I read this today in “Skywatching” by David H. Levy… (I love the library!)
“Although they move much more slowly than the Moon, the planets trace elegant paths among the stars that you can easily follow during a season of observing. The farther away a planet is from us, the more slowly it appears to move against the stars at any time.
During the course of some months, you can actually watch a planet being overtaken by the Earth in the same way that you see a car recede as you overtake it on the highway. As you pass the car, it appears to slow down, then move backward, then resume its forward movement after you have gone by.
Moving more slowly around the Sun than we do, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn all exhibit the same type of motion, moving eastward, appearing to reverse course as we pass them, and then resuming their eastward trek. This process is called retrograde motion.”
So I keep hearing people say “Oh it’s Mercury retrograde right now and that’s why my life sucks.” or “Oh Mercury is in retrograde right now and that’s why I’m not communicating very well these days.”
Credit & Copyright: Tunc Tezel
I just don’t get it… basically it’s an optical illusion in the night sky, but still people throw their fists up to the stars for what might be going awry in their lives during that time. But it seems to me that when Mercury (or any other planet for that matter) isn’t in retrograde motion, there’s something else to blame… the weather this time?
Personally, I get the feeling that we’re most likely going along in the right groove for our lives. Being in the right place at the right time and feeling the consequences of our actions, whether good or bad. I am not a philosopher by any means, but I just don’t think the stars are to blame for our lives being the way they are, or the reason why one can’t communicate properly.
I can see how we might be sensitive to these motions of the planets, much like it feels kinda funny when you are waiting at a red light and the car beside you starts to back up. You press on the brakes to make sure you’re not moving forward! Somewhere in our subconscious mind we pick up on things like “Hey that planet is moving backwards”. But I don’t think it’s something to blame all the things that happen in your life on. At some point we have to look to ourselves for why our lives are the way they are. Don’t ya think?
