How Long Is Venus Retrograde In 2017?

If you've been feeling a little off lately, you might want to blame it on the skies. As of Saturday, Mar. 4, yet another planet has moved into backspin — but how long is Venus in retrograde in 2017? Buckle up, lovebirds, because it's going to last for more than a month this spring.

If you're still at the "what does retrograde even mean?" stage of your astrological knowledge, allow me to explain. Retrograde motion simply means that a planet appears to be moving backwards in its orbit through the sky. The appearance is the important bit here; although the planet looks like it's changing its motion, it's not actually going backwards. The apparent change is just the result of the relative positions of the Earth, the planet in question, and their orbits around the Sun. Every planet goes into retrograde at some point in the year, although factors like duration and regularity tend to vary. Mercury, for example, has a much shorter orbit than Earth, so as it zooms past, it appears to go into retrograde a few times a year.

According to astrology, when a planet goes into retrograde, its energies are suppressed and tend to turn inward, but that isn't always a bad thing. Basically, don't freak out just because Venus has gone into retrograde.

So how long is the planet in retrograde for? According to most astrologers, the phase will last from March 4 until April 15, so we're in for a long while — although not as long as Jupiter, which is in retrograde until June. Venus is actually in retrograde the most infrequently of all the planets, entering the phase every 18 months or so.

Here's what to expect over the next month or so. Venus is a planet associated with love and romance, so as it goes into retrograde, astrologers predict that you might experience some upheavals in your love life. It's a time of revelations, reassessment, and nostalgia — just be careful of hitting up your ex if you know that way lies madness and poor decisions.

In short, Venus in retrograde isn't all that scary unless you're afraid of change. Instead of panicking and dropping off the face of the Earth until mid-April, chill out and see what happens — and since it's a time of nostalgia, start going through old photos for the perfect #TBT.