Leo

July 22 – August 21

You and a partner do not see eye to eye on an important matter. This involves financial security. Just when you thought the two of you had decided to move ahead with a financial decision, you or your partner hesitates and pulls away from the idea. Regardless of whether it is you or them who wants to reconsider, what you sense about them, what they’re not saying, causes you to question the relationship, not just the issue at hand. 

The Venus retrograde period is a time of re-evaluation and rearrangement for you. Stubbornness hampers this. You may become a stickler for details and accurate accounting to the penny, which is very out of character for your magnanimous nature. You are attached to the plans you made prior to Venus shifting into reverse, and you may want to argue rather than renegotiate. 

Being stubborn may help you. It may save you from throwing money – scads of money – at someone to impress or appease them, as you normally would, in order to make a not well thought out plan move forward. But being stubborn might delay you from reorganizing some aspects of an important relationship, and you end up wasting time and money.

Surface issues get confused with deeper motivations. You can’t read the subtle signals coming from the other person. As a result, you discover that you can’t control this situation, as your partner (or opponent) just doesn’t respond as you think they should. This could drive you nuts, as you obsess over what they’re thinking and feeling, and you revert to subterfuge tactics to figure them out. 

The solution is straightforward – just ask them. But with the influence of Jupiter and Neptune in your eighth house of shared assets, sexuality, and fear, laying all the cards on the table is something you just can’t do. You’re afraid of exposing your deep feelings, of letting the other person see your vulnerable position in relation to them. 

You’re used to being in command of any room you enter. Venus retrograde may make you feel as if you’re snatching your crown off your head to use it as a fig leaf to cover your private parts, just as the paparazzi’s cameras are focused on you. You haven’t ever encountered a situation that puts you on the back foot quite like this before, so of course, you’re confused and - how dare it be said of a Leo - you’re feeling awkward.

This astrologer encourages you to be stubborn, but only up to a point. It’s OK to be stubborn about what you were really hoping to get out of this agreement before things went south. It’s not OK to be stubborn about how you get what you were really hoping for. 

If the other person wants to back out on some terms of the issue, or even if they want to completely walk away – let them. Be cool. Adjust your crown proudly and move on. 

Don’t confuse forcing the original plan to go forward with you still being in control. And don’t confuse a renegotiation or a total falling out with you losing control. Your life is still your life. Being in control means doing what’s in your best interest, and as this issue has long-term consequences for your material security, you’ll be in control as long as you open your eyes to the reality that’s unfolding and do what it takes to maintain your hard-earned foundation. 

For some Leos, the issue involves your living situation and/or property. Thus, any conflict will not be resolved quickly. This may have been building for some time before Venus goes retrograde in December 2021 – maybe even for years. But the Venus retrograde period is your chance to make an honest assessment of the situation, face the reality, and get down to the nitty gritty of protecting your assets. As Saturn and Uranus move out of their square (90 degree angle) formation over the course of 2022, the worst will be over.

As the Venus-Pluto conjunction in Capricorn occurs in your sixth house, the sector of your chart related to your partner’s subconscious fears, it could be very easy for you, Leo, to a resume subtle, half-conscious manipulation of a partner, a tactic that you’ve relied upon in the past. You know exactly which buttons to push. Don’t go there. As your partnership sector is ruled by Aquarius – and thus, by extension, ruled by Saturn and Uranus – you will find that your partner is wise to your game and is now more powerful than you.

The Venus-Mars conjunction at 0° Aquarius on March 6, 2022, will breathe fresh air into the situation and allow you to move forward to achieving closure with any issues over shared assets.