As the layers of planets in retrograde pull back, there is a feeling of unburdening and relief. Ask anyone who has gone to therapy and done the intense reflecting, processing, and releasing old patterns of behaviors and beliefs—it’s demanding and tiring work! And that’s what retrogrades are in a sense: reflecting, processing, releasing, and retracing the steps of the part of the psyche linked to the planet in retrograde.
For example, Saturn has been retrograde from May 23rd 2021 to October 11th 2021. Saturn is like a father taking their child by the hand and teaching some of the tough lessons of life like hard work, patience, responsibility, karma (cause and effect of our actions), and self-reliance. Imagine a parent teaching a child how to ride a bike by guiding them with their hand on the back of the seat steadying them. Retrograde is when the parent lets go and the child is riding shakily on their own. It’s up to the child and their belief in themselves to continue on. The training wheels are off.
Saturn retrograde gives the chance to evaluate how you are doing in the areas of the effort you are putting forth, taking “right” actions for you (karmically), and if there are areas in your life in which you are falling short, especially because of limiting beliefs and self-doubt. It’s a pause to re-assess. Moving out of retrograde, now we have the chance to apply what we’ve learned in our reflection time.
To me, Saturn is a place in our lives where we have felt weak or underdeveloped, and putting in the long hours and strength training to make it into our biggest asset. And here, the development is around growing into our individuality, our eccentricities, being our most authentic self, genius ideas, and rebelling against the traditions and norms that everyone follows simply because they have been in place since before they remember (Saturn currently in Aquarius, the archetype of the rebel and revolutionary).
What have you learned about your individuality or where you stand out from the norms in the past 4½ months? In what ways is this a strength and asset to you?
If you felt that karma (positive and difficult) was coming at you during this time, are there things you want to change in response? What is one small step you can take today?
What do you want to put your efforts and hard work towards now?
