The Retrograde Dance

All through the unfolding of this pandemic, this lockdown, the planets were all in direct motion, which is unusual as there are usually at least one or two outer planets moving retrograde. Now as the process of moving out of lockdown gathers strength and rules begin to be relaxed, there are five planets in retrograde. We've been carried into this situation at some speed but we won't get out of it equally quickly, it will be a slow process. The planets are asking us, to my mind at least, to stay where we are, to refocus, to respell ourselves into new ways of being. 

The outer planets, of course, spend a fair bit of the time in apparent retrograde motion, being so far out and away from us and I'm inclined to agree with my training that the effects of their retrograde motion are less important. But as well as Pluto, Neptune, Saturn and Jupiter all retrograde right now, Mercury is retrograde in Cancer until July 12th and Venus is stationing direct today, June 25th after several seeks retrograde in Gemini. Lots of retrograde planets, especially the inner planets, can bring a kind of stasis as if we can't move even if we want to. There's still work to be done in the collective unconscious - surely few would deny the need for a profound transformation at this point? - but as usual, the powers that be dig in, deep in their own denial. That's Pluto, retrograde in Capricorn since April and not moving direct until October. Of course, we can't stay in lockdown forever but we can't go back to the way things were either. Retrograde planets bring a tension between these two ways of being, an inner knowing that "something's got to give" but also a reluctance to allow change to happen. Breaking out of the familiar is always scary, however much we know it to be necessary. 

Like everything else in astrology, retrograde periods don't happen in isolation but form cycles of evolution, allowing the transiting planets to pass back and forth over our own natal planets, awakening the parts of ourselves we might have buried or simply ignored. When a planet stations retrograde, as Mercury did a few days ago, we can imagine a machine shuddering gradually to a halt, parts of it shifting and shunting, awakening energies which have long been asleep. This is a powerful moment, a reversal of our natural drive forward as energy levels go into retreat and patterns change. The station direct is equally powerful, when the machine again changes direction, disturbing it's environment and even restructuring it. With both happening within a few days of each other, it's not surprising we are feeling surrounded by confusion and lacking in clarity (I don't think it's just me?!). There is an ambivalence about these periods, especially as Mercury dives deep into watery Cancer. Perhaps the liberation of Venus moving direct in Gemini will bring some clarity as we integrate new thought patterns. Retrogrades bring us an opportunity to use a planet's energy more consciously - if we are willing to do the work.