Venus retrograde natal suggests you have difficulty giving and receiving love and affection. You may experience sadness in love or have to endure hardship or delay. Lack of self-love, social anxiety, shyness, and even financial hardship are also possible.

Often, these challenges are a result of past life relationship issues. Due to the laws of karma, if you caused suffering or hardship to a lover in an earlier life, you shall experience something similar yourself during this life. Natal Venus retrograde acts like Mars, so perhaps you hurt someone you love. Maybe you had an affair, walked out when they needed you most, or physically injured them.

Whatever happened in past romances, you come into this life with those bad memories etched in your soul. You probably don’t recognize them as memories but as déjà vu or unexplained guilt. Especially when young, the theme of challenging events related to your past can repeat.

Sadness and disappointment may come from unrequited love, forced marriage, sexual abuse, mental illness, or physical disability. Learning to love yourself is critical in working through your Venus in retrograde issues. Other signs of natal Venus retrograde are poor personal hygiene and not caring about your appearance.

Self-love can start with beautifying your physical appearance. Fashion, cosmetics, and beauty treatments can significantly improve your self-love, making you more lovable. However, natal Venus in retrograde can also show as excessive use of makeup and jewelry or even disfigurement from cosmetic surgery.

Venus retrograde in your natal chart aims to perfect those areas of your love life that once let you down. As your relationship skills improve with experience, your karmic debt will be repaid, and you will enjoy more loving relationships.