VENUS RETROGRADE 2023 - an exploration of bitching and Barbie
This week both in my Oddcast and on Instagram I touched upon difficult conversations and asked questions. The discussion of bitching on insta (linked here) felt so timely and picked up on the energy of the moment because VENUS is stationing retrograde and the nodes are at 29º of Aries and Libra. 29º is the critical degree, a degree where we might see the worst of an energy emerge.
WORST CASE 29º Libra we have the two-faced always pretending to be nice, false, covertly competitive. Danger zone! Venus rules Libra and Venus is the QUEEN of beauty, peace, relationships and friendships - but when she is threatened… watch out!
We ALL have all these polarities within us so I’m not here to point fingers at your Libra mate because we all have Libra somewhere in our chart! 😅
I think it’s SO interesting. This is a topic I’ll be prodding at for a while I think (especially with podcast guests.) Because it’s VAST and a relatively unexplored discussion! The research I looked at was inconclusive. Some people say venting is a good way to let off steam, I also read this which I loved:
"Why do people complain? Not to torture others with their negativity, surely. When most of us indulge in a bit of a moan, the idea is to "vent." By getting our emotions out, we reason, we'll feel better.
But science suggests there are a few serious flaws in that reasoning. One, not only does expressing negativity tend not to make us feel better, it's also catching, making listeners feel worse. "People don't break wind in elevators more than they have to. Venting anger is...similar to emotional farting in a closed area. It sounds like a good idea, but it's dead wrong," psychologist Jeffrey Lohr, who has studied venting, memorably explained.”
Ha!
Discussing this reminds me of the things I was posting on my early Instagram in 2015. This was back when Instagram was full of quotes about your vibe attracting your tribe. Incidentally this was the last time Venus was Retrograde in Leo. My early insta was awash with cliche quotes about love and connection. I remember posting this Rumi quote and FEEEELING it.
“Goodbyes are only for those who love with their eyes. Because for those who love with heart and soul there is no such thing as separation.”
For me, Venus in Leo + Saturn in Scorpio was all about Love and connection, the unseen and miraculous.
I remember what I hoped and wished for 8 years ago. I remember the Venus Retrograde yearning to reunite that manifested in that final and very painful goodbye. However, I’ve also seen soulmates get together and reunite under a Venus Retrograde… it really depends on YOUR journey and where you are.
I feel like every point I’m making here deserves a dissertation, there’s so much to be said about the way we connect, the way we think, quantum physics, psychic energy, the vibration of love, heart math, judgement, religion and spirituality, karma, fate, intuition and the importance of kindness.
I’ve seen how destructive being too sensitive to energy can be too. I’ve seen the other side of the yogi who discovers their boundaries and starts saying no to everythinggggg and gets controlling about their spiritual self. It’s ultimately disconnecting but I do understand and believe that for many people it’s part of the growing pains and transition to seeing the world in more detail. To accepting heightened sensitivity and perception instead of ignoring your intuition and pushing it to one-side.
Most people talk about other people, we all do it, BUT there is an INTENTION and energetic imprint behind the conversation that matters. I know when I feel sullied by a conversation, where I give into the temptation to bitch but feel deflated afterwards. I know how it feels to be in a room of people who are constantly bitching and I know how it feels to be in a room with friends who tell a funny story that might involve someone and we piss ourselves laughing and it still somehow feels kind.
(At this point I want to clarify something for my American readers! In British English, bitching is something mean, it means talking about someone behind their back. I don’t know how you say that in the USA! I do know that you say ‘bitching’ to mean generalised complaining and there’s some nuance here.)
Like all things ethical, there is no answer and we’d be here all day trying to come up with a conclusion. There are extremes on all sides of the spectrum and it is so natural to talk about people BUT ALSO - I do think it’s useful from a spiritual and energetic perspective to CONSIDER what we say and how we say it. I also think this is SUCH a Venus Retrograde conversation as Venus is THE PLANET of relationships.
Choosing to see the best in people and opting out of unnecessary slagging matches feels good. It lifts mood, lifts energy, breeds kindness, avoids judgement and is constructive. It’s salad instead of a bag of sweets. One feels nourishing and satisfying the other gives a rush to the head leaves us feeling shite.
I just saw Wendy AKA The Completion Coach posting about this on stories and then also apologising for making her Instagram too heavy (which I enjoyed because that too tells me we are on a Venus Retrograde train of difficult conversations and addressing our values! I love a theme!)
She asked which friend you go to for advice when you want to be told you’re doing the right thing and who do you go to when you need to hear the truth?
Sometimes I wish I didn’t talk about difficult things and I just wrote horoscopes, grew my business, gained followers and did straight up astrology things. But I wouldn’t get that much from that and it wouldn’t be as interesting. I don’t think I’d find it as valuable either!
>>> Bringing it back to the beginning of this post. In July 2023 we are not only exploring Venus Retrograde with a massive fated YOD aspect to Venus, we are also experiencing the South Node in Libra. I really want to see the Barbie movie because I GUESS some of these themes will be in the movie.
It would be super interesting if there’s a false friend giving Barbie advice, pretending to themselves that they are giving good advice but really trying to trip Barbie up. Because that’s sort of shady Libra south node shit I think we are understanding. The spears of hurt that are launched between competitive friends who can’t help themselves.
In the Bridget Jones’ books Helen Fielding used to refer to this as “jellyfishing” let me see if I can find some quotes…
7 p.m. Oh no. Turns out Rebecca is coming. An evening with Rebecca is like swimming in a sea with jellyfish: all will be going along perfectly pleasantly then suddenly you get painful lashing, destroying confidence at stroke.
“Humph. Rebecca is not “great”; she is a Jellyfisher. Talking to her is like swimming in a lovely warm sea, then suddenly something stings you and next thing everything is back to normal except a bit of you really hurts.” The Jellyfisher is defined as being a person who makes small cutting comments and put-downs, all the while pretending to be perfectly friendly and ordinary.
And so I’ll leave this blog here.
I want to make 10000 comments about this Venus Retrograde. I want to discuss Venus all day long, I want to discuss beauty, purchases, money, self-esteem, our relationships, the connections we have with our ex-partners. I am SO inspired by this transit and think that Barbie’s launch coinciding with this is fascinating… whatever we need to learn as a collective is going to be in that movie. So after YEARS of not going to the cinema and having 50000 other things to do. I’m going to watch it! Just so I can write about the Astrology of our babe Venus and her Retrograde journey.
Rachel and I made a Venus Retrograde Astrology + Coaching masterclass on Wednesday via Ookushana and you can buy the recording here.
Let me know what you think, do you resist the urge to Gossip? Have you changed the way you interact with the people you love? What are your priorities? Where would you like to learn more about what matters to you? Who are the jellyfishes in your life and why do you think they do it?
See you next time!
Francesca x