Retrogrades
When the planets turn back
Every date below is computed from the actual motion of the planet, not copied from another site. A planet is retrograde when it appears to move backwards from Earth — nothing physically reverses, our own orbit is simply overtaking it.
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What it actually means
Mercury is the one everybody knows. It governs talking, writing, contracts and travel, so the traditional advice is: review, repair and re-do rather than sign, launch and depart. Three times a year, about three weeks each time.
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Honest note: no study has ever shown that more things break during Mercury retrograde. What is true is that a period explicitly marked for reviewing is genuinely useful — and that is worth something whether or not the sky is causing it.