On May 13th, 2020 Venus goes retrograde in Gemini. Venus retrograde will last for 40 days, until June 25th, 2020.

You have 40 days to review, revisit, and re-evaluate your feelings, personal values, and relationships.

There’s no coincidence that Venus is retrograde for 40 days. Number 40 is a sacred number in pretty much every religion and is usually associated with fulfillment of promises – BUT ONLY after a period of testing, trial and probation. 

What is interesting is that the word “quarantine” – a very familiar term in the context we’re living in – comes from the old Italian “quarantena” meaning “40 days”.

In the 14th century, during the Black Plague in Venice, all the incoming ships had to be isolated for 40 days before their crew could go ashore, in an attempt to protect the city from the Black Plague. 

The purpose of the “trial” or the retrograde period is to purify you from what no longer serves you so that you can reset your heart and “start again”.

Venus in Gemini – The Duality Of Our Feelings

Venus is associated with our feelings, with what we like – and what we dislike – with what we value, and what we don’t value.

That’s why Venus rules love and relationships – because love and relationships are a direct result of how we feel about other people.

And that’s why Venus also rules money, possessions, and personal values – because money, possessions, and personal values are a direct result of how we feel about ourselves. 

Gemini is a dual sign, and it represents the duality of our being. Gemini is the 3rd sign of the zodiac.

Aries, the 1st sign, is the spark of consciousness that decides to take an individual shape. Aries corresponds to the phase of conception. 

Taurus, the 2nd sign, takes what is initially only an idea, and makes it real. Five to six days after fertilization, the embryo finds a safe zone and implants itself in the uterus.

Gemini, the 3rd sign, is similar to the cellular division process. In order for life to grow, it has to divide and multiply until it reaches a stage where differentiation can take place (Cancer).

Gemini is the sign of duality. The Gemini glyph is represented by the Roman number two, signifying the sign’s dual nature.

The two parallel vertical lines are joined by two crescents. One cannot exist without the other. Yin cannot exist without Yang. Yang cannot exist without Yin. Light cannot exist without shadow. Life cannot exist without death.

Venus in Gemini makes me think of the paired “sock and buskin” or comedy/tragedy masks which have become a symbol of theater.

Dating from the time of Aeschylus, Greek theater used full-face or head masks as standard acting props. Actors donned these masks to become the characters they were playing.

A mask can mean many things. It can protect us from pollution and germs, and turn our face into an emotionless wall.

OR it is worn to emphasize specific emotions, like in the time of the Antic Greek.

Whatever the purpose, there seems to be a disconnect between what someone is really feeling and what they are showing to the world. Indeed, Gemini is an air sign, and emotions are their territory.

However, I believe masks – or the Gemini principle – serve a much more important purpose.

In the same way that Libra, or the Lady of Justice, is portrayed blindfolded – because justice and pure reason are blind, or uncorrupted by displays of emotions or corruption attempts – in the same way, the Gemini mask helps us disconnect from our primal emotions, so we can take a more objective look at them. Gemini is ruled by Mercury, after all. 

The ultimate goal of Venus Retrograde in Gemini is to help us face the duality of our feelings, so that we can have a more objective, and integrated approach to these feelings.

Is it possible to be happy and sad at the same time? To be excited and repulsed? Brave and fearful? Our emotions are not black and white.

When we identify with the “black” or with the “white”, we miss the creative space of duality. And duality is a necessary condition of life. 

The Dance Of Venus And Venus Cycles

We cannot talk about Venus Retrograde without talking about the strikingly beautiful dance of Venus. 

Venus retrogrades repeat every 8 years. The Earth-Venus 8 year dance creates this beautiful 5-petal flower with the Sun at the center.

Every 8 years (and 5 Venus cycles) Venus comes back to the same area of the sky, activating the same area of your chart. In any given century, there are only 5 points in the sky where Venus goes retrograde.

The last time Venus was retrograde in Gemini was in May-June 2012 and before that, in May-June 2004. What was going on in your life back then? You can expect similar themes to resurface.

Why Is Venus Retrograde In Gemini So important?

Venus in Gemini is particularly important because it coincides with an energetic shift in Gemini.

Just a few days before Venus retrograde, the North Node of the Moon also switched signs and entered Gemini.

The Venus cycle lasts for 18 months (or 584 days). The Lunar Nodes also spend 18 months in a sign.

In addition to this shift to Gemini energy, we witness an overall shift from Earth to Air. Saturn leaves Capricorn to move into Aquarius. On December 21st, 2020 we will have the much anticipated Jupiter-Saturn conjunction at 0° Aquarius when a new 200-year Air cycle will begin.

AND in a few years, Pluto will move into Aquarius. The Age of Aquarius is around the corner!

As a 200-year Earth cycle is coming to an end, and a new 200-year Air cycle begins, Earth values – materialism, consumerism, money, science – will be replaced with Air values – intellect, information, collaboration, multi-dimensional understanding of the world. Practices such as astrology can become more accepted and widespread.  

Is Venus Retrograde In Gemini A Difficult Transit?

Venus retrograde in Gemini – like all retrogrades – will most likely feel difficult. Venus retrograde can bring unfinished business back into your life: past lovers (including past life lovers), old friends, suppressed emotions or repeating inter-relational patterns. 

And dealing with unfinished businesses is not easy. Otherwise, we would have dealt with it in the first place.

Unfinished stuff is heavy, energetically consuming and requires hard work. But if we don’t deal with it, it lingers somewhere in the background, and it ends up consuming even more energy and effort in the long run. 

And this is where Venus Retrograde in Gemini chimes in. She will challenge you to bring this unprocessed stuff to the surface. 

Let’s say you’re used to being the “giver” in relationships. Venus Retrograde will make you see the reality for what it is. Maybe people take advantage of you. No more hiding and fooling yourself that these people love you for who you are. 

Or maybe you are the one taking advantage of others. Venus Retrograde will explode any unfair advantage you may have in relationships with others. 

Venus Retrograde is all about clarity. When retrograde, Venus is at its closest to the Earth in her 584-day cycle. She is the most powerful when retrograde.  

Venus Retrograde is not a “bad” transit. Its role is to bring clarity and help you process – and let go of – those feelings that no longer serve you. 

Of course, Venus Retrograde may come with difficult choices. But that’s because you DO need to make some choices – so that a “new you” can emerge. A better you. 

Venus Retrograde In Gemini Square Neptune 

The most important transit Venus makes while retrograde is a square to Neptune. This transit is particularly important because it is unusually long – it lasts until the end of July!

What is normally a 5-day transit will last for 3 months. We always want to pay attention to these rare transits, because they will play a much more important role than they normally do.

When we have a Venus-Neptune transit, we feel elated, we long for something that doesn’t even exist, that cannot be expressed in words.

In the next couple of months, you don’t want just ordinary love, you want the perfect love, the perfect relationship, and the perfect life. 

Venus and Neptune have a special relationship – Neptune is the higher octave of Venus. Venus rules our feelings, and Neptune rules our dreams.

When we dream, our emotions, memories, impressions, perceptions and imagination meet in a higher plane, find connections that were not obvious or possible in the physical plane, and get restructured.

As a result, we wake up a different person, even if we don’t remember what we’ve dreamt about. We need this Neptune space to cleanse from what is non-essential and find guidance from the higher plane.   

Neptune square Venus will ask us to restructure our emotional reality – and find a higher order, a superior meaning, a more elevated reason for our existence. 

Venus Retrograde in Gemini 2020 Dates

• April 10th, 2020 – Venus enters shadow at 5° Gemini
• May 13th, 2020 – Venus goes retrograde at 21° Gemini
• May 28th, 2020 – Venus becomes invisible
• June 3rd, 2020 – Venus is conjunct Sun at 13° Gemini. A new 584-day Venus cycle begins. Venus transforms from an evening star to a morning star
• June 10th, 2020 – Venus becomes visible again, this time as a morning star
• June 25th, 2020 – Venus goes direct at 5° Gemini
• July 28th, 2020 – Venus leaves shadow at 21° Gemini

We will all be influenced by the powerful energy of Venus Retrograde in Gemini.

However, 5°, 13°, and 21° Gemini are extra sensitive degrees – so if you have planets or angles around these degrees, you will experience the energy of Venus Retrograde more intensely.

Also, if you have planets or angles anywhere between 5° Gemini and 21° Gemini, or if you have planets around 13° in mutable signs – Virgo, Sagittarius, and Pisces – this Venus Retrograde will play a very important role in your life.

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