By Madame Dana Zia
The Sun moved into Leo on Sunday the 22nd of July, returning to its solar home. The Sun LOVES being in Leo and it is a welcome bump with it being eclipse season and 5 planets retrograde. If you feel like you’re going crazy and can’t get a thing done, you are not alone. (As in this astrology report was supposed to be posted 10 days ago but…. It didn’t.) Now with the Sun in Leo, the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel is in sight. That doesn’t mean that we are out of the tunnel yet with Mercury about to go retrograde on the 26th, but at least we can see the punch coming.
You might remember that retrograde planets are planets going backwards which causes quite the stir in the universe as we know it. Now let me try to explain that. First off, planets do not go backwards, ever. But once upon a time when the world was full of wonder and our ancestors were trying to figure out the great cosmos without any telescopes, they would observe visible planets occasionally going … backwards. This was due to the way our own orbit interacts with those of the other planets, they might sometimes appear to be traveling backward through the night sky. This is, in fact, an illusion, which we call apparent retrograde motion.
While that backward movement is just an optical illusion, it carries major astrological implications. Regardless of the planet, a retrograde usually signals a period of delayed progress or disruption. Where we experience that stalling effect, however, depends on which planet happens to be retrograde. Each planet rules a different area of our lives (Mercury oversees communications, Venus handles our love lives, Mars touches all things related to action and conflict). So, if Mercury is retrograde (which it will be on Thursday), we’ll feel its effects most clearly when we’re trying to coordinate plans, communicate, work with technology or in business dealings.
As of July 26th we will have 6 planets retrograde. That’s a doozy of a retrograde cycle! Mercury, Mars, Saturn, Chiron, (BTW some people don’t consider Chiron a full blown planet but he counts in my book) Neptune and Pluto will all be going backwards on Thursday. Thank goodness Jupiter went direct July 10th, but hold on to your hat, Uranus goes retrograde on August 7th.
So what does all this mean?? During retrograde cycles, it is time to re-group, re-view, re-think, and re-organize and step back from pushing to make things happen. Believe it or not, retrogrades don’t solely occur to drive us nuts. They are a way the Universe takes control and guides us, possibly kicking and screaming, towards our higher goals and purposes.
Without giving an entire lesson on each planet and what its retrograde means, I can recommend that we all take a collective deep breath and don’t push the river. If you are paddling like mad to go up the current during a retrograde cycle like this, you will get nowhere but exhausted. The lesson is to go with the flow. Turn your boat around and glide with the current. That doesn’t mean falling asleep in the boat, keep your hand on the paddle, but guide your boat with the flow. You will be able to hear the dangerous waterfalls or rapids way before you come up on them and can avoid them. You are safe. You do not have to struggle. Pour yourself a cold beverage, believe in the current and enjoy the ride.