Born With Retrogrades

Maggiemay

Hello,

I've read that as far as the outer planets are concerned, when they are retrograde in a birth chart it means that the person is experiencing those energies rather introvertly, passively one might say... Is that true?

Is it true also that Saturn Rx is less malefic than regular Saturn? What about Pluto Rx? better/ worse?

What about Mercury Rx? How does that translate in daily life? Is the person suffering from ADD?

What is your take on this?

Thanks,

Maggie

BigLuna

Hi, Maggie.

There's a school of thought that says the qualities of a retrograde planet are more introverted. I don't know, though.

It seems that there are a lot of people with Saturn Rx who lost their fathers early in life. The fathers may have died, divorced the mom, or just left. It's a physical absence, not an emotional one.

Mercury is retro a lot of the time. I doubt that's enough of an indicator for ADD.

As a reminder, I try not to think of anything in the chart as "bad." It's how we work it.

Maggiemay

BigLuna said:
There's a school of thought that says the qualities of a retrograde planet are more introverted. I don't know, though.

Yes, I have heard that too.

BigLuna said:
It seems that there are a lot of people with Saturn Rx who lost their fathers early in life. The fathers may have died, divorced the mom, or just left. It's a physical absence, not an emotional one.

Very interesting. Did not know that.

On the other hand, some astrologers say that Saturn Rx is worse than Saturn (standard) while others say the exact opposite. Sometimes, I end up not knowing what to believe!

BigLuna said:
Mercury is retro a lot of the time. I doubt that's enough of an indicator for ADD.

LOL.... I was exagerating... but you know what I mean.

BigLuna said:
As a reminder, I try not to think of anything in the chart as "bad." It's how we work it.

YES.YES.YES!

I have a tendency of looking at bad aspects as if curses! I tell ya'! lol

Always fun to read your posts!

Maggie

Sophie

Traditionally, retrogrades of the personal planets are regarded as malefic in a birth chart.

Mercury Rx has a pretty heavy unpleasant influence - but how influential that is will depend on other factors: if Mercury is in a friendly sign & house, and well-aspected by other planets, then the Retrograde will be offset. If (like me :bugeyed:

) you have Mercury in detriment and fall, retrograde and combust - then your Mercury is hideously stressed. This stress has played out in my life - Mercury and all things mercurial are my greatest challenge - both within myself and with other people. Like all challenges, they can be turned into opportunities - but I rely on more friendly parts of my chart to help me there, like my good Jupiter (which was also Rx at birth, but that's offset by all the good things about my Jupiter), and my fairly happy Venus and Sun.

Another thing I've found is that my abysmal Mercury does help me to negotiate the retrograde periods of that planet better than people who don't have that (dubious) benefit. Because so much of my life seems to be made of miscommunication in some way or another... when the regrogrades come, I know what it's all about, and how to counter it

Maggiemay

Fudugazi said:
Traditionally, retrogrades of the personal planets are regarded as malefic in a birth chart.

Yikes! My pluto is retrograde....

Fudugazi said:
(...) if Mercury is in a friendly sign & house, and well-aspected by other planets, then the Retrograde will be offset.

ok.. makes sense.

Fudugazi said:
If (like me ) you have Mercury in detriment and fall, retrograde and combust - then your Mercury is hideously stressed.

Just thinking about it is giving me a panick attack! lol Your mercury is making me think of Jackson Pollock...

Fudugazi said:
This stress has played out in my life - Mercury and all things mercurial are my greatest challenge - both within myself and with other people. Like all challenges, they can be turned into opportunities - but I rely on more friendly parts of my chart to help me there (...)

I bet you became a teacher or something mercurial like that...(?)

Fudugazi said:
Another thing I've found is that my abysmal Mercury does help me to negotiate the retrograde periods of that planet better than people who don't have that (dubious) benefit.

Good for you! At least you have that going for you! I usually have to brace myself when mercury is retrograde...it's sooo annoying.

Thanks for your post. A great read indeed.

Maggie

(who woke up at an ungodly hour this morning...pffff...)

Sophie

Maggiemay said:
Yikes! My pluto is retrograde....

No worries - pluto is not a personal planet - if it affects you, it's more as a generational thing.

I bet you became a teacher or something mercurial like that...(?)

A lawyer and a writer :laugh:

- but recently I have been getting into body and energy healing work, and not sure how that fits in. Not doubt it does (or will as it develops).

Thanks for your post. A great read indeed.

You're welcome

Maggie (who woke up at an ungodly hour this morning...pffff...)

Have a tasty coffee! Don't let that retro Venus keep you from the good things in life.

LOL - Jackson Pollock Mercury :laugh:

Maggiemay

Thanks. By the looks of it, I'll be having a string of coffees today...LOL..
Watch me going all 'high strung' on people...I'm gonna be a handful...LOL

Have a great day!

Maggie

Minderwiz

Just a few observations that might help. Firstly apart from Sun and Moon all planets turn retrograde at some time. However the amount of time that they are retrograde is not proportionally the same.

Approximately:

7.7% of the population has Venus retrograde in their natal chart. This is the lowest proportion for any planet. The remaining planets and percentages are;

Mars 9.6 %
Mercury 18%
Jupiter 33%
Saturn 37.5%
Uranus 42%
Neptune 43%
Pluto 44%.

There's a very good chance then, that anyone person has at least one of the outers retrograde. Indeed the average natal chart has 3 retrograde planets, so it's the charts with 1 or zero retrogrades or 5 or more retrogrades that are 'unusual

I've no statistics on the number of persons who have lost a father in someway (died, abandoned, forcibly removed,etc) but it would be interesting to test BigLuna's obeservation about lack of father and Saturn Retrograde. I'm not challenging the link, I'm simply taking up BigLuna's point about it being a real world relationship and therefore it's testable.

Traditional Astrology sees a retrograde planet as being accidentaly debilitated. That does not make it malefic, unless it was a malefic to start with. So Jupiter doesn't change from being benefic to malefic each time it turns retrograde. The accidental debility makes it more difficult to express itself and it's energies. Rather like walking backwards makes it difficult to get where you're going (but not impossible).

My personal view is that that is the best way to view retrograde planets in a natal chart, they need extra effort to ensure that their energy is positively used. They should not be seen as insuperable barriers, or the inability to use that planetary energy constructively.

Traditional Astrology did not deal with the outer planets as they were unknown, so whether being retrograde for them has the same effect, (as they're retrograde almost as often as they are direct) is debatable.

The latter point also stresses the role of the outers as generational planets, if (and it is an 'if') retrogradation makes little or no difference to their effects.

We seem to have regular threads about Mercury Retrograde but Venus and Mars, where retrogradation is more unusual don't seem to feature that much so thanks to Maggie for starting a thread on Venus Retrograde.

For those wishing to pursue the effects of Retrogradation, Erin Sullivan's 'Retrograde Planets' is a good read.

Maggiemay

Minderwiz said:
Rather like walking backwards makes it difficult to get where you're going (but not impossible).

LOL... you're too funny.

The rest of your post was very informational...as usual.

Thanks

Maggie

SolSionnach

I have one retrograde planet: Mercury. It's in Virgo, and sandwiched between the Sun and Mars in my Virgo stellium.

Don't'cha know that I have foot in mouth disease? That I have had "potty mouth" since high school and can't seem to do anything about it? That when I'm angry I've historically had a very hard time expressing myself? (that's getting better as I age)

I'm also slightly dyslexic, but not terribly. Even though my name is Julie, I get confused when I have to write "yet" or "jet" - as a child I confused the names of the colors white and yellow, and as an adult I'll say "go left" when giving directions while pointing right (the finger is correct!)

I'm also very creative, and an absolute SLUT about learning. I *love* to learn! And I've loved to read since I was 4-5 years old.

Does the above tell one anything about being born with a retrograde Merc?

Born With Retrogrades

Maggiemay

BigLuna

Maggiemay

Sophie

Maggiemay

Sophie

Maggiemay

Minderwiz

Maggiemay

SolSionnach