A Great Returning: What An Inner Practice Means to Me
Hi everyone,
Venus is now descending. What are you returning to?
Venus has begun her descent into the underworld. She's being asked to surrender her powers, her masks and her identities, and to be stripped back to her essence. In the same way, she asks us to look beneath the stories, and beneath the armour we've built to protect ourselves from being really seen.
This week I've recorded a short audio on what an inner practice means to me, and on what may be returning for you. It's about ten minutes.
Listen ▶︎ What An Inner Practice Means to Me.
What may be returning
With the outer planets and Saturn retrograde too, you may find something returning. A person from your past. An old problem rising from beneath the surface. Or perhaps you're simply looking back over your shoulder and seeing something in a way you couldn't before.
The clarity may not be fully there yet, and that's okay. Things are being revealed.
More will be revealed. Venus continues her descent through Scorpio, building to her conjunction with the Sun at zero degrees Scorpio in late October. Then the tone shifts as her retrograde journey carries her back through Libra. This is a great unravelling, and a great returning.
The dates to remember
3 October Venus turns retrograde at 8° Scorpio. The descent begins.
Late October Venus meets the Sun at 0° Scorpio, then moves back into Libra.
14 November Venus turns direct at 22° Libra.
May 2028 The next Venus retrograde.
Dates are approximate and can shift by a day depending on your time zone. For the full story and the Inanna myth, see Venus Into the Underworld: The Final Initiation Gate.
Life is already full of unchosen returnings
A returning is wherever your attention keeps going back to. A worry you replay. An old argument. The 24-hour news cycle. The screen. We go back to these without choosing, over and over, on autopilot. Imagine if you could begin to interrupt the returns that aren't supporting you, and choose a different one.
That's what an inner practice is: a way of choosing differently. It can be as simple as a few quiet minutes where you stop, let your breath settle, and come back to yourself. Done often enough, returning to a clearer, wiser place becomes more familiar than returning to the worry. A bit like exercise for your inner life: small, regular, and it builds over time.
For me, it's remembering, anchoring and connecting back to my inner wisdom, every day, in the middle of an ordinary life. It isn't a religious practice, and it isn't even necessarily a spiritual one.
A moment to return
Let your feet touch the floor. Let your shoulders drop. Take a slow breath in, and let it go. Then say quietly to yourself:
I return. As I return, wisdom and love return.
Rest for a moment. Notice anything that has shifted, even a little.
Questions to sit with
What might be returning for you right now?
Where does your attention keep going back to, without you choosing?
What would it be like to choose a different return, just once today?
If you'd like to go further
If you'd like personal support with what's coming up, one-to-one sessions are always the best and most efficient way. Book a session: www.soulfulguiding.com/book-session
And if you'd like to explore this with me, Returning begins on Sunday 1 November (Saturday 31 October in the Americas and Europe). It's a simple four-week way into an inner practice, and there's no pressure at all. About Returning: www.soulfulguiding.com/returning-a-4-week-journey
I'd love to hear what practice means to you. Just reply to the email