Venus stationed retrograde on July 22/23rd. Venus retrogrades move in 8 year cycles, so the last time Venus went Rx in Leo was late July 2015.

Certain themes from 2015 may come up in your life again from now until September 3rd, depending on where Leo lands in your chart. The blockbuster movie “Barbie” was released exactly one day before this retrograde began, which was incredibly timely.

I had a lot of resistance to seeing this film. Witnessing adult women dressing up in pink feels cloyingly nostalgic. I did end up seeing it, mostly because it seems like important cultural commentary to dive into now that we are in settling into this particular Venus retrograde.

Pluto’s regress back into Capricorn in July is also hugely significant. This is the last fist pump of Capricorn-fueled nostalgia before Pluto finally settles into Aquarius for the next 20 years. It is also significant that we entered the 200+ year air trigon as of 2020 with the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction in Aquarius. The previous 200+ years of earth have dominated the cultural landscape with themes of ownership, money and self-worth.

Without delving too deeply into the film, which is as ridiculous as it is ripe with cultural commentary, the Barbie movie is simply too emblematic of Venus in Leo to not discuss.

As an American female growing up in the 1970s and 80s, I am well aware of Barbie’s impact. Barbie was a popular toy simply because she was a more mature kind of doll. She wasn’t a replica of a baby like most dolls were for young girls over the last 300-400 years (actually, I have no knowledge of how long dolls have been a thing). Barbie represents a sexualized adult woman; anatomically proportioned in ways that are physically impossible. Regardless of her various incarnations, she is the symbol of white capitalism: blonde, fashionable and the center of attention.

The director of the film, Greta Gerwig, has established herself as a director after a fairly successful career as an actress. She illuminates not only what Barbie represents for generations of American girls but also introduces a kind of existential dilemma. Without giving away too much of the plot, stereotypical Barbie (played by Margot Robbie) stops the dance party at her mansion at the beginning of the film to ask her friends: “do you ever think about dying?”

In Barbie Land, women rule. The “Kens” are a kind of neutered accoutrement. In this fantasy realm, Barbies are presidents, doctors, and noble peace prize winners who still manage to look anatomically hot. But this fantasy world is rife with superficiality and delusions of power and happiness. Those of us living in the real world know that patriarchy has a very different story to tell.

How this illuminates Venus Rx in Leo is that the film reveals that women (and men for that matter) should never have their value dictated by their roles in society. You do not have value because of who you date, how much you own or who sees you as attractive or powerful, intelligent, etc. That value should come from within – even if it initially needs to find expression in absurd, attention-seeking ways.

There are other astrological transits happening right now that also contribute to this unveiling. Neptune in Pisces has shown us how non-binary discussions are a deep critique of capitalism. Gender roles have oppressed more than liberated people in modern society.

Venus retrogrades are about diving into the “underworld” of what it means to love, to be loved and to be valued. This is why every 18 months for a period of 40 days and 40 nights they are notoriously challenging times in relationships.

Leo is the strongest representation of identity and being “seen”. It is the individual’s acknowledgement of what it means to be loved. Is an icon something to be loved and admired? With the current strike happening in Hollywood, the performance talents of individuals have been called into question. Can AI replace human beings? And if so, what does this do to our notions of individual identity?

Many ideologies are being stripped away, consciously and subconsciously, by the West finding itself in a time of crisis. It’s a good thing. Barbie reminds us of how fucked up the western world has become.

One of stereotypical Barbie’s quotes from the end of the movie rings true: “I want to do the imagining – I don’t want to be the idea.” The commodification of human beings has valued product above all else. This is what happens when structure and control are imposed and not chosen. For an individual to create the life they want, they must have freedom. But does freedom really exist in an imperialistic society?

We must consider what love actually means to us on a personal level. Does it mean having everything we want in the material world? Materialism isn’t known for producing well-adjusted, loving human beings. We’ve all encountered the wealthy douchebags who drive the nice cars with the 6-figure salaries who get upset when their latte isn’t hot enough. However, sometimes entitled people aren’t even wealthy. They’ve just grown up in a culture that expects the world around them to satisfy their every whim.

In Leo, entitlement plays a crucial role. Shouldn’t I expect to receive as much as I give? Value becomes an important bargaining chip. So often, we hear ourselves and others express that we deserve the best of everything, even when we may not understand our intrinsic value as human beings without the backdrop of capitalism.

While self-love is hugely important in any human relationship, how do we define it? These are important questions to ask ourselves during this particular Venus retrograde. It’s crucial to strip away the materialism before we really attempt to define self-love.

Rather than obsessing over monetary expressions of value, this can be a time when we learn to value who we are for no particular reason. We were born with no bank accounts and will die with no possessions to take with us. This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t fight for fair wages, or against colonialism and all of its trappings. It just means we shouldn’t hide behind the Barbie-esque facade that representations of value are actual value.