Slow-Burning Dance – Mars & Venus Retrograde Story

 

This was supposed to be Venus retrograde story but I couldn’t possibly leave out the leading man - Mars. Upcoming Venus retrograde is not a solo dance. This is a lover´s dance that has a history.
 
This is a story of eternal lovers who are going through a transformation. This is a story of masculine and feminine, of fire and water. This is a story of Mars and Venus.
Though this archetypal story has no beginning and no end, here we´re going to refer to the period from October 2024 through May 2025. On October 8, 2024, Venus in Scorpio and Mars in Cancer, came together in trine aspect, in waters that are troubled for both lovers. They're both aching with emotion, that's how intensely they feel. It's almost like the external world has to tip-toe around them at times so as not to disrupt this rare moment of deep trust and vulnerability.

Trine aspect they engage represents a connection that is freeflowing and supportive. It benefits both partners and brings new opportunities. Trine creates space of solidarity and cooperation. Trine is of Jupiter´s nature, the planet of growth and expansion. A day after our lovers met, Jupiter turned retrograde having to review and resolve his own hesitations. The seed of doubt creeped in, all of the sudden hope is hard to come by.
 
Through this long stretch of time, Venus and Mars will run into each other two more times in trine in water signs of Pisces and Cancer respectively, each time, one of the lovers will be on a deep internal journey. On January 26, 2025, Venus in Pisces trines Mars retrograde in Cancer, and on April 6, 2025, Venus retrograde in Pisces trines Mars in Cancer while she is conjoining Saturn. Venus and Mars are personal planets. They are closely tied to our intimate lives. Throughout this time, we experience lots of changes in pace and direction in the water sign of Cancer and Pisces.
 
Water signs that Venus and Mars travel through are feminine. Feminine signs signify that this is a slow and process-oriented journey. It will take time to work out any challenges that might come up. These back-to-back retrograde stories of Venus and Mars are not about the end goal but the journey that is taken. Water pulls us inwards, inside of our emotional bodies. During this time, we are forced to look at our shadows. We might become painfully aware of the inevitability of change. Throughout this deeply reflective period, we will be temporarily stopped in our tracks. Imagine how everything intensifies when you are forcefully stopped on your way forward and from that point of full stop, you have to, very slowly, turn around and go back to where you started and then again stop and go back where you’ve already been. There is a higher power involved here - you can’t exercise your will, you have to follow an invisible force that pulls you back against your normal mode of operation.  Imagine how disorienting it must feel to find yourself in this strange time capsule.
 
Everything suddenly intensifies and you feel out of your control. You know where you want to go, and you know there is action, decision to make in the future but at this time you can’t proceed with your plans. You’re forced to go back to the water, to your emotional landscapes.
Change we make in our external circumstances starts with the change within. We can't skip the emotions even though we often wish we could. Emotions are our secret well that we go back to replenish ourselves. They are in a state of constant flux, but they do matter. You always feel something. Through emotions, we process the world around us. Emotions are what makes us human. They have the power to turn our life around for good or bad as they often get in the way of our goals and aspirations. They are a driving force of our actions. One moment, we’re out in the world trying to accomplish our ambitions, and the next one we meet someone and suddenly things get complicated and we´re forced to reevaluate our life´s direction. Emotions come and go. They often disrupt our rational mode of operation and we do things that don’t make much sense. Emotions are powerful like water. Like water, they shape our external landscape. If you try to ignore your emotions, control them, hold them in, you stop the flow. They get blocked but they don’t disappear. They start coming through your body in an uncomfortable way. You can’t stop the water. Emotions will push you anyway.
 
Both Mars and Venus retrogrades are initiated in fire, in Leo and Aries, respectively. Masculine signs signify what is hot, fast, and goal-oriented. Fire craves freedom. The more unrestricted conditions the fire has, the faster it burns. If you want the fire to burn slower, you need to restrict the air that is coming through, you have to contain the fire.
 
Mars represents action, ambition, will to actualize our personal goals, tendency to sever oneself from influences that hinder the progress forward. Mars is a masculine force that follows desire - it takes without asking. Imagine what happens if you force this energy to come to a full stop and force it to retrace its steps. Nothing frustrates Mars like when he can´t push forward.
 
Mars stationed retrograde on December 7, 2024, at 6° Leo. During this time period, we were faced with the challenge of non-action. We were forced to burn slower. Our internal flame has been simmering in a low-oxygen environment. This change of pace forced us to go within, to find the courage to confront our personal demons, things that make us weak and frightened and that prevent us from fully expressing ourselves in the Leo area of our chart.
 
Even though Mars has recently stationed direct on February 24, 2025, at 17° Cancer, he will stay at this degree until March 9th. It will take a while before he picks up a speed before we can see the results of this slow-burning process. Mars is going to cover once-travelled ground. We will be able to see our progress once we are confronted with things we’ve dealt with before.
 
By the time Mars stationed direct on February 24, Venus had already arrived at her station degree of 10° Aries. On March 1st, 2025, Mars is handing over the torch to Venus as she‘s stationing retrograde in Mars's domicile of Aries, the sign that is opposite to her nature. Aries is a raw energy of early spring. It feels like when you pour gasoline on a fire - a huge flame erupts, a flame that can launch a rocket into space or burn everything to dust.
 
Venus in Aries is not inclined to act as we expect from Venus. Venus represents connection, coherence, and pleasure that we find in merging with other people and in general things going with ease. Venus in Aries desires connection but at the same time, she requires her sovereignty. She is not willing to make compromises just to keep the peace. She is abrupt, there is no Venusian smooth-talking, and she says it how it is. Venus in Aries knows what she wants and she is not afraid to fight for it. She is burning with passion.
 
She is restless. She wants to go, dive head first, and never look back. Right now, Venus is trapped in the standstill. She hit a bump in the road, she had to slow things down and take a long detour, going back in her own tracks. Venus is retrograde from March 2nd through April 13th, 2025. During this long revision time, we have an opportunity to make sense of things. Imagine you went so far in some area of your life and you just want to push forward. But all of a sudden something comes up and you´re faced with an obstacle that makes you go back and reassess what happened prior to this turning point. This frustrating circumstance is a blessing in disguise. It creates a space for reflection and inevitably forces us to reconsider if we really want what we chase after if our desire is in alignment with our core values and needs.
 
Imagine the fire of Aries as pure energy - there is no falsehood, no pretense in it. We often use fire to purify ourselves and our environment, disinfecting things, and burning things that remind us of our painful past. We use fire to cleanse our lives of stagnation, of the burdensome past so we can start fresh. Imagine fire as your inner desire that guides you through life. When you are faced with a decision and you feel that flame within you and you know that this is it. Aries can teach us radical self-love and self-respect as it is a prerequisite for feeling good in our bodies and in any relationship. It always starts with ourselves. Do we honor ourselves and our feelings first? Are our decisions in line with our values and needs? “Is this okay with me?” Venus in Aries asks us to become our own authority that always seeks approval from ourselves first.
 
On March 27, 2025, Venus moves back to emotional Pisces. Venus withdraws back into mutable water, back to its resting place. We can float for a bit longer, go back in time, revisit our dreams of the future, and see how it feels the second time around. Does it feel the same or is the doubt creeping in? Do we need to adjust our vision, and our expectations for the future? Maybe we have a change of heart and we realize that all this Piscean dreaming is way too ungrounded and our dreams can never materialize in the future.
This Venus retrograde forces us to slow down to evaluate whether we initiate our actions from a steady place, whether we are sufficiently nourished, and whether there is enough fertile soil for our seeds to germinate and grow.
 
Venus retrograde across Pisces - Aries might, more than retrograde in other signs, bring a strong need to deal with unresolved past feelings that prevent us from moving forward into a new phase of our lives. We often want to jump quickly into a new thing and leave the old and painful behind but the emotional baggage doesn´t disappear if we just ignore it. This Venus retrograde is a chance to deal with our hurt and heartache. We can never truly move to the future if we´re holding on to the past. We have to acknowledge what happened and lovingly let it go. By letting go, we release our grasp of the past. It doesn´t have power over us anymore.
 
Venus retrograde is a pivotal crisis moment that facilitates such a transformation process.
Venus direct station in Pisces goes out with a bang on April 13, 2025. On this day, the Moon reaches its fullness in the sign of Libra, ruled by Venus. Moon carries this high peak energy right into the square with Mars in the last degrees of Cancer. Water is where it all started for these two lovers back in the fall of 2024. They’ve been through a lot since then. It feels like when a couple goes through a long emotionally challenging time together. The difficulties they endured brought them closer together. Now they know where they stand, what they can expect and they can move on with their life.
Venus turning direct that day conjunct Saturn and North Node reiterates a similar dynamic. It speaks to emotional maturity - this is a grown-up Venus. She knows what she wants, she is not afraid to set her boundaries, and her emotional needs fuel her actions.
 
A few days after Venus's direct station, Mars reenters the fiery sign of Leo. Mars leads the way again, this time with newly gained confidence. It takes another month before Venus and Mars meet on May 22, 2025, in a perfect fiery trine at full speed at 15° Aries and Leo respectively.
This is a Grand finale. Both Mars and Venus are at a strong position at a midpoint of each respective sign. Venus is now also a fearless morning star. This is „Burn bright, die young“ energy. Venus and Mars are thirsty for life. Nothing can stop them.
This is a celebration of life after a long troublesome period. This passionate encounter in masculine solar signs is about confident action and urge to just keep moving forward. 
 
Remember Jupiter in Gemini bringing these two together back in October of last year?
Back then in the sign of his detriment, going retrograde? At the time of this exciting encounter, Jupiter is happily direct, a few weeks from entering Cancer, the sign of his exaltation. I believe that Jupiter has played a key part in this Mars-Venus story. We have to wait and see for Jupiter´s journey through the sign of Cancer when curses and misfortunes might be turned into blessings.
 
But that is a different story...

Keep hope alive, keep dreaming.
Petra