Venus Retrograde in Scorpio – Venus, Avalon and the Tests of the Underworld

Venus Retrograde in Scorpio

First day of Venus Retrograde in Scorpio, the isles of Avalon in Glastonbury

Venus retrograde began on October 3, 2026, and I was in Glastonbury. I woke up the next morning to the most spectacular sunrise. Glastonbury had transformed into Avalon. A layer of fog blanketed the ground as though an ocean, making the hilltops look like scattered islands and the Tor a major island. It was mystical and otherworldly.

Avalon derives from the Welsh afal (“apple”) and afallen (“apple tree”), so “Avalon” = “Isle of Apples.”

Venus and the Apple

There is an apple orchard sitting at the bottom of the Tor. It’s to the left staircase. It’s a special place; not laid out in lines like a farm, but like a garden, messy and natural. A place to be, a sanctuary… the Garden of the Hesperides.
The Garden of the Hesperides was a garden where the golden apples of Aphrodite were guarded by the Hesperides, daughters of Hesperus — the evening star. Why was it guarded? Because it held a special tree… the tree of eternal life.

Glastonbury Avalon Sacred Site Pilgrimage
As I descended the stairs into the fog-filled underworld, I found myself accompanied by two women. At the bottom, they stopped in front of the gate to the apple orchard and performed a ritual; I’m not sure what it was for… but they moved in each direction, saying, “shooo. Shooo. Shoo.”

Were they the daughter of Hesperus? – the guardian nymphs.

While I found their ritual odd, an even odder thing happened. Later I went into the apple orchard with my friend Lyn, and as we walked through the gates to leave, just in the spot they performed their ritual, I heard Lyn say “shooshooshoo”. She had not been with me earlier, did not meet them and knew nothing of the ritual happening. A little later, in the evening, near another gate just feet away from that particular gate- the first gate to enter the Tor- we made fire and sat around with instruments. A man named Joi shared his instruments with us… Shakers and drums, and we sang. At one point he began to sing made-up words. And suddenly he did it too… “shooo shoo shoo”!
Had we all become guardians of the Orchard? To me, they had picked up the frequency of the words, which continued to ring through the air and make them audible.

Venus in her evening aspect is called Hesperus. The apple is Venus’s fruit. It symbolizes love, beauty and the sacred feminine. Cut the apple lengthwise, and you will find a five-pointed star, the geometry of Venus over her 8-year cycle. Each point of the five-pointed star represents the petals of the flower. The inner five loops represent the five Venus retrogrades in the cycle, and the five outer petals, the Venus superior conjunctions. This is a time when she doesn’t make a retrograde loop, but she does disappear for a few months, returning as the evening star.


Evening Star is where Venus is now. She is Hesperus. In two more days, she will disappear, and by the end of the month she will return as the morning star.
The Descent of Venus.
Venus is always close to the Sun. As she travels across the sky during the day, both Venus and Mercury are always there with her. It is only when the Sun has just risen or has just set that we can see Venus. When Venus gets too close to the Sun, she disappears, but she is still there, only in the underworld.
The underworld: a time of testing.

Now, I’ve been told that the apple orchard at the Tor is a community orchard, but when I googled if you can pick the apples, it said it’s owned by the National Trust and “not really”… which to me meant… it’s a grey area. There were a lot of perfectly fine fallen apples. These apples are apparently meant for cider and not desserts, and I picked up some of those apples, both fallen and off the tree. It felt as though I was meant to. That I was given permission by the fairies, Venus and Land…

Today, I made just three turnovers, not for their dessert value but their energetic value – the orchard sits on the Michael and Mary lines. In Celtic tradition, a dragon or serpent guarded the holy orchard – I often think those dragons/serpents were, in fact, energy lines.

Apples and Serpents

The garden is a symbol of perfection, and when Eve ate the apple, she and Adam, who took a bite too, were tossed out of the garden. Their story is about temptation, following God’s precepts and self-control. Are apples the fruit of the knowledge of evil? Or eternal life? Venus retrograde is about those tests.

Venus retrograde Tests

Venus is love and beauty and fertility, but she can also be jealous, vain, superficial and manipulative. In Scorpio, she is particularly susceptible to jealousy and manipulation. In Scorpio, it also brings up themes of power and our shadow.
Venus will conjunct the Sun on October 24th at 0 Scorpio, a critical degree. There will also be an important asteroid there with them – Achilles. Achilles was a mortal/divine hybrid. His mother dipped him in the river Styx in order to make him immortal. But she held him by the heel, and this part made him subject to mortality. In astrology, Achilles symbolizes the area in our life that can lead to our downfall or demise. It’s our weak spot. As Achilles joins Venus and the Sun at this critical degree, we will be tested. What is our Achilles heel? How do we deal with that shadow?

Is eating the apple good or bad?

In Avalon, it is good. It grants wisdom, immortality and a passage to the otherworld. As part of the Grail elixir — golden apples melted in the Grail cup produced a drink that brought “wholeness, wisdom and immortality.” It is said that the apple is fairy food, a bridge between mortal and divine worlds. To eat it is to accept the goddess’s gift. But in Christianity, the apple is very different, and so are the snakes that guard the tree – Eve, snakes and apples spell our downfall.

Yet there is a fine line between good and bad, right and wrong… and often it’s all about perspective. My perspective on the words “shoohooshoo” was mine. From my friend’s perspective, she spoke those words to catch her breath. At the fire, she didn’t hear these words sung by Joi… And another thing happened at the fire. A man showed up telling us that as he walked down the Tor, he decided to give up smoking. He gave us tobacco and then went to his car and came back with cake, dates, olives and a joint. Temptations he was releasing, each of us faced with our own temptations… one took the tobacco, another the joint, someone else the dates, and I took the chocolate cake. But every single one of these is a vice or also a virtue – tobacco, chocolate and cannabis are culturally sacred in some cultures.

But did you notice the wordplay I did with myself about taking the apples? The National Trust (official authority) may have said no. But the fairies (the guardians of the land) said yes… The real test was how I dealt with my own perspective, shadow and integrity…

I was tempted to tell you I took only the fallen apples – in case someone from the National Trust read this. It would be wrong from their perspective. The test was not the right or wrongness of taking the apples or eating the apples, but the lie I was tempted to tell.

Telling a lie would have changed the energy of the apple. The temptation to lie was my shadow. So that the National Trust wouldn’t find out. So that you wouldn’t think lowly of me if you had an opinion. So that so that so that…
The test for me was not about right or wrong, as there are many perspectives… but to be in integrity with my choices. Not to lie, and to accept the inherited shadow of my choice.

“Confront the dark parts of yourself, and work to banish them with illumination and forgiveness. Your willingness to wrestle with your demons will cause your angels to sing.” ― August Wilson

As I take a bite of my turnover, I accept this Venusian gift into my body. It has given me the wisdom to help me navigate the underworld and my own personal tests!

I’ve recently released lecture #3 on the moons of our solar system. In the Tychos and Binary Star Astrology, Venus is a moon. Venus (and Mercury) display moon phases, and in the ancient world of Egypt they were both considered moon deities. I explore the idea that their moon phases were perhaps known in the ancient world. At the inferior conjunction, when she is closer to Earth, in front of the Sun and is like a New Moon, we explore how this happens in the Binary Star Astrology model.

The form you have selected does not exist.

Chiron in Aries–Taurus: Healing Through Masculine–Feminine Integration

The healing power of the threshold

Photo by Art Institute of Chicago on Unsplash

When I was four years old, I remember standing in the doorway of the hallway speaking to my father, very directly and clearly about something that was on my four-year-old mind. His response was immediate. It was anger… I was not to speak to him like that. I remember feeling very confused. My four-year-old mind could not figure out what was so offensive – I was just speaking my mind. Nonetheless, his response left me confused and fearful to speak up again. Worse, because I could not identify what was so offensive, I shut up about everything. Shortly after, I developed tonsillitis. It got so bad that I had to have my tonsils removed.

I remember being in the hospital, lying in the bed, the doctor asking me to count. I don’t know if I even reached seven, but when I woke up, I was in the corner of the surgery room inside what I can only describe as an incubator. I screamed in fear – a painful wrong move for my newly tonsil-free throat.

These were some of my earliest memories. The year was 1975, and Chiron was at 27 degrees of Aries transiting in my second house (the house of self-worth and physically, the throat) in a sextile with my ascendant and trine with my 6th house (house of health) Sun1.

Chiron is the wounded healer and teacher. In myth, Chiron taught war, hunting, archery, medicine and music. Astrologically, Chiron is often prominent during illness and surgery, and that was the case for me. Chiron has a 50-year cycle. It is now 50 years later, and Chiron is again sextile to my ascendant and trine my Sun. And you guessed it, another surgery. This time, my Venus-ruled throat was not the issue; it was my Venus-ruled uterus.

Oh, I forgot to say, natally, my Aries Chiron in the first house is opposite my Venus in Libra in the 7th house. Aries is ruled by Mars, which is our will, actions, motivation and drive, and Venus is our worth and self-esteem. It rules the throat and the womb. Nothing embodies the wounds of the Mars/masculine and Venus/Feminine more than this alignment.

It’s also timely to share this experience, because on June 19th, Chiron will move from Aries to Taurus. It will dip in and out. And it’s this dipping in and out of Aries and Taurus that I want to speak about because it brings up the collective masculine/feminine, male/female, Mars/Venus wounds.

Chiron’s transit:

Chiron is currently in Aries

Chiron in Taurus June 19, 2026 – Sept 18, 2026.

Chiron in Aries Sept 18, 2026 – April 14, 2027

Chiron in Taurus April 14, 2027 – July 2033

The last eight years of Chiron in Aries has been all about the wounds around our movement and actions. Medically, Aries rules the head (the corona), self-expression, the individual, small businesses – especially entrepreneurs. Chiron in Aries coincided with the coronavirus, but the wounds extended beyond the medical expressions of illness. Our movements were limited, and our self-expression and individuality were thwarted as a result. Some faired better with this than others, happy to merge with the hive mind, while if you were freedom-leaning, you felt the wound profoundly. All small entrepreneurial enterprises were negatively affected and many lost their business. In fact, it was one of the greatest wealth transfers (to the 1%) of all time… Some healing came out of it, too… Locked up in our houses, the tables were turned, and we became the zoo for animals to roam around, curiously peering in our windows. The air cleared from reduced pollution, and we slowed down and baked bread. What a metaphor that was…active yeast. And when that ran out, we learned how to ferment sourdough…. a Mars expression to be sure.

So what can we expect as Chiron moves into Taurus? It will bring up wounds around our sense of worth, security, and food. It will also bring up wounds around beauty. Medically, it rules the throat and the womb. I will talk more about that in a moment. Finally, it rules women’s issues…

When Chiron was in Aries in the 1970’s, the famous Roe vs Wade decision was made in 1973, which constitutionalized the right to abortion at the federal level in the United States. Chiron was only discovered in 1977. It was there, of course, in 1973, but was not in our awareness, so when this decision was made, we didn’t have the benefit of Chironic understanding at the time. During Chiron’s return to Aries in 2022, that decision was reversed on June 24, 2022, in the landmark decision Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (Chiron was square Ceres in Cancer). It removed it from the Constitution, making abortion to the State level perogative. Similarly, a law decriminalizing abortion occurred in Canada at the beginning of Chiron in Aries in 1969. But it came with strict criteria. Dr. Henry Morgentaler ignored that criteria and ended up with a criminal charge. But in 1984 at the very end of Chiron in Aries, Dr. Henry Morgentaler was acquitted by a jury. That ruling opened up abortion in Canada completely. Nothing changed in Canada around abortion during the recent Chiron in Aries transit. Instead, Canada saw the expansion of laws around assisted suicide.

The Chiron in Aries wound… the right to bodily autonomy vs the right to life (or, as the case may be, death). While this may seem like a Venus issue having to do with the womb and what happens inside of it, it’s the energy of Mars – of initiation and action and the Aries energy of beginning and putting something in motion that became the crux of the wound.

The impact of Chiron in Aries was huge… but it didn’t make the blockbusting aspects that Chiron will make while it is in Taurus. While Chiron is in Taurus, it will be conjunct with Saturn, and it will square Pluto in Aquarius… and it will do so at the same time. This will happen in 2028. While it is difficult, likely painful energy. It falls within the context of a lot of other astrological help.

I want to return to my story, because it will help to explain the movement from Aries to Taurus. As I mentioned, the second time around, the issue manifested in my uterus instead of my throat… why was this so?

The Aries glyph ♈looks like the uterus and the throat. And I find it amazing that when a baby is forming in the womb, a link to the throat and uterus shows up during the first days of formation… day 15. How strange to learn that they are connected.

Here’s what an AI Search say:

Embryological Link: Both the throat and the reproductive organs (including the uterus) develop from similar embryonic tissue during early development. Around day 15 of embryogenesis, two depressions form—one at the head end (leading to the mouth and throat) and one at the tail end (forming the urogenital and anal regions).

Anatomical and Functional Similarities: The Latin word cervix means “neck”—referring both to the cervical spine (neck) and the cervix of the uterus. The tissues of the throat and cervix/vagina share structural and functional similarities, including responsiveness to hormonal changes and involvement in passage regulation (e.g., swallowing vs. childbirth).

Nervous System Connection: The vagus nerve, known as the “wanderer,” travels from the brainstem down through the neck and thorax and has sensory branches that extend to the cervix and uterus. This nerve connects bodily functions across distant regions, influencing both vocalization (throat) and pelvic organ activity.

Muscular and Respiratory Coordination: The diaphragm and pelvic floor move in coordination with breathing. Relaxation of the throat and jaw during vocal toning (e.g., humming, sighing) can promote relaxation of the pelvic floor and cervix, commonly used in labour and birthing practices.

Energetic and Holistic Perspectives: In some holistic and yogic traditions, the throat (site of expression) and womb (site of creation) are seen as energetically linked, with vocal expression believed to influence pelvic tension and emotional release.

In medical astrology, Mars initiates all activity in the womb, including menstruation and fertility. An imbalance with Mars will lead to imbalances in the womb: heavy bleeding, inflammation, fibroids, and issues with fertility and inflammation. Venus can also affect these areas, but often Mars is too little or too much. It is easy to see these issues in the womb, but they also show up in the throat as they did early in my life… if we stifle (a mars-related activity) our voice (our throat) or our sexuality (uterus), we stifle creativity. And we know the next step is mercury-ruled communication. It is through sex (via mercurial DNA) or words that we create.

If we take out the politically charged womb side of things and focus on the throat, where we can find a comfortable metaphor…

The question we need to answer for us to heal… do we initiate too much, or not enough? Do we stifle initiation, abort actions… AND, when is it healthy to do so? And in what measure? What needs to be vocalized and fertilized? And what internal or external limits are being imposed on that vocalization?

I want to take this post a little deeper because, as Chiron moves into Taurus, we have him holding hands with his wife, Asteroid Chiroklo.

I’ve been deeply experiencing her energy because in her 63-year orbit, she is currently at 26 degrees of Aquarius, conjunct my ascendant. She made a sextile to Chiron in April of this year, and as Chiron moves into Taurus, she will be there to hold his hand several more times as Chiron moves back and forth in Aries and Taurus. Chiroklo brings support and an innovative and loving container for the back-and-forth motion.

Melanie Rehnhart has done a lot of work on Chiroklo and her discovery chart. Discovery charts are the moment when a planetary body comes into our awareness. Chiroklo’s is amazing. When she was discovered, the planets, including Chiroklo, formed a Merkaba. A Merkaba is also called a star of David in astrology and forms a 6-pointed star. In astrology, this represents balanced energy. Interpreted through the Egyptian root of the word, Mer (light), Ka (spirit), and Ba (body), it represents the union of these forces. It’s the masculine represented by the upward triangle (fire) and the feminine represented by the downward triangle (water) combined. When they unite, they bring together all of the elements and create movement.

As Chiron moves back and forth in the Mars energy of Aries and the Taurus wounds of Taurus, Chiroklo lends her balanced support.

I’ll tell you how Chiroklo showed up in my surgery. I was given the option of being put under, inhaling anesthesia, local freezing and/or regular pain killers. I opted to move forward without any drugs, with the option to gauge my needs along the way and take drugs if required. There was the doctor, and about 60 degrees away from her on one side was the nurse. About 60 degrees on the other side was the “chaperon” who ended up coaching me through the pain and being a quiet and cheerful support…. she was my Chiroklo.

There is a benefit to feeling through the pain. I was able to see on the camera what was surgically going on, and it helped me to connect with my body and with the energy of what was going on, and strangely, with the healing beyond the physical that needed to be acknowledged and healed.

Similarly, as we move back and forth through the Chiron in Aries and Chiron in Taurus energy, we will have Chiroklo’s support through whatever wounds arise, whether they are physical, emotional or societal wounds.

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Placidus house system

 

Eris and the Apple – A Venus Retrograde Test

Eris throwing the apple

The other day I posted on Instagram that during the Venus in Aries retrograde coming up in March, Venus will rise and become visible as a morning star at 0 degrees of Aries.

The ancients didn’t know the exact moment of the Sun-Venus conjunction (as Venus is blocked by the Sun). Instead, they went by what could be seen. The excitement for them would be when Venus was again visible. Ask any astrologer who reports on world events, Venus first visible at 0 degrees of Aries is important. O Aries is called a world point. Though I don’t speak much about world events, I felt that this important rising would help to herald a deeper move into the rise of the divine feminine on a large world scale.

In my Instagram post, I argued that Athena, the goddess of strategic war, was the more conscious expression of Venus in Aries and that Eris was the most unconscious.

To remind you, Eris is the Greek goddess of strife and discord. Her most famous myth is tied to the Trojan War.

The story goes that Eris was not invited to the wedding of Peleus and Thetis (Achilles’ parents) because of her troublemaking nature. In revenge, she threw a golden apple inscribed with “To the Fairest” into the banquet. Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite all claimed the apple, leading to a dispute. They asked Zeus to judge, but he delegated the decision to Paris, a Trojan prince. Each goddess offered him a bribe: Hera promised power, Athena promised wisdom, and Aphrodite promised the love of the most beautiful woman, Helen of Sparta. Paris chose Aphrodite, leading to Helen’s abduction and ultimately the Trojan War.

I received a message from someone with pushback to this post. Her pushback was toward me lifting up Athena and putting down Eris. In her view, Eris was “badly malaligned” She was left out while everyone else was invited. She didn’t start the war, but rather the “squabbling jealous goddesses” (Athena, Aphrodite and Hera). She defended that Eris did everything Mars would do, and she was even more upstanding than Mars because she was the last to leave the battlefield in the Trojan War. My dear writer pushed back even further “She saw through all her intentions, her actions were equal on both sides”.

My first reaction to the comment was to want to defend Athena! I have Athena on my ascendant, so of course I would. Not only that, but Venus just so happened to be transiting on my Chiron (the wounded healer) in Aries. I felt her comment as a personal attack on my expression and who I am!

But she was right! In throwing the apple Eris provided the ultimate Venus Retrograde test!

The three squabbling goddesses could have met that test by looking within and validating their own self-worth! Instead, they, not Eris caused the war!

I had come to the same conclusions as she did in this 2017 post https://clanmotherworldwide.com/horoscope-aug-28-sept-4-2017/. Even though I had come to the same conclusions years ago. I had conveniently forgotten and was ready to go to battle! I walked away from the comment, allowed myself to think about it for a while and pushing my ego out of the way, I realized she was right.

That’s the thing. Venus retrograde will push our worthiness buttons and we may react irrationally! We might even fight for things we don’t believe! If we haven’t sharpened our self-reflection tools, things can go south quickly. How do we stop personal wars? How do we stop the Trojan War? Indeed how do we stop WWIII? Never underestimate the power of doing your own work!

Eris’ actions symbolize the power of discord to create chaos, showing how small conflicts can escalate into massive consequences. And that is the point. One person can make all the difference!

“Never forget that you are one of a kind. Never forget that if there weren’t any need for you in all your uniqueness to be on this earth, you wouldn’t be here in the first place. And never forget, no matter how overwhelming life’s challenges and problems seem to be, that one person can make a difference in the world. In fact, it is always because of one person that all the changes that matter in the world come about. So be that one person. ” ― R. Buckminster Fuller


Venus Retrograde isn’t just a time of challenge—it’s an invitation to realign, reflect, and reconnect with yourself. The Venus Retrograde Workshop Navigating The Heart; The Virtues of Aries and Pisces is designed to support you in navigating this powerful cosmic shift with intention and ease.

💖 What You’ll Gain:

🌿 Deep Self-Reflection – Uncover patterns in love, self-worth, and relationships.

🔮 Spiritual Tools & Guidance – Learn rituals, journaling prompts, and energy work to move through retrograde with confidence.

🌙 Healing & Release – Let go of what no longer serves you and create space for new beginnings.

💫 Supportive Community – Connect with like-minded souls on this journey of transformation.

This retrograde is a time for redefining love, values, and personal growth—let’s navigate it together. Join us and turn Venus Retrograde into a time of empowerment! 💫💖

Registration will close this Thursday, Feb 27th. The first workshop is March 1st!

Reserve your spot now!

 

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