Retrograde

Origin

The retrograde phenomenon was known to Babylonian astronomers, who tracked the apparent motion of the planets with great precision and noted the periods of backward motion. Hellenistic astrology adopted the retrograde as an interpretive factor, with Vettius Valens and other early astrologers treating retrograde planets as weakened or as expressing their function in an unusual manner. The Greek word for retrograde was anapodismos, meaning a stepping back, and the term was used technically in astronomical and astrological texts. Claudius Ptolemy in his Tetrabiblos discussed the retrograde phases in relation to the planet's strength and timing of effects.

In medieval European astrology the retrograde was generally treated as a debility, a condition in which a planet was said to be operating below its normal capacity. William Lilly in horary astrology weighed retrograde planets carefully, often taking the retrograde as an indication that a matter would not progress straightforwardly or would return to where it began. With the rise of psychological astrology in the twentieth century, retrograde was substantially rehabilitated. Dane Rudhyar and others read retrograde planets as functions turned inward, expressed in unconventional or reflective ways, and natal retrograde planets became understood as soul material requiring inner work rather than simple extroversion.

Meaning and function

Retrograde periods occur for each planet on a regular cycle. Mercury goes retrograde three or four times a year for about three weeks each, the most familiar retrograde to most people. Venus goes retrograde every eighteen months for about forty days. Mars goes retrograde every two years and two months for about two and a half months. The outer planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto are retrograde for substantial portions of each year, since the Earth overtakes them in orbit annually. The themes of each retrograde reflect the function of the planet: Mercury retrograde brings review of communications, contracts, and travel; Venus retrograde revisits relationships and values; Mars retrograde reconsiders direction and assertion; outer planet retrogrades work over long periods of structural reflection.

In a natal chart, a retrograde planet indicates a function that operates more inwardly, more reflectively, and often less conventionally than a direct planet. People with Mercury retrograde natally often think more before they speak, develop their own private vocabularies, or come to ideas slowly through repeated revisiting; people with Venus retrograde often develop unconventional values, sometimes meet love through return to past connections, and may be slower to commit; people with Mars retrograde often act with delay, prefer reflection before action, and may turn aggression inward. Outer planet retrogrades natally are extremely common since these planets are retrograde for months each year, and their natal retrograde indication is generally subtle.

In practice

Mercury retrograde is the most practically attended retrograde because it occurs frequently and affects daily life: communication, contracts, technology, travel, and small details of arrangement. The traditional advice is to avoid signing contracts, beginning new ventures, or buying significant electronics during Mercury retrograde, and to use the time instead to review, revise, return, and reconsider. The R prefixes are practical hooks. Venus retrograde is felt in relationships and values; Mars retrograde in projects and direction. To check current retrogrades, see the daily horoscope or the moon calendar.

Common configurations to attend include retrograde planets at stations, the moments just before and after the apparent reversal of direction, when the planet appears to stand still in the sky and its themes are most concentrated. The shadow period before and after the retrograde is also significant: events of the shadow often return for review during the retrograde and are completed at the post-retrograde station. To work with retrograde periods, slow down, review what is already in motion, complete what is unfinished, return to relationships and projects that need attention, and avoid initiating major new ventures. Use the inward turn productively: a retrograde period is not a curse but an invitation to depth.

Symbolic depth

The retrograde is the planet turning inward, the function withdrawing from its outward expression to do its work in the depths. It is the seasonal pause, the breath in before the breath out, the necessary undertow that returns the wave to the sea. The retrograde reminds us that progress is not linear, that life moves in spirals rather than straight lines, and that the apparent backward motion is often the deepest form of forward motion. In the tarot, retrograde resonates with The Hanged Man, card twelve, the figure of the inverted view that opens to a deeper truth, and with The Hermit, card nine, the inward path of the lantern.

In Vedic astrology retrograde planets, called vakri, are considered to have heightened strength and karmic significance, the opposite of the Western traditional reading. The Vedic interpretation considers the retrograde planet to be working through deep karmic territory, often producing intensified results when active. In esoteric astrology the retrograde is read as the planet doing soul work rather than worldly work, the function turning inward to integrate what cannot be integrated through outward action alone. The retrograde asks you to honour the inward turn, to recognise that not all motion is forward, and to use the time given for review, repair, and return. Continue through the glossary.

Also known as

• Rx
• Apparent backward motion
• Vakri
• Anapodismos
• Reverse motion