I am the Morning Star. Within this context, a Venus retrograde happens on Sunday, December 19. When Venus as the evening star disappears from the night and appears forty days later in the morning as the morning star.
The morning star was seen as “God’s eye,” positioned between darkness (ignorance) and light (knowledge) but always the way-shower to understanding and wisdom. The great Lakota Black Elk spoke of the importance of the morning star as follows:
“Morning Star, there at the place where the sun comes up, you, who have the wisdom which we seek, help us in cleansing ourselves and all the people, that our generations to come will have light as they walk the sacred path. You lead the dawn as it walks forth, and also the day which follows with its light, which is knowledge. This you do for us and for all the people of the world that they may see clearly in walking the holy path, that they may know all that is holy, and that they may increase in a sacred manner.”
Besides visually passing from evening star, through the underworld, and into her morning star phase, Venus’ retrograde establishes a new “seed moment,” where the foundation or wellspring of Venusian energies for the next 19 months is established. Appropriately, Venus is the planet of love. Venus, the brightest object in our sky outside of the sun and moon, is still visible in the dawn sky as the sun rises. It is the herald of the light out of the dark of the night. Venus and the sun are intertwined in an immortal dance of rebirth. As the morning star, or the light coming out of the dark of the night, Venus announces the arrival of the sun. It is the harbinger of the day to come. It stands at the breaking of dawn as the last star to disappear into the glory of the sun. And in the darkest of times, hope will light the way—this is Venus as the morning star, the star of hope.
The Venus retrograde lasts for 40 days and 40 nights, an epic length of time that we find in myths like the Great Flood of Noah or Inanna’s descent into the Underworld.
In Sumerian myth, Inanna is the Queen of Heaven, both Lady of the Morning and Lady of the Evening. Likewise, Venus also appears in the sky in the morning and the evening, depending on where she is in her cycle. Venus retrograde cycles have long been linked to the myth of this Sumerian goddess and her journey into the underworld.
But to enter the underworld, she must give up her earthly powers. As she descends through each of the 7 gates, she is stripped of her talismans and identities that grant her strength, power and desirability in the above-world.
As Inanna sheds earthly things, what do you need to shed to improve your spirit, family and other relationships?
As the planet of love and values, Venus retrograde periods are times when we reassess what—and who—we value. Retrograde periods are a time for pause, revision, and reflection. This is a time to reconsider your relationship to wealth. This is not money – material wealth but the wealth that is most important, the wealth of knowledge, the wealth of wisdom, the wealth of spirit, the wealth of family and friends to name a few.
Venus retrograde is the most strongly felt of all retrograde planets. Use Venus retrogrades to improve how you feel about yourself, to love yourself more. Think about what really brings you pleasure.
All humans want love, but how much of yourself are you willing to sacrifice to get it? And how long are you willing to stay in a relationship where you’re not loved in the ways that matter to you?
“A bird sitting on a tree is never afraid of the branch breaking because her trust is not on the branch, but on her own wings.”