Over the weekend, Venus retrograded into Pisces. The retrograde began March 4 in Aries, which means that for months, Venus will be walking between the two signs, giving us some contrast between the extraverted nature of Aries and the introverted nature of Pisces. This is Part II of the retrograde: the last phase, which ends on April 15 with Venus stationing direct in an extended and meaningful conjunction to Chiron.

Fractal. Credit: Barbara A Lane.

Venus is one of the more palpable planets; we can feel her, and want to feel her. She carries a lot of weight in our culture, perhaps a little too much. Much of what we struggle with comes back to Venus, particularly our perception and experience of women, of beauty, of the attractive force, and most of all, of values. Values means priorities; the basis by which we decide what is important.

Now with Venus in Pisces, the emphasis is more on feeling and less on appearances; more on aesthetics and less on impressing people. In spiritual terms, more on soul and less on ego. And as Venus retrogrades back through Pisces, ending its retrograde in a conjunction to Chiron, we might feel all these matters come to a head.

Much of the frenetic quality of the winter season involved Mercury and Venus in Aries, combined with the equinox and the third contact of the Uranus-Eris conjunction. Thankfully there’s been plenty else happening in Pisces, providing some grounding in the world of beauty; though for many, it’s equally confusing: Neptune in Pisces is not easy for everyone, a theme which deserves more discussion.

Venus ingressing Pisces will help cool things off, at least. Combined with Mercury leaving Aries and moving into Taurus last week, which has a similar effect, at least there’s more emphasis on feminine qualities and feminine signs.

Now, my take on Venus retrograde into a long conjunction with Chiron is that it’s going to be deep, and call upon us to offer a real response. Chiron emphasizes the need for healing. In Pisces this is about the at-times subtle, at-times urgent, call of God/Goddess/Source, however you may think of this very real thing.

Fractal. Credit: Barbara A Lane.

When you add Venus, that brings in themes of the physical body, the senses, our tangible feelings, and therefore, the whole crisis of physicality.

Events over in Aries are continually pushing us out of our body, into the astral realm. As that’s happening, developments in Pisces are calling out for conscious reintegration of the physical, the emotional and the spiritual: that is, of reality.

I’ll take this up more holistically in Tuesday’s Planet Waves FM.

To all the students who took part in Saturday’s class on karma, reincarnation and astrology, thank you. These classes are great fun, they’re essential and they’re a benefit for the Planet Waves project. We’ve begun a Facebook group for people who consider themselves my astrology student, or who want to be. If you’d like to get in, visit the page and send us a request.