Astrology is an experience that is as old as the universe itself. It is the study of the planets, moon and sun in our galaxy, their positioning in the sky, and that affect on Earth and its inhabitants. Astrology has been used to determine the behavior of people individually as well as collectively. It also has been used to determine when natural disasters will occur, and has even been said to have predicted terrorist attacks. But while most people know the basics of astrology, such as your basic personality traits based on your Sun Sign (i.e. Scorpio, Taurus, Virgo, etc.) or even check their daily horoscope, which is based on planetary alignment on a particular day, many don't know the more specific aspects of astrology and how they affect our lives. One of the aspects that have a great influence on daily life are planetary retrogrades. But before we touch on the effects of this unique aspect, let's first visit the concept of astrology a little bit more.
What is Astrology?
Astrology, sometimes confused with astronomy, is defined as "a group of systems, traditions, and beliefs in which knowledge of the relative positions of celestial bodies and related details is held to be useful in understanding, interpreting, and organizing information about personality, human affairs, and other terrestrial matters." Some believe that to know astrology is to know yourself. Often times, when an astrological birth chart (a chart that maps out the planetary alignment at a person's date, time and location of birth) is presented to someone, they become dumbfounded at its accuracy. But a birth chart is just the beginning of the wonder of astrology.
There are various aspects of astrology that claim to not only be able to accurately define who you are from past astrological planetary alignments, but can also predict the direction you will move in career-wise, who you are likely to have love and marriage with, and even if you are accident-prone, have an addictive personality, or even have a propensity towards violence. Astrology also is used to predict future events on a mass level, using the planets and moon to determine a generational tendency toward love, peace, spirituality, violence, growth, etc. One way the astrology is studied is through the various ways that planets have a large influence on our lives.
The Planets and Astrology
To understand planetary retrogrades, you must first understand a planet's astrological affect on a person's behavior. In astrology, there are actually 10 "planets" instead of nine. These planets are the Sun and Moon, as well as Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto - Earth is excluded because this is the planet we live on. Each planet embodies its own "personality" that in turn affects each human's personality. For example, Mars is viewed as the planet of war, and when a person is under a sign that is ruled by Mars (ex. Scorpio), then that person is said to have a tendency toward violence more so than a person whose sign is ruled by Venus, the planet of love.
Also, under the realm of planets and astrology is the idea that at different times of the day, month and year, as the Earth is rotating around the Sun, so are the other planets. As all of the planets are rotating and placing themselves in different positions around the Sun, some become more prominently influential to humans than others. For example, if we are currently in the month of November on the 15th day, we are being influenced most by the sign Scorpio, which is ruled by Mars. This means collectively, human kind might feel a bit more aggressive, passionate, competitive and ambitious - this is especially true for Scorpios. The basic idea is that planetary influence is very powerful, so what do you think happens when these planets that are already powerful when in their normal cycle appear to move backward? We'll find out be looking at planetary retrogrades.
Planetary Retrogrades
As explained earlier, planetary retrogrades occur when a planet appears to move backwards. This, of course, does not actually happen, but instead there is the appearance from the view from Earth that it is moving backwards, and when this happens, there is said to be a significant influence on the Earth's inhabitants astrologically. Basically, whatever was occurring on Earth before these planetary retrogrades, are now happening in reverse. This means happiness could lead to sadness, peace could lead to war, and love could lead to hate.
Depending on which planet is in retrograde, you could possibly see huge change in your life. This is because the planets rotate at such varying cycles around the Sun. The planet that seems to have the greatest influence on the planet due to its large number of planetary retrogrades is Mercury. Mercury is, of course, the closest planet to the Sun, and completes a full cycle every 88 days, as opposed to Neptune, which takes over 160 years to cycle. Because Mercury cycles so often, it typically has three retrogrades, as opposed to the other planets that only have one.
For some reason it is during the Mercury Retrograde that it seems things typically go wrong in everyone's life. You might lose your job or get into a car accident during this time. You might also find that your plans just don't seem to pan out, no matter how hard you work to organize them perfectly - your life seems to be completely out of your control at this time. It is not your imagination; if everything seems to be out of whack, it is possible that we are in the midst of a Mercury Retrograde. The other planetary retrogrades have significant influence, but not as much so as Mercury's, which is why many people cringe when they know it is coming.
All of the planetary retrogrades are definitely worth exploration more deeply, as well as astrology as a whole. Often times you can look at your life and wonder why you act the way you do, or why events occur in a seemingly coincidental fashion, but if you look at aspects of astrology like Sun Signs, planets, and planetary retrogrades, you might not only get a better grip on what has occurred, but also understand what might occur in the future - and who couldn't use that kind of guidance?
Jeffrey Meier at Jam727 Enterprises at http://www.thearticlehome.com blog offers even more detailed information on a wide variety of topics.
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