iVillage

Astrology has often been called “Cultural Astronomy,” and the phrase rings true to me, in particular that accent on the second word “Astronomy.” We could rephrase that to say that astrology is the “meaning” of astronomy in the sense that astrology for the most part is based on astronomy, like the accurate positions of the planets, the lunar cycle, and all the other celestial phenomenon. Most astrologers like to be as accurate in their calculations as the astronomy will permit.

In other words, astrological interpretations are based on accurate astronomy, as just mentioned. In this sense, our astrological imagination is limited by the facts that astronomy delivers to us. In fact, most astrology has to do with the meaning or interpretation of the astronomical facts, and these astronomical facts have had centuries of time to be absorbed and interpreted by astrologers. However this is not true in all cases, and the “retrograde phenomenon” is a good example of an astrological technique where we have not yet exhausted the astronomical framework or facts.

All planets move through the familiar zodiac in the same direction, from Aries to Taurus, and so on. However, periodically a planet will pause in this forward motion, and begin to move backward through the zodiac, against the grain of the zodiac. Such a backward-moving planet is said to be retrograde. Depending on the planet, a planet can be retrograde from 7% (Venus) to over 44% (Pluto) of the time. There is a table of these figure elsewhere in this book.

In the history of astrology, retrograde planets tend to be interpreted in somewhat of a negative way, perhaps because the backward motion itself of the planet lends itself to ideas of (literally) retro, backsliding, falling behind, and so on.