Your Guide to Venus Retrograde in Leo 2023
In this article you’ll find information on:
What Venus means in astrology
What Venus retrograde is in astrology
Venus retrograde dates in 2023
What Venus retrograde in Leo means in 2023
Venus retrograde in Leo horoscopes for the zodiac signs
If you’re looking for a personal reading on how this Venus retrograde is going to impact you, or simply support through this or any other transit, schedule a Just the Rings transit reading.
What is Venus in astrology?
In astrology, Venus is the planet associated with love, connection, creativity, art, music, pleasure, sexuality, “beauty” (whatever that means), unity, harmony, and sensuality. Venus rules Libra and Taurus, and exalts in Pisces, flavoring each of those signs with her sweet, indulgent taste. These are some of the topics that may be ‘affected’ during Venus retrograde.
What does Venus retrograde mean in astrology?
In astrology, Venus retrograde refers to the 40-day period of time every year and a half or so when Venus appears, from our position here on Earth, to travel backwards through the sky. According to NASA, “Retrograde motion is an APPARENT change in the movement of the planet through the sky. It is not REAL in that the planet does not physically start moving backwards in its orbit. It just appears to do so because of the relative positions of the planet and Earth and how they are moving around the Sun.”
During Venus retrogrades, we are reviewing, revisiting, reconsidering, reassessing and sometimes even redoing Venus things like current and past relationships and relationship patterns, creative projects (and creative mediums), forgotten music or films we once loved, our relationship to the concept of beauty, and more.
It’s important to note that as far as astronomy goes, while Venus is retrograde, she is the closest to the Earth that she can be. (This is also the case for Mercury retrograde, and all other planetary retrogrades.) Venus is not necessarily weak when she is retrograde — if anything, retrograde planets are super strong. Too strong. It’s as if we are standing so close to a flame that our perfume catches on fire, or holding Venus so close to us that it looks blurry. It can be difficult to see Venusian things clearly during Venus retrogrades.
On the other hand, Venus’ slow ‘backward’ motion mirrors our sense that we are moving backwards or barely moving in our relationships and creative projects. This is why astrologers often discourage starting new relationships or creative projects during Venus retrograde; we may eventually have to redo something that we missed the first time when were mucking through the sludge of time.
Venus retrograde can, however, be a great time to revisit abandoned creative projects and forgotten artistic mediums and hobbies, work on resolving old issues in existing relationships of all kinds, and recalibrate unproductive (or outright destructive) relationship patterns and dissatisfying sexual issues.
Venus retrograde in Leo 2023
In 2023, Venus will be retrograde from July 22nd until September 3rd. And overall, in 2023, Venus will spend 125 days in Leo due to her retrograde. This is more than five times longer than usual.
While Venus is retrograde in Leo, a fixed fire sign, it may feel like we’re standing a bit too close to the fires of love. We have to be careful not to get burned. The glare of the sun is strong during this time, and this is the time when our individual needs and desires are brightly illuminated and unignorable. Our attention is turned back toward own creative and sexual flame. We’ll also be, you guessed it, reevaluating what love and desire really mean and some of us will likely be changing or ending relationships and relationship patterns.
Through Venus retrograde in Leo, we are experimenting creatively and returning to forgotten creative modalities, developing a steady sense of self-worth, and recognizing who the people we love truly are, for better and for worse.
Venus’ retrograde and extended stay in Leo speaks to a larger and longer-term focus on retaining our sense of self within relationships, honoring individual needs, being seen and known, valuing ourselves, and creating art that is genuinely authentic, original, and unapologetic. Venus retrograde in Leo walks hand-in-hand with in the north node in Aries and south node in Libra (July 17th, 2023—January 11th, 2025), dealing with some of the same topics.
Other Venus retrograde in Leo themes include: authenticity in connection, self-exploration and illumination through relationships, big open hearts, clarifying feelings, individuality ≠ separation, pride vs shame, celebrating ourselves and those we love, altering our relationship to people-pleasing + hierarchy, and lots more.
As is the case during all retrogrades, lots of questions rage through the night, like a sunburn:
What do you need and want?
What art is aching to gush from you?
What is pleasurable to you?
What does love mean to you?
What does desire mean to you?
Venus retrograde dates 2023
June 5th, 2023: Venus enters Leo
June 19th, 2023: Venus’ pre-retrograde shadow period begins at 12º12’ Leo
July 22nd, 2023: Venus stations retrograde at 28º36’ Leo
August 13th, 2023: Venus cazimi (Venus conjunct sun) at 20º28’ Leo
September 3rd, 2023: Venus stations direct at 12º12’ Leo
October 7th, 2023: Venus’ post-retrograde shadow period ends at 28º36’ Leo
October 8th, 2023: Venus enters Virgo
Venus in Leo flows through six phases between June 5th and October 8th:
PHASE 1 of this year’s looong Venus in Leo transit commenced as Venus entered Leo on June 5th.
PHASE 2 begins June 19th, with the start of Venus’ pre-retrograde shadow. Pay attention to what comes up between June 19th and July 22nd — these themes may be revisited during phase 3.
PHASE 3 begins July 22nd, when Venus stations retrograde in Leo. This is when we approach Venus themes + Leo themes from a new angle, rethink and revisit em, question our relationships and ways of connecting, and go deeper into our individual + collective experiences of all things Solar and Venusian.
PHASE 4 is on August 13th, when Venus sinks into the sun. This is sometimes a moment of clarity around the lessons of this transit. Lots more to say on this in August.
PHASE 5 begins on September 3rd, when Venus goes direct. The reality of all that we’ve learned since June really sinks in as we flow forward in new directions.
PHASE 6 begins when Venus moves beyond the degree she stations retrograde at and begins to close out her retrograde story. Things in our Leo houses begin to move much more smoothly.
And PHASE 6 is when Venus finally leaves Leo after more than 4 months, and brings her warmth another area of our chart.
Who is most likely to feel Venus retrograde in Leo on a personal level?
People with fixed signs (Leo, Taurus, Scorpio, Aquarius) in their big 6 (sun, moon, rising, Mercury, Venus, Mars), and anyone in a Leo- or Venus-ruled protection year during this time will feel Venus retrograde in Leo the most.
Horoscopes for Venus retrograde in Leo
*Read for your rising sign first, sun and moon second.
Aries horoscope for Venus retrograde 2023
If you’re under- or over-prioritizing your own needs in love + sex, make changes! Now is the time to get comfortable being true to yourself in love, and to use your art as a mode of genuine self-expression. Revamp the steady flame in your heart + between your legs.
Taurus horoscope for Venus retrograde 2023
Adjust your priorities at home – you glow steadily when you have a home that feels like a sanctuary. Strengthen foundations in your relationships. Look at the past to understand what dims your unbridled self-expression. Make art about your childhood.
Gemini horoscope for Venus retrograde 2023
Tuning into what you need in order to retain your peace of mind. Improving communication. Sweet friendships; changing friendships; shedding rancid ones. Tending to your nest. Moving house? Write write write.
Cancer horoscope for Venus retrograde 2023
Dollar signs, creating something with your hands (jewelry, pottery, DIY projects?), and working on your inner confidence and sense of self-worth. Changes to your job, income, and overall sense of security are possible.
Leo horoscope for Venus retrograde 2023
Reprioritize your relationship with yourself. Remember + reinforce your beauty. Funnel your big, warm love into yourself. Open up blocked portals to receiving love + pleasure. Your light is a golden glow that naturally pours over all of us, not an inconvenient glare. Lots of authentic self-expression + art, please.
Virgo horoscope for Venus retrograde 2023
Prioritize + protect your peace. Ring of fire. Warm home. Cozy backyard barbecue with your closest friends. Take care of your mental health + prioritize what you need to sleep well and feel your best.
Libra horoscope for Venus retrograde 2023
Your dreams are getting warmer, but you may have to adjust the route to them. It’s your authentic shine that carries you there. Now is a good time to branch out socially, and pay attention to who your true friends are – who wants you to succeed alongside them (and vice versa)? Share your art with the world!
Scorpio horoscope for Venus retrograde 2023
Emphasis on career growth, feeling comfier with visibility, and respecting your inner child’s unmet needs. Imagine a world far beyond survival. What parts of you would have to change, or accept soothing, in order for you to get there? What parts would have to come out of hiding?
Sagittarius horoscope for Venus retrograde 2023
Expanding your sense of self is how you expand your comfort zone. Tuning your heart to the note of the self that is larger than the self, the self that keeps learning, exploring, considering new angles. Opening your mind. Traveling, learning, teaching, being willing to see what you hadn’t seen before. Being willing to have been wrong.
Capricorn horoscope for Venus retrograde 2023
Intimacy, paying debts, deep psychic excavation. Understanding traumas; things that have blocked your light or caused you to keep it contained; fears of loss or intimacy. Embrace the breakdown part of the life-death cycle: every self that sets foretells a self that will rise anew. Make art about it.
Aquarius horoscope for Venus retrograde 2023
Balancing self + other. Reclaiming parts of yourself that you have long denied. New love; rethinking old love; revisiting of former lovers or love-patterns. Love that changes you. Balanced relationships are only possible when you are both seeing and seen.
Pisces horoscope for Venus retrograde 2023
Pouring love, warmth, art and creative self-expression into the everyday. Accepting support and offering support. Give and take. Taking care of your health. Eating well and hot girl walks. Recalibrations at work. Spending extra time with animals. How could everyday life shift to allow more pleasure?