You may know that ‘retrograde’ is a word used to describe the reverse, backward motion of planets in our solar system. When a planet goes retrograde, it actually increases awareness by forcing us to slow down and think or act more thoroughly, not only about issues in the present, but past events as well (past…reverse…backwards – get it?)

Mercury will begin a 21-day retrograde period on January 11 at 7°45′ Aquarius. Saturn already began its 4-month retrograde on December 31 at 21°46′ Virgo.

When Mercury is retrograde, miscommunications happen, things with moving parts break down and people become extremely frustrated as a result. Let’s hope this won’t turn Inauguration week in Washington into a gnarly maze of traffic accidents, racial slurs, event delays, media glitches and general mayhem! Did I mention that DC has decided to keep the bars open until 5am on the three days preceding the Inauguration? What is that they say about fuel on a fire? On the flip side, maybe the result will be an exceptionally well-planned and executed week of events, culminating in the historic swearing in of our 44^th President, just the way we envision it.

Retrograde Saturn slows activity and work pace, enabling better strategies and methods to be thought out and developed. On the flip side, it can also bog things down and make it twice as hard to actually get anything accomplished.

Let’s hope these retrogrades won’t stall Congress in the passage of Obama’s economic stimulus. Paul Krugman, Nobel Prize winning economist, recently portended that if there is a delay in passage of the stimulus package, or if the amount of the stimulus is too small, it could be a sad, sad case of “too little, too late” and the already fragile state of our country’s finances could just do a ‘Thelma and Louise’ and drive us all right over the edge into the great abyss of a full-on depression. Maybe the retrogrades will do the reverse and aid in the deliberate, careful, but expedient passage of this critical piece of legislation. Congress doesn’t have a very good track record when it comes to expediency, but we have to hope they’ll step up to the plate this time. Let’s try to remain positive.

Look in your chart to see where these retrograde planets are going to be affecting you and remember – it’s also about free will – turn those retrograde planets around for successful results in all your upcoming endeavors.

- MJ Dankowski