VENUS RETROGRADE INFOGRAPHIC 2021 ^((Edit: fixed the missing “sextile” word on chart.))

The main thing to know: only your natal placements between 11 and 26 degrees of any sign will be aspected by transiting Venus Retrograde. We’ve been in the Pre-Shadow since Nov 17th.

The chart in the infographic is showing us where transiting Venus Rx is now (the big green dot with the Venus glyph), and which degrees it will travel across during the next weeks. (This is a chart with no houses, just the signs.) The arrows fanning out from transiting Venus’ position in Capricorn show us what aspects it would make to (your natal) planets in the other signs. For example, if you have a natal planet in Taurus between 11 and 26 degrees, then that blue arrow pointing from transiting Venus in Capricorn to Taurus tells us your natal planet there would receive a trine aspect. (More instructions are below.)

The retrograde cycle:

• Pre-Shadow Begins: Nov 17, 2021, 3:49:18pm EST at 11 Cap 04’37”
• Retrograde Begins: Dec 18, 2021, 5:35:50am EST at 26 Cap 29’25”
• Retrograde Ends: Jan 29, 2022, 3:45:54am EST at 11 Cap 04’37”
• Post Shadow Ends: Mar 1, 2022 9:43:57pm at 26 cap 29’25” (Mar 2nd in Europe)

Note: To make a chart for any of these phases, use the times at the top of the infographic (3:50 for the pre-shadow instead of 3:49 as listed here) unless the site you use allows you to input seconds.

Interpretation Help

For any interpretation help, please google “transiting venus” (that part in quotes) then add the aspect it will make, and your natal planet that it will aspect. The quotes are important so that you get a transit description instead of a natal one. Or try the links below:

More recent sources:

• Venus Retrograde in Capricorn: Reworking Relationships by Kelly Surtees
• The Meaning of Venus Retrograde: Part One by Acyuta-bhava Das. There is an individualized paragraph for each rising sign.
• The Meaning of Venus Retrograde: Part Two by Acyuta-bhava Das. Again, there are (longer) paragraphs for each rising sign, and this is different content than in Part One.

Earlier sources:

• Previewing Venus’ Retrograde in Capricorn Acyuta-bhava Das. Also has a transcript.
• CafeAstrology Venus Rx (Brief, general description for each rising sign. You must do your chart in Whole Sign houses, then read for your rising sign for it to work. Understand these are very generalized and may or may not work for your own chart.)
• Kelly Surtees: Venus Rx 8-Year Cycles (Specifically for 2020’s Venux Rx but still some useful and interesting info about Venus Rx.)
• Venus Retrograde: Challenging Consensus (Ep. 39, 2015 Chris Brennan & Nick Dagan Best. Not specifically for this event, but much good information there. Ep 39. Transcript available at link.)
• Book: Planets In Transit, by Robert Hand. The go-to reference book for all transits.

HOW TO USE THE CHART

GREEN DOT: The big Venus Rx symbol in the green dot outside the chart wheel is where transiting Venus is now, in Capricorn.

GREY HIGHLIGHTS: See the ring of tiny numbers around the chart wheel? The little grey-shaded area on those Capricorn degrees show the range that Venus retrograde will travel across (from 11 to 26 degrees). The grey-shaded areas on all the other signs highlight those same exact degrees, the degrees that matter.

HOW TO VISUALIZE: Imagine placing your natal planets (just those between 11 and 26 degrees) onto the appropriate signs on the infographic chart like placing game pieces on a game board. Then note the arrows that tell you what kind of aspect your planet would receive from transiting Venus, if it’s within that degree range. Or, you can imagine placing your natal chart on top of, or under, the infographic chart, matching up the signs exactly (not your houses).

If you have any natal planets in that grey degree range (11 to 26) of any other sign, then those planets will receive an actual aspect from transiting Venus Rx. If you don’t have any natal planets or angles at 11 to 26 degrees of any sign, then you will not be directly impacted by any Venus Rx aspects, other than normal transiting Venus traveling through your Capricorn house and making ordinary aspects to your natal planets that are not within that 11-26 degree range..

Example on how to use the infographic chart:

Say you have natal Moon at 19 degrees Libra.

1. Look at the chart on the infographic. Find Libra.
2. Find the 19-degree spot in that Libra area – that’s where your natal Moon is.
3. We see a red arrow, labeled “Square” pointing from Capricorn (from transiting Venus) to Libra. That tells us that your natal Moon at 19 Libra would receive a square from transiting Venus in Capricorn.

What if your natal Venus is at 22 degrees Capricorn?

1. Find Capricorn on the infographic chart.
2. Find 22 degrees.
3. We can see that this is actually where transiting Venus is, so this will be a conjunction. Since it is your natal Venus there, and transiting Venus is conjunct it, we call this a Venus Return.

You could just think of this chart as transparent, and imagine placing it over your own natal chart, lining up all the signs carefully (not houses, just line up the signs). Now, see all those arrows fanning out from Capricorn? Those arrows tell you which type of aspect transiting Venus would make to a natal planet in the sign the arrow points to in your natal chart.

WHEN WILL TRANSITING VENUS ASPECT MY PLANETS?

If you want to know when transiting Venus might reach one of your natal planets that you know it will aspect, then use the ephemeris at the bottom of the infographic (the 3 big, colored boxes). The first number is the degree, the second one is the minute. (These are positions, not “time”. Saying 20 Lib 45 is sort of like saying someone is 5 feet 7 inches tall. Inches make up feet. Minutes make up degrees.) Keep in mind that if you do have a natal planet in that 11 to 26 degree range, it will get 3 hits from transiting Venus:

1. First hit: during the Pre-Shadow Period, while Venus is still going direct.
2. Second hit: during the actual retrograde period when it is traveling ‘backward’.
3. Third hit: during the Post-Shadow Period, after the retrograde is over and it’s moving direct again.

(There are exceptions and sometimes two hits will occur in the same phase, very close together.)

HOW TO USE THE EPHEMERIS (at bottom of Infographic)

Example: Let’s say you have your Sun at 18 Cancer 25. When will it receive its three actual aspects from transiting Venus Rx?

FIRST HIT: Look at the first yellow column, the Pre-Shadow Period.

• Look at Nov 27th. Don’t worry that it all says “cap” on each line in this ephemeris (that just tells us where transiting Venus is). We’re only going to look for 18 degrees 25 (no matter your sign in your own natal chart).
• You can see that from midnight on Nov 27th to midnight on Nov 28th, Venus moved from 17 cap 57 to 18 cap 37. Your Sun at 18 degrees 25 is within that range (and transiting venus has moved on past it by midnight on the 28th).
• So, now we know that transiting Venus first opposed your Sun on Nov 17th. We know it’s an opposition because Capricorn opposes Cancer (and see the chart with the aspect arrows in the infographic that tells you what kind of aspect each natal sign would receive from Capricorn).

SECOND HIT: Now we look to see when it hits it again.

• Look at the red center Retrograde Period column. Note that now Venus is retrograde and is moving ‘backward’, so the numbers are going down, not up.
• Find 18 degrees 25. Here, it’s on Jan 9th. We can see that it travels across that 18 degrees 25 we’re looking for, between midnight on Jan 9th and midnight on Jan 8th. This is the day transiting Venus again makes an opposition aspect to your Sun.

THIRD HIT: There’s one more step. We have to look at the 3rd column, the Post-Shadow Period.

• Here, Venus is now going direct again; it’s no longer retrograde and the numbers will be going up again, but it’s still part of the cycle until it reaches and passes that degree that it first went retrograde at back on Dec 19th (ie, 26 Cap 29) .
• We’ll do the same thing – look for what day it hits that 18 degree 25 mark. We can see it happens on Feb 19th, within that 24-hour period between Feb 19th and Feb 20th.

Just repeat that for any natal planet you have that is within that 11 to 26 degree range. Do not expect every transiting aspect to be noticeable. Often these things are very minor, if noticeable at all. Or they may be larger – just all depends on a lot of other factors.

Hopefully all that makes sense. If not, just ask and I’ll do my best to clarify. Give yourself time and patience to really read and study the images and instructions in this post. This post is not about interpreting the meanings of aspects from transiting Venus Rx for everyone. It’s just about the technical part of how to see what is happening for you. You can easily google transit meanings. Just make sure you do it like this, for example: “transiting venus” square mars. Putting those two words in quotes helps you get meanings for a transit, rather than a natal aspect. Or, go to astro-seek.com and look up transits for various days to read the meanings of any transiting Venus aspects. You would need to do this daily, likely, to catch any aspects. (Or use the infographic’s ephemeris guide to more closely pinpoint the days transiting Venus would actually make an aspect.)