Once a year, Venus returns to the exact position it occupied at the moment of your birth. This moment — called the Venus Return — acts like a spotlight on your relationships, values, self-worth, and even finances. It’s a powerful energetic reset that can reveal what you're truly ready to receive (or release) in love.
What is a Venus Return?
Just like your solar return marks your birthday and tells us about the overall themes for your life in the upcoming year, your Venus Return is the exact moment Venus revisits the degree it occupied in your birth chart and tells us about the themes of your love life for the year ahead.
This typically happens once a year, but depending on retrogrades, it can happen more than once — or be delayed.
At the moment of your Venus Return, a chart can be cast to show:
The themes of your romantic year ahead
What kind of love you’re attracting
Emotional patterns being highlighted or challenged
Shifts in your relationship to money, beauty, and desire
What It reveals about your love life
1. Who (or what) you're ready to attract and your love life evolution
The house and aspects in your Venus Return chart show the qualities of love you’re currently aligned with. You might draw in:
More emotionally available partners
Relationships that mirror deeper soul lessons
Passionate encounters that shift your sense of self-worth
Relationship strengthening
Relationship ending.
Example: Venus returning in the 7th house with a trine to Pluto may attract an intense but transformative bond — one that changes you permanently. This would be a year that has similar undertones to going through a transit of Pluto to your Venus.
Example: The year I had a lot of dating experiences after a long-term relationship ending, my Venus return featured Mars/Moon/Uranus in the 5th house, trine Venus in the 9th house! It was indeed a year of experimentation and testing what I liked and didn't like.
Example: A man in a long-term relationship was set to marry, but his fiance leaves before the wedding. Venus Return featured Venus/Uranus/Sun/Mercury all conjunct in the 4th house, representing her sudden and unpredicted departure. He will meet someone new when Venus Return features Venus/Saturn sextile.
2. What you need to release
Your Venus Return can also highlight patterns that are expired — such as:
People-pleasing
Settling for crumbs
Using love as validation
Sometimes, it’s not about adding new love, but about clearing the blocks to receiving it fully. Do note: Venus being in the 7th house in your Venus return doesn't necessarily mean you will meet the love of your life. I generally prefer transits anyways to predict meeting someone new, but for example, the year I had both Sun and Venus in the Venus Return 7th house, yes, relationships were very important for me that year and I had a few relationships, but none of them were the right people. It was actually quite a defining year for me in terms of learning how to prioritize myself and discovering what I need through relationships. I had Saturn on the Ascendant for this Venus Return, so it's important to look at the whole chart and getting professional help to read your venus return. Another note: In the Astrology community, it's a bit of an old lore that Venus-Saturn = bad. I've written many times about how much Saturn seems misunderstood, and once again, experience proves me right. When I met my long-term partner, Venus Return Venus was in the 1st house, exact opposite Saturn.
3. Your emotional desires are evolving
Venus isn’t just about romance — she governs how we express affection, receive pleasure, and define what feels beautiful, fair, and worth it.
Your Venus Return may reveal:
Shifts in your standards
A shift in your aesthetic
New creative inspiration or artistic longing
Bonus: What about money?
Yes, Venus also rules money — especially money tied to self-worth. If your Venus Return chart involves the 2nd or 8th house, or aspects to Saturn or Jupiter, this year may ask you to restructure your finances, price your work differently, or set clearer boundaries around what you're willing to give for free. For example, the year I bought an apartment, my Venus return featured Sun, Venus, Mercury and Mars, all in the 4th house while Moon sat in Taurus. Pretty telling!
The year Venus was opposite Saturn, my finances definitely suffered and I had to embrace minimalism and restrictions.
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