Mercury. Venus. Saturn. Uranus. Neptune. Pluto.
These are six of the eight other planets in the solar system that are currently retrograde, meaning they appear to be traveling backward through space and time.
The only planets that are not currently retrograde are Mars, which started the year in the midst of an 8-month retrograde, and Jupiter, which will station retrograde on September 4, the day after Venus stations direct.
It may seem like a lot of planets are retrograde, which is true. Also true is that the outer planets — Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto — spend several months of each year retrograde. And Mercury retrogrades three to four times per year, for three weeks at a time, spending a total of 9–12 weeks retrograde.
So it’s not as big a deal as you might think.
In fact, retrograde motion of planets is just almost as common as direct motion.
We can learn two important lessons from retrograde planers
(1) Go Backward to Go Forward
Sometimes, we need to go backward to go forward.
When planets are retrograde, they appear to be moving backward through the sky, revisiting territory through which they have already traveled.
Retrograde motion is like if you set out to take a road trip and realized you forgot something important, so you turned around and went back to get it, then, once you retrieved what you forgot, you set out again.
If you get lost on your journey, pushing through at all costs doesn’t seem like the best approach. Better to backtrack and go back to the last place where you had your bearings, then set out again from there.
It’s always easier to move forward from a place of clarity and where you feel safe, than from the swirl of the unknown.
When you’re feeling stuck, change the angle. Back up. Go backwards. Review it again. Get perspective. Look from a new angle.
(2) Review a Problem Several Times Before You Try to Solve It
When planets retrograde, they cover the same territory three times:
First, leading to the station retrograde. Second, during the retrograde. Third, after the retrograde, when they station direct and travel forward again.
The opening pass is the introduction to the challenge. The second pass gives us more information. By the third pass, when the planet is moving in direct motion, we generally get a resolution.
This teaches us that we might need to review an issue multiple times before settling on a resolution.
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