The big astrological news, besides the Winter Solstice, is Venus in Capricorn went retrograde yesterday, lasting till Jan 31st, 2013. Venus is the planetary ruler of Taurus and Libra and could easily win the title of "girly girl" with its loving, romantic, feminine nature. Beauty, art, grace, and elegance are just some of planet Venus's expressions. Of course with Libra as a co-ruler, all of our partnerships come into it play, along with our need to socialize! Our ability to attract what we love and value also moves front and center with this planet!

As Venus drives into it's backward motion for the next 6 weeks or so, it gives us time to reflect, reevaluate and reexamine our love life, partnerships, and our ability to attract what we want and need into our lives. We can spend some time realizing whether our life is really matching our truest desires! With Venus in the sign of Capricorn, we can also reexamine the structures we have created, asking ourselves whether they are serving us. Recognizing and reviewing our ability to be responsible, practical and organized may also come up, along with us choosing to set realistic goals for ourselves.

Retrograde planets bring introspection to the forefront. I choose to look at it like a mini vacation with every conceivable word starting with "RE" coming into my life, such as relaxation, renewal, recovery and retail! :) The downside with retrograde times, can be the possibilities of misunderstandings, especially with Venus.

Now is the time to pull out our patience suits and reestablish our willingness to be clear and direct in all of our communication with others and most especially in all of our partnerships. Everything in life is just an experience and whether its relaxing or reevaluating, its all in perfect and divine order!