by Robert Wilkinson
We are now in the midst of a 5 month run of “tag-team” retrogrades. So what do all these retrogrades mean, and how can we use the energies wisely?
In May and June 2015, we experienced 3 weeks of Mercury retrograde in Gemini, and now have entered 6 weeks of Venus retrograde moving from 1 Virgo back to 15 Leo, which will end 6 September. That will be followed 11 days later by the next Mercury retrograde in the first half of Libra between mid-September and early October.
We experienced this late 2013 through mid-2014 when we had Mercury RX followed by Venus RX followed by Mercury RX followed by Mars RX followed by Mercury RX, which mirrored the Venus RX period before that one, but with the order of Venus and Mars reversed bookended by Mercury retrograde periods. The next Mars RX in April, May, and June 2016 won’t be a “tag team” with other planets, but in late April and early May we’ll have no less than FIVE planets all retrograde simultaneously!
Anyway, what is the big deal when the inner planets go retrograde? What does this mean?
Let's begin with what "retrograde" actually means. All planets go retrograde as a function of their orbits except the Sun and Moon. All planets speed up and then slow down in their orbital speed relative to the Sun and Earth. This is also true for the Moon, but we don't call it retrogradation.
The Sun seems to speed up or slow down a little based in what sign it's in relative to the Earth. (And yes, it’s actually the Earth that is speeding up or slowing down in its orbit, based in whether it’s at perihelion or apehelion relative to the Sun.)
So all the planets from Mercury out to Pluto go retrograde at regular intervals. Mercury is retrograde 3 or 4 times a year, Venus every 18 months, and Mars every 26 months, mas o menos. The outers all go retrograde once a year for several months.
A retrograde re-traces ground already covered once by that planet. First, it crosses a sector of the zodiac as it moves forward through the signs. Then if a planet retrogrades, it moves back across that span again, retracing those degree points. Then when a retrograde is done and the planet goes direct in motion it again moves across that span of degrees. That span becomes an area of importance in our lives, since we get 3 experiences of that part of the zodiacal reality.
All retrogrades help us integrate what we learn as we move forward in our lives and affairs. Some parts of our evolution move forward quickly as the planets move forward in motion through the signs. But then at some point, they slow down and we get a new look at ground already covered. Then when they resume forward motion, it symbolizes a time when we can take what we learned, then re-learned, or viewed and reviewed, and apply those lessons in new ways.
In its orbit, Mercury (mind, the coordinating principle) speeds up for a while, then slows down for a while, then speeds up again, then slows down again in an eternal dance of racing forward to get new information, then slowing to reconsider that information. We can apply this speeding up and slowing down to other planets as well.
The type of information depends on which planet is involved. For example, when Venus is direct in motion we get Venusian "information." Then when it slows down and goes retrograde we get a new view of what we just learned about those energies.
The Venus RX in Gemini in May-June 2012 also coincided with what NASA called “a Venus event,” which was an alignment that occurs only once every 110-125 years. You can find out more by referencing articles about that period which I’ve included at the end of this one.
That Venus retrograde, as well as the one before that in 2009, at some point had Venus conjunct Mars. In 2009 Venus was in Aries and retrograded back to late Pisces where it began to conjunct Mars, continuing into Aries. In October 2010, Venus conjuncted Mars throughout Libra and then conjuncted it in Scorpio before it retrograded back into late Libra.
The last Venus retrograde in December 2013-January 2014 featured Venus RX in Capricorn that began with a tredecile to Mars, then moved back to a biseptile, then a square, and finally settleed into a close binovile when Venus goes direct. It then moved forward in its “shadow period” (the span it was retrograde)where it made a long term binovile and then square to Mars.
We now have begun the current July-September 2015 Venus retrograde period which begins with Venus novile Mars, having already conjuncted it once this year at 2 Aries in late April. As it now retrogrades back through the last half of Leo, it will again conjunct Mars in Leo and go stationary direct in early September at the Lion Point. So clearly Venus conjunct Jupiter, Venus conjunct Mercury, Venus conjunct the Sun, and Venus conjunct Mars all in Leo will dominate the current Venus retrograde period.
Also remember that Venus retrograde and its effects began to activate a few weeks ago just after the June Solstice when it entered it shadow zone. By taking a look back at Venusian-ruled events these past weeks, you can get new insights into what we’ll be learning through the second week in October.
Now we turn to Mars retrograde. Since Mars symbolizes momentum, its RX period usually operates at a very evident slower pace, where energy must be redirected before it can resume whatever began before it went retrograde. It's a time to "slow our attack on life," or blunt assertive or aggressive tendencies. The sign it's in shows us the specific retrograde lessons to be worked with.
To learn more about what Mars retrograde may offer, there are many articles in the archives from previous Mars retrograde periods. We ALL went through an extraordinarily heavy period between October 2009 and March 2010 when Mars was retrograde in Leo. It went through the first 20 degrees of Leo from October 2009 to late December, then retrograded back to 1 Leo, going stationary direct in early March 2010. Mars made its "final pass" back through the 1-20 Leo RX zone between early March and mid-May 2010, finally entering new territory once it passed the 20 Leo SRX point.
After that Mars made a complete trip through all the signs, and then went retrograde at 24 Virgo on January 23, 2012, reversing course until going stationary direct at 4 Virgo on April 13-14, 2012. That 2012 Mars RX in Virgo indicated a period when we had to rework or slow some things down in our Virgo life areas so that we could take care of other things that needed to be done before we could pick the pace back up after the Sun-Mars opposition in early March. After that point, we were able to implement efficient activity, cutting through obstacles and making things more streamlined and practical.
You can find out more about that Mars retrograde period by revisiting Astrology in January 2012 - Mars Slowing Going Retrograde at 24 Virgo and Long Wave Astrology in 2012-2013– Mars Stationary Direct at 4 Virgo Affecting Us Through 2014. Now we confront the next Mars retrograde period in this unending series of that planet speeding up, then slowing down, then speeding up again.
The last Mars retrograde occurred in Libra between early March and late May 2014. It entered its shadow zone just after Christmas 2013, and staying in that span of degrees through late July 2014. That put a huge focus on the Libra sector of our charts, and activated every Saturn lesson we went through while it occupied 17-28 Libra!
You can find out more about that Mars retrograde period by revisiting Astrology in March 2014 - Mars Stationary Retrograde at 28 Libra as well as Long Wave Astrology in 2014-2015 – Mars Stationary Direct at 10 Libra Affecting Us Through 2016 pt. 1. and Long Wave Astrology in 2014-2015 – Mars Stationary Direct at 10 Libra Affecting Us Through 2016 pt. 2. We won’t confront another Mars retrograde until April-May 2016, when it retrogrades back from early Sagittarius to late Scorpio, echoing the Saturn track for the first 10 months of 2015.
When Mars is retrograde, expect the initiatives of its initial transit of its shadow zone to slow down, or get postponed or redirected in some way. That implies whatever we begin in March and early April 2016 may have to be reworked somehow before we pick it back up again in late June. This coming Mars RX period will show us elements of our Saturn in early Sagittarius experience, and we’ll all be challenged to learn what we have to learn to further the best of what Saturn in early Sagittarius has been teaching us.
In an example of how the retrograde works with Saturn, we get new Saturn information and experiences when it's in direct motion, then get to review those experiences when it's retrograde. We encounter maturing or structuring experiences when direct, and get to internalize the wisdom forms in those experiences when retrograde. After that, when Saturn again goes direct motion, we then get to externalize those blended wisdom forms.
We can apply the reasoning around how retrogrades work to all the other outer planets as well. At this time Jupiter goes RX in early January 2016 and goes direct in early May 2016. Saturn went RX in mid-March, and goes direct in early August. Uranus goes RX in late July, and direct in late December. Neptune goes RX in mid-June and direct in mid-November. Pluto went RX in mid-April and goes direct in late September. As you can see, though the outer planets retrograde once each year, those periods are a phenomenon of longer duration than the inner planet retrograde periods.
It seems that direct motion periods that precede and follow a retrograde period are times of getting new information. Then when it slows, it is called "retrograde," and shows a time when we're re-tracing ground we've already covered, but have an opportunity to understand the past experience from a new angle of vision.
We take a new look at information we've already experienced to whatever degree. Internal or external factors can trigger this review. Often things, people, memories, or other past circumstances engraved on our subconscious come up, which we must relate to what we've just been through and what we are about to enter into.
Since Mercury goes retrograde more frequently than any other inner planet, here's a little more on Mercury retrograde that may add to your understanding of how retrogrades work. When Mercury goes retrograde, we get a front end look at what is coming when Mercury occupies the stationary retrograde degree. It then turns back to offer a new look at things we've already seen or done as it slows in motion. "Retrograde" is simply a slowing of orbital motion.
Once it goes retrograde Mercury continues to slow down, offering a review of recent events, until it hits its slowest motion around the Inferior Conjunction. After that, it again begins to move faster until it again passes the Sun in the "Superior Conjunction." After that it races ahead of the Sun until it again begins to slow in its motion several months afterward. If you want to know more about the Superior and Inferior conjunctions, please consult posts in the archives done around the time of past Inferior conjunctions of Mercury and the Sun.
When Mercury goes direct, it is at a platform from which we move forward, bringing the lessons we've reflected on or revisited during the RX period forward into our future life-in-the-making. The lens of retrograde exploration was the stationary retrograde degree. The degree of the inferior conjunction shows how life and mind must come together in a different, perhaps overlooked, but definitely useful view of what must be known.
The entire retrograde function is inward-turned, so we can get insights into what must be known to understand some things from a more holistic point of view. We can also note how our mind, ideas, or worldview are affected by our subconsciousness, or our receptivity to others' subconsciousness.
Mercury retrograde periods reveal their own unique rhythm in offering us a new look at things. Every period in some way echoes the messages of prior retrograde periods, and affects those to come. The process works the same way with regard to all the planetary retrogrades, though remember that Mercury, Venus, and Mars are planets of personality, and so affect us all in very personal ways.
That's why it's important to connect the dots with what was revealed in other past Mercury, Venus, and Mars retrograde periods. It provides us with ways to know how these planetary functions are revealing elements of our personality we may need to review and/or take a new look at.
When we connect Mercury retrograde lessons, we can see how Mercury, or Hermes, the "Guide of Souls," is leading us to our authentic Self. Regardless of appearances, or how difficult or easy, Mercury retrograde periods show us the path to our Soul.
A very good source for in-depth understanding of this important part of our lives is my book, "A New Look At Mercury Retrograde," now back as an improved and expanded 2nd edition. As Mercury will enter its Libra “shadow zone” on August 27, if you don’t already have your copy please consider ordering one since you can learn a lot more of what to expect in the coming Mercury Retrograde in Libra.
To get you copy of this resource that you'll use for a long time to come, here’s the Createspace link to the page where you can purchase a paperback edition of A New Look at Mercury Retrograde. And if you want to order it as an ebook, here’s the link to where you can purchase the new 2nd edition of A New Look at Mercury Retrograde
As Venus will make all those Leo conjunctions in August, I’ll post more articles about what effects we may expect. And of course, the Venus retrograde “inferior conjunction” with the Sun will be important in and of itself, since that represents a “fusion of life and likes,” or a “fusion of life and values.” Stay tuned!
Copyright © 2015 Robert Wilkinson
Hi Robert,
I'll stay tuned! There is so much information that I am sure the coming articles will help me make the most of it.
Blessings be to all
Posted by: Nic | July 27, 2015 at 10:13 AM