The Morning Star, the Underworld & the Sacred Art of Return
Every 18-19 months Venus, the brilliant Evening Star, begins to slow her passage across the zodiac. From our earthly perspective, she appears to reverse direction, retracing a portion of the sky she has already travelled.
And then she disappears. For a time, the planet associated with beauty, love, pleasure and harmony is swallowed by the brilliance of the Sun. To the ancient skywatcher this was no ordinary celestial event.
It was a disappearance. A descent. And eventually, a return.
The Descent of the Goddess
Long before Venus was known by her Roman name, the ancient Sumerians associated the planet with Inanna - goddess of love, sexuality, fertility and war.
One of her most extraordinary myths tells of her descent into the underworld. At each of seven gates, Inanna is required to surrender an item of her royal adornment.
Her crown, jewellery, garments.
Piece by piece, everything that identifies her as queen is taken away. By the time she reaches the deepest chamber, she stands naked and stripped of her worldly power.
She is struck dead, her body suspended upon a hook in the underworld. Through divine intervention, she is eventually restored to life, although her return comes at a cost.
Although the myth and the Venus cycle are not identical, their symbolic relationship is compelling.
The goddess disappears from the heavens, passes through darkness, and returns transformed.
What remains of us when everything we use to define ourselves has been taken away?
Venus in Scorpio: Beneath the Surface
On 3 October 2026, Venus began her retrograde at approximately 8° Scorpio.
In traditional astrology, Scorpio is the nocturnal domicile of Mars , a place where Venus is considered to be in detriment.
Here, the gentle pleasures of Venus encounter the deeper territories of desire, attachment, intimacy, power and vulnerability.
Venus is not just the planet of romance, she governs attraction, union, beauty, pleasure and the things we consider worthy of our affection.
Scorpio asks us to look beneath these things.
Where does devotion become attachment?
Where does desire become possession?
What are we afraid of losing?
And how much of what we call love is entangled with our need for security, recognition or control?
In the language of alchemy, this is known as solve , the breaking down of what already exists, allowing us to discover what lies beneath.
The Heart of the Sun
On 24 October, Venus passes between Earth and the Sun, meeting the Sun at approximately 0° Scorpio.
This is the central turning point of her retrograde journey.
Venus passes between Earth and the Sun, hidden within the solar glare. Astrologically, this conjunction is known as a cazimi, from a term meaning the heart of the Sun.
Within traditional astrology, a planet occupying this intimate position is considered to receive a special dignity or empowerment.
There is something about this symbolism. Venus, having descended into invisibility, enters the solar heart.
The planet of beauty and desire meets the source of illumination. Not unlike the moment in the alchemical vessel when a substance, having undergone dissolution, begins to reveal another possibility of being.
The Return Through Libra
On 25 October, Venus retrogrades back into Libra, one of her own domiciles and the atmosphere of the journey changes.
Where Scorpio draws us into the depths of attachment and desire, Libra returns our attention to relationship, reciprocity, beauty and harmony. But this is not a return to the way things were.
The Venus that emerges from the underworld has passed through the solar fire. and the question is less about what we wish to possess and more about what we genuinely value.
What does harmony look like when it no longer requires self-abandonment?
What does beauty become when it is no longer performed for approval?
What kind of love allows both people to remain whole?
Venus stations direct in Libra on 14 November, beginning her gradual return to forward motion.
The Sacred Art of Returning
There is a temptation to treat retrograde periods as inconveniences, cosmic interruptions to be endured until life can resume.
But the ancient image of Venus offers another perspective. Sometimes what appears to be a retreat is part of a much larger movement of transformation.
Inanna does not descend into the underworld empty handed. She enters adorned with the symbols of her identity, authority and power and it’s these things she must surrender.
This is the deeper invitation of the present Venus cycle. To examine what identities we maintain, the attachments we protect and the ways we seek beauty, affection and belonging.
And to consider what might remain if we were willing to loosen our grip.
And Venus does not remain hidden forever, she returns to the morning sky, rising before the Sun.
The Evening Star becomes the Morning Star.
And what has descended into darkness begins to meet the light.
