Introduction to Astrology: And Venus Was Her Name

In medicine, a venous return is the rate of blood flow back to the heart. Symbolically, this happens on your Venus Return – blood pumps back into your heart, repeating old themes in your life or returning old people to you.

Many people are given the chance to resume relationships with their ex-lovers or breathe new life into old relationships, on the Venus Return. Who/What they are passionate about comes back to them, perhaps in a new form, but the general theme will be the same. Your Venus sign and house tells you the theme.

If you were born with Venus at 1 Aries, when Venus moves to 1 Aries, you have your Venus Return. If you were born with Venus at 29 Sagittarius and Venus moves to 29 Sagittarius, you have your Venus Return.

You can track Venus on my website here, any time you wish, to find out which sign she is in, when. It’s good to know your Venus Return in advance.

Seductive!

Venus describes how you seduce people. How you charm them and win them over. It shows what you admire most about yourself, too.

Venus shows your relating skills. How you get yourself into love affairs and out of them. How you fix it with your partner if you’ve strayed, mentally or literally. How you deal with your children and in-laws, too. It’s the old-school feminine part of your personality, before Women’s Liberation.

It’s your inner Elizabeth Taylor. She married Richard Burton on March 15th, 1964, just days after her Venus Return.

Venus by Sign and House

If you have Venus in Taurus in your Second House, you buy people’s affection by lending them money, treating them to spectacular presents or winning them over with your house, your apartment, your precious possessions.

If you are one of the alternative lifestyle Venus in Taurus types, you will impress lovers with your vegetables and herbs, not your cash. You will charm those around you with the little pots of jam, you wrap up as Christmas presents. You will impress with your refusal to sell out and your strong values, which make you so principled.

Venus Returns give you a chance to get people into bed – if that’s what you want based on the house where Venus is returning. If you were born with Venus in Gemini in the Third House then on your Venus Return you may dream up a blog that involves your girlfriend, so you two can fall in love all over again.

If you know your Venus Sign and House, then you know the secret. Here’s the scoop on what happens when Venus returns to your own Venus position in:

Aries/First House

You seduce, or recapture a lover, by promoting yourself and leaning hard on your image as the energetic, fearless, head-first, upfront type. This cycle works in two different ways. Commonly, you’ll concentrate on your hair, face, body, clothes, image, appearance, reputation and public face at this time. That means you’ll need to team up with someone who can help you. A cosmetic surgeon? A shoe guru? A PR consultant? It all depends on what you want to do with your outer packaging. One thing is sure, though. Your people skills need to be good! Venus is about to pair you off with a person who is remarkably different to you – but who is part of the whole image/appearance deal. Maybe they’re about to put your CV together. Whatever. Work at it!

Here’s the other outcome of this cycle: a personal or professional relationship comes into focus, which has a great deal to say about your reputation. This relationship defines how you are seen – how the world talks about you, or pictures you, or ‘boxes’ you. We all have labels stuck on us. For the time that Venus is in the First House, it says “Your label depends on your involvement with this person.”

If you marry now, for example, your husband or wife will be crucial in determining how you are rated and reviewed. You’re the book that gets judged by its cover this month! Equally, you can see how your involvement with a ‘difficult’ person in your life can also define you, to those who are watching.

Difficult or easy, fun or awful, a certain someone now says a lot about how you are perceived. All the more reason, then, to make sure that for the next few weeks, this relationship rocks. Venus wants you to balance the scales now. It knows that you and this particular man or woman have about as much in common as Donald and Daisy Duck, but it doesn’t care. The planet wants harmony. It wants equilibrium. It wants you to look for what brings you together, not what separates you. And from there? All things are possible.

If you go into this cycle with a new hairdresser, make-up artist, trainer, cosmetic surgeon – anything! – then you’ll know this person is fated, and special. Don’t screw it up with them, and do whatever you must, to make sure they don’t get it wrong with you either. That means exceptional human-handling abilities, on both sides.

If you both put the effort in, and you manage to pull off that incredible combination of useful honesty, with tactful discretion, you will be onto a winner. You and that all-important person will have a solid foundation of trust and respect to lean on, for all the years that you’ll be getting your Botox done, or your hair coloured, or your professional image groomed and maintained.

Taurus/Second House

When it comes to love, or even just non-loving relationships, you really need to give full attention to what you earn, own or owe – and make sure that you pour masses of energy into your relationship with a certain someone at this time.

You’ll find that your own progress with an important financial, business or property goal (or something related to shopping, or your possessions) is dictated by your people skills. Of course, these matter all the time! You don’t get rich by treating people like badly. But right now, fate will steer you into a vital one-on-one situation, where it rapidly becomes clear that if you and this man or woman want to make progress, you’re going to have to do it together.

This cycle reminds you of your own value system. Business guru? Hippy? Socialist? Capitalist? Communist? Breadhead?

You may know each other intimately (it’s your ex-wife and she wants you to sell the house – or it’s your business partner and he wants to talk numbers.) Or…you may know this other person only vaguely (it’s your bank teller and you need to close your account, or it’s your union official and she wants to discuss your redundancy package.) Either way, it’s time to work one-on-one now.

It would all be so much easier if this man or woman had more in common with you, but they don’t. Sure, you’re after the same general things – and there is a genuine bond between you. But every time you look at yourself, then look at the person who destiny has teamed you up with, you are likely to think in terms of The Odd Couple. Neither of you is travelling at the same speed.

However – remember the issue. You’re both (at least) headed in the same general direction when it comes to money, houses, flats, business or precious possessions. Try and come up with a map you can both follow! This may mean abandoning your own, independent, ideas about what works and what doesn’t. Both of you are coming from totally different places, which is why you must now do your best to invent a financial, business or property game plan which will suit both of you. This could be a case of trial and error. Just because you both share some kind of bond from the start, doesn’t mean it’s going to be simple. Nevertheless, you can’t go backwards. The only way is up now, and you and him/her must move as one.

Gentleness is the key! Venus is about coaxing, not shoving. It’s about guiding, not shouting. This planet says “Take it easy. You can see what’s out there for you. Just do it together. Work out what it takes – then make sure you do it.”

Gemini/Third House

Everyone has a trip they want to take, or a car they want to drive. (I can’t drive at all, so my dream is a full taxi-rank in the middle of London.) For a few weeks now, there will be a big emphasis on planes, trains, cars and boats. It’s all about getting away (for a weekend, or even longer) with a certain someone and also, how you get around town.

Venus in the Third House says, “How would you like a lift to work, instead of getting that horrible bus?” And it also says, “What about taking Monday off, so you can use up your air miles and grab some duty-free?” You can meet a potential lover on a flight now.

This is all a clever con, though. This planet is merely dangling a carrot in front of your nose (a trip, a car overhaul, a lift, a new motorbike) so you’ll be forced to learn high- level relating skills – because that’s what Venus is all about. Sure, it asks you where you want to go most – or how you want to transport yourself, these days. However, it also encourages you to become an ace at people management, because in order to get what you want, you’re going to have to play ball with somebody else, in a kind of double-act, or duet.

This involvement now may be sexual (your discount trip to Minsk depends on your relationship with the pilot) or it may have nothing to do with anything intimate or personal – but everything to do with the local rental car firm. Maybe you’ll be caught in an endless loop with your boat mechanic. Either way, the whole transportation/ travel thing will hinge on your ability to team up with someone now. It doesn’t matter if they exist on the end of a telephone, or if your money is tied up with them: it all hinges on how you are, together. Otherwise, you’ll get nowhere. And all your journeys will be dead-end ones!

You’ll also be seduced by a just-out-of-reach goal connected to communication now. The world of words, ideas, sounds or images. Maybe you want a new phone. Perhaps you’re releasing a documentary. This cycle is about what you want, in terms of the message you have to get across.

For some people, a ten-minute speech at a work conference can dominate the entire month – whatever! Keep your eyes on the prize and keep walking forward. But remember someone else is walking with you. Don’t go too fast, or too slow, or you’ll both fall over. What would it take, to make you a great duet? Just do it! As a rule, if you have Venus in Gemini and the Third House, you create all kinds of duets and double-acts with your projects, websites, books, multimedia, big ideas – and so on. Your Venus Return will bring that all home to you.

Cancer/Fourth House

If you get a new flatmate now, or a new family member – or if you move in with your partner for the first time – it wouldn’t be surprising. It won’t necessarily be easy because you’re clearly at different stages in your life. But never mind. If you both remember that you’re basically headed in the same direction, it should make it easier to manage the road ahead. The foundations are there, so work from there. With good timing, a high degree of tactfulness, and a lot of ‘give’ you can both create a solid bond of trust, in terms of your home or domestic life, which will see you through a lot of things. This also applies to the guy who came to fix your kitchen.

You win people over by using your house, apartment, family circle, hometown, homeland. That’s how you charm and seduce. Now that Venus returns to Venus in this zone of your chart, that’s your key.

Whatever your personal situation is in terms of your house, flat, family or flatmates, you are likely to have a special wish-list at the moment. Maybe you want kitchen renovations. Perhaps you just need your Dad’s car. As with all Venus cycles, though, you will not truly be able to get what you want, unless you realise that a large amount of teamwork and co-operation will be required.

Destiny will pair you up with someone now. Your builder? The girl who wants to save an historic part of your hometown? The person in question may be a permanent part of your life (for obvious reasons, it may be the partner you live with) or he/she may be new to you. Venus says, “Whatever the connection, make it work now, or you’ll never get anywhere.”

If you both get it right, it can be a beautiful thing. The neighbours might even sell tickets. If you make mistakes, communicate. You are not an island – no person is. Venus is about building bridges and making connections. It’s about walking hand in hand, even if the person in question really is your builder, and his hand is large and hairy.

What you want so much, in terms of belonging and feeling secure (and that’s really all the home front is about) is now available. The more cleverly you manage the other person now, the easier it will be to progress. There is nothing manipulative or false about this. It’s just about people skills. The connection you share is authentic, and in many ways, it’s the launch pad you need. Nevertheless, for the next few weeks, you’re going to be faced with a fairly demanding journey, and if you’re both going to enjoy the trip, you might as well find out what makes for mutual happiness – now.

Leo/Fifth House

People express their personalities in different ways. You may pour yourself into your sex life, for example, and consider your relationship/s to define who you are. I know just as many people who live through and for their children, or even other people’s children. Babies, schoolchildren and teenagers are their outlet. Paid or unpaid efforts involving the young, or full-time parenthood, is what makes you feel beautiful.

When you are Queen or King of a younger generation and mentor or guide them, you win people over. Your leadership skills and fine example seduce lovers and reignite passion with old flames. You’re the natural father or mother figure – aunt or uncle – godfather or godmother – who sets the bar high.

In one, two or all three of the above areas, for just a few weeks, you are about to develop a really important relationship or be given the chance to start one – or restart it. If this sounds right, then Venus is about to throw you into a crucial new phase of your lives, when you will both be practising and perfecting your people skills.

Venus says “I want you to learn how to make it work with this person. What binds you together?” Sometimes the common ground is an interest, sport or hobby which bonds children with adults. Fishing is one example. Football is another. Music is a third.

You want certain things from your sex life now. And look! Here’s someone else who is headed in the same direction. Unless you’re both flexible, sensitive and clever enough to work as a team, though, you could end up back where you started. The prize if you hit a win-win result is much more important than the orgasm. It’s the relationship!

If you’re a parent or have children in your life for other reasons (you’re a teacher, or your young niece has come to stay) then this month will also be key. The issue may be the nature of the connection with this baby, child or teenager – or you may find yourself dealing with a professional linked to kids, or anyone else who has a big influence – including, naturally, the other parent. Venus says, “Together you will do more than you ever could alone. So, do it!’

Virgo/Sixth House

You work it when you work it. This is the office romance position of Venus, but in general, you will find that any role where your service and duty to others comes first, helps glue you to a lover or build passion with a date. Maybe you already do this quite instinctively. If you want to get someone into bed you bring them onto your work project.

This cycle has a lot to say about your relationships with bosses, employers, clients and colleagues. If you don’t have a job of any description, it’s about your relationship with people who have an impact on your work at home, or your duties in the wider community. We all have something that forces us out of bed every morning. What’s your gig? Venus says, “Think harder about it. Ignite or re-ignite the passion, while I’m here.”

On the surface, it appears to be exclusively about your job, or your other commitments and responsibilities. The real deal is the association or relationship which is suddenly in the spotlight, though. Now, more than at any other time this year, Venus would like you to mould and shape this relationship, so that it becomes something you can both work wonders with.

Make yourself as popular as you possibly can.

Your body is also the key to seduction now. Once again, I would guess that you’re up for a few weeks of intense involvement with a doctor, healer, personal trainer, nurse, dentist, or alternative health professional. But perhaps this is all about your weight loss, and the person in question is your diet buddy. Maybe you’re playing doctors and nurses. Your Venus in Virgo says, ‘Love me, love my body.’ For whatever reason.

Do what you must to make sure you’re your lover or potential lover, understand where you’re coming from, and what you need from them, in order for both of you to go forward. Give this double-act exactly what it needs to flourish. Forget the fact that you are separate people. Right now, for a few weeks, you have become a two-headed monster.

Libra/Seventh House

This cycle will make or break the relationship you have with your former partner, your current partner or your potential dates for the future. If I were you, I’d roll up my sleeves, get out every self-help book known to humankind, and start my engine.

You are about to enter a crucial phase in an existing relationship – or feud – which means you can either make progress together, or not at all. This is part of who you are. Venus in Libra and the Seventh House describes the person who sees herself/ himself through the eyes of a former, current or potential partner. When you hold up the mirror to see how attractive you are, it is his or her eyes you see in the background, staring at you. Two is one for you. You can’t do ‘me’ without doing ‘we.’

Very occasionally I see Venus in Libra people who turn away from duets and double- acts to fight feuds for years with their exes, or with the other woman in a love triangle. This cycle will make you aware of that.

Alternatively, someone new will enter your life at this time. In all cases, though, Venus says, “Love them, like them or loathe them, this person has been parked under your nose for a reason, now. You share a goal. What is it? Pursue it as a team.”

Venus reminds us that we need to be Madeleine Albright, Henry Kissinger and The Dalai Lama, all rolled into one. Negotiate. Listen. Research. Smile. Use open body language. Get advice. Try to see it their way. But most of all, find the win-win option. Crawl towards it as slowly and carefully as you can, watching each other every step of the way. How is it for you? What can I do to make sure we get there more easily? Do you have any issues that your lawyer would like to discuss with my lawyer?

Above all, though, this cycle is meant to be about true partnership. Occasionally it can be a business or professional double-act, but the romantics of the astrology world believe you now have a chance to turn your life into Gone With The Wind meets Love Story.

If this cycle coincides with other planets and points in the Fifth House (Leo) and/or Seventh House (Libra), and you are single, this is an epic time when you can either resolve issues with your former partner or be given the chance to form an important relationship with someone new. Jupiter in Libra can do this. Mercury and the Sun in Leo can do this.

If you are already in a committed relationship, you’ll share the same (or similar) goals now. A baby, a wedding, a property purchase, a holiday, a business, a new dog. Whatever! You’ll imagine that the next few weeks are all about this goal – this glittering prize. Maybe you just want a better sex life together…Perhaps you both cherish an ambition to appear on Oprah.

Venus says “The goal is fine. But it’s the relationship that’s the thing. Nurture it, develop it, love it, research it, and practise it (with affection) until you get it right.” You’re very different, you two. But you’re together now for a reason. Destiny wants you to make more of the relationship, until it hits the heights.

Scorpio/Eighth House

It’s quite true that money, property and business can bring out the worst in people. They can make us frustrated, impatient and in a shoe-throwing mood. However, in this cycle, you must learn to make money, property and business your excuse to become the greatest double-act you can be, just for a few days.

You’ll have plenty of paperwork, meetings, correspondence, contracts or e-mails to deal with. But at every stage, the deal is “Do this together, or not at all. Co-operate with each other or lose.” You’re about to discover your people skills via financial issues. Deadly serious or sexually intimate deals are the key.

What is reassuring, now, is the fact that you and a certain someone actually share the same goals – or similar goals, anyway. And there’s a genuine connection there. Hell, you may be married to each other. Or perhaps this is your new accountant, who you are thrilled to have discovered – or an attractive lawyer, whose gentle explanation of your family inheritance half makes you fall in love with him. The connection is less important than the you-and-me feeling. The power will be palpable.

Go forward together now, whoever this person is, and whatever their relationship is with you. There is rather a lot at stake, because Venus is now emphasising cash, houses, flats, possessions, tax, settlements, investments, debts, assets, loans, and all the rest. Venus in Scorpio makes you aware, when she returns, that scorpions dance each other into bed, but also dance each other into a potential sting. That may also be very evident now.

In the big picture of your life, the number-crunching you’re doing at the moment is much less important than the relationship itself. You might think this period in your life is all about how rich or poor you feel, but it’s actually about the quality and depth of this specific relationship. If you both get it right now, that’s solid gold.

You must be sensitive to the other person’s position and personality. Where are they at? Equally, be aware of what you are contributing. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that your assumptions about the other person are automatically correct. And if they appear to be lunging forward and forgetting about your own position or situation, find a tactful way to let them know. It’s about teamwork.

Venus says “Work hard at this. Watch and listen. Communicate, too – but do it gently, carefully, thoughtfully.” Venus in Scorpio Returns make me want to recommend David Attenborough wildlife documentaries to you, just so you can watch how real scorpions mate with each other in their weird, intense promenade. I feel you might relate, now.

Sagittarius/Ninth House

You seduce or charm people by travelling with them or travelling in the mind with them – so you share books, ideas, websites. You know what you want now, in terms of travel, education, religion, other belief systems or publishing. Or perhaps you have certain goals relating to people from other countries, regions or cultures – there’s no travel involved, but you need to pursue a specific ambition in relation to someone who seems foreign to you. You are ready to seduce or charm.

Your passport is now a person! That person may have been with you for years, or you could meet them for the first time, within days of this cycle beginning. Venus says, “To get what you want with travel, education, religion, publishing or those who seem foreign, learn to work as a double act.”

Destiny will shackle you, now. It will either pull you into a close, one-on-one game with someone you’re already involved with – or it will present you with a new player, whose goals are the same as yours – or at least, compatible. With luck, though, the next few weeks won’t feel like some bizarre sack race, and you won’t feel as if your ankles are too uncomfortably tied. Instead, there’ll be a chance to co-operate, and trust, and grow, and learn. Together, you and this all-important person will do more, than you ever could alone.

If you are naturally independent or prefer to take the lead this cycle will be very challenging. In fact, every time you forget that you are actually supposed to be working as one half of a team, you will create real problems – both for yourself and the other person.

How are you going to make it from Paris to Provence if you’re constantly arguing with the guy you just picked up in the last youth hostel? How will you succeed with that Catholic pilgrimage to Lourdes, if you and your team leader can’t agree over the luggage? What about your big Philosophy exam? If you screw things up with your study partner now, you could both end up failing.

Venus promises you wonderful things – for a few weeks you will be given a rare chance to expand your horizons. The world could seem bigger, more interesting, and more full of possibility now. But…the price of admission is the art of people management, and that means taking the basic trust, affection or loyalty which exists between you and your ally and working it.

Your challenge now is to keep your eyes on the prize, no matter which aspect of religion, education, publishing, travel or multicultural connections/long-distance connections it relates to. If you can do that, while checking back with your fellow traveler every few minutes, you’ll stand a much better chance of getting what you want. Forget the ‘Me’ part of the equation if you can. The more you can think in terms of ‘We’, the farther and faster you will progress.

You know you’re at your most beautiful when you are reflected back to yourself as a traveler, explorer, student of life, mentor, guru, philosopher. Now, who else is in the mirror?

Capricorn/Tenth House

You are prone to love which starts in a work or university setting, or when you are engaging in social mountaineering. You’ll be paired off with someone who is crucial to your ambitions, status and goals. A new boss, colleague or client may enter your world, or you may enter a different phase of an existing relationship with an employer, co-worker or customer. It’s the same with university connections.

The nature of the relationship in all these cases is the same, though. It’s about co- operation and understanding – giving and taking. If both of you put the effort in now, you can create a quite extraordinary bond.

At the core of this association is genuine affection – and sometimes, real love. But it’s more common to find yourself being thrown together with someone who just likes you – and trusts you, and above all, wants you to go forward together. You can use your charm here. And it may not be about sex at all. Maybe you just want success.

This cycle is about slowly edging to where you need to be, in terms of your success and status – but the trick is, you won’t be able to go it alone. Everything depends on how sensitive you are to the other person’s wants and needs, and how good your people skills are.

Astrology can be useful at such a time – do you know the other person’s Sun Sign? It describes what he or she is best-known for (for better or worse!) It says a lot about what’s really important to the other person, so if you can do a little light homework on this, using your favourite astrology book, you’ll be well ahead.

Of course, you may know this man or woman so intimately that you’re aware of their Moon Sign, Ascendant, mother’s maiden name, first pet and secret birthmark. But even if you’ve been together forever, this cycle can still make or break your understanding and trust, so never take them for granted.

You’ll have common goals now, or complimentary goals. So, keep your eyes on the prize, and just keep walking. But remember – the other person will be at a completely different level to you, now!

Venus is about balancing the scales. She wants you to take the time to learn about what you must do, to make sure you respect each other’s experience, expectations and (very different) outlooks. What brings you together now is your mutual affection, and that all-important mutual goal. What will keep you together, is your ability to communicate properly with each other, and work as a team.

You need to be Torvill and Dean, now. Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David. Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders. Think of every double act you’ve ever admired and note the way in which two seemingly different people managed to raise the art of give and take to an art form. You are capable of amazing things now. But your greatest achievement may well be extraordinary relationship which (potentially) lies ahead.

Aquarius/Eleventh House

You turn platonic friendship into love. You join groups, clubs, teams and find seduction. It’s a lifelong pattern. Be it band, political party, golf club, yoga association or charity – it’s where you pull, even without trying.

If you make a new friend now, this rather interesting man or woman could turn out to be of lasting importance in your life. It all depends on how much you are prepared to give to each other, in terms of time, tolerance and tact. There’ll be a natural sense of closeness – you like them or love them! – from the start. But it’s going to take more than that, to get you to where you both need to be.

A true friendship is the prize (and it could be there for years.) The Venusian rules, though, are strict. Understand that you are at different stages of your lives, or at different points in your development – and accommodate that.

A special phase in an old friendship can also begin now. Even if you’ve been with this person for years, destiny will throw you together for a few weeks, so that you can join forces to pursue a mutual goal. It may be as trivial as a good holiday. It may be as important as a blood transfusion that could save your life. But one thing is certain even though the shared aims and ideals seem to be the issue now, that’s just a red herring.

The real point of what you are both going through, is the friendship itself. Don’t push. Don’t pull. Don’t throw the other person off balance. Do give. Do take. Do be flexible enough, and sensitive enough, to bend when you must – and go forward with them when they’re ready.

If you are already involved with a group, association, team, club or other network of people (like a regular yoga class, or a tight circle of friends) then you’ll need to give more time and energy to them now. Venus will remind you that you need each other, on the most basic level, to make progress now.

There’ll be a strong bond of liking/loving there already, of course. But, as you’ll see over the next few weeks, that’s not enough. What is now required is a combination of strength and sensitivity, telepathic understanding and clear communication.

It’s amazing how Venus teaches us about co-operation in this cycle. Just in case you think you’ve got the friendship or group sussed from the start, you’ll hit days when it’s blatantly obvious that you’re not all reading from the same page. Venus says “Put yourself in their shoes. Are they wearing hiking boots, stiletto heels, or old trainers? Look at where you stand, in relation to them. What do you need to do, to go forward together?” Polish your people skills.

Venus puts you on a seesaw. It forces you to watch each other, and listen carefully, so you can time your moves correctly. Then it gets you to ease into position with each other, until you’ve found the right way to balance. Think of two tightrope walkers, inching their way to the center of the rope.

Venus in myth was married to Vulcan but slept with Mars. She knew how to play both of them. With a friend, now, or amongst friends – perhaps in the group – you can also figure out how to play your tennis.

Pisces/Twelfth House

You seduce in secret. You charm by being Miss or Mr. Invisible, behind the scenes on projects where others are the name or face. You win people over by inviting them to get lost with you in the mysterious world of psychology, or the psychic!

You will now find yourself in a relationship which is vital to a confidential plan, a role behind the scenes, a mysterious interest or a secret agenda you have. The relationship may just hit a phase where everything suddenly has to become hush-hush. Or you could begin a new kind of connection with someone, who enters your life at this time, to help you move forward on Project X, or Plan Z.

Here are two examples: you decide to give up smoking and book three weeks with a hypnotist for private after-hours sessions and start a serious flirtation. Another example? You begin an affair with a new lover – and discuss running away from your wife.

Life is often much less dramatic than this, of course! But you get the picture. As this cycle begins, you’ll find your attention is increasingly being drawn to goals that are firmly under wraps, or behind the scenes. In order to move forward, though, you find yourself being paired up with someone who is rather different from you – or at a different stage of his or her life.

This is a typical Venus challenge for you. How are you going to both get what you want, in terms of this hush-hush matter, when it could all (so easily) fall in a heap? Venus says “Find what draws you together, not what separates you. Locate the middle ground between you and stand together, at its center.”

Venus is the mistress of seduction but also relationship smarts because she got herself into trouble and then had to get herself out of it. Ultimately it was her interest in her own beauty which made her so desirable.

What makes you beautiful to yourself and others? What you hide, what you do in secret, what you cover up, what is occult (another word for hidden) or saintly (you operate behind the scenes, with no thanks) about you.

What matters to you now is undoubtedly deeply private and sensitive, to the point where you must exclude almost everyone from your most personal plans and concerns. The remaining confidante is now the person you must negotiate with and hold hands with (symbolically or literally!) as you go forward. You’ll need to check in with each other frequently, to make things hang together. What’s in front of you now is, shall we say, a most delicate matter. A sensitive subject. Not for public airing. All the more reason, then, to make sure that your confidante is someone you can truly feel part of a team with.

Less commonly in this cycle, you will find yourself all alone. There could be any number of reasons for your period of solitude. Some people go on a sabbatical, others find themselves hibernating while their partners travel, or even find themselves hiding from the world. Whatever! If you are by yourself for a week or two, then right now, your primary relationship will be with yourself. And once again, the issue will be sensitive. Delicate. Personal. Hard to share. Later on, this will help you with a real relationship. The private Me Time spent on dreams, therapy, hypnosis, Tarot or whatever helps a duet next time.

Edited extract from 2020 Astrology: Your Five-Year Horoscope Guide by Jessica Adams.

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