Venus Direct in Capricorn

Venus, the planet that governs our values, goes direct Saturday, January 29, 2022, and will remain so until March 6, 2022. This astrological event jump starts us off to a fresh eight-year course, the last one occurring from December 21, 2013 to January 31, 2014. Expect a similar cycle of awareness to occur. Venus rules our relationships, those with others and with ourselves. She essentially hands us a mirror, reflecting back our inner world to ourselves. We attract what we put out into the world. It’s the literal definition of karma. What a bitch.

I was running a seemingly successful dive bar/music venue, with every intention of buying it one day. I had dreams of owning my own restaurant, an ambition that I have had since high school. I enjoyed it until I actually started the process, then the panic attacks came. I realized that it was no longer in alignment with what I wanted. In fact I began to hate that place, dreading the short drive to that same hippie bar day in and day out. It really began to sink in when I stopped filtering myself, when I would say the things that were in my head that I wasn’t supposed to say out loud, at least not where the customers could hear. I knew I needed to leave, to go find something else to do with my life. But I had no idea what that was.

Venus holds dual rulership over both Libra and Taurus, guiding us in the various aspects of love and money. We are taught growing up that we are supposed to find that one career in life, hunker down for 30 years, and then retire in our sixties where we can finally begin to enjoy this life. Yeah that doesn’t really work for me. I’m glad that I didn’t end up pursuing that career path, mostly because I began to hate myself doing it, but also because that business doesn’t exist anymore. It went down like the Titanic, except it was a pandemic instead of an iceberg. Trust me when I say that place was headed that direction anyway.

Re-View Yourself

Venus goes through 3 main phases when the planet is retrograde, the first representing the majority of any planetary retrograde. Any time a planet goes retrograde, it’s an invitation to look deeper at our current circumstances. Sometimes in life we need to redirect our energy, our focus. Sometimes we have to trash a whole idea, because we’ve realized that it wasn’t ours to begin with. Sometimes we learn new information that causes us to change the way we think. You are allowed to change your mind, you know? It’s actually a good thing, a sign of growth.

Venus turned retrograde, which lasts around 40 days, on December 19, 2021, and we do this every 19 months. This is her death and rebirth cycle, her move from an evening star to a morning star. Venus was originally thought to be two planets: Hesperus, the Greek name for the ‘star of the evening,’ and Phosphorus, the ‘bringer of light.’ We now attribute this to the maturation from the maiden phase into the crone stage, a cycle of desire and release.

Life and death are but illusions. We are in a constant state of transformation.

Film Producer Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu

We go through these seasons of our lives without realizing them sometimes until it’s over, but that doesn’t mean it’s too late to learn the lessons. We all make mistakes. We all fall from grace. We all have to climb that long road of forgiveness and self-compassion. We all go through the same process of learning how to love ourselves, even when we go against our own values, although they each have their own individual flavors. The Devil isn’t bad, he just made a few godawful decisions.

Re-Write Your Story

As Venus shifts its position in the sky, it will sort of ‘disappear’ from view for a while. Hence the thinking that it was two entirely different planets. This is your metaphorical blank canvas on which to get super clear about your values and how you would like that to look from here on out. And then ask yourself if you are living in accordance with that image of future you.

What got you here won’t get you there.

Author Marshall Goldsmith

You did a really good job getting this far in life. You did the best you could with what you know, but now you know more. Now you want to do better, or maybe just different. It can be scary to make changes in your life, changes of any size. It can drum up some yucky emotions. Sometimes we get confronted with ourselves, and we don’t always like it. The light comes in through the broken places, and taking refuge in your own reality requires a ton of kindness to yourself. That, and a lot of ugly crying in the bathtub.

I used to have these words written in my Instagram bio: Write well. Edit often. It has become sort of a mantra of mine, or more likely the grand theme of my life. Every single day I learn something new. Every single day I am armed with new information. A shift in nature occurs, a shift in my nature. I’m learning how to be nicer to myself, because I can be a complete asshole to myself. I say things to myself that I wouldn’t say to my best friend in a million years. Who wrote this script that I keep reading from? I don’t like it anymore. I’m scrapping it and writing a new one.

Re-Birth Your Life

Venus makes her debut as morning star on January 15, bringing with her the light of awareness. This is the part where the butterfly comes out of the cocoon. This is the delivery room floor of your true self, the person you were before everyone had to put all their shit on you, all of their expectations and projections of who you were and what was expected of you. Quite frankly I have an expectation hangover.

Venus gives us the impression that we are going to have some sort of romantic rebirth. I have never had children, nor will I, but from what I understand it’s quite messy. And so is this life. But isn’t that sort of the point? When we were children we never worried about getting dirty. We could find inspiration anywhere. I made mud pies after it rained. Shit! Sometimes we would run the hose just for that. I made snow angels without a care that my hair would get wet and freeze to the back of my neck. Somewhere along the line we forget our true nature. We forget that we are human.

Mad love, Jenna