Retrograde
Cross-traditionRenaissance & early modernHellenisticAstronomical factTraditional doctrineEditorial synthesis
Definition
A planet is retrograde when it appears from Earth to move backwards along the ecliptic. It is an appearance produced by the two orbits, not a reversal of the planet itself. Direct and stationary are the other two motion states.
Also called: Retrogradation · Direct motion · Stationary · Station
In more depth
Planets orbit the Sun in one direction, but we watch them from a planet that is also moving. As Earth overtakes an outer planet, or an inner planet overtakes Earth, the other body appears to slow, stop, and travel backwards against the background sky for a period before resuming. That apparent backwards motion is retrogradation, and it is a consequence of the geometry of the two orbits.[1]
- Direct: the body's ecliptic longitude is increasing, the ordinary state.[1]
- Retrograde: the longitude is decreasing, the apparent backwards state.[1]
- Stationary: the apparent motion is momentarily at a turning point between the two, traditionally called a station.[1]
Older astrological manuals treat retrogradation as a condition of the planet that modifies how its significations are judged; Lilly, for example, lists it among the accidental states a practitioner weighs. Modern popular writing has attached much broader claims to it. The platform reports which state the calculation service returned and does not tell you what it means for your life.[2][3]
References
Numbered citations in the text link to the records below; each record links to the full source registry.
- Sean E. Urban (editor); P. Kenneth Seidelmann (editor). Explanatory Supplement to the Astronomical Almanac. Sean E. Urban and P. Kenneth Seidelmann. University Science Books. 2013. Astronomical fact View source record
- William Lilly. Christian Astrology, Modestly Treated of in Three Books. T. Brudenell for J. Partridge & H. Blunden, London. 1647. Historical primary source View source record
- Chris Brennan. Hellenistic Astrology: The Study of Fate and Fortune. Amor Fati Publications. 2017. Modern practitioner interpretation View source record