Venus Retrograde in Leo ♀ 2023

artist: Yuko Higuchi

Venus enters Leo: June 5

Venus Retrograde in Leo: July 22 – Sep 3

Venus enters Virgo: Oct 8

Venus was last retrograde in Leo 8 years ago, from July 31-Sep 6, 2015.

Planets in retrograde are not actually spinning backwards. It’s just an optical illusion as seen from Earth. In astrology, this illusion manifests as a “backwards” functioning of the planetary roles. Click here to learn more about retrograde.

Venus turns retrograde once every 18 months for six weeks. We last experienced Venus Retrograde in Jan 2022 in the sign of Capricorn. During Venus Rx, we are likely to experience a change in a significant relationship. In Leo, this means our relationship to Self, especially our personal narrative/identity. Know that unstable interpersonal relationships will be greatly tested too. Venus also rules personal appearance so things like haircuts, tattoos, piercings, or other external changes are not advised at this time.

The most quintessential theme of Venus Retrograde is social malfunction. Conversations may be awkward or uncomfortable. Unexpected delays or cancellations are common. Venus Retrograde does this to judge the health of our relationship to self and others. This transit demands crystal clear communication for success. Although confrontation can be stressful, it releases the psyche in a powerful way. It’s time to be honest & direct.

With Venus Rx in Leo, we will create and foster a more honest, loving relationship with our innermost Self. Venus Retrograde also wants us to feel at home, both physically and psychologically. As such you may move to a new residence or question whether you’re in the “right place.”

Fire signs are active and restless. Venus Rx in Leo will make us more headstrong, argumentative, and stubborn. Don’t take Leo’s fickle moods too seriously as they are exactly that: subject to change at any moment.

One manifestation of Leo is the angry child, flickering with shades of violent emotion. In the heat of the moment, Leo says things he doesn’t mean. Although the lion’s heart is open and courageous, it is also easily bruised. Another manifestation of Venus in Leo is the gentle giant: soft, caring, scooping up friends and family with padded paws.

Sometimes Venus in Leo overstates reality to create momentary excitement, to escape from mental or emotional boredom. Another possibility is over-indulgence: spending too much money, going out. Part of Leo’s karma (besides channeling his impressive will power into the right mediums) involves overcoming attachment to material possessions, especially clothes (shoes!), food, bevvies, vacations, and luxuries of all kinds. Rest assured, if Leo has money, he will spend it.

Venus Rx in Leo kindles pride, sensuality, creativity, and inner fire. It’s a colorful and energizing time, drawing us closer to ourselves and opening the heart. It’s a journey of self-discovery and self-love. We are eager to get there, eager to be free. There will be much impatience and restlessness to manage along the way but we will learn how to wax and wane with these fickle flames, how to follow their lines as they snake up the hillside.

I hope that Leo’s sunshine brings you out to play with friends, out into the community. I hope you treat yourself and seize the moment. And I hope most of all that you know (and love) yourself more by the end of this fiery dance.

Venus Retrograde often marks the end of significant relationships, but not because incidents occur – it is because we finally have the confidence to speak. It is important to act on the impulse to communicate when it arises. This urge indicates that a window of divine timing has opened.

Venus Retrograde feels like all things fated. Life unfolds as it must, regardless of attachment, regardless of whether or not we feel “ready.” Something peculiar will start to happen. You will be contacted by people you haven’t seen or talked to in years. Could be a message or a phone call, a lover or an old friend, someone with whom you once shared a profoundly intimate connection, the kind so powerful that, even when left for many years, quietly, like a letter in a yellowing envelope, comes back to life so suddenly and with such force that you fall into it all over again, willingly, helplessly, as lovers do.

If you feel it coming ~ it’s coming ~

Challenging dates to watch before the retrograde: June 5, June 11, July 2

During the retrograde: July 27, Aug 9, Aug 13, Aug 22

After the retrograde: Sep 17, Sep 29 (Super Full Moon in Aries)

If you were born with Venus in Leo, you’re in for an interesting Venus Return. To find your personal Venus sign, click here.