Theos-Talk Archives (August 1997 Message tl00216)

Vincent Beall <vincent@dmv.com> asked:

> The ICE calculates that the heliocentric longitude of the Earth and
> Jupiter will be the same at 13:30 hours on August 9th in this time zone.
> Is this the meaning of "direct"?

Not exactly. The same heliocentric longitude means that Sun and Jupiter are in
opposition. It is somewhat related to retrograde motion for outer planets,
though, due to the geometry of Earth, Sun and planets. At some point when an
outer planet is near a square (90 degrees), conjunction, (0 degrees), or
opposition (180 degrees) to the Sun, it appears to change direction with
respect to the stars.  This is closer to the definition of retrograde
motion. The real definition of retrograde motion is that the normal forward
motion of a planet through the Zodiac (say from Aries to Taurus) reverses
itself and goes backward (e.g., from Taurus to Aries).

In addition to the significance already posted about retrogrades, there is
another interesting one: persons with a planet retrograde in their natal chart
tend to reap karma related to that planet when the planet is retrograde.