Today marks the start of an astrological period in which five planets – Pluto, Jupiter, Saturn, Mars and Mercury – are all retrograde at the same time. Fortunately this will last only until May 8th, when Jupiter turns Direct.
When a Planet is Retrograde, which is to say its apparent motion from Earth’s point of view is backwards, then its energies are best directed inwards, rather than outwards. That is to say, whilst it may be a bad time for trying to deal with other people, it is however a good time for dealing with yourself, for example your mind, your internal thought processes, and your own spiritual development.
Going against the grain during a retrograde period is often thought not to lead to success – as is most commonly thought during a Mercury Retrograde period. This is not entirely true – it is only a bad time if the disasters happen to other people, otherwise one may be lucky enough to experience a certain amount of schadenfreude!
For those that are interested in such things, the crucial dates for the rest of 2016 are as follows:
Most number of planets retrograde at one time: 29th April to 8th May i.e. 5.
Most number of planets direct at any one time: 19th November to 18th December, then 30th December til end of year i.e. 1 – apart from four days at the very beginning of the year, there have been and will be no time in 2016 when there is not at least one planet retrograde at any one time.
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