10.02.26–11.13.26
The Introduction:
Venus goes retrograde every ~1.5 years, so it’s not as rare as Mars, but far less common than Mercury and all other planets. Venus retrogrades in roughly the same signs every 8 years. This cycle creates the 5 petals of Venus, referred to as the Rose of Venus or the Pentagram of Venus. During those 8 years, Venus circles the Sun 13 times. If you’re starting to get spooked about words like “pentagram” and the number 13, you may have stumbled across the wrong astrologer for you. If you’re feeling like exploring this topic before jumping ship, scroll to the asterisk at the bottom to consider an alternative view.*
Venus rules our value systems, relationships, wealth, and our aesthetic sensibilities. When Venus is retrograde, it’s a good time to take time to reflect on your values, sense of style, relationship patterns, and your financial well-being. Venus retrograde is generally better suited to reassessing than initiating: consider undergoing cosmetic procedures, making major financial decisions, or finalizing big relationship decisions with a little more deliberation rather than rushing forward. Venus cycles work in ~8 year cycles; these planetary cycles show up in the patterns woven through our lives. When we work with the broader planetary cycles, we’re best able to see the patterns in our lives and work with them to support our personal and collective evolution.
2026’s Venus retrograde begins October 2nd at 9:16pm HST at 8º Scorpio, then goes direct November 13th at 2:27pm HST at 22º Libra. This retrograde cycle, true to its intense nature, is in serious relationship with other planets: conjunct Mercury in Scorpio, square Pluto in Aquarius, square Mars in Leo, trine the Moon in Cancer. More details on its signature later…
It’s Essence
The past relationship graveyard is haunted with who we might have been if we had stayed… This retrograde cycle happens during a liminal time when the veils between worlds are thinner; Samhain, Halloween, Día de los Muertos. This time is especially potent for cord cutting, reflecting on the lessons of the past, and disposing of materials from past relationships that are no longer serving you. After all, all atoms hold memory and whether a relationship is living or dead doesn’t change that, but you can shift the atoms in your environment in your favor.
So what do we do, if the memory of others persists during this timeline? If past lovers burble to the surface and cloud our psychic waters? How should you react if DMs, text messages, facetimes, snapchats, and even bumping into them, IRL, occur? First things first, this isn’t divine intervention to prevent singlehood during sweater weather, and more often than not, it’s not a sign you should jump back into a past situationship. This is the nature of the cosmos: to help the past resurface at juuuust the right time, so we can remember what worked and what didn’t. To highlight the lessons of the past. To encourage us to move with more grace for ourselves and others, and to have a little more self-respect.
Self-respect during a Venus Retrograde can look like letting a once-lover know you’re no longer interested in revisiting a relationship; setting boundaries you wouldn’t dream of before; respecting others boundaries; committing your energy to personal evolution over limerence; being honest with yourself about what that situationship provided for you in the past. After all, we return to the familiar for comfort, but often when we return, we find ourselves changed and needing something different.
Venus, Values & the 2026 Midterms
Venus doesn’t merely describe our personal relationships. Venus reveals our values: what we consider worth protecting, investing in, supporting, and building together.
Before we turn to more details of what makes this Venus Retrograde notable, I want to acknowledge that this takes place during the United States’ midterm election cycle. Midterms take place halfway between presidential elections; every seat in the House and roughly one-third of the Senate are up for election, along with many state and local races.
Midterms are a time when eligible voters get to decide what politicians fit their ethical values. There is no better time than now to make sure you’re registered to vote and informed on the issues that will be on your ballot. For specifics on your location, I recommend Ballotpedia’s Sample Ballot Lookup Tool for researching candidates and ballot measures, as well as your state or local election office for official voting information.
If you’re wondering why I’m harping on the midterms, this particular Venus Retrograde cycle coincides with several notable midterm cycles in the United States. This will be no exception. Venusian themes of values, resources, relationships, and power may become more visible not only in our personal lives, but in the collective arena as well.
Venus Conjunct Mercury in Scorpio: The Deep Dive
Our minds turn toward the layered depths in our relationships, emphasizing their life and death cycles, their themes of power and control, and the ways our hearts and minds meticulously intertwine their intents.
The cravings spill out of our lips – we want a deep, transformative, ride-or-die love – one that’ll follow us from this life into the next one, one that forgoes shallow connections, one that understands our equal capacity to hold light and dark, one that isn’t afraid to face our shadow selves. Deep, intellectual talks provide us with the intensity we ache for. If your natural tendency is to conceal your depths with a flowery surface, you’ll feel the hungry earth beneath your feet ready to consume you. On the other hand, if you tend towards mining the caves of your subconscious, you’ll find this time familiar.
Beware the undertow of power and control that’ll wrap its tentacles around you, pulling you under, including controlling the narrative, limerence (obsessive romantic thoughts), and icy, coldness as a reactive mechanism.
Navigate the depths with the patience of a free diver: regulate your breath; don’t move too fast; have an ally in your corner – whether that’s a therapist, lover, guide, or fellow diver; when you no longer see the light, remember you always carry one within you; don’t let your pride get in the way and return to the surface whenever necessary.
Venus Square Pluto in Aquarius: What Are We Still Holding?
Our relationships crave the kind of transformation that can only happen with progressive, communal feedback.
This is a transformation that doesn’t happen in isolation: our relationships change as our communities change, and our communities change as we challenge one another to imagine something different.
Venus in a fixed-sign square to Pluto asks what are you stubbornly holding onto, even if it hinders your growth. Pluto destroys, paving the way for new growth. Deep connections with others can sometimes be hindered by our desire to serve the collective. Intimacy is a limited resource, but community is not. We don’t have to extract every emotional need from our closest relationships; sometimes the healthiest thing we can do for intimacy is build a wider web of belonging.
During this retrograde cycle the following questions can act as guides:
What do I need to release to the earth, so that it can be composted for relational and communal health?
How can I treat the tension, the obstacle, as the way through to a brighter future?
When I tend to my finances, do I find it harder to gather in community? If so, what are some no-cost ways I can gather?
Venus in Scorpio Square Mars in Leo: Sacred or Seen?
The sacredness of relationships battle with the desire to show the world.
Your relationships might feel pushed and pulled between wanting to share yourself with the world, and also wanting to keep what’s sacred hidden. During this time, if you let your creativity run the show with no regard for your relational needs, you could find your wounds in the spotlight. Navigate this time with grace. Strike a balance between the two and you’ll find space for your creativity to flourish, while offering your relationship the privacy it craves.
Venus in Scorpio Trine the Moon in Cancer: Your Body Knows
Deep, transformative love nourishes us, provides safety, and heightens our intuitive powers.
Where you spend your energy and money shows up in your emotional state. This transit infuses us with the wisdom to prioritize what matters the most to us. What follows is a bone deep understanding of our needs. The question burbles up from the depths, how can I align my relationships and finances with my needs? Your body knows the answer.
Final Notes
The last time Venus was retrograde in these signs (Scorpio-Libra) was in October of 2018 (when she retrograded from 8º Scorpio to 25º Libra). Identify Venusian patterns by scrolling through past images, journal entries, calendar events, and your own mental record of relationships, wealth, and values during that time. Who were you becoming then? What can you see now that you couldn’t see at the time? What patterns have continued to weave themselves through your life?
On October 23rd, there will be a moment of brightness within it all, when Venus in Scorpio is cazimi (when a planet rests in the heart of the Sun). During this time, things may come to light, relational issues may find resolutions, and the depths will be shot through with sunbeams. As always, retrogrades are a normal and natural part of planetary cycles and they help us evolve. May we opt for evolution, not devolution. Big, Cosmic Love.
*Penta = five, gramma = letter (in this case it refers to a star); the pentagram is simply a five-pointed star. Throughout time it has been used as a symbol of perfection, and the segments of the pentagram are perfectly aligned with the golden ratio. It’s also been used as a sign of protection.
The number 13 has been associated with bad luck in some Western traditions, but numbers and shapes are rarely evil, although anything can be evil in the wrong hands. The magic of the Universe often expresses itself in numbers and their patterns.
