Retrograde and Planetary Condition

You might see a retrograde (逆行, R) mark next to a planet's name on a chart. The planet isn't actually moving backward — it means you were born while that planet appeared to move backward for a while, as seen from Earth. (The Sun and Moon never go retrograde.)

Let's clear up the most important misunderstanding first. Retrograde doesn't mean 'that planet is bad.' Modern astrology reads a retrograde planet as a grain where the function turns inward. Rather than using that force straight outward, it's expressed by chewing it over inside, revisiting it, doing it in a way that's a little different from others. So it can even become depth and originality.

Let's untangle two things that are easy to mix up. natal retrograde means the planet was retrograde at the moment you were born — a lifelong tendency. The 'Mercury retrograde' you hear about in the news, on the other hand, is a transit retrograde happening in the sky right now — a temporary flow that comes to everyone only during that stretch. These are two completely different things.

Traditionally, people also look at things like a planet's speed (fast or slow), distance from the Sun, and stations (when it appears to stop) to read its 'condition' in more detail, beyond just retrograde. For a beginner level, though, it's enough to grasp just "retrograde = a function that turns inward".