How often is Venus retrograde?

About every eighteen months, for around forty to forty-three days. That is roughly seven percent of the time, which is why Venus retrograde in a birth chart is uncommon next to Jupiter or Saturn. Some calendar years have no Venus retrograde at all.

Is there a Venus retrograde every year?

No. Because the cycle is about eighteen months, Venus retrogrades fall in alternate years. The table shows the year you pick; step a year either way to find the cycle before or after.

Does retrograde make Venus weak?

No. Phaladeepika counts retrograde motion as a source of strength and says a retrograde planet can give results like its exaltation even in a difficult sign. Strength is not the same as benefit: a strong Venus delivers whatever its sign, house and lordship already promise, only more insistently.

Should I avoid getting married during Venus retrograde?

Not on the date alone. The Jyotish approach is to check the muhurta, the seventh house and its lord, Venus's dignity and the running dasha for the people involved. A blanket ban on weddings, purchases or beauty work during the retrograde is a modern Western rule, not a classical one.

Will an ex come back during Venus retrograde?

Sometimes, and it is one outcome among many. The return of a past partner needs the fifth or seventh house, Venus, the seventh lord, the Navamsha and the dasha to point the same way. Just as often the retrograde renegotiates a current relationship, revives a creative project, or reprices something you were about to buy.

What is the shadow period?

The pre-shadow begins when Venus first reaches the degree it will later turn direct at, and the post-shadow ends when direct Venus passes the degree it turned retrograde at. The named shadow is a modern practice rather than a classical one, but the degrees crossed three times are real, and a natal planet sitting on them is touched three times.

Why do these dates differ from another site by a day?

The dates here come from a daily sidereal ephemeris kept in Indian time, so each one is a calendar day rather than a clock time. A station that falls late at night can land on the next day on a site that uses another time zone or an hourly table. The sign is sidereal (Lahiri), which is why it differs from a Western site's sign by about one sign.

Which sign matters, mine or the one Venus is in?

Both, differently. The sign Venus retrogrades in is the same for everyone and describes the manner: strong in Taurus or Libra, under strain in Virgo. The house that sign falls in from your ascendant and from your Moon describes where it shows up in your life, and that is the part this page works out for the cycle.

Venus Retrograde in 2026

The Venus retrograde of the year, with the day it starts and ends, the sidereal sign it happens in, and the shadow period around it. Venus turns retrograde about every eighteen months for around forty days, so some years have none. Dates follow the Lahiri ayanamsha and Indian time.

Venus today

9 Oct 2026

Retrograde

Retrograde in Libra

Venus is retrograde in Libra today. It turns direct on 15 Nov 2026.

Motion: Retrograde
Sign: Libra
Direct from: 15 Nov 2026

Venus retrograde dates in 2026

1950 to 2100

Each date is a calendar day in Indian time from a daily sidereal ephemeris (Lahiri ayanamsha): the first day Venus is seen moving backward, and the first day it moves forward again. The sign is the one Venus turns in; where it slips back into the previous sign, both are shown.

Cycle	Retrograde from	Direct from	Days	Sign
Retrograde 1NowShadow 1 Sep 2026 to 16 Dec 2026	4 Oct 2026	15 Nov 2026	42	Libraback intoVirgo

Retrograde Shadow

What a Venus retrograde actually is

Venus never reverses its orbit. About every eighteen months its faster inner orbit carries it between Earth and the Sun, and for roughly forty days it appears to slide backward through the zodiac. In Jyotish this is Vakri Shukra. The dates on this page mark the first day Venus is seen moving backward and the first day it moves forward again.

The classical texts do not read this as weakness. Phaladeepika counts retrograde motion among a planet's strengths and says a retrograde planet can give results like its exaltation even in a difficult sign. Read that as insistence rather than reward: Venus's subjects get stronger and less straightforward, and whether that helps depends on the rest of the chart.

Venus's subjects are attraction, agreements, pleasure, comfort, art, vehicles and the money spent on all of them. A retrograde sends them back for a second look. A relationship renegotiates its terms, a purchase gets reconsidered, a piece of creative work is reopened, an old attachment resurfaces. Which part of your life it lands in depends on the house it falls in from your ascendant, which the section below works out for the cycle.

Venus through all twelve houses of the birth chart, with its signs, dignities and what it rules for each ascendant: Venus in the Houses.

What to do, and what to leave alone

A Venus retrograde is not a ban on weddings, purchases or haircuts. The blanket rules are a Western import; Jyotish looks at the house, the dasha and the specific decision. What the period does ask for is a second look at anything you are about to commit to because it feels good.

Do

Reread the terms of any agreement before you sign, especially the parts about money and expectations.
Return to a piece of creative work you set aside. Revision suits the period.
Check the price, the pay and what you actually get for the money before a large purchase.
Say what you want from a relationship instead of assuming it is understood.
Repair or sell what you already own before buying its replacement.

Avoid

Treating every ex who reappears as destined. A return is one outcome among many.
A big change of look made on impulse. Taste shifts during the review and settles after it.
Spending to feel better, or to be seen a certain way.
Keeping the peace in a partnership by not saying the thing that is wrong.
Postponing a wedding or a contract on the date alone. Check the chart and the muhurta, then decide.

The last point matters. A retrograde is a reason to look closer, not a reason to stop.

Effect by ascendant

The sign Venus retrogrades in is the same for everyone. The house it lands in is not. Pick a cycle, find your sidereal ascendant, and read the house Venus is reviewing. Venus also throws its full seventh aspect on the house opposite, so read that one lightly too. Classical gochara judges Venus from the natal Moon and finds it hardest in the 6th, 7th and 10th from there, so count from your Moon sign as well if you know it. When a cycle slips back into the previous sign, the review moves to the house before it part way through.

Cycle

Aries ascendant
7th housethen6th
Marriage, partnership and contracts
A direct review of commitment, reciprocity and agreements. An existing partnership renegotiates its expectations; an old partner may get in touch, but that is not a rule. Good for mediation if Venus is supported; harder if harmony has been hiding an incompatibility.
Taurus ascendant
6th housethen5th
Work, routines, debts and conflict
One of the harder positions in classical gochara. Relationship or money trouble gets tangled with work, obligation and resentment. Useful for fixing boundaries and an unfair workload; watch comfort eating, avoidance and workplace entanglements.
Gemini ascendant
5th housethen4th
Romance, creativity and children
The strongest romantic and creative review. A past love or an unfinished creative project may reappear, though a reunion is not promised. Dating standards, pleasure and speculative risk all get reassessed.
Cancer ascendant
4th housethen3rd
Home, vehicles, mother and comfort
Home aesthetics, property choices, a vehicle and domestic peace get reconsidered, and a past family or home issue may need settling. Redecorating and returning to a familiar place are typical. Material comfort will not fix an emotional discomfort, so do not expect it to.
Leo ascendant
3rd housethen2nd
Communication, skills and siblings
Old conversations, collaborations and creative skills come back. A good stretch for editing, revising a design, reconnecting with a sibling or picking up an artistic hobby. Relationship misunderstandings here are mostly about how things were said.
Virgo ascendant
2nd housethen1st
Money, possessions, family and speech
Repricing and revaluing. Family expectations, old money, possessions and spending habits return for a look, and the way you speak to the people at home needs care. Good for correcting a budget and a value system; watch purchases made from feeling.
Libra ascendant
1st housethen12th
Appearance, style and self-worth
What you do to be liked comes up for review: appearance, style, the social persona, the relationships that mirror your self-worth. Old aesthetic choices get reversed. A well-placed Venus adds charm here; an afflicted one leans on approval.
Scorpio ascendant
12th housethen11th
Expenses, retreat and hidden matters
Pleasure and spending go private or hard to track. A foreign or long-distance romance, artistic solitude or a hidden relationship fits here. Good for creative or spiritual withdrawal; watch escapism, secret spending and blurred boundaries.
Sagittarius ascendant
11th housethen10th
Friends, networks and gains
Friendships, social circles, income streams, audience and long-term wants get reassessed, and an old network may wake up. Good for earning from earlier creative work; watch measuring your life or relationship against your peers'.
Capricorn ascendant
10th housethen9th
Career, reputation and clients
Another of the classically harder positions. Public image, client relationships, pay, branding and workplace diplomacy need revision. Good for a rebrand and for correcting a professional alliance; a risk to reputation if approval wins over principle.
Aquarius ascendant
9th housethen8th
Beliefs, teachers and long travel
Your philosophy of relationships, your artistic worldview and what a good life means get reconsidered. Travel or study plans change. Love may cross a cultural or religious line. Good for rethinking values at the level of principle.
Pisces ascendant
8th housethen7th
Intimacy, shared money and secrets
Joint finances, debt, tax, intimacy, trust and hidden attachments come up, and what went unsaid in a relationship can surface. Strong for deep repair and restructuring shared resources; watch secrecy, jealousy and financial dependence.

Remedies that hold up

Do not reach for a Venus remedy only because Venus is retrograde. First ask whether Venus in your chart needs support at all: its sign, the houses it rules for your ascendant, and whether its dasha is running. A strong Venus in review needs honesty more than ritual.

The habit that works for everyone is to separate wanting from valuing. Before a purchase, a promise or a return to someone, ask what it will be worth to you a year from now. Keep agreements in writing, including the ones with people you love. Finish or formally shelve the creative work that keeps calling you back, so it stops draining the present.

Traditional measures exist too: Fridays kept simple and clean, respect shown to the women in your life, a white or cream offering, the Shukra mantra. The diamond and the white sapphire are worn only after a chart reading, never because of a date. Nothing here replaces a lawyer for a contract or a conversation for a relationship.

Frequently asked questions

Dates, signs, shadows and what they mean for you.