Retros are good, they are stronger to do the things we want them to do. It increases the confidence with which a planet is used. A retro planet has high chestha bala, ,when chestha bala is low a planet fails a person. A retro planet succeeds much more often. Its very easy to tell, look at the planets in your chart with low chestha bala and the ones with high, the high ones will be retro. Then you can see how retro is helping those planets out.
@ernst I used to look at the retros like that, but then I started doubting the default "good" part. I am not doubting that retro is stronger, more confident, that part makes perfect sense since it's closer to earth, but to see how good that is, I've also been checking dignity , aspects, rulership, etc.
For example, earlier in the year when we had a retro Mercury in transit in early Pisces, its lord DB, I just had a harder time considering that retro mercury as good.
I'll ponder some more on it and maybe I will come back around to the proper way of looking at it. It seems that I always do it after I bruise myself testing what "I think" makes sense lol
Right I also remember you saying that if a planet is retrograde and exalted, it is especially super powerful and auspicious.
Its cool to check out my chart this way, because out of all my planets I have three that are not retrograde, and two of them in particular, Moon and Venus, I seem to have the most problems with.
But is retro always good? For example, Transiting Saturn is retrograde and squaring my natal moon/ketu to the exact degree right now. Believe it or not, it just so happens that mentally and emotionally I am going through a difficult time, lol.
In this case, could it make Saturn's potentially depressing influence on the mind even stronger because it is retro? Its retrograde motion is moving closer towards the exact square, so I can only assume that it gets stronger until it goes direct (sep 29) perhaps with a sense of relief to where it starts moving away from the moon and on to its next agenda?
@codydeboer
I love retrograde transits. It brings up things into the consciousness that I wasn’t aware of, and gives me the opportunity to look back and dissect things.
Ketu is our comfortable spot in the castle.
Saturn is our limitations, our boundaries and our responsibilities. Saturn is Time - time for things to fall into place, time for things to mature, time for things to line up. It demands sacrifice, demands us to look clearly at what really matters, strips everything down to the bare minimum.
The Moon is emotions - it wants what it wants and it wants it now. It does not understand the concept of Time.
Two very different celestial beings playing tug-of-war. One wants us to move forward, the other holds us back. One lives in the fantasy world, the other shows us the reality as it exists.
Is there a way to get both to compromise? Is it possible to change our viewpoint, change our limiting beliefs (Ketu) that hold us back from achieving what we want, while at the same time, come down from the dream world (Moon) and look at what can really work within the structure (Saturn) as it exists?
@manisha That's a great way to look at it, something I overlooked. The long duration of Saturn, and the neediness of the Moon. Sometimes it seems things can take "too long" or just require way too much work or effort come to fruition, or there is little hope that even that effort will result in anything worthwhile (Moon's/Ketu's dispositor deb. Venus), so then very little movement or action takes place at all. But, the lack of movement might seem comfortable at first, but it totally is not! LOL.
I dont pay attention to them AT ALL. I totally ignore Rs. The only reason i look for retrogression is that is the best time to look at planets with my telescope cause they are closer to the earth and I can see more detail in them.
all of what a retro planet is doing is taking into account in mathematical astrology. in istha and kastha, cheshta bala, and shad bala. if we use those, we are using retro properly. To use retro as a stand alone thing is not correct.