrifice that was needed all along.

Venus stations direct on the fixed star Spica. A beneficent star of brilliance, Spica shines a light on the beauty of craft and skill, and in particular assists with the process of creation. As Venus sits completely still, it seems Spica appears as a guide to help Venus workshop her desires and locate her pulse, to reflect back to her what healthy pleasure feels like. Incubation. As Venus gains momentum in direct motion, she is able to navigate the conflicts she endured through her strengths of social grace and subtlety. The sacrifice, the death, the reconfiguration is made, and she begins to return to her truest, most shameless form, renewed.

Clever Way of Survival

This narrative leads me to recall a dating experience (or what some may call a situationship) I endured during the Venus retrograde in Scorpio and Libra in October and November of 2018, where Venus also formed a square with Mars shortly after stationing retrograde. 

The guy I was seeing at this time was quite frugal with his affection, time, effort and money. He was the type that always made me drive to visit him or pick him up even though he had his own car. He resented me in many ways. A real prize. I was seventeen years old and he was a few years older than me, attending college. We worked together in retail. Already, many red flags. 

Shortly before Venus stationed retrograde, I was looking at colleges to attend the following year, including one within the state. I had recently visited the in-state university’s design school which I found to be sophisticated and inspiring. I felt at home there. The campus was beautiful, especially during autumn. As a bonus, the tuition was economical. While I was telling this guy about my desire to attend this school, he began preaching to me about the perils of choosing a school just to be close to him (it was not the same school he attended), completely dismissing the practical reasons and passion I had expressed. I insisted he was barely a factor in my decision-making process; I had just met him a month ago and we were not in a committed relationship. He pressed his preconceptions further with arrogance. I remember feeling agitated and disturbed after that. My desires felt convoluted and I trusted myself less. At that point in my life, after struggling with mental health issues for many years, it was a miracle I had a desire to plan my future at all. While this was not the first time he attempted to subtly manipulate me, I remember this moment being the first time I became aware of it. The tipping point. 

The next several weeks of the Venus Retrograde ensued far more manipulations which resulted in routine emotional breakdowns in the stockroom at work. He embarrassed me in public and in front of co-workers and friends. He flirted with others in front of me. How he chose to treat me held immense power over how I felt each day, and yet I still wanted to make it work. Though I didn't realize it at the time, I succumbed to the power dynamics of the relationship because I felt disconnected from healthy pleasure and I feared being alone.

A week or two after the Venus direct station in Libra, we were still technically seeing each other, but the relationship had almost fully disintegrated. While he was out of town for Thanksgiving and Black Friday weekend, a few seasonal employees came in to help out at work. I remember feeling relieved to have a break from his presence. On Thanksgiving day, I was cashiering while there was a line out the door. It was overwhelming. Some random guy (a seasonal employee) was standing behind me at the cashwrap trying to help me remove the sensors and fill customers’ bags with their clothes. I stubbornly dodged his attempts. He took my reactions lightly. I remember noticing he was cute but I was too annoyed and overstimulated to care. At a certain point I was struggling so much that he gently grabbed the bag I was trying to open, locked eyes with me and with such tenderness said something along the lines of, “you can trust me, let me help you.” I eased up and allowed his soul to reach mine. It was so simple but something about it made me feel seen. We flirted innocently over the next few days while working. We chatted about our college plans while feeling excited and supportive of each other. I never saw him again after that. That weekend, I realized what the beginning of love was supposed to feel like. Adoration. I appreciated this subtle experience for what it was; a divine revelation which brought me back to pleasure. Once the other guy I was seeing came back into town, whatever was left of our relationship had finally ended. I never told him what took place that weekend (although I’m sure some nosy co-worker notified him) and I left it up to him to formally sever the entanglement. I spent the next few weeks reflecting on remaining wounds. I wrote, I listened to music, I cried. My tears clarified my desires and I felt my soul begin to return home. During the following Venus superior cazimi in Leo, I started attending the school I fell in love with in the first place, single.

You gave me back the paradise
That I thought I lost for good
You helped me find the reasons why
It took me by surprise that you understood
You knew all along
What I never wanted to say
Until I learned to love myself
I was never ever loving anybody else.

Happiness lies in your own hand
It took me much too long to understand
How it could be
Until you shared your secret with me.

Secret, Madonna 

Here we see a Venus retrograde experience where desires are challenged and betrayed, but ultimately clarified and reunited with. I share this story not as an example of an experience which was handled or ended perfectly, but as an experience in which renewal found me in a hopeless, morally ambiguous place, ultimately with a relationship sacrificed. Sometimes the pulse of desire finds you in a retail wasteland. 

Venus retrogrades are often messy because intimacy is messy. There's no way around that. At the very least, pain can be clarifying. In these moments we are forced to reflect on the fear lurking behind the betrayal of our desires by ourselves or others and where we may have given our own power away as a result. Fierce protection of tender desire is needed. We must also engage with the pulse of our desires critically, remain aware when it has led us astray or become corrupted and accept when a reconfiguration, death or sacrifice is needed. Not to be taken lightly, of course.

Lastly, love doesn’t have to be so hard. It doesn’t have to hurt so much. Love takes effort, conflict and repair, but we don’t have to feel like we’re just surviving. Our needs and desires shouldn’t have to wrestle all the time. Desire can meet us where we’re at even when we feel broken and robbed. We can reach each other with sweetness and care during strife and that in itself can be liberatory. Sometimes at the right moment, an angel emerges and whispers this secret into our ear. A gentle reminder. A pulse of hope. 

The Aftermath

As stated earlier, this story does not often conclude how we quite hoped or thought. There are many remaining pieces left to pick up, many tears to dry. Trust takes time to build. The soul needs respite before being stirred into action. The pulse of desire needs silence to find its rhythm. At the very least, a path forward becomes clear. Spica's presence assures us of this. It is a relief Mercury has also stationed direct in Scorpio at this point. Later on, Venus forms a sextile to Jupiter in Leo, who also steps in to foster the initial murmurs of healing.

We may feel a greater visceral moment of recovery when Venus reaches her greatest distance from the Sun as a morning star in January 2027. Here, she is far from the beams of the Sun and the most visible. She has a light at the end of the tunnel to share, additional direction to a renewed pulse of desire, so listen closely. 

The story continues liminally. Venus simultaneously reconciles stories from the recent past and near future. This Venus retrograde connects to the previous Solar Eclipse in Leo that took place recently. The story will develop further during the upcoming Mars Retrograde in Leo and Virgo when Venus squares Mars shortly after Mars stations retrograde. Then, Mars stations direct at the degree the Solar Eclipse in Leo took place. In the following summer, Venus experiences a superior cazimi on the South Node, one degree away from the Solar Eclipse in Leo. The story that takes place here has long-term implications. The story that takes place here has long-term implications. This doesn’t mean the heartbreak will last forever. It just means this is a catalyst toward something greater. Please see the note at the bottom of the article for notable dates.

Venus Retrograde Playlist

• Reflections Laughing by The Weeknd, Travis Scott + Florence & The Machine

• Gemini Feed by BANKS

• Power & Control by MARINA

• Never Change Lovers in the Middle of the Night by Boney M.

• Secrets by The Weeknd

• The Cure by Olivia Rodrigo

• Bad Girl by Madonna

• Sugar Talking by Sabrina Carpenter

• Take a Bow by Madonna

• Secret by Madonna

• My Crazy Head by Heart

• Come Undone by Duran Duran

• Drive by The Cars

• All I Need by Air + Beth Hirsch

Venus Retrograde (& Beyond) Dates to Note

2026
August 12: Solar Eclipse in Leo at 20º  
August 15: Venus in Libra at greatest elongation as an evening star 8º  
August 31: Venus in Libra entering shadow  
October 3: Venus stations retrograde in Scorpio 8º  
October 10: Venus in Scorpio square Mars in Leo 7º  
October 19: Venus last day of visibility as an evening star 3º  
October 23: Venus inferior cazimi in Scorpio 0º  
October 24: Mercury stations retrograde in Scorpio 20º 
October 25: Full Moon in Taurus 2º  
October 29: Venus rises as a morning star in Libra 27º  
November 13: Venus stations direct in Libra 22º  
November 13: Mercury stations direct in Scorpio 5º 

2027
January 3: Venus in Scorpio at greatest elongation as a morning star 26º  
January 10: Mars stations retrograde in Virgo 10º  
January 16: Venus in Sagittarius squares Mars in Virgo 10º  
April 1: Mars stations direct in Leo 20º  
August 11: Venus superior cazimi in Leo conjunct the South Node 19º