Venus will be retrograde starting on Oct 8th 2010 till Nov 18th.
This will be a bit of a scuttle because Venus is the planet of love, pleasure, relationships, beauty. It also controls, art, decorations, social graces, affection, harmony and friendships.
With it in retrograde, buying things for gifts will be a touchy subject, as it will alter your ideas of what is suitable.
Be prepared for relationships to become complicated during this time frame (six weeks) as communications will be under stress.