Biting The Apple And The Release Of The Serpent: Venus Retrograde 2017

“She remembered the story from her childhood, about Adam and Eve in the garden, and the talking snake. Even as a little girl she had said – to the consternation of her family – What kind of idiot was Eve, to believe a snake? But now she understood, for she had heard the voice of the snake and had watched as a wise and powerful man had fallen under its spell.

“Eat the fruit and you can have the desires of your heart. It’s not evil, it’s noble and good. You’ll be praised for it.
And it’s delicious.”

Orson Scott Card, Shadow Of The Hegemon

Every 18 months or so, Venus goes retrograde, giving us another opportunity to examine our values, relationships, attitudes towards many things, financial situation, etc; all those things that Venus represents to us. This particular Venus retrograde cycle is particularly interesting, though, as it occurs in Aries, and, we are being asked to look more closely at our relationship with ourself, and, this is compounded by both Mars and Uranus also being in Aries. How are you going with your ‘self care’, are you taking notice of what you want, what you desire, where you wanting to be heading, etc?  We need to be concentrating on issues to do with realizing and asserting our individuality and concentrating on our responsibilities to ourselves, in amongst other things.

Venus goes retrograde on March 4 and direct on April 15, making the Venus retrograde period roughly 40 days. Many have, rather aptly I believe, described Venus retrograde as ’40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness’, as it can certainly feel like that, however, this one has that kind of tone even more than most Venus retrograde periods. I say this because the Sabian Symbol for Venus as it goes retrograde is Aries 14: A Serpent Coiling Between A Man And A Woman In The Garden Of Eden.  This degree is fully charged with issues around whether we have found, or, are ready to find, our ‘Garden of Eden’.

The following are my Keywords and Cautions for this Symbol from my book The Sabian Oracle: 360 Degrees Of Wisdom – 

Keywords: Enticement. Allurement. Revealing archetypal knowledge that may not be “socially acceptable”. Temptations. The Adam and Eve story. Jealousy. Sexual instincts. Life and death issues. Relating based on control. Kundalini energy. Realizing polarity. Individuation. Eating the Apple. The “knowledge of good and evil”. Having one’s eyes opened. Marking one’s territory.

The Caution: Feeling guilty. Being afraid to express one’s feelings. Basic instincts and sexual energy. The fear of knowledge, secret or otherwise. Using sexuality as a control device. Disgust or distrust of the body. Sexually transmitted diseases. Hiding nudity or sexuality. Being thrown out of paradise.

And, as Venus goes direct in April square Saturn in Sagittarius and conjunct Chiron in Pisces, we are being asked to examine our ‘wounds’ around relationships, to take another look at The Stories That We Tell Ourselves  around the issues of our ‘wounds’ (Chiron).

Adding to the strong relationship component, we also have Jupiter retrograde in Libra (the sign of relationship opposite Aries), bringing the need to find a sense of fairness, equilibrium and balance to what’s going on. The idea of the imperative to ‘find balance’ is amplified by Jupiter’s degree when it went retrograde on February 6 – Libra 24: A Third Wing On The Left Side Of A Butterfly. This degree can have us flapping around, getting nowhere, or, bringing up issues to do with finding our center, coming back to our true sense of self.

The ‘Karmic Condition’ for this retrograde is Aries 13: A Bomb Which Failed To Explode Is Now Safely Hidden From Discovery. This brings up issues to do with the need to ‘defuse’ situations, to take the charge out of what’s going on, out of our emotions, our reactions, and, perhaps there’s a need to let go of what went before in order to feel safe and contained. Venus lingered on this degree for four or five days before Venus turned retrograde, adding a feeling of a build up of energies, and, in some cases, almost to the point of explosion. It can show issues that almost get out of hand, but at the last minute perhaps, we are saved and the energies can be disbursed. Regardless – one thing is for sure – these are rather ‘combustible’ times.

Periods of Venus retrograde can always bring up the letting go of relationships, attachments, plans that haven’t worked out, etc, but, this particular retrograde holds an even stronger sense of this as Mars is on Aries 26 as Venus turns. Aries 26: A Man Possessed Of More Gifts Than He Can Hold. This can speak of issues of releasing those things that have outlived their usefulness, or possibilities that have not materialised or come good, etc, it can also speak of having too many balls in the air, too much to do, or, the need to concentrate one’s thoughts or energies on those things that are worthwhile, that will bear fruit for us. Having said that, we may recoup those things that will further or benefit us as Mars moves onto Aries 27. This degree can speak of second chances – Aries 27: Through Imagination A Lost Opportunity Is Regained – it can be through thinking of solutions, being imaginative, using affirmations, etc, that we can have breakthroughs that lead us towards what we really do want. However, a word of caution here, Mars and Venus may have somewhat opposing ideas, and, this is a 40 day retrograde period, and these Symbols are showing up at the beginning of the process. Still, employing hope and faith can go a long way to sorting things out, even if you do have to surrender to some situations that you would rather not.

Issues arising out of this 40 day Venus retrograde period include the need for; gathering together with others who share the same hopes, dreams and ambitions; finding one’s autonomy and true sense of direction; the possibility (or the need) for rewriting one’s story; seeing into things in a brand new light with new eyes, direction and focus; finding a firm footing in life; going even more deeply into one’s intuition and clairvoyant abilities; freeing up from the feeling of being ‘boxed in’; spending time alone, or less time with others; figuring out how you fit into the mould of your life; learning to laugh at life’s curious challenges; finding your feet and your voice; making valuable contributions to your world, and, celebrating the providence of life’s bounty. These things, put briefly here, are the themes arising out of the Sabian Symbols for this period.

As mentioned in the intro to this piece, Venus goes direct on April 15 conjunct Chiron. The Sabian Symbol for Venus stationary direct this conjunction is Pisces 27: A Harvest Moon Illuminates The Sky. This is a beautiful degree for being thankful for all that we have, and, showing gratitude can, of course, bring more things to be grateful for. We are likely to find ourselves seeing life and love in a new light. I not only see Chiron as The Wounded Healer, I see it as showing The Stories That We Tell Ourselves. The way I reason this is that if we don’t have ‘stories’ attached to our wounds, we don’t have wounds – sounds rather simplistic, but, I guess that it is that simple in a way.

As Venus goes direct, it is almost exactly square Saturn, giving a stronger sense of the need to let things go, to straighten things out, perhaps to get more disciplined and organised. It is useful to note that Saturn is smack on the Galactic Center (GC), the Sabian Symbol for which is Sagittarius 27: A Splendidly Built Bridge, A Heritage Of Unknown Ages, Still Spans The Beautiful And Wildly Primitive Stream. This ‘bridge’ degree, especially as it is the GC, shows the need to connect in with the Law Of Attraction, to bring those things that you want into your life; to be creative; to create the life that you really want. This is highlighted even further by the Sabian Symbol for Saturn as Venus goes direct: Sagittarius 27: A Sculptor’s Vision Is Slowly But Surely Taking Form. Both the ‘bridge’ and ‘the sculptor’ degrees form the nucleus of the GC – that place where we are gifted with the possibility of creating our lives. Saturn here asks what bridges can you build? We may need to build those ‘bridges’, hold onto those ‘visions’ and ‘sculpt’ our future in a brand new way.

Further, when Venus goes direct, retrograde Jupiter will be on a degree that speaks of the need to free up situations where you might feel handcuffed to something or somebody (or, some belief or memory). Jupiter will be on Libra 18: Two Men Placed Under Arrest Are Brought Before The Tribunal Of Society To Give An Accounting For Their Actions. Of course, no one is likely to literally be ‘arrested’, but there can be a sense of being held up or held back in some way, and, it is through removing the shackles from the past that we can feel free to get on with those things that are more rewarding, more liberating for us. Realizations and breakthroughs in understanding can arise, sometimes seemingly out of nowhere, even if situations have been brewing for ages.

Adding yet another component to the idea of letting go is the fact that Mercury goes retrograde just days before Venus goes direct. Mercury retrogrades on a very interesting and evocative degree: Taurus 5: A Widow, Fresh And Soul-Cleansed From Grief, Stands At An Open Grave Ready To Receive The Secret To Eternal Life. This degree sounds rather dire, but, it’s not really. It speaks of rebirth in many ways, along with letting go of the past and emerging into a brand new future. Of course, as we let go of some things, we allow space for other, more rewarding things to come into our lives.

I wish everyone a wonderful Venus retrograde. What a time we’re experiencing!

For more about this Venus Retrograde and the key Sabian Symbols of this year, get the 2017 Forecast!

This article is also published on Cosmic Intelligence Agency.