Retrograde Planets: Another perspective

by
Rohiniranjan (c)
Our geocentric vantage-point enables us to witness the phenomenon
known as retrogression as planets go around the sun in their cyclical orbits.
Planets that normally appear to move from Aries towards Taurus, at times,
appear to move backwards, from Pisces towards Aquarius and so on. The Sun
and Moon are immune to this apparent backward motion. The mean lunar
nodes always move backwards, but the true nodes describe a bi-directional
motion somewhat like other planets; though the nodes are mostly retrograde
but at times travel forward what is known as direct motion in astrology. The
reason for this apparent retrograde movement of planets varies. For the
inferior planets, Mercury and Venus, when they are between earth and the
Sun, they appear to move direct; however, when they are on the other side of
the sun (Sun is between the planet and earth), they appear retrograde.
Superior planets, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn are retrograde when they are in
signs opposite to the Sun, in other words, when they are just ahead of the
earth and we are trying to catch up with them until such time when they are a
bit behind the earth in the ever going orbital race. The remaining time they
are in direct motion. It is perhaps an interesting astrological symbolic clue
that the phenomenon of retrogression is not a real one, but a product of our
perspective or vantage!
Many views exist on the astrological implications of such apparently
retrograde phases of planetary motion. Most astrologers agree that at least
subtly different effects are produced by the same planet when it is in direct in
contrast to retrograde motion. Retrograde Mercury is anecdotally associated
with communication breakdowns, more computer troubles, etc., and causes
much anguish in certain circles! Some astrologers tend to put too much
emphasis on the retrogression phenomenon.
In Vedic astrological treatises, retrogression has been considered as an
indication of strength (chestabal is the technical term used for the strength
when a planet is retrograde). Some experts qualify further by saying that the
natural benefics such as Venus, Mercury and Jupiter are strong while natural
malefics such as Saturn and Mars are weak or evil when retrograde, unless
Saturn or Mars happen to be ascendant lords or yogakarakas (by virtue of
being lords of angular and trinal houses). Nothing more elaborate is generally
made of the phenomenon of retrogression in most classics.
In practice, retrograde planets generally seem to affect the mental plane
more than the physical or worldly plane (perception of what is apparent is
often a mental thing!). During the dasha (planetary period) of a retrograde
planet, one would be hard pressed to find a difference in the types of events
that occur or other physical effects; however, the person with the dasha lord
retrograde in his chart may react to the goings-on differently than another
individual undergoing the dasha of the same planet in direct motion.
Those with retrograde planets often respond to 'time' in a nonstandard
way. This is perhaps symbolically linked with the concept of their being
related with "other spheres of time," the brave romantic thinker may stretch
that to include the past; even earlier reincarnations that expose the nativity to
"karmic" influences. The concept of karma generally is considered to be
associated with linear time. The retrograde planets expose one to influences
that are not a part of the currently perceived reality, in other words, sensory
and other 'inputs' emanating from "other" realities are able to make it through
normal barriers and are able to affect "existing perceived reality" and ones
decisions. In a sense, retrograde planets open up, or at least perturb some kind
of a "temporal reality-boundary". This in itself is neither good nor bad.
Contrary to popular opinion, I have not come across an instance when
the dasha of a retrograde planet produced a major "transforming"
influence that could be unequivocally attributed to "retrogression" itself.
Some believe that retrograde planets only manifest strongly in the lives of
those who have advanced sufficiently on the spiritual path and have the
heightened inner capability and sensitivity to perceive and express the
energies that the retrograde planets represent. Others experience the effects in
a more subtle manner.
Each planet represents certain attributes and natural portfolios.
Likewise, each planet holds sway over certain houses in a horoscope. By
viewing retrograde planets against such a background of information,
interesting insights can often be achieved.
Taking retrograde Jupiter as an example, a notable thing about nativities
with a retrograde Jupiter almost anywhere in the chart but particularly in the
3rd, 4th, 6th, 8th and 11th is that they are presented with opportunities in life
to bring to fruition other peoples' failed projects. Also, retrograde Jupiter may
sometimes affect the gonads and/or growth-related hormones, particularly the
pituitary and thyroid. Obviously, there would not be an obvious disease or
defect in all, but, in many the functioning of these glands might lie closer to
the extremes of the normal range indicating a borderline or latent disorder
that may remain clinically unnoticed and perfectly compatible with normal
growth, etc.
From the perspective of karma, expansion seems to be one of the
significant 'life-tasks' for nativities with a retrograde Jupiter. The symbolism
is obvious! The individual is presented with opportunities for expansion (of
body, mind, spirit, ideologies; of boundaries in general). Indeed one is almost
'forced' into situations that would cause expansion. What one does with that
'expansion' is where the arguably present faculty of freewill perhaps comes
into play, leading to either a promotion to the next grade in the school of life
or an opportunity to take another go at the task perhaps through reincarnation.
Retrograde planets signify a mental state that contains certain
highlighted areas or unusually heightened traits. With Jupiter retrograde,
there is seen a tendency towards over utilizing of the psychological defense
mechanism known as "reaction-formation". This makes one take an
exaggerated "opposite" stance to whatever it is that triggers discomfort or
anxiety. A retrograde Jupiter can often affect in ones inner life an area that
has remained unattended, undeveloped or unexpanded! A diametrically
opposite area in such a situation may be seen to be overemphasized as if to
compensate for the deficiencies. Obviously, the placement and rulership of
Jupiter in such charts would give a clue as to the areas that are so affected.
With recognition of such areas, some of the psychic energy can be diverted
from the zone of abundance to that of deprivation. In a sense, one might say,
that a retrograde Jupiter could reflect some of the traits and vibrations that are
representative of the spectrum of the "energy" that we normally associate
with the resonance characteristics of the planet Saturn, in it being an
equalizer, a redistributor, a leveler.
We may visualize each planet as having a certain energy that flows
easily through certain channels or 'jurisdictions', these 'areas' are recognized
in astrology as the natural significations of the planets. Mercury, for instance,
enables 'cosmic' energy to flow into pursuits that are intellectual, that depend
on reasoning, sequential intellectual processes, demonstrating a connectivity
that strikes many of us as a logical A to B to C to D sequence and which most
of us generally find easier to follow. Mercury does not very comfortably
handle an A to C or A to D jump or even a C to A back flip (a C to B to A
would be handled easily by it though). Therefore, the prime issue is not the
direction of logic but the sequential steps involved. Rapidly commuting from
A to B to C to D in a typical mercurial fashion would appear to be governed
by intuition. However, if we were to take away one of the intermediate
logical pegs, then Mercury would begin to stumble becoming increasingly
unable to process information effectively. When Mercury stumbles, being
intrinsically impatient, it might be tempted to fill in the gaps with
assumptions or even by confabulation (at its worst, an afflicted Mercury has
been known to represent a habitual liar, a liar that actually believes in the lies
he or she is telling at the moment).
Some astrologers consider a retrograde planet as a 'blocked' or deficient
responder! By that token, one with a retrograde Mercury would not find
logical thinking very easy or even something within one's capability. The
retrograde planet appears to move backward in the zodiac due to our
geocentric viewpoint and it is easy to fall into the "similia similibus" trap and
consider the apparent backward motion as something 'negative' because of its
symbolic parallelism with the connotation of the term 'backward'! Perhaps it
is not very simple and the retrograde planet is merely shifting its modus
operandi to an alternate modality. Perhaps during the periods and transits of
retrograde planets, one needs to undergo a "paradigm shift", in other words,
to embark on an alternate approach, using a very different viewpoint of
looking at the same thing. Would a retrograde Mercury, then, be more
'comfortable' in using an A to C or even an A to D approach, rather than the
usual A to B to C to D that it is 'expected' to? A 'normally' logical,
sequentially thinking scientist with a retrograde Mercury may find such
'intuitive' jumps a more efficient way of overcoming 'blocked progress' when
doing an experiment or examining a hypothesis.
There are in allegories (dry facts presented in a more interesting and
palatable format!) a hint of the possibility of reasoning and logic (Mercury),
and intuition (Moon) together forming a complete information sensing and
processing unit. Indeed, the mind that has harnessed and can utilize both
sequential reasoning and intuitive jumps, progresses a lot faster, better and
deeper than one that has only mastered either mode of gaining information. It
must be noted that Moon and Mercury can only bring facts to one through
different channels or means, but one still needs the blessings of Jupiter to
incorporate such 'information' into wisdom. It is often seen that the individual
with a retrograde Mercury is more comfortable or more accepting of
modalities of fact-gathering and presentation that do not necessarily rely on
the usual sequential approaches.
It is important to remember that the end result or the core-nature of
what a planet represents remain the same regardless of its apparent motion in
the radix. The direct Mercury would be more comfortable with sequential
processing of information; whereas, the retrograde Mercury would tend to
explore the dimension of non-sequential intuitive processing. In either case,
Mercury would still be gathering and processing information. In other words,
regardless of its apparent motion, Mercury remains associated with thinking
and information-processing. The difference between the direct and retrograde
versions being in the way the mode of processing and thinking (reason and
logic vs. intuition) operates.
Retrogression could represent an intrinsic strength in ones being or
may represent an armor with cracks in it, the outcome depending upon how
well the retrograde planet is connected with other factors in the chart. In the
end, polemics and occasional flashes of intuitions aside, the 'weight-of-
evidence' approach is what saves the day for most astrologers. Curious as it
might be, retrogression, is but a single factor or phenomenon and not the
critical card moving which topples the entire structure. After all, neither the
horoscope nor the human life experience is a house of cards!
(c) 2000, Rohiniranjan/Crystal Pages
Interesting Data on Retrogrades
On asking several individuals, it seemed to be the general impression that mercury would be one of
the commonest retrograde planet in horoscopes. On the other hand, I had the feeling that slower
planets overall probably clocked in more days of retrograde motion than inner and faster planets,
venus and mercury, but never really looked into it. Just to fulfil my curiosity, I decided to look this
up in the Astrodatabank software (newer versions like 2 and 3 have a vedic version of the databank
too.). For quick explorations like these, I use the Rodden database with data quality A and up. Using
that filter, I got 19192 charts (private individuals, celebrities, pretty much all walks of life the good,
bad and the ugly, with the following distribution:
mercury 6.4% times retrograde in these charts
venus 5.2% times retrograde in these charts
mars 7.5% times
jupiter 22.4% times
saturn 26.1% times
charts with at least one planet retrograde = 52.3%
One can assume that in half of the charts seen, at least one of the planet would be retrograde with the
likelihood of the planet being Saturn>Jupiter>Mars>Mercury>Venus.
Looking at the percent of times that the ruler of a house was retrograde, I got a range from 8.8% to
13.3% (Ruler of XII least likely, ruler of VII most likely and ascendant clocking in at 9.5% times)
Benefics (venus, well associated mercury and jupiter as per the software which is rigid in this
respect!) were 17.5% times retrograde, malefics (nodes, mars, saturn, ill associated mercury, sun)
were 8.4% times retrograde in the 19192 charts examined.
Just to cream the software a bit more, I looked at the percentage of charts with one of the inner
planets retrograde (12.6%) or one of the outer planets retrograde (46.7%), Situations where one of the
inner or one of the outer planets was retrograde brought the percentage to close to 50% (not
surprisingly).
I looked at the situations where a planet was in its own sign and retrograde. The following pattern
emerged:
Mercury Gemini 0% Virgo 100%
Venus Taurus 30% Libra 70%
Mars Aries 42% Scorpio 58%
Jupiter Saggit 55% Pisces 45%
Saturn Capri 52% Aqua 48%
As you can see it is not equally distributed with something very interesting going on with mercury in
this sample of 19192 charts! I dont know why mercury was never retrograde in gemini!
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