Venus Retrograde Season 2018

A sacred visitor during editing.

Each day last week had a unique energy flare to it; shifting, palpable and surprisingly intense. I personally felt as though I had been put into a 55 gallon drum emotionally tumbling through space between Pluto stationing direct on Monday and Venus moving retrograde on Friday. The collective buoying between the release of deeply evaluating the innards of our destruction and creation (Pluto) and the desire to cultivate beauty, happiness, relationship and abundance (Venus) in our lives. Friday morning, I woke sobbing, for no other reason than feeling the collective cry of Venus moving over painful, triggering and intense ground as our political and cultural climate shifted. Each of these collective emotional swells acts as a contraction awakening more women and men to their once sleeping dragons. To be effective in life, we often must slay the darkness and triggers within so we are no longer swept away by the storm created tides.

While I consider myself a student of archetypal astrology, I am not an astrologer and employ a trusted professional for my own needs. I do however experience planetary energies quite viscerally. When I tap into this transit, it feels like peeling back some pretty thick layers of scar tissue over the course of the next six weeks. Whatever is arising, if you're able to greet it with the intention to foster self love through the pain and trauma emerging from your cellular memory, you may find it a bit gentler experience. It can be incredibly challenging to meet the deep shards of painful memories from this lifetime and those past during this season lending the energy ripe for discovering new ways of managing ancient stories and pain.

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Venus Retrograde Season 2018, began October 5 and runs through November 16th. She will be in the sign of Scorpio until the 31st then move into Libra on the 1st of November. We have already moved forward over this energy beginning September 3rd so do look at the themes that began around that time to bring your awareness to what ground is being tilled up through this transit. Retrograding only 7% of the time, Venus is the least of all planets to draw our awareness inward to examine what's working and what isn't. Meaning, this is a rare time the energies align to assist in healing our relationships (business partnerships, friendships, intimate/family relationships, etc.) on a significantly powerful level. It starts with the relationship we have with ourselves, so do love yourself gently through this transition.

We'll be moving through Scorpio's old ground unmasking the skeletal remains of relationship issues, to expose our understanding of that which destroys also creates. To me it feels as though unhealed ancestral wounds are primed to rise within us for a deep cleaning and healing. Scorpio, an intense fixed water sign energy, is determined to get to the blood and guts of situations -- he wants to look at the energetic decay and really take it all in and doesn't flinch in the process. In the extreme, the desire for sexual exploits or to possess a lover wholly -- getting a partner to surrender body and soul -- may be on the rise. Be cautious of vampiric energy and attempt to look beyond the immediacy of fulfilling reckless desire as it can derail the available healing energies.

Retrograde in Libra, beginning November 1st, Venus can slip into excessive emotionality and old temptations troubled with impulsive purchases and casual sex. Makeovers and investments in material things are best left until Venus moves direct on the 16th, as what we perceived as an amazing idea or investment during her retrograde may look very different when she turns direct. Ideas about romance, love and sex are likely to be unearthed and require a tender touch throughout the duration of the season to facilitate healing without reinjury. Libra desires to unite and become one, entwining itself around external partnership and pursuits to feel complete. Be especially cautious about making irrational relationships commitments at this time, as it is easy to get carried away with these energies in the mix.

Venus moves direct November 16th and all the hard work we've done during her rare retrograde transit will be at the fore of integration as we move through Libra and Scorpio for a third time lasting until December 17th. As wounds surface, let us remember we are all on this beautifully abundant and providing planet together. Mother Earth holds us close to Her heartbeat while Father Sky lights our way; neither asking the other (or us) anything in return. Each relationship we enter brings abundant opportunities for growth, healing and learning about love -- sometimes discovering we are our own deepest love is the greatest lesson we can hope to receive. We can also never know the lens in which another wears, the role we have played or been cast. In that, honoring ourselves for enduring the difficult relationships in our lives by seeking to understand the teaching offered is one of the most beautiful gifts we can give ourselves in the pursuit of healing our human hearts and clearing karmic chords and debris.

Yoni Oracle Reading

The intention of this reading is to offer deliberate ways to nourish our wise woman, emotional body and sexuality. When coming to The Goddess Oracle (by Amy Sophia Marashinsky and Illustrated by Hrana Janto), I am both speaking to our outer (that which we project as holy -- Goddess) and inner (that which we hold in grace -- I Am That I Am) energies. I come as both student and teacher, open to embrace a teaching from the Goddess to discover or deepen our understanding of a lesson in the evolution of personal growth and awareness. It is through Her, we embrace these messages as opportunities to nourish our radically wild and tenderhearted souls radiating across the physical plane of here and now.

For the period of Venus Retrograde (October 5 - November 16, 2018), I asked:
How can women collectively nourish wholeness of Self ​
​as our personal values and self-worth increases?

Goddess Advice: Amaterasu, Sedna and Aphrodite

Amaterasu Omi Kami, The Shinto Sun Goddess of Japan, delivers a message from our wise woman and grandmother place inviting us to see ourselves as a reflection of our inner beauty. She tells us we may uncover hurts and find old wounds rising to the surface during this time and, while we may want to withhold our light from the world, that is not what we are being called to do. Amaterasu hid herself away after being wounded by her brother until the Shaman Goddess, Uzume, peaked her curiosity with dance. Hidden in the depths of her own cave and self imposed prison she was unable to see her own radiant light and therefore, the world was without the necessary warmth she provided. So often, we forget the value of our internal beauty and what we have to offer as our skills and callings change during this point in life. It is the unseen beauty mark carried in the swell beneath our breast. It is our deliberateness and care to nurture and hone our gifts. It is the unique soul expression that allows us to brilliantly blaze in confident radiance.

Sister, hold a mirror to see your face each night during this retrograde season with the intention to embrace the lines of grief and joy equally in gratitude. I loved watching my grandmother put night cream on her face and hands when we prepared for bed at night. There was something about the way she touched her skin that always stood out to me as something special; witnessing the reverence she carried in honoring herself as a woman and cherishing the subtle pleasures of a life well lived in each one of those sacred lines.

The emotional body speaks as Sedna, reminding us that we can either choose to take the perspective of victim, or move into this space and time with our power intact. According to the Inuit, Sedna found herself dissatisfied with her suitors and took up with a Seagull who made promises he could not keep. Dissatisfied with her choice, she escaped with her father, only to be tossed overboard and later, her fingers cut off,  as he ultimately desired to save his own life. From her dismembered fingers, sea creatures emerged. Sedna encourages us to see at some point we have all been victimized and must take responsibility for our choices. We can either choose to remain in victim stance (seeking rescue from her father because that is a skill she had developed), an energy ushered in through the period Chiron transited through Pisces (April 2010 - 2018) or create abundance from the experience life has on offer (creation grew from her dismembered fingers ). Chiron in Aries (April 2018 - 2027) awakens our inner resolve and shakes the proverbial foundation of our wounds in order to bathe in the first light of a new era. It can be frustrating, in some cases immobilizing, to reach a layer of understanding and feeling freed or healed of an old injury only to have it reopen. The truth is, if it's deep and continues to visit, as though via a fated cycle, it is likely lifetimes old and professional counselor to assist, support and guide your process over time is an ideal expenditure of time and resources.

To nourish our sexuality, the Goddess of Love, Aphrodite, Herself comes to invite you, Sister, to remember the importance of self care, love and nurturance. It is easy to lose the time it takes to remain ourselves when other (something outside of us) becomes a higher priority. Many of the women I work with have found themselves lost after having achieved their greatest goal (i.e. married, baby, career, etc.). Women who have grasped onto familiar things that once allowed them to feel content, happy, sensual, sexual and desired or simply connected to life. Disconnections between the body, mind, soul and will can cause, in the extreme, anxiety, depression or an existential crisis. The way back to center is a unique path for each of us.

Venus in her retrograde state accentuates self evaluation and worth. The Goddess advises, we view our natural gifts and tendencies as skills we have honed over many lifetimes that are now ready to come forth into the world. As we cultivate a nourishing, self accepting and luxuriously loving relationship with ourselves (the energy also available to us now), we begin to value the unique Soul expression we are and set the energetic frequency to attract others ready to enter into healthy partnerships where individual and relationship needs count and matter.

Opportunities to Nourish Our Radically Wild and Tenderhearted Souls

Collectively, the Goddess energies of the cards and available in the sky remind us of our own unique light we are entrusted to shine in this world as a Soul by acknowledging and honing our gifts. It may be time for you to begin journaling or constructing a detailed plan moving forward. If words elude you, any form of art can help open authentic expression without the need for words -- Jungian mandalas are especially well suited for this. Others, may find it nourishing to begin a Goddess bathing ritual to awaken ones senses and sensuality with oils, salts, scrubs or rose petals -- I personally think every woman should take the time to treasure her physical form in such a sacred and ancient way. If you reside in Colorado, do enjoy the luxury of a visit to your favorite hot springs or the spectacular vapor caves in Glenwood Springs.

The key is to do something with the energies available to us when they are cosmically aligned and they are so deliciously aligned right now. It simply makes sense to me to surf the cosmic tides of this great human adventure as co-creator with Universe by tapping into the available energies as they cycle through. I perceive these energies as literal gifts offered to us by the Gods and Goddesses that rule the Heavens offering their teachings, wisdom, support and love through each energetic cycle. They truly desire for us to do and become our best, lending their energies to awaken codes as we are ready to integrate them into our physical lives.

May these messages serve you well over the coming six weeks,
Jessica Snake Maiden