theforensicastrologer

The main consideration regarding retrograde planets in the forensic chart is one of timing. The overall effect of the retrograde motion is to slow the outcome to some degree. This is only important, of course, when the planet in question has been singled out as influential in the chart. And, as with all other considerations, this quality applies to dispositors as well as ruling planets.

There are a few other things that have to be determined before the final reading can be done on a retrograde planet. The house position, whether it is cadet, succeedent or angular will effect the overall speed of the application. And whether the sign it is placed in is movable, fixed or common will also have an influence.

For instance, let’s say the ruler of the first house is in the third house retrograde. If other indicators have the victim in motion, then this placement will slow that motion down. The trip will take a long time; the car has trouble along the way; the victim is confined in a vehicle of some sort and it will be a long time before he or she gets free. If the dispositor is retrograde, this has a similar effect. For instance, the dispositor of the chart ruler is in the tenth house, retrograde, in the sign Scorpio. The tenth house points to the public knowledge and possible discovery. Scorpio points to detection, clues and ferreting out secrets. The retrograde placement slows down the discovery and makes information slow to reach the public. In the chart where you see that Saturn and Pluto, for instance, define the death of the victim, then Saturn retrograde may show decomposition of the body long before it is discovered.

The most crucial interpretation of the retrograde planet is when it is influential over timing. For instance, the entire chart is showing discovery of the victim in the future. If the prominent planets are retrograde in certain houses or signs then you can tell just how long the discovery will be delayed. For example, the chart ruler is placed in the fourth house. The entire chart says that the body will be found in a place of residence. However, this planet is retrograde and the dispositor of this planet is in the eleventh house in the sign Leo. The ruling planet is in an angular house (and angular sign, being in this case Capricorn) so the retrograde motion is not as slow as first indicated. Angular houses and movable signs give only days or weeks. But the timing is mitigated further by the dispositor in the eleventh house, which is succeedent, in the sign Leo, which is fixed. This can add years to your estimate.

To continue with the timing example, you must also consider the time before the planet goes direct. Look in your ephemeris for this and count the number of days between the time of the event and the time when the planet goes direct. If the indicators are all fixed and cadent, for instance, we are talking years but if they are angular and movable then we are talking weeks or days. Balance the indicators carefully. For instance, in our example, we have a 50/50 degree of influence with a planet that was both fixed and cadent with a planet that is angular and movable. In this case, I would place the timing in months. The days you counted are now given as months. 28 days between the time of event and the time of forward motion is converted to 28 months before the outcome is realized. And, of course, what that outcome will be is dictated by the overall chart and what it says.

Here are the rules of thumb:

Movable (cardinal) signs on angular houses= days
Common (mutable) signs on angular houses= weeks
Fixed signs on angular houses= months
Movable (cardinal) signs on succeedent houses=weeks
Common (mutable) signs on succeedent houses= months
Fixed signs on succeedents houses= years
Movable (cardinal) signs on cadent houses=months
Common (mutable) signs on cadent houses= years
Fixed signs on cadent houses= will never happen!

So if you find that the victim may be discovered, the crime might be solved or other factors may come to light but some of the indicating planets are retrograde, use these figures to alter the timing. Of course, if no planets are retrograde, then the timing stands on it’s own!