Venus retrogrades every 18 months for around 40 days. 

Along with Mars, Venus is the planet that spends the least time of its cycle in retrograde motion. 

Venus spends 7 % of its cycle retrograding, while Mars spends 9 %. 

However, their retrograde cycles have their special characteristics. 

In this text, I discuss Venus in the birth chart and the specificity of its retrograde periods. 

I’ll do so with the help of Erin Sullivan’s book Retrograde Planets: Traversing the Inner Landscape.

This is the table of contents: 

1. 10 Keywords Associated With Venus 
2. Venus in the Birth Chart  
3. Venus Retrograde by Transit 
4. The House in the Birth Chart Where Venus Retrogrades
5. What Happens When Venus Goes Direct?
6. The Cycle of Venus Retrograde in 2025

Let’s go. 

10 Keywords Associated With Venus 

• Desire
• Values
• Relationships
• Love
• Beauty
• Art 
• Taste
• Money
• Creative expression 
• Harmony

Related: Pinterest Predicts 2025 and Astrology

Since I like to see every astrological placement and transit in fifty shades of gray, I offer you extra keywords. 

The one on the left depicts Venus most positively. Meanwhile, the one on the right offers a not-so-positive expression of this planet. 

Here we go: 

• Deserving>>>Entitlement
• Gentleness>>>Hypocrisy
• Enjoyment>>>Indulgence
• Trust>>>Passivity
• Grooming>>>Vanity
• Diplomacy>>>Indecision
• Generosity>>>Lack of boundaries
• Cordiality>>>Jealousy 
• Appetite>>>Selfishness
• Attraction>>>Superficiality 

All of these potentialities are expressed, to one degree or another, in your birth chart and on specific Venus transits. 

Related: The Astrology of 2025

Venus in the Birth Chart  

In the birth chart, Venus acts as a filter through which you find enjoyment in life. This planet screens out unpleasant stimuli and discriminates against those that don’t bring you joy. It’s the most Marie Kondo-approved of all the planets.  

The polished aspects of Venus in your personality manifest in different ways:

• Your interactions with others
• How you clothe
• What music, art, or environments you like
• The social circles you travel in
• And the experiences you find stimulating. 

Venus tells you when we are repelled instinctively. This planet protects your essence from being offended. 

Besides, it alerts you to the responses that satisfy your desires through food, love, or visual stimulation. Venus encourages you to follow its guidelines for taste. 

If you go against your core instincts and behave in a phony way, you have a Venus problem. It doesn’t matter if millions applaud you.

Venus grows along with you. Your values are embedded in the gut, where intelligence is far superior to the one in the brain. (The brain and gut are actually connected, but that’s a conversation for another day.) 

Fundamentally, Venus tells you what is right and wrong. As you mature, this planet influences how you view society and its values. It also indicates if those values are the ones you wish to subscribe to.

Venus is like a sensory detector. It alerts you when you must modify your appearance to make it match your inner self. When you need a haircut to mark a new phase in your life, that’s Venus communicating with you. 

Sometimes, tastes change, and daily activities need to be refreshed. Only experience can tell you when your values have become jaded or out of fashion with your new self.  

Venus retrograde periods are prime times to review values and tastes in depth. 

Venus Retrograde by Transit 

Every time Venus goes retrograde, there are typical manifestations. Some of them include: 

• Rumination over tastes, values, fashion style, creative endeavors, and attitudes towards love. 
• Questioning of the hidden and primal aspects of your motivation. 
• Sensitivity towards objects or experiences that feel like knock-offs, like a cheap replica of the actual thing. 
• Communion with immutable forces, spiritual practices, or the mysteries of life. 
• Introspection that implies observing your behavior while participating wholly in daily life activities. 
• Need to see aspects of yourself that are usually hidden and are often opposed to the ones consciously exhibited. 
• Enhancement of the flaws in others that can make you see the defects of intimacy rather than its supportive aspects. 
• Recollection of times in the past when you were rejected or felt inadequate in relationships. 

I know all of these experiences sound poetic rather than concrete. That’s because Venus retrograde is like that. 

Venus retrograde periods are deep and subtle at the same time. 

They are not riddled with snafus or miscommunications like Mercury retrograde periods. They don’t imply that action has stopped like Mars retrograde periods. 

You don’t have to do anything specific when Venus is retrograde. The reflections or revisions needed about your relationships, values, tastes, or creative life will become evident once this transit begins. 

The House in the Birth Chart Where Venus Retrogrades

The area in the birth chart being examined by Venus retrograde has gone unattended for some time. An in-depth revision is needed, and Venus retrograde by transit offers just that. 

The area where Venus is retrograde becomes vulnerable to attack. This house of the birth chart is often the stage for a confrontation. Unspoken messages, hints, nuances, and subtleties become magnified and can be distorted during Venus retrograde. 

Venus examines undeveloped personal characteristics in the houses of the natal chart it transits. When Venus explores two houses, there is an overlapping of concerns. 

Related: Saturn Through the 12 Houses of the Zodiac: An Introduction 

But there’s also a subtle change of themes when Venus changes zodiac signs during the retrograde phase. 

What Happens When Venus Goes Direct?

What you feel in your gut after Venus turns direct is a visceral knowing that cannot be articulated. This knowing can only be enacted through relationships with others or through creative or spiritual manifestations. 

For example, you may not know how to express what has changed within you regarding a close relationship. But you may have a dream at night that makes you feel that change in a way that words can’t grasp. 

Integrating the lessons Venus retrograde brought into your conscious self takes time. It’s not an immediate process. And it can’t be said that you’ll know what you need to know in two or three months. The timeline varies. 

Looking back eight years when analyzing a current Venus retrograde transit is helpful. There will be echoes of the past in the present situation. 

The inferior planets always pick up unfinished businesses they left off in the last retrograde cycle. But, unlike Mercury’s fast and accessible cycle, Venus’ is more lengthy. 

Venus retrograde goes through the same natal house every eight years. By doing it, this planet reviews and unearths incomplete or dormant issues that have been quiet since the last transit.

Deeply mysterious transformations occur when Venus is retrograde. And they are so mysterious that you may never know what happened until several months later. 

Related: Saturn’s Transits at 7, 14, 21, and 28 Years Old

After Venus has turned direct, the time to review what the retrograde period revealed starts. But you don’t have to force it. 

The discord that may arise during Venus retrograde signals the distance you are from your core values. The higher the discord, the higher the distance to your true desires. 

Once Venus is direct, all the turmoil can be blown out of proportion. Sometimes, this is needed to shift gears. 

But try to be mindful and don’t burn bridges you may need once the lessons are integrated. 

The Cycle of Venus Retrograde in 2025

• Beginning of the retrogradation: Venus will start its retrograde journey on March 1, 19:36 EST, at 10°50’ of Aries.
• Middle of the retrogradation: The midpoint of the retrograde cycle marks the beginning of a new phase of evaluation. In 2025, it occurs on March 22nd, 21:07 EST. At this moment, the Sun conjuncts Venus at 02°39’ of Aries.
• Venus goes back to Pisces: This retrogradation will impact two houses of your birth chart. You should check the topics of both your Aries and Pisces houses. Venus ingresses Pisces on March 27th at 04:41 EST.  
• Ending of the retrogradation: Venus turns direct on 24°37’ of Pisces on April 12th at 21:02. 

Hope this text was helpful, and I wish you a transformational Venus retrograde! See you next time.