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Welcome to Witches and Yoga Pants, your cozy corner of the cosmos, where modern magic meets everyday life. We're here to explore magic, mindfulness, and personal growth with a grounded, no-fluff vibe. Whether you're into moon rituals, tarot spreads, or just trying to survive Mercury retrograde, you're in the right place. So get ready to disrupt some old patterns, explore what it means to reclaim your power and remember who you really are. So pull up your yoga mat, light a candle, and let's get into it. Hello and welcome back. I'm really glad you're here. Today we're gonna talk about Venus Retrograde, which began this week. It runs from October 3rd through November 13th. And I think this is an interesting retrograde to explore because it tends to receive much less attention than Mercury retrograde, which will also be retrograde October 24th through November 13th. So the tail end of Venus retrograde is gonna be piggybacked by a Mercury retrograde. And if you're interested, I do have an earlier episode that I recorded about Mercury retrograde that you can go back and revisit. Most of us have heard plenty about Mercury retrograde. Venus brings our attention to a different part of our lives because it is connected with love, relationships, beauty, pleasure, creativity, money, our personal values, and our sense of worth. When we say that a planet is retrograde, the planet is not actually reversing its direction through space, but it only appears to be moving backward from our perspective here on Earth. Astrologically, that apparent backward movement is associated with review. It can be a time when we reconsider something, see a familiar situation differently, or become more aware of a pattern that has been quietly operating in the background. The energy can feel less focused on moving ahead and more focused on understanding where we are now, how we arrived here, and whether our choices still reflect what matter to us. I do not think we need to be afraid of retrograde or assume that something difficult is about to happen. There are always these warnings online about what we should or shouldn't do during retrograde, and sometimes those warnings can make it sound as though we should put our entire lives on hold. I prefer to think of these periods as opportunities to slow down enough to notice what's already asking for our attention. A retrograde may bring something to the surface, but that doesn't mean that the planet created the issue. Often it simply helps us to see something more clearly. When people talk about Venus retrograde, the conversation often focuses heavily on former partners returning. And that can happen, but it's only one possible expression of this energy. Venus touches so many parts of our lives, including the relationships we have with ourselves, our ability to receive, the ways we experience pleasure and beauty, our creativity, and the values that shape our choices. Because Venus is connected with love, this can be a meaningful time to consider how we experience love in all of our relationships. We may notice how comfortable we are expressing affection, asking for what we need, allowing another person to care for us, or receiving love without immediately questioning it. We may also become more aware of the ways we naturally show love and whether the people around us recognize what we're trying to offer. Sometimes we assume that because we love someone, that they automatically understand how we feel. We may express love through helping, listening, making life easier, spending time together, offering physical affection, or speaking words of encouragement. Another person may express it very differently. Neither way is necessarily wrong, but if we never talk about those differences, both people can care deeply and still feel as though something's missing. Venus retrograde can invite us to become more conscious of these patterns. It can help us notice where we've been relying on habit instead of connection, or assuming that the person we love should know what we need without having to say it. This does not mean that we need to analyze every relationship or search for problems. It may simply encourage more honesty and appreciation. We might become more intentional about telling someone what they mean to us, asking how they've been feeling, or making room for the kinds of connection that have gradually been crowded out by everyday responsibilities. Venus is also connected with our sense of worth. And this is one of the areas where a retrograde review can become especially meaningful. Many of us have learned to measure our worth through what we accomplish, how useful we are, how other people respond to us, or how well we meet the expectations around us. We might feel valuable when we're being productive, needed, appreciated, or chosen, but struggle to maintain that feeling when outside validation is not there. We may also notice that we become very comfortable giving and much less comfortable receiving. Giving can feel safe because it allows us to remain in control. We can anticipate what someone needs, offer support, solve a problem, or make ourselves useful. Receiving can feel vulnerable because it asks us to trust that we do not have to earn everything good that comes into our lives. Receiving may be accepting help without immediately trying to repay it. It might be allowing someone to give us a compliment without dismissing it. It might be resting before every task is finished, or charging fairly for our work, or asking for support, or believing that another person genuinely wants to show up for us. We can become so accustomed to being the capable one that we forget that other people may want the opportunity to care for us too. A Venus retrograde can help us notice whether there's balance between what we offer and what we allow ourselves to receive. This is not about keeping score in our relationships or making sure that every gesture is returned in exactly the same way. Healthy relationships move through different seasons, and there will be times when one person has more energy or capacity than the other one. The question is whether receiving has a place in our lives at all, or whether we believe we must continually give in order to remain worthy of love, belonging, or support. Our sense of worth can also influence what we allow ourselves to want. We may dismiss our desires before we've even considered them because they seem impractical or unnecessary or too much to ask for. We may be very good at identifying what everybody around us wants while feeling disconnected from our own preferences. Venus retrograde can bring these preferences back into our awareness. We might begin noticing what actually feels good to us rather than what we've been told should feel good. We may realize that our tastes have changed, that something we once enjoyed no longer appeals to us, or that we miss a part of ourselves that has not had much room in our current routine. That connects with another important Venus theme: pleasure. Pleasure can be a surprisingly complicated subject because many of us have learned to see it as something that we earn after all of our responsibilities are complete. We tell ourselves we can rest when the work is finished, enjoy ourselves when everyone else is taken care of, or return to what we love when life becomes less busy. The problem is that the work is never completely finished. Someone will always need something. And life rarely arrives at a point where nothing requires our attention. If pleasure is always postponed until every responsibility disappears, it may continue being postponed indefinitely. Pleasure does not have to mean extravagance. It can be sitting in the sun, listening to music, cooking something we enjoy, wearing clothing that feels like us, spending time with someone whose company nourishes us, or making our surroundings more comfortable and beautiful. It can be allowing ourselves to enjoy an experience without needing to make it productive. During Venus retrograde, we might find ourselves reconsidering what pleasure means to us. We might recognize that some of the things we do out of habit are not actually nourishing, while something very simple brings us back into ourselves. We may remember an activity we once loved or feel drawn toward a creative interest that has been set aside. Venus is strongly connected with creativity, and creativity is not limited to people who consider themselves artists. Creativity is present whenever we're bringing something into form. It can appear in cooking, gardening, decorating, writing, problem solving, planning a gathering, arranging flowers, choosing colors, or finding a new way to express an idea. Sometimes we stop creating because we decide we're not talented enough, or because our work will never become a business, or because we can't justify spending time on something that does not produce a measurable result. We forget that creativity can have value simply because of how it makes us feel while we're doing it. A creative interest returning during Venus retrograde may be a reminder of a part of ourselves that wants to be expressed again. We don't necessarily need to turn it into a major project. We can begin by allowing ourselves to follow the interest and see where it leads. There may also be something we once enjoyed that no longer fits, and that's okay too. Review does not always bring something back to us. Sometimes it shows us that we are complete with it. Our tastes, our desires, and forms of expression naturally change as we do. Venus is associated with beauty, so we may begin to look at ourselves, at our appearance, and our surroundings differently. We may feel drawn to change our style or rearrange a room or update our space or express ourselves in a new way. You might hear people say that you should never change your hair or buy clothing or redecorate or make any decisions involving beauty during Venus retrograde. I do not think we need to be that rigid or fearful. The invitation is simply to be more intentional. An impulse to change something on the outside might be connected with an internal change that is still unfolding. We can give ourselves time to understand what we're responding to instead of assuming that every impulse requires immediate action. We might realize that we've been presenting ourselves in a way that reflects an older version of who we were. We may also discover that we have been trying to meet a beauty standard that was never truly ours. Venus retrograde can help us reconsider whether the way we dress, decorate, or care for ourselves feels personally meaningful or whether it's been shaped primarily by what we believe other people will approve of. This isn't about deciding your appearance doesn't matter. Beauty can be deeply nourishing. The spaces we inhabit, the colors we surround ourselves with, the way we express ourselves physically can all affect how we feel. The review is about reconnecting with our own experience of beauty rather than continually measuring it against someone else's. Money's another area connected with Venus because money is tied to value, security, pleasure, and receiving. During this retrograde, we may become more aware of our financial patterns. We may reconsider what we spend money on, what we save for, what we charge for our work, or what financial security means to us. Money carries emotional meaning that goes beyond the numbers in an account. It can represent safety, freedom, independence, success, love, or approval. Many of our beliefs about money began in our families or were absorbed from the culture around us before we were ever consciously examining them. We may have learned that wanting money makes us selfish, that spiritual people shouldn't care about getting paid, or that struggle is proof that our work is meaningful. Or we may have learned the opposite and connected financial success so closely with personal value that any change in income feels like a change in who we are. A Venus retrograde can help us notice those beliefs and ask whether they're still serving us. It may bring our attention to places where we're undervaluing our time, spending in ways that do not reflect our priorities, or avoiding financial decisions because they bring up fear or shame. This isn't about judging ourselves for past choices. This is an opportunity to understand what has been influencing those choices so that we can make future decisions with greater awareness. All of these Venus themes eventually lead us back to our values. Our values shape what we prioritize, what we tolerate, where we place our energy, and the kind of lives we create. But value is not always fixed. It can change as we gain experience and become more honest about what matters to us. Something that felt essential 10 years ago might not feel as important now. Something we once dismissed may have become central to our well-being. We may also discover that we've been living according to values we inherited from someone else. Perhaps we were taught that being busy meant being successful, that keeping the peace was more important than expressing the truth, or that caring for ourselves was selfish. These beliefs may have helped us belong or meet expectations at an earlier point in our life, but we are allowed to reconsider them. Venus retrograde can help us look at whether our choices reflect what we say we value. If we value connection, are we making time for the people who matter to us? If we value creativity, does it have any room in our life? If we value rest, do we allow ourselves to stop before our body forces us to? If we value honesty, are we telling ourselves the truth about what we want and need? We don't have to examine every area in our life all at once. Sometimes one theme will naturally become more noticeable than others. We may feel called to look at money, creativity, self-worth, pleasure, beauty, or the way we give and receive love. The point is not to create a long list of things that need to be fixed, it's to listen for what is already asking to be understood. If you know your human design authority, this is a wonderful time to use it. Astrology can describe the energetic weather, but it does not make our decisions for us. Retrograde energy may invite us to reconsider something, but that does not mean we need to question every choice we've ever made or assume that we're on the wrong path. Someone with emotional authority may need time to move through their emotional wave before making a significant decision. Someone with sacral authority may recognize a clear bodily response when the option is placed in front of them. Someone with spleenic authority may receive a quiet, immediate knowing that the mind begins questioning almost as soon as it arrives. And as someone with a splenic authority, I know how quickly the mind can begin negotiating with that first knowing. The instinct may be quiet and simple, while the mind arrives afterwards with explanations, possibilities, and fears about making the wrong choice. A period of reflection can be valuable, but reflection does not require us to abandon what we know to be true. We can stay open, gather information, notice what we're feeling, and still trust our natural decision-making process. As we move through Venus retrograde, I think the most helpful approach is to remain curious. Notice what you're being drawn toward and what no longer feels like a fit. Pay attention to your relationship with giving and receiving. Notice whether pleasure and creativity have a place in your life. Become curious about the beliefs that shaped your relationship with money and the ways your values may have changed. If an old pattern appears, try not to see it as evidence that you're going backward. You may be encountering something familiar, but you're meeting it with new awareness. This pattern may be giving you an opportunity to respond in a way that was not available to you before. If an old interest returns, listen to it. You may be reconnecting with a part of yourself that's been waiting for more space. And if nothing dramatic happens, that's okay too. Not every astrological event needs to create a visible event in our lives. Sometimes the review is quiet. We recognize that we want to spend our time differently, or we become comfortable receiving. We decide to make room for something beautiful or enjoyable without needing to justify it, or we notice that our definition of a fulfilling life has changed. Venus retrograde invites us to become more conscious of what we love, what we value, and what we allow ourselves to receive. It reminds us that our desires can change, our understanding of beauty can evolve, and our worth does not depend on how much we accomplish or how useful we make ourselves to everyone around us. Sometimes the most important thing we can do during a review period is give ourselves permission to notice who we are now. For this week's podcast extras, I'm going to share some reflection prompts to help you explore your values, creativity, and relationships with receiving, as well as what might be coming up for you during Venus retrograde. You can join the newsletter through the link in the show notes. You'll also find the link where you can support the show if you'd like to. Your support helps me continue creating these conversations and sharing them with you each week. Until next time, make room for what brings you joy, trust what you truly value, and allow yourself to receive.