Because Mercury goes retrograde three times a year, It’s actually very common for someone’s Mercury to progress and go retrograde at some point in life, except for those with natal Mercury retrograde who will see their Mercury go direct at some point. Today we take a new look at when the inner planets progress and go retrograde or direct.

In my years of practice, I’ve seen countless charts of people whose progressed Mercury went retrograde at some point in their life, and after a number of years retrograde, it went direct. In fact, this is an inevitability for those born in the weeks before Mercury goes retrograde, since that means at some point in their “progressed life” their progressed Mercury will go retrograde.

Progressed Mercury Going Retrograde

Due to how often Mercury goes retrograde, it’s a common occurrence to have your progressed Mercury go retrograde or direct during your life if you live to any advanced age at all. Everyone born a month or less before Mercury goes retrograde will have their progressed Mercury go retrograde before the age of 30. It then stays retrograde for anywhere between 18-23 years before it goes direct in middle age. When that happens, a person experiences an Inferior Conjunction at some point about half way through their progressed Mercury retrograde experience. For those who have this situation, Mercury’s SRX degree, the degree of the Inferior Conjunction, and the SD degree are very important markers showing major internal shifts.

However, for those born during Mercury retrograde, at some point before the age of 20 their progressed Mercury goes direct, and then speeds up in motion for most of the rest of their lives. Those born just after a Mercury retrograde period usually won’t have their progressed Mercury go retrograde, and their progressed Mercury will be very fast in motion for about 50 years until it begins to slow. Those born during or just after a Mercury retrograde period will almost always experience a Superior Conjunction at some point.

Another factor is the period after the retrograde when progressed Mercury catches up to where it went stationary retrograde. At that point it leaves its “shadow zone” and moves beyond its original SRX degree. For example, someone told me “My progressed Mercury is exactly at the position it turned retrograde in 1977. It went direct in 1998 and it's taken all this time to reach the original stationary point.”

I noted that since their progressed Mercury went SRX in 1977 and went direct in 1998, it had been retrograde during those years, and re-traced the degrees it originally transited before 1977. So by the time Mercury goes direct and again transits between its SD and SRX degree, it’s already traversed that ground three times, and the Mercurial function is ready to move into “unknown zones.”

Since Mercury speeds up from its point of maximum retrogradation, after the Inferior Conjunction progressed Mercury will send and receive info quicker for the rest of the life. After that conjunction, then from that point on the progressed Mercury picks up speed, goes stationary direct, and then races forward through its shadow zone a third time.

In this scenario, we get an initial Mercury experience via the sign “lens” and house affairs, then get a new look from alternative angles of approach, and then get yet a third experience of that planet in that sign in the house in direct motion with the benefit of having that experience twice before. The third time gives us a chance to move forward on the basis of the multiple angles of understanding into the unknown zones after Mercury leaves its shadow zone. In terms of progressions, that means the entire span of slowing to retrograde, then retrograde, then direct through the shadow zone runs over 40 years.

Remember that progressions are more about internal states, so progressed Mercury in more about our internal state of mind than external circumstances, which are indicated by transits. A progressed Mercury retrograde is good for getting an alternative view and understanding of an experience by taking note of different things we may not have considered the first time we had those experiences. It is somewhat the same with Venus and Mars retrograde, but of course those periods involve Venusian and Martian energies and “departments of labor,” not Mercury.

When Progressed Venus or Mars Go Retrograde

Most people go through life without their progressed Venus or Mars going retrograde, since these happen far less frequently than Mercury retrograde. Plus they both stay retrograde much longer than Mercury, so if you have either your progressed Venus or Mars go from retrograde to direct or direct to retrograde, you’ll be dealing with that phenomenon for many more years than if you experience progressed Mercury going retrograde or direct.

As with Mercury, if you were born in the weeks before Mars went retrograde, you’ll experience your progressed Mars go retrograde and it’ll stay retrograde for your entire life. Because Venus’ retrograde period is about 40-43 days, if you have your progressed Venus go from direct to retrograde, depending on what age you are, you could conceivably have Venus entirely in its shadow zone your entire life. This would give a highly specific focus to all your Venusian affairs this life.

If your progressed Mars goes retrograde during your life, obviously those areas ruled by Mars and the house where Mars goes retrograde will slow down, and may even seem to “reverse course.” This could indicate you'll take a different approach to the house affairs ruled by Mars, or find a new way to act in key parts of your life. It’s great for learning how to be a mediator or intermediary in some way. Just be aware of roundabout anger or agitation getting introduced into situations where it may not be appropriate.

Progressed Mars retrograde can be great for spotting indirect causes of anger, or anger that expresses itself in passive-aggressive ways. We can explore why we act or react to certain things, and undo the responses we need to. It can be great for finding an entirely new way "to do our being." We learn about these things during the transiting Mars retrograde periods, and these periods can actually bring forth good things for those with progressed Mars retrograde.

When the progressed Venus goes retrograde, we retrace the Venusian steps we've taken before then, but again, with a different perspective. I've found my clients with progressed Venus RX spend time reconsidering the inner connections to what they like and why they like it, and get to the subconscious reasons behind those things.

Some texts associate Venus retrograde with disappointments. Rather than experiencing "disappointments," I’ve found many get to the root causes of old disappointments, suspicions, internalized hurts from adolescence and early adulthood, and rout them out, or see how they were programmed to believe in those "values and vanities." I’ve also seen that rather than withdraw, one claims the Venusian things one never did before.

We also learn about these things during Venus RX periods, which like the other progressed retrogrades, can also be a very favorable time for those with progressed Venus retrograde, since transiting Venus RX periods will feel very familiar to those with natal Venus retrograde. You can find out a lot more about how Venus retrograde operates by getting a copy of my book The Magic of Venus: Friendships, Soul Mates, and Twin Flames. as there is an entire chapter on Venus retrograde.

It’s the most comprehensive book on Venus ever written, and takes a deep dive into how our Venus shapes why we like or don’t like the people and things we do, and how we can change our patterns of attraction to make our future relationships more fulfilling. It explains the world of relationship from the angle of psychology, astrology, spirituality, and experience. I’ve heard it has helped people turn away from unhealthy relationships and turn everything around in short order. It examines the nature of the qualities in a healthy relationship and friendship, and offers understanding about how to create long lasting personal relationships and friendships, why Soul Mates come into our lives, and how to know the difference between a Soul Mate and our Twin Flame.

It has chapters on the qualities of each sign’s natural mate, the qualities of Venus in each sign, and when crucial choices and changes are made, affecting who we attract in the future. It was written for both astrologers and lay people, and as it has a thousand gems for better relationships, with self, others, and Source, please consider getting your copy by going to the link above! (And when you’re done, please leave a review on Amazon, since it helps the book and all other books on astrology as well!)

As Venus does have some associations with inner creativity, as per its association with the Empress, when it goes retrograde it can mark a time when you repolarize from outer to inner creativity. It is possible to find creative skills you never felt confident to claim before, or express things taking shape as a deeply felt personal experience that can be put out in ways that trigger others' subconscious "appreciation." And it can also mark a time of reunions with people you knew from past lives, both this one and others.

Other Considerations

I trust this material explains why we have nothing to fear from a progressed Mercury, Venus, or Mars retrograde, since these period can bring insights leading us to a more holistic view of our internal processes related to these planetary functions. During retrogrades, both transits and progressions, we can get an entirely different take on all things related to those planets, and see how past impressions created current planetary actions and reactions.

Again, one blessing about having a progressed retrograde planet go direct in motion is from that point on, it will speed up. That means all the affairs ruled by that planets speed up as well, and we find ourselves moving through those sign experiences at a faster pace than we might expect.

Obviously, in the somewhat rare occurrence of a progressed Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, or Pluto going retrograde or direct, these periods would be years of major changes in our lives, with the stationary point a major influence triggered by various transits after that event. These take place over a several year period in our progressed existence, and mark major “sea changes” in how we relate to and manifest those planetary energies in our lives.

When a planet goes stationary retrograde it represents a threshold state marking the beginning of a time of review. When a planet goes stationary direct it represents a platform or foundation for subsequent experiences related to that planet, where we take the past we’ve reviewed and move forward with confidence in that area, since we have had 3 passes over that span of our reality. You can bet that if one of the outer spiritual planets goes retrograde or direct by progression in your chart, your internal life related to that planet will change in major ways!

So if you’re wondering what it will mean when one of your progressed planets will go retrograde or direct, just remember it’s either a time of review or a time to prepare to move forward in a great quickening which will last the rest of your life. While the retrograde period might put your learning at a different pace, you’ll discover things others aren’t seeing, and may find alternative ways and views of things related to that planet’s department of labor.

Reprinted on crystalwind.ca with written permission from Robert Wilkinson. Copying this article to other blogs is strictly prohibited. It is copyright protected. 

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