Some questions about retrograte planets in chart

Gemini888

Well-known member
I can't find much information about this on the net. I only manage to find vague interpretation like turning the energy inward, resembling the 12H energy, or giving wisdom. How do you think retrograde planets work in a chart?


And I'm curious about how they combine with signs too. Like, if retrograde planets reduce the energy, then let's say Mercury is in retrograde, if it's in Pisces or Sagittarius then its energy will be reduced drastically since Mercury is in detriment in Sagittarius and fall in Pisces. But how about when Mercury is in Gemini (like in my case)? Does the retrograde reduce Gemini's energy or does Gemini reduce the retrograte's effect? Does the effect of the retrograde become balanced out and Mercury no longer has the retrograde effect?

Also how does retrograde planets work in a progressed chart? Right now my Mercury is no longer retrograde in my progressed chart. Does it mean I'm no longer feel the effect of the retrograde?
 
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waybread

Well-known member
In modern astrology, the meanings of the retrograde planet are basically something that the person turns inward. However, the modern outer planets are retrograde a lot of the time.

So, for example, Mars retrograde people tend to be very hard on themselves because their natural aggression is turned inward. When the sun opposes Saturn, it is always retrograde, so sun opposite Saturn people are extra hard on themselves, too.

Mercury retrograde people tend to look inward, reviewing disparate information bits, until they find the key to the puzzle. Our minds tend to go off on tangents.

Jupiter is kind of interesting. My dad, ex, and husband all had/have Jupiter retrograde. I would say that they have a sense of humour, but there is a certain formality about it. If you think of John Cleese in Faulty Towers or the old Python sketches, he often played a formal character who got into absurd situations through that sense of formality.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iV2ViNJFZC8

Venus retrograde I'm less familiar with, but I think such people tend to appear rather mysterious-- possibly there's a kind of self-love at work. They can love very deeply without an exuberant outward manifestation.

In traditional astrology, retrogradation is considered to be detrimental.

A progressed planet that has gone direct adds another skill to your basic skill set as symbolized by the natal chart. You're like a musician who has expanded his repertory, but the foundational chart is still there.
 
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SCP11

Well-known member
I've seen some celebrity charts where their retrograde planet was one of the key skills they had to use in their career so it didn't seem to be detrimental in anyway or significantly inward

Personally my Mars is retrograde in Virgo 11th house
Mars also rules my scorpio asc

I feel like it acts as a spectrum temperer, that's not a word but to explain...
think of how in Psychology there are personality dimensions that are on a dichotomous scale e.g. introversion and extroversion
Most people are somewhere in the middle, some more left, some more right.

Likewise, i feel like a retrograde planet is saying "My trait X is slightly more towards side 1 than side 2"
It means that everyone with X displays both sides of the coin, just to varying degrees

Personally, i'm not good with conflict or being confrontational, i am more agreeable than disagreeable, i have a lot of drive, ambition and competitiveness but it depends on the circumstance i.e. is it worth it, if i can't see myself winning though i'll back down and let it go, i don't care about being ambitious if it is detrimental to my well-being or happiness, i am ambitious in a way that is like the underdog and someone who is quiet with it, same with aggression and use of energy, will, drive. I do love activity, dancing, fast cars and theme park rides, although when i was young i was scared of rides, but was very active as a child and loved sports and racing my friends, so.. it's a mixed bag. Sometimes the expression is inward, sometimes it's in a different way than the norm, mostly it seems to be tempered. The reason i say tempered is, i once was searching mars 11th house people and if i remember correctly, eminem came up, he was very known for aggressive lyrics and an outward expression of aggressiveness with his style. I'm not like that so i feel the retrograde tempered that showy form of mars.

I also heard somewhere, retrogrades are about learning to use the energy correctly in the sense that, for example with Mars, there could be times of taking risks or being too impulsive, at other times, completely under-using the energy, not taking enough action for example.

When combining with signs, my mars (cutting,dividing) in virgo (analysis) loves strategy, i was very good at critical writing in my essays throughout uni and school, i was good in science but... because i much prefer being creative, it likes to express through my creative enjoyments e.g.
piano, choreography, sports, video games, video editing, 3d modelling, i enjoyed designing presentation slides at uni, at one point i got interested in landscape architecture and wanted to pursue it, i also enjoy learning business related things which involves strategy but don't like to get bogged down in details too much

With virgo over-analysis however, mars retro plays out where i can hesitate to show up, act out, confront people etc. It's self-consciousness and worry over offending people. Maybe the retrograde brings out those over-analysis and cautiousness traits of the virgo sign

With mars retro - inward analysis
coupling with virgo - analysis
it's like a double whammy towards one side

but if mars retro - inward analysis
was in a sign like aries - great will and drive
it could be more beneficial as there's balance

still though, even with that double whammy i'm far from unambitious or even non-defensive, i even used to be quite controlling as a teenager and it was causing me pain so through spirituality i was able to learn what it was and how to lessen the grip, i guess that goes back to the point about managing the energies better of a retro planet.

Sometimes with mars energy, i could invest a lot of energy into something only to backtrack or drop it, or i might slowly sit with an idea overtime mulling through it vaguely in my mind and then working in short spurts to bring results from a few sessions as opposed to consistent discipline and use of energy for example
 

saracarab80

New member
I've seen some celebrity charts where their retrograde planet was one of the key skills they had to use in their career so it didn't seem to be detrimental in anyway or significantly inward

Personally my Mars is retrograde in Virgo 11th house
Mars also rules my scorpio asc

I feel like it acts as a spectrum temperer, that's not a word but to explain...
think of how in Psychology there are personality dimensions that are on a dichotomous scale e.g. introversion and extroversion
Most people are somewhere in the middle, some more left, some more right.

Likewise, i feel like a retrograde planet is saying "My trait X is slightly more towards side 1 than side 2"
It means that everyone with X displays both sides of the coin, just to varying degrees

Personally, i'm not good with conflict or being confrontational, i am more agreeable than disagreeable, i have a lot of drive, ambition and competitiveness but it depends on the circumstance i.e. is it worth it, if i can't see myself winning though i'll back down and let it go, i don't care about being ambitious if it is detrimental to my well-being or happiness, i am ambitious in a way that is like the underdog and someone who is quiet with it, same with aggression and use of energy, will, drive. I do love activity, dancing, fast cars and theme park rides, although when i was young i was scared of rides, but was very active as a child and loved sports and racing my friends, so.. it's a mixed bag. Sometimes the expression is inward, sometimes it's in a different way than the norm, mostly it seems to be tempered. The reason i say tempered is, i once was searching mars 11th house people and if i remember correctly, eminem came up, he was very known for aggressive lyrics and an outward expression of aggressiveness with his style. I'm not like that so i feel the retrograde tempered that showy form of mars.

I also heard somewhere, retrogrades are about learning to use the energy correctly in the sense that, for example with Mars, there could be times of taking risks or being too impulsive, at other times, completely under-using the energy, not taking enough action for example.

When combining with signs, my mars (cutting,dividing) in virgo (analysis) loves strategy, i was very good at critical writing in my essays throughout uni and school, i was good in science but... because i much prefer being creative, it likes to express through my creative enjoyments e.g.
piano, choreography, sports, video games, video editing, 3d modelling, i enjoyed designing presentation slides at uni, at one point i got interested in landscape architecture and wanted to pursue it, i also enjoy learning business related things which involves strategy but don't like to get bogged down in details too much

With virgo over-analysis however, mars retro plays out where i can hesitate to show up, act out, confront people etc. It's self-consciousness and worry over offending people. Maybe the retrograde brings out those over-analysis and cautiousness traits of the virgo sign

With mars retro - inward analysis
coupling with virgo - analysis
it's like a double whammy towards one side

but if mars retro - inward analysis
was in a sign like aries - great will and drive
it could be more beneficial as there's balance

still though, even with that double whammy i'm far from unambitious or even non-defensive, i even used to be quite controlling as a teenager and it was causing me pain so through spirituality i was able to learn what it was and how to lessen the grip, i guess that goes back to the point about managing the energies better of a retro planet.

Sometimes with mars energy, i could invest a lot of energy into something only to backtrack or drop it, or i might slowly sit with an idea overtime mulling through it vaguely in my mind and then working in short spurts to bring results from a few sessions as opposed to consistent discipline and use of energy for example


Eminem has Mars in 10th conj. (wide) Pluto.
His early aggresivity could be related to his Chiron in Aries in 4th opp his Mars, and with his Mercury in Scorpio in 11th. 3rd house reg. (Uranus) in 10th. Uranus opp his Chiron, too.
 

leomoon

Well-known member
I can't find much information about this on the net. I only manage to find vague interpretation like turning the energy inward, resembling the 12H energy, or giving wisdom. How do you think retrograde planets work in a chart?


And I'm curious about how they combine with signs too. Like, if retrograde planets reduce the energy, then let's say Mercury is in retrograde, if it's in Pisces or Sagittarius then its energy will be reduced drastically since Mercury is in detriment in Sagittarius and fall in Pisces. But how about when Mercury is in Gemini (like in my case)? Does the retrograde reduce Gemini's energy or does Gemini reduce the retrograte's effect? Does the effect of the retrograde become balanced out and Mercury no longer has the retrograde effect?

Also how does retrograde planets work in a progressed chart? Right now my Mercury is no longer retrograde in my progressed chart. Does it mean I'm no longer feel the effect of the retrograde?


Years ago, I purchased a few little pamphlets (small books, with a larger price tag) on the internet from The Federation of Astrologers whose org. publishes their own. These were mostly by Helen Adams Garrett, who I think is known too as a Horary Astrologer. The two books I have left, having sold a few others are "The Karmic Horoscope" and "More about Retrogrades" which she wrote. She says she is a Uranian Astrologer who follows the school of Astrology founded in Germany by

He was one who suggested TransNeptunian planets were "real" and should be studied and utilized.

A little about the founder can be read here and elsewhere on Wikipedia:
https://www.astro.com/astrowiki/en/Uranian_Astrology


Anyway, in her "More About Retrogrades", Helen Adams Garrett says that Uranian Astrology suggests that we see rx planets as related to past lifetimes in which we (not exactly failed), but need to hone the vibrations better, so we take them on this time around to practice and get better at it. (it being, whatever you see the planet designating)

So to her and the group of Uranian Astrologers (of which there are many in the world) the Retrograde planets take on a new kind of urgency in our lives to learn about and understand.



An example pg. 9:
"For an accurate interpretation of Mercury retrograde it is important that "helio" (heliocentric) Mercury be taken into consideration. "


When studying the rx planets, they would erect both a Geocentric AND a Heliocentric chart to track Mercury and then blend the characteristics of the two positional signs.



I personally have not taken the time or interest to study and compare in my chart as suggested by this book, but it makes sense to me to see the planets which are retrograde as far more important then we take for granted.



example: My daughter has both Venus rx and Saturn rx. She's had a terrible time of it in life with her love life and loss that Saturn connected with the Venus vibes would inject. So, imo; she is meeting her karmic needs by all this loss and pain.


example: I have only the outer planets - retrograde being Saturn, Uranus & Pluto. :unsure: I do tend to think alternately, meaning, I can think of at least two things at the same time. My mind is very fast but here on earth, as an earthling, with Capricorn Mercury, it takes me time (more like patience) to learn any given thing. But once learned, it's never forgotten, so perhaps for me, Uranus rx pertains to an alternate type of cultural experience, and the same with Neptune - which I'm still attempting to learn in this lifetime by having traveled to mostly exotic countries for 10 years, learning by doing so, how different cultures are and live.


My Saturn rx is easy for me to examine, because the keyword I need in this lifetime is to learn once again, "patience". Saturn is my most important planet too, because I'm Capricorn Sun-Merc-Mars all ruled by this rx planet.:annoyed: If I look at my Sidereal chart (for hints) I see that my ASC is no longer in Cancer, but in Gemini, (quick thinking, quick acting, usually at my own peril ), so I must learn to slow down before talking and thinking can be conquered with meditation.



So the way I see RX planets, its a honing of repeated lessons, which is necessary, and then blend with what we know or think we do of past lives.
Sidereal ASC, Sun & Moon for instance, should also be noted when doing this, because according to Cayce and others before him, (Vedic B.V.Raman, etc) it shows us our larger soul's condition better then would tropical ASC, Sun & Moon (which shows us this particular lifetime)


That's all I have for now. :pinched: If you find anything useful out of this to think about that you had not before, then I did my job. :joyful:
 
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