Retrograde

What it is

Planets orbit the sun in one direction, always — nothing physically reverses. "Retrograde" describes an optical illusion: because Earth and another planet orbit at different speeds, there are periods where, from Earth's point of view, the other planet appears to slow down, stop, and drift backward against the background stars before resuming its normal direction. Mercury retrograde is the most talked-about because Mercury is the fastest-moving planet and so appears retrograde most often — about three or four times a year, for roughly three weeks each time.

Whether a planet was retrograde at the moment of birth is a real, computable fact (it depends only on the date, via an ephemeris), and is traditionally read as that planet's themes turning inward or needing revisiting, rather than expressing outward as usual.

Worked example

Mercury retrograde periods are traditionally associated with communication mix-ups, travel delays, and re-reading contracts closely — Mercury governs communication and travel, and a retrograde is read as that governance turning inward or getting tangled, not as a literal planetary danger.

What Mystica's engine actually computes

Mystica's Birth Chart reading describes each planet's sign placement and general nature — it does not currently track whether a planet was retrograde at a given date, since that needs an ephemeris lookup by exact date this reading does not perform. This entry explains the concept for readers who encounter it elsewhere; today's Mystica reading does not factor retrograde status into its interpretation.