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 %.

When they are retrograde, it is a big deal. 

In this personal text, I want to share some lessons I learned (or remember) when Venus was retrograde in 2025. 

This is the table of contents: 

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

 Let’s go. 

Manifestations of Venus Retrograde by Transit 

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

They are not plagued by snafus or miscommunications as seen in Mercury retrograde periods. Also, they don’t suggest that action has halted, as it occurs during 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. 

In a previous post, I shared some possible manifestations of Venus retrograde. Now, I’ll revisit them and explain if and how they manifested for me in 2025. Here I come! 

Rumination over tastes, values, fashion style, creative endeavors, and attitudes towards love

My taste hasn’t changed that much. I renewed my love for HBO shows, true crime documentaries, and dark novels. 

My values also intensified. I still adhere to a minimalist, non-consumerist attitude, choose the slow life, and keep my possessions small. 

I read Marie Kondo’s book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing. I was familiar with her book and watched her Netflix show when it was launched.

However, it was the first time I actually read Kondo’s bestseller and applied some of her ideas. The process was short and swift, as my possessions already bring me joy, and I don’t have clutter.  

Regarding fashion style, I read about my body type, and discovered that I’m a rectangle. Then, I found guides to help me choose the clothes and accessories that suit me best. Gabrielle Arruda’s work was really helpful.  

Not to be a tech bro, but I am considering creating a fashion uniform. I plan to wear it (almost) all the time. That was another lesson from Venus retrograde. 

I ruminated on love, relationships, and social life in general. It was not new for me. I’m constantly questioning my connections with others and how I interact with those around me. 

People got on my nerves more than usual. The practice of diplomacy was like training for a marathon during Venus’ retrograde period.  

Questioning of the hidden and primal aspects of your motivation 

Questioning my motivations’ hidden and primal aspects is a work in progress that never ends. 

But the gist of it is that I’m different from most of the population. I have to remember that when I make a decision, whatever that may be. 

Instead of questioning my motivations, Venus retrograde taught me to embrace them.  

What I do and want is very different from what most people do and want. So why listen to them? Why feel bad when I sense that I don’t fit in? 

Instead of worrying about being different, Venus retrograde taught me to double down on my weirdness and trust my gut. 

Better Call Saul was one of the shows that kept me company during Venus’ retrograde in 2025. And Jimmy puts it better than I can:

 

Sensitivity towards objects or experiences that feel like knock-offs, like a cheap replica of the actual thing

The more people talk about AI, the more I want to touch grass. Another lesson from Venus retrograde. 

I have been craving in-person, tactile, and aroma-filled experiences more than ever. This could also be related to the fact that I had surgery during Venus’s retrograde period. 

My septum was deviated, and I couldn’t breathe properly.

After lots of back and forth, I have decided to have the surgery to fix it. It occurred on the 20th of March. That was the exact day of the Equinox, and the first day of the astrological year.

The surgery went well. 

When I was being discharged from the hospital, my surgeon told me that I had to stay inside for a week.

I usually enjoy staying inside and not socializing, but this time around I had other feelings. I guess I wanted to do it more because I couldn’t do it. You only realize what you have when you lose it is a very real cliché. 

Now, I make a point of walking in nature (almost) every day, going out for coffee with my boyfriend, spending time with pets, and hanging out with friends and family with my phone tucked away inside my bag. 

I even joined a literary weekly workshop in my hometown! 

Currently, in-person events seem like a luxury, while AI is a replica of the real thing. Thanks to Venus’ retrograde for helping me realize this. 

I choose and will continue choosing the real thing over and over again. Not being on social media was one of my best decisions over a year ago. In the present, I want to reduce my screen time even more.

Communion with immutable forces, spiritual practices, or the mysteries of life 

Yes, yes, and yes. 

I’m more mystical than I allow myself to be. 

During this Venus’ retrograde, I discovered many stories of people who are polymaths. They may be business people who are also comedians, or people who work on TV but also have a fashion store, or writers who rent out a property to make extra money. 

I used to feel that I had to choose one path and stick with it. Now, I realize that I contradict myself. I am large, and I contain multitudes, and that’s perfectly fine. This Venus retrograde made me feel validated and seen. 

Spiritual practices will always be a part of my life. Engaging with them doesn’t mean that I cannot be a business person or a writer of literary fiction or even something I haven’t discovered yet, but could become an interest of mine in the future. 

My birth chart has a lot of mutable energy. I should know by now that fluctuating, changing my mind, and chasing my curiosity are embedded in my cosmic DNA. 

In these 40 days, I wrote my dreams in my journal. They were very psychedelic because Venus’ retrograde coincided with the first eclipse season of 2025. 

Besides, I meditated and did many YouTube videos of yin yoga classes at home. Two of my favorite channels are Yogi in Melbourne and Breathe and Flow. 

Meditation and yin yoga are two spiritual practices that kept me grounded during the Venus retrograde phase of 2025. Syncronistically enough, I discovered them in 2017. Back then, Venus was also retrograde in Aries. 

My spiritual journey, to call it somehow, started in 2016. That’s the year when I heard about the Saturn return for the first time. 

2017 intensified the journey.

After breaking up with my long-time boyfriend, my company relocated me to Dublin for a few months. 

Yoga was already a regular practice in my life. Therefore, one of the first things I did once I arrived in Ireland was to find a yoga studio. yogahub on Camdem Street became my yoga house. 

I bought a pass and tried to attend as many classes as possible. That’s how I went to a yin yoga class without knowing its characteristics. 

Immediately, I fell in love with the comfy and slow pace of the practice. 

The teacher (Claire? I think that was her name) explained that yin yoga was like using braces in your teeth. You keep the braces for a long time to fix the teeth.

In a yin yoga class, you sustain the same posture for three to five minutes. Doing so allows you to release the tension accumulated in your body over a long period of time. 

Yin yoga is relaxing, yes. However, for some people, it is unbearable. They can’t quiet the monkey mind. They move around and fuss. They get bored and feel like it’s a waste of their time and money. They need something more gymnastic. 

Slowing down is the right medicine for everyone, especially those who can’t stand a yin yoga class.  

Introspection that implies observing your behavior while participating wholly in daily life activities 

Introspection is my second name. This was more a reminder than a lesson of Venus’ retrograde. 

I did lots of journaling and thinking. Besides, I purposefully engaged in hearing more than speaking. 

Need to see aspects of yourself that are usually hidden and are often opposed to the ones consciously exhibited

This definitely happened. However, I don’t think it was more explicit during Venus’ retrograde. 

Analyzing myself and my behavior is one of my favorite activities. As I said, I contain multitudes. 

Enhancement of the flaws in others that can make you see the defects of intimacy rather than its supportive aspects

Since I use astrology as a tool and am conscious of Venus’s retrograde periods, this is a very concrete manifestation. 

Whenever Venus is retrograde, I have doubts about relationships and socializing. Connecting with others seems a miracle rather than a feature of humanity. 

This year, these thoughts were especially acute because I watched the Netflix show Adolescence. What a trip. I’m still in awe and anguish about it. 

Recollection of times in the past when you were rejected or felt inadequate in relationships

Ugh. This was a big one. 

Venus retrograde + Mercury retrograde + eclipse season = remembering whimsical details of all the times I felt rejected in relationships. 

My mind returned to the scenes of a short romantic relationship that roughly coincided with the 40 days of Venus retrograde in 2017. I was the bad guy then. I hurt someone, and my brain punished me during Venus’ retrograde in 2025. Life is cyclical, isn’t it?

I also thought about someone else from my past. This other relationship was more connected with previous Mercury retrograde phases. 

Since this year Venus and Mercury were retrograde together, there was some overlap in my mental processes.  

Final Thoughts About Venus Retrograde 

These are some aphorisms that were very present in my head during the 40 days of Venus retrograde: 

• Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t? No, I would like to meet new devils, thank you very much. 
• A little bit of trashy TV is better than none, but lots of it stresses me out. 
• Jodie Foster has Venus retrograde in her birth chart. I honored her by watching her True Detective season the first weekend of Venus’ retrograde. 
• Distance is perspective. I can only analyze what happened because time has already passed between the facts and my reflection on them. 

What lessons about your relationships, values, tastes, or creative life have transpired during this Venus’ retrograde? Let me know in the comments! 

Thank you for being here, and until next time.