Retrograde and direct planets

What is the difference between being born with a direct or a retrograde planet? 

The soul advances in two ways. First, it collects new external experiences from the world. This is what a direct birth planet does.
Then to make things we experience our own, we should process these experiences. The mind processes the experiences we collected from the outside world: goes over them again and again till it interprets them in its own soul-specific way. This is a retrograde birth planet. It is way more internal and not so external in manifestation. 
That’s why people who have retrograde planets might feel like the area indicated by the retrograde planet is stuck, not moving forward, going in circles, over and over similar patterns. But this is a deeply spiritual, albeit painful and slow process, in which we continue processing and reliving an old experience (early life, or past lives). 
It is a totally needed process that enriches the soul. There is a great depth to retrograde planets, and great depths always come with pain. 
Usually, we feel in a karmic loop of some sort, with a retrograde birth planet, like there is a blockage to any further or new developments till we internalize so deeply the lessons, in a way that the soul makes them unique and learns from them. 

Hence retro planets always manifest in some unusual/unique way(for example retro Venus can manifest as a different and off-beat sense of beauty and art, love relationships).

Or retro Jupiter person will have to regurgitate and relive many beliefs and moral questions over and over till it implants a unique moral lesson in regards to virtues. 

Retro planets require repetition: you know the hard phase of learning something… till it starts making sense to us. Till we see the pattern, correct it if it needs to be or enriched in internally somehow. 

Then comes a time when a retrograde planet turns direct within the life of the person through progression. This is when the wise beings of karma and evolution have allotted us the reversal of a tough or stuck situation because we have learned our lesson, have internalized deeply enough a previous experience and can move on out of the loophole. 
 
It is interesting when a direct birth planet becomes retrograde by progression. For example, a friend of mine was born with a direct Mercury. But it turned retrograde by progression for him when he was 10. This is when he suddenly started becoming shy, finding it difficult to express himself, constantly rethinking and reliving what he said. Many similar patterns in friendships started reoccurring for years, with friends who seemed very karmic and even taking the person back in evolution. 
The moment his progressed Mercury turned direct at 31, he started becoming more social. Shed off all his old unhealthy friendships and created a myriad of new ones. His communication became more confident and he started finding his voice in the group. New interests and hobbies suddenly appeared… he stopped worrying so much about what he was saying, how he was saying it, what impact it had on others. He said the period of 21 years or retrograde Mercury in his life, taught him what is truly important in friendships (Mercury), helped him carve a more unique worldview and deeper thinking processes. 

I was born with a retro Jupiter, since little I am always studying deeply old religions and spiritual beliefs, testing them, doubting them, having a spiritual crisis when my moral beliefs are tested, thinking deeply about what is right and ethical, and constantly reexperiencing situations which repeat the same moral dilemmas, so I can finally forge a unique and deeply ingrained sense of what virtue and morality is. My Jupiter finally started turning direct and I am finally feeling way more hopeful about humanity, the future, having peace with my worldview and beliefs. This is opening incredible new opportunities and visions before me gradually. 

An especially hard and slowed-down energy forms when Saturn is retrograde. Everything changes much slower in the life of the person where Saturn is (house and houses it rules), it is like a karmic blockage there. Bearing one’s cross so to speak. 

Don’t think you are doomed if you have many retrograde planets though… the person with most retrograde planets: all 7 traditional planets, is Nostradamus….such a unique person. His external life was surely karmic and tough (he lost his first wife and children to the plague) but he was gifted with powerful internal talents, like clairvoyance, deep meditation and contemplation…. Great depth within…

I can give you multiple examples for how retrograde planets work but maybe best that you share your own stories below! 

You can learn all about retrograde planets from my 4 hour course Retrograde Planets in the Birth Chart just click here

Can you share a retrograde story in your life?