Those who follow astrology will already know that Mars and Pluto both turned retrograde a couple of weeks ago now; on Monday 18th April.
During the 10 days which have elapsed since, neither have even moved beyond the degree at which the stationed retrograde. For more than a week they have appeared to be practically stationary, from a geocentric perspective. As they begin to speed up their backwards motion, Mercury joins the retrospective gang; of which Jupiter and Saturn are already the ringleaders.
If you feel like you’ve made no progress at all so far this month, I’m afraid this is very unlikely to change during May!
On a more positive note, such a strong collective of retrograde planets does not need to be counter-productive; rather it encourages a more introspective and reflective time. There are many tasks which are benefited by the non-gregariousness of mass retrograde. For instance, whilst I would never tell somebody this is a good time to move house; it is an excellent time to review what you really want to change, the reasons you're considering moving and the pluses and minuses for such a choice.
It is also an excellent time for clearing out anything you don’t need, or haven’t dealt with in recent times. Whilst this also could be applied in a metaphorical sense, the truth is when there are this many planets retrograde anything unresolved in a physical and practical sense will become very clear.
Ghosts from the past are unavoidable with Mars retrograde, and with Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto all asking for recognition also, these can be complex times. They say, “what you resist, persists” and throughout the coming two months niggles will become issues if you try to ignore them.
Mars turned retrograde at 8° Sagittarius, so for early Sagittarians and late Scorpios this will feel more intense. For those born around 30th November this is personal! By the time Mars reaches the degree of your natal Sun sign again on 23rd August 2016 – although the retrograde itself ends on 30th June - you will have changed your mind about a couple of things that you were certain of a few months earlier. {I would have to look at the houses and position of your natal Sun within the context of the rest of your chart to be more specific}.
Many are familiar with the issues of a Mercury retrograde that often there are computer issues, technology failures, mechanical slowdowns, traffic problems. These side-effects of a Mercury retrograde are usually viewed with disdain. With 5 planets retrograde throughout the whole of May these delays will be more pronounced than ever, so let me offer another perspective here…
Firstly, a retrograde occurs when a planet *appears* to be moving backwards. When viewing the position of planets in a chart we do so from the earth’s perspective and so it makes sense that there are times when the orbits of the other planets are viewed from earth to be ‘backward’ or ‘retrograde’. The occurrence of such is completely predictable, as it is all easily calculable mathematically. Just like the times on our watches and clocks.
The timings that we live to are based upon the earth’s orbit around the Sun (1 year) and the earth’s rotation around its own axis (one day) and the minutes and hours that we live by are divisions of these simple and predictable factors. Or at least we think they are predictable, what if they are not? What if there is a variance in the earth’s rotation around the Sun? We have a leap year added every 4 years to make up the differential in the divisions, our dawn and dusk timings vary on the basis of the season, as well as on the basis of the quarter of a day inaccuracy in the system of ‘time’. What if the actual rotations are not quite accurate either? What are we living by when we are following the clock?
Every day that I work I am expected to arrive at a certain time. It is expected that I will be able to awaken at the same time, clean and dress myself, leave my home and travel to work and do all this within a particular allotted period of time which results in me arriving to work in the same way I did last time I came to work. All of this is seen to be perfectly acceptable and usual but, the longer I live the more peculiar it seems to me.
I follow the planets, I live in the moment, I try to be present in my surroundings {or not, should my thoughts be more captivating}. I know from this experience that no two days are ever the same, that even each minute can be quite, quite different. It seems that most people I meet also appreciate that life consists of inconsistency and yet….we are expected to ignore this and act as if life is the same, each day, in each way.
I could go further into the psychology of this and look at the control elements which are inherent and implicit within the procurement and maintenance of social routines. Perhaps even analyse and check the correlations between addiction and routine and how the two are not just linked but that for addiction to be a concept, habit has to be established, and for a habit to be created; a routine or sorts must already be in place. I won’t go into that though! ;-)
When considering the factors which make up the framework of ‘time’ that we are all tied tightly to in Western ‘civilisation’ then the concept of retrogrades can be viewed slightly differently. If you were living on Mercury a day takes about the equivalent of 59 earth days and year takes around 88 earth days. How would you divide up time then? Can you accept time as a concept when you view it from outside of the earth plane? If you are in a space rocket there is no time. There is no gravity, which is what gives us the illusion of aging, there is no sunrise and sunset which helps us to decide when to go to sleep (or did before artificial lights were prevalent).
Yet we still live in a world where almost everything we do is entirely dictated by the so framework of the clock.
The clock which was invented only 700 years ago.
When the profundity of time is viewed as an attempt at enforced perfunctory, uniformity it offers a new perspective upon the inconvenience caused by retrograde planets. Yes, there may be delays but why are you actually rushing to your destination. Why is it expected that you should be able to defy all that is possible on a motorway standstill, simply to sit in a room for an allotted period of time; with or without other people. If your computer is breaking down; is it really an awful thing, or could it be an excuse to pick up a pen and start writing or sketching your ideas free-form.
During the 10 days which have elapsed since, neither have even moved beyond the degree at which the stationed retrograde. For more than a week they have appeared to be practically stationary, from a geocentric perspective. As they begin to speed up their backwards motion, Mercury joins the retrospective gang; of which Jupiter and Saturn are already the ringleaders.
If you feel like you’ve made no progress at all so far this month, I’m afraid this is very unlikely to change during May!
On a more positive note, such a strong collective of retrograde planets does not need to be counter-productive; rather it encourages a more introspective and reflective time. There are many tasks which are benefited by the non-gregariousness of mass retrograde. For instance, whilst I would never tell somebody this is a good time to move house; it is an excellent time to review what you really want to change, the reasons you're considering moving and the pluses and minuses for such a choice.
It is also an excellent time for clearing out anything you don’t need, or haven’t dealt with in recent times. Whilst this also could be applied in a metaphorical sense, the truth is when there are this many planets retrograde anything unresolved in a physical and practical sense will become very clear.
Ghosts from the past are unavoidable with Mars retrograde, and with Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto all asking for recognition also, these can be complex times. They say, “what you resist, persists” and throughout the coming two months niggles will become issues if you try to ignore them.
Mars turned retrograde at 8° Sagittarius, so for early Sagittarians and late Scorpios this will feel more intense. For those born around 30th November this is personal! By the time Mars reaches the degree of your natal Sun sign again on 23rd August 2016 – although the retrograde itself ends on 30th June - you will have changed your mind about a couple of things that you were certain of a few months earlier. {I would have to look at the houses and position of your natal Sun within the context of the rest of your chart to be more specific}.
Many are familiar with the issues of a Mercury retrograde that often there are computer issues, technology failures, mechanical slowdowns, traffic problems. These side-effects of a Mercury retrograde are usually viewed with disdain. With 5 planets retrograde throughout the whole of May these delays will be more pronounced than ever, so let me offer another perspective here…
Firstly, a retrograde occurs when a planet *appears* to be moving backwards. When viewing the position of planets in a chart we do so from the earth’s perspective and so it makes sense that there are times when the orbits of the other planets are viewed from earth to be ‘backward’ or ‘retrograde’. The occurrence of such is completely predictable, as it is all easily calculable mathematically. Just like the times on our watches and clocks.
The timings that we live to are based upon the earth’s orbit around the Sun (1 year) and the earth’s rotation around its own axis (one day) and the minutes and hours that we live by are divisions of these simple and predictable factors. Or at least we think they are predictable, what if they are not? What if there is a variance in the earth’s rotation around the Sun? We have a leap year added every 4 years to make up the differential in the divisions, our dawn and dusk timings vary on the basis of the season, as well as on the basis of the quarter of a day inaccuracy in the system of ‘time’. What if the actual rotations are not quite accurate either? What are we living by when we are following the clock?
Every day that I work I am expected to arrive at a certain time. It is expected that I will be able to awaken at the same time, clean and dress myself, leave my home and travel to work and do all this within a particular allotted period of time which results in me arriving to work in the same way I did last time I came to work. All of this is seen to be perfectly acceptable and usual but, the longer I live the more peculiar it seems to me.
I follow the planets, I live in the moment, I try to be present in my surroundings {or not, should my thoughts be more captivating}. I know from this experience that no two days are ever the same, that even each minute can be quite, quite different. It seems that most people I meet also appreciate that life consists of inconsistency and yet….we are expected to ignore this and act as if life is the same, each day, in each way.
I could go further into the psychology of this and look at the control elements which are inherent and implicit within the procurement and maintenance of social routines. Perhaps even analyse and check the correlations between addiction and routine and how the two are not just linked but that for addiction to be a concept, habit has to be established, and for a habit to be created; a routine or sorts must already be in place. I won’t go into that though! ;-)
When considering the factors which make up the framework of ‘time’ that we are all tied tightly to in Western ‘civilisation’ then the concept of retrogrades can be viewed slightly differently. If you were living on Mercury a day takes about the equivalent of 59 earth days and year takes around 88 earth days. How would you divide up time then? Can you accept time as a concept when you view it from outside of the earth plane? If you are in a space rocket there is no time. There is no gravity, which is what gives us the illusion of aging, there is no sunrise and sunset which helps us to decide when to go to sleep (or did before artificial lights were prevalent).
Yet we still live in a world where almost everything we do is entirely dictated by the so framework of the clock.
The clock which was invented only 700 years ago.
When the profundity of time is viewed as an attempt at enforced perfunctory, uniformity it offers a new perspective upon the inconvenience caused by retrograde planets. Yes, there may be delays but why are you actually rushing to your destination. Why is it expected that you should be able to defy all that is possible on a motorway standstill, simply to sit in a room for an allotted period of time; with or without other people. If your computer is breaking down; is it really an awful thing, or could it be an excuse to pick up a pen and start writing or sketching your ideas free-form.
If your mobile phone falls in a puddle maybe it's a reminder that you used to always have a book that you were immersed in, that fed your imagination, your soul and your inner world far more than a brief sojourn with social media ever could. Perhaps that person you've walked past the last 3 mornings in a row would be heartened by a smile of acknowledgement?
Retrogrades give us an opportunity to not only look within, but to be the person that we are inside. The kind of things that are halted, are the things that are intrinsic to nothing but distraction from interaction.
I will be writing a series of articles about planetary configurations during this retrograde period. Taking the time to spill out some of the many theories and ideas I use in my readings, but rarely share on a general basis. As always I'm available for person readings. During the retrograde period these will be more face-to-face in style.
If you'd like a reading contact me at waxlobster@hotmail.com. Tarot can cost as little as £10 for a brief email/telephone reading.
Blessings of getting to know the beauty of YOU again this Summer ♥
Retrogrades give us an opportunity to not only look within, but to be the person that we are inside. The kind of things that are halted, are the things that are intrinsic to nothing but distraction from interaction.
I will be writing a series of articles about planetary configurations during this retrograde period. Taking the time to spill out some of the many theories and ideas I use in my readings, but rarely share on a general basis. As always I'm available for person readings. During the retrograde period these will be more face-to-face in style.
If you'd like a reading contact me at waxlobster@hotmail.com. Tarot can cost as little as £10 for a brief email/telephone reading.
Blessings of getting to know the beauty of YOU again this Summer ♥
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