How this Venus retrograde supports us

As I thought about Venus retrograde coming up, I knew it was about self love. Venus is the planet of love, retrogrades are a time of reflection, going inwards. Simply put, self love.

Yet how can we navigate this period (July 22 - September 3) and what tools can we use to empower us? 

I was called to visit the Greek myth of Persephone. 

Persephone is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. Demeter is the Goddess of Harvest and Agriculture (grain). Persephone would receive many offers of marriage, yet her mother would refuse them all, she wanted Persephone to stay with her.

There are two interpretations of the next part of the story, the first is that whilst Persephone was picking flowers, Hades (God of the Underworld), abducted her and took her to the underworld. The other interpretation, which I choose to go with, is Persephone chose to go with Hades.

Demeter searched the land, trying to find her daughter. As the search continued, through her sadness, anger, guilt and grief, Demeter stopped the earth from thriving, from the grains growing. The mortal humans would now starve until she found her daughter.

When they found out Persephone was with Hades, Zeus instructed Hermes to retrieve her. Before she leaves, Persephone eats a number of pomegranate seeds (in another version Hades tricks her into eating them). This ritual connected her to Hades for eternity, which meant every year for a certain amount of months, Persephone descended into the underworld.

This myth was seen as an agriculture myth, death and rebirth is a natural cycle of the seasons. It also is seen as the metaphor of letting go to become anew. 

I immediately saw the connection to Venus Retrograde, which will occur in the sign of Leo.

In mythology, Hades is represented by the element of fire, Persephone is the element of water. Astrologically, Leo is a fire sign and Venus is classically represented by water.

Persephone’s innocence, this element of stuck, unknowing of both herself and the world around her was no longer how she wanted to live. Persephone wanted to face the underworld. Within modern myth, the underworld is shadow work. She chose to face the parts of herself hidden from the light.

The etymology of the word innocence is freedom of guilt and shame. It is not that we walk through life void of shame, but rather, we gain innocence from our ability to free ourselves from the hold of guilt and shame. If the word shame doesn’t resonate, replace it with the word fears, mistakes or secrets. Shame blocks our light, our ability to self love. 

This Venus Retrograde in Leo is a time we finally have the strength to look at those feelings, the guilt, grief, anger, sadness and fears that stop us from accepting all parts of ourselves.

The myth of Persephone is the acceptance that power and freedom comes from the integration of shadows. That this is a natural cycle in time, just as winter moves to spring, we must take a healthy look at why we keep feeling or doing something we don’t want. 

Persephone broke free from the grips of her mother, who as any mother would, wanted to keep her daughter safe. Yet safety never lies in our ignorance. In our pretending it didn’t happen, pretending not to know. True safety is in our ability to look at the depths of our own pain, to know ourselves. Through it we find our personal power, we find freedom.

When we talk about freedom, for many of us the finger is pointed outward. “When I have a certain amount of money in my bank I will be free. When I have this thing, when my kids are older, when this person says this/does this.. I will be free”.

Most of our understanding of freedom is through finally receiving something. Yet what Persephone, Venus retrograde, talks about is freedom as a state of mind. It is happening in Leo after all, a sign that wants to express themselves unapologetically.

If we go through life waiting for something to happen, worried about what others think about us, are we actually free? 

When our empathy, naivety and kindness are not used as empowerment but rather patterns of people pleasing, they are self restrictive. Persephone could have stayed, yet would she have been free? Venus retrograde will allow us to look at and acknowledge the pain that has us feeling stuck. 

Where are we afraid to be seen as bright, strong, right, aggressive, loud, difficult, demanding, sexual, deserving, relaxed, comfortable, frustrated, opinionated?

This myth allows us to understand this is a cycle. It is not forever, emotions once felt and accepted can lose their hold over you, secrets once told no longer keep you captive. 

It comes down to one word. Courage. 

Persephone chose to face the underworld to move away from her restriction. If there is one thing we can do during this period, is have the courage to ask ourselves why we feel how we feel, again and again.

To use our courage to be curious. It was Hermes who retrieved Persephone after all, the God who was later represented by the planet Mercury, the planet of communication and curiosity.

Honor your story, speak it, write it, do what you need to respect it.

Provide yourself the empathy and compassion you may have never received. To be human is to live a bumpy road, to live multiple lives in one life. The constant cycles of life and death, renew and release is a chapter in our story, not the whole book.

Love, Aleen

20 July 2023