As Venus journeys backwards through Scorpio, old attachments, fractured relationships and lost values begin to resurface. What have we excluded that we need to rediscover differently?

Having journeyed with Inanna in her descent to the underworld through the seven gates, we have witnessed her relinquishing a little more of her potency at each gate.

Venus is coming up to square Pluto (again tomorrow 18th). She’s just been inconjunct Uranus, and at the same time, the Moon is inconjunct Mars and in square Saturn. Today and tomorrow some of the harder days in the retrograde cycle.

Venus is not having a great time of it right now. Not only is Venus in retrograde, in square to Pluto, but she’s also in the sign of Scorpio, which is Venus in her detriment. In traditional astrology, a planet is in detriment when it occupies the sign opposite of the one it rules. As Venus rules Taurus, Scorpio is its opposite.

Venus is a lot less comfortable here, as her natural qualities are inhibited. Venus thrives on safety, but in Scorpio she must deal with the shadow of the underworld. Under Scorpio’s influence, Venus’ themes of sensuality, relationships, pleasure and worth are catapulted into the turmoil of emotional vulnerability, entanglement, survival, the fear of loss and the need for control.

Therefore, it’s a less-so-wondrous journey for Venus right now, but as always, with Scorpio comes the possibility of rebirth and renewal. Old loves, friends and values may return, albeit differently. People and things that once meant something to you, but were left behind along life’s way, not because you wanted to let them go, but because circumstances forced a parting. Perhaps some of what was lost can now be reborn in a new, even better form, so it is a time of hope too.

We begin to see what we need to revisit, what wants our renewed commitment, and what we are now fully ready to release and close. When it comes to our worth and resources, we might find ourselves reconsidering our finances also, as these are strong Venus themes. We might notice how spending or saving reassures us, or how financial dependence affects what we are able to do or even say.

There is always an eight-year echo with every Venus retrograde due to its cycle. Think back to October and November 2010 and 2018, where Venus retrograded from Scorpio to Libra. What was happening in your life then around Venus themes? Venus is almost the identical zodiacal degree territory. Checking diaries, journals and photos looking back at those earlier periods help us recognise the recurring pattern, attachment or question of worth that we are now encountering again but from a varying position having moved also on in our lives.

As we journey into the more uncomfortable levels of Venus retrograde now, we may notice this physically too: illnesses and injuries, our inner tension when checking the bank account, our unease in relationships, or picking fault with what we see in the mirror. Her descent may reveal just how much our sense of self depends upon feeling healthy, financially secure, attractive, or assured of our place in another person’s life. We now ask who we are in relation to those things: the finances, the mirror reflection, and the other.

As we ourselves pass through the seven gates, we might notice what has kept us at a distance from others. Perhaps this is out of protection, or simply because relationships have become more complicated, harder to be honest in. Over the last six years, so much has changed between people. Friendships and families have fractured, divided, or drifted apart. Sometimes, there were differences we couldn’t get beyond; other times circumstances simply pulled us apart. Venus retrograde in Scorpio may bring some of those separations back into view, along with what is still difficult, what hurts or what we miss. In some instances, this is a time when we can bring relationships back to life or acknowledge within ourselves what’s not yet been reconciled.

Venus rules what we welcome into our lives: what we love, desire, and admire. But if we value one quality, we might push the opposite quality away. And if you recall, Scorpio rules the opposite sign of one of Venus’ signs Taurus. So these opposite qualities are more highlighted at this time. For example, if we value our independence, then feeling dependent on others is difficult. If we value our kindness, then we might repress feelings of anger.

This happens between people too. Families often have a black sheep, who expresses what everyone else cannot see or acknowledge. Inanna’s sister Ereshkigal, ruler of the underworld, is that black sheep, the image of that which is excluded. She is the rejected or forgotten sister, giving expression to grief, rage, loss and other experiences that have been pushed aside or left unspoken. So other questions here are: What have my values caused me to exclude? And how has that affected the way I treat myself and others?

But perhaps one of the hardest things to make room for is uncertainty itself. When we are taken away from our comfort zone, we reside in a degree of uncertainty. Suspended, perhaps even feeling paralysed, unsure of our direction or the answer to the problems we face. We may not know why someone has changed, why a relationship has fallen apart, or what comes next. And rather than sit in that uncertainty, we keep searching for answers, hoping that somehow the answer will help us feel less lost.

All relationships reach a point of uncertainty without actually ending. It’s a normal, natural process. We may still care for each other, but somehow the relationship no longer feels like it fully provides us with that joint momentum. As the relationship energy wanes, as Venus descends, we might not yet know whether the relationship needs to end or adjust. And so sitting in the uncertainty, in no man’s land, is what we need to do. Forcing an answer, or a question, is not what we need to do. Awaiting a breakthrough or revelation, that might not come immediately is where we are at.

So if we try to keep something going or find the answer despite the shifting tides, through sheer willpower alone, then we are not fully appreciating the teaching of uncertainty. It’s also a time of endings, this is the reality of it and hard to accept that all things will come to pass, ebb and flow, and that nothing continually expands forever. But if we can’t face the truth of what is happening and what needs to change, and take our time, rather than over analyse, or searching for reasons and explanations, trying to understand we did wrong, and all manner of other things, then we won’t find peace at this time.

Peace returns when we make friends with uncertainty. And a true pause can only arrive when we stop trying to fill up that silence: the silence of not knowing, of unanswered questions, complex feelings and uncomfortable truths. The truth is that some things simply cannot be explained, even with time. We may still feel hurt, grieve someone or wish things had turned out differently, and still allow the process to be what it is: unexplained. A pause in forward momentum often brings in space, and eventually, something may reach us, but from a direction our mind hasn’t considered. Allow the gaps to remain unfilled without waiting for it to give us an answer. It has no purpose; it is simply a space, pregnant with possibility. What emerges from it may be something we could never have arrived at through our usual way of thinking.

It’s also worth remembering that some of what we have pushed aside may contain information we now need. Anger may also show us where a boundary has been crossed and our need for another person can show us where we lack support. Our grief may bring us to acknowledge something that has ended. Not everything that returns from the past is painful either. As it’s a time of rekindling what we’ve excluded or lost.

As Venus continues moving backwards through Scorpio, we are approaching the inferior conjunction with the Sun on 23–24 October. Here she disappears into the Sun’s light, the lowest point of her journey. In the myth, at this point, Inanna’s descent is taking her to Ereshkigal, the sister whose world has remained separate from her own. What has been pushed aside is within hand’s reach and with it the possibility of understanding something about ourselves and our relationships. That might be the point of revelation or breakthrough.