Retrograde Planetary Cycles

• As a rule, retrograde planets presage a period of seemingly inevitable or fated events, which relate to their sphere of influence. They present us with a series of events over which we seem to have little or no control, relating especially to the sign in which the retrogradation occurs. For example, Neptune retrograde in Aquarius presents quite different sets of circumstances from those generated when it retrogrades into Capricorn.

Retrograde Mercury

Retrograde Mars

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• A retrograde period is best seen as a cycle, which begins when the planet begins to slow to a halt before travelling backwards through the zodiac and ends when the planet returns to the point where it first paused. However, during the cycle, the planet's energy is most powerful (and more likely to generate critical events of universal importance) when the planet makes a station, appearing motionless in the sky. These stationary periods occur at the beginning of the cycle (when the planet first halts as it prepares to move backwards) and midway through the cycle when the retrograde planet slows to a stop before moving forward again.

• Pluto has its retro station in March 2000, turning direct again in August 2000; Neptune's next retrograde station occurs in May 2000, while its direct station happens in October 2000. Uranus too turns retrograde in May 20000, while Saturn has a retrograde station in mid-September 2000. Jupiter turns retro at the end of September 2000. Both Saturn and Jupiter return to direct motion in January 2001.

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