Retrograde Planet

Hindu astrology says that a planet either benefic or malefic becomes stronger and more powerful when they become retrograde. If a planet is exalted and retrogrades it gives the result of a debilitated planet and vice versa. Retrograde or backward step means time to review and reassessments the areas of life in which house the planet is retrograde and completes your pending assignments. 

Let us understand the whole concept with an example. Suppose, you decided to travel from Mumbai to Delhi with a few other friends in different cars to complete a certain task there. After travelling for about a few miles, you suddenly remember that you have left the water tap open in your house, the electric lights are on, and have forgotten to lock the door. Now you cannot go any further, you will have to take a U-turn and return to your home. Your return speed will be higher than your earlier one. Your task is to finish all the uncompleted assignments quickly, but your friends are moving towards their goal and they have gone far ahead of you. But what about those tasks that you decided to complete before the start of this journey. Now your speed is again fast to complete the rest of the assignments. This is the work of the retrograde planet in the horoscope. When you first went out with your friends, your mind was calm but now your mind cannot remain calm during this whole process. Retrograde planet means lack of peace.

When Mahadasha and Antardasha and of a retrograde planet start, the life of the person does not remain normal, the earlier pace of life is disturbed and various changes start coming. Many of us must have noticed that the memory of some unfinished work comes shortly after starting a new journey. You have not gone very far and suddenly your mind remembers the unfinished task.  We just started the journey and we have to come back to complete the pending tasks that we have left in our previous lives. Therefore, the retrograde planet is very powerful.

The universe is a great recorder. It records everything, all the sounds we have produced so far, good or bad, it has recorded, and we cannot proceed further with the heavy burden of unfinished assignments. The retrograde planet forces us to complete our work and then move on.

Planetary Strengths and Weaknesses

Strength of Planets Based on Its Degrees

While observing the chart it is necessary to observe the degree of the planets. A planet in the first or last two degree of a zodiac sign is considered to be powerless and does not give good results to the houses ruled by it.

Various states of Planets as per its degree -

·       Young Planet – Between 10° to 22°

·       Adolescence Planet– Between 2° to 10°

·       Old Planet – Between 22° to 28°

·       Dead Planet – Between 28° to 30° and 0° to 2°

Young Planet: When a person becomes young he is vigorous, lively and full with energy. Similarly, when a planet is situated between 10° to 22°, it gives maximum results. These results can be positive or negative and depend on other combinations.

Adolescence Planet: At Adolescence age, people begin to learn about the world, they spend a lot of time in each other’s company or communicating on phone or chatting on internet. But at this age people lack experience and looks for direction from senior members. Therefore, it is the best time to gather knowledge.

A planet between 2° to 10° indicates immaturity of the person. It indicates that such a person is unable to take wise decisions in life.

Old Planet: At this age, a person attains sufficient maturity and is well aware of common mistakes. With his experience he has the ability to provide guidance to newcomers. Similarly, when a planet is situated between 22° to 28° then it is considered to be a very mature planet and is strong enough to take necessary decisions. Such a person learns quickly in life, behave in a matured manner and able to provide guidance to others.

Dead Planet: Ancient texts says that when a planet is placed between 28° to 30° and 0° to 2° it is considered as dead planet. I have seen that many people take these two positions blindly, but there is a difference between them.

A planet between 0° to 2° should be considered as a newborn baby. A baby is dependent for its existence on others, it feels panic quickly and looks for support. Similarly, when a planet is between 0° to 2°, it is like a newborn baby who needs support for others, such a person gets nervous quickly in adverse situations and looks for a safe place like a child.

When a planet is placed between 28° to 30°, it is also considered a dead planet. Like a 90 years old person who is on bed but the person has seen the world. He has seen that when and how the tide turns, he has seen the changing faces of his near ones. He is a very experienced and mature person but lacks energy. A planet at these degrees should not be considered as the planet situated at 0° to 2° but it should be considered as enough mature and highly experienced planet.

But there is a drawback to this placement. Like the ego of an old person, the planets placed on these degrees indicate the stubborn and rigid nature of the person. Such people think that they are always right and they never change their decision under any circumstances. They always try to protect their ego.