What retrograde means
A retrograde planet appears to move backward through the zodiac for a while, as seen from Earth. It isn’t really reversing. It’s an effect of two planets moving at different speeds, the same way a slower car appears to slide backward as you pass it on the highway.
Every planet except the Sun and Moon does this. Mercury goes retrograde about three times a year for around three weeks each time. Venus does it for about six weeks every year and a half or so, and Mars for around ten weeks every two years. From Jupiter outward, retrogrades last for months at a time, and the slowest planets spend something like 40 percent of the year in this state. So having at least one retrograde planet in your chart is quite normal.
What astrologers read into it
The usual idea is that a retrograde planet works more inwardly. Whatever that planet stands for, you tend to process it privately and to arrive at your own way of doing it, often later than other people did.
- Mercury. You may rehearse a sentence before saying it, or think of the right answer on the way home. Often a careful, original thinker.
- Venus. You may have an unusual idea of what love should look like, and you may take a while to work it out. Old partners and past lessons can stay on your mind.
- Mars. Your anger or your drive may build quietly before it shows. You might seem easygoing for a long time, then surprise everyone.
- Jupiter and Saturn. You may have reached your beliefs or your sense of duty by working them out yourself, and you may hold to them without much interest in what others are doing.
- Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. Since these are retrograde for months each year, whole groups of people share this. Most astrologers don’t make much of it unless the planet is also strong in the chart.
Treat all of this as a possibility to try on. None of it is a defect. It’s also fair to say astrologers disagree about how much it matters, and some ignore it entirely.
In a relationship
Where it’s useful, it’s useful as patience. If your partner has Mercury retrograde and takes a day to answer a hard question, that might be how they do their best thinking, and it doesn’t have to mean they’re dodging. If you have Mars retrograde and have been quietly annoyed for a week, you could try telling someone sooner than feels natural.
Compare that with the kind of retrograde people talk about in the news, which is the planet’s current movement in the sky, a shared thing that passes in weeks. The one in your birth chart is simply part of the map of the moment you were born.
What the app does with retrogrades
MatchMachine can let you know when Mercury, Venus or Mars turns retrograde in the sky, as a light note in your day, and there’s a profile prompt that starts “During Mercury retrograde, I”, if you’d like to answer it. Those are about the current sky.
The app doesn’t mark retrograde planets in your birth chart, and they don’t affect your compatibility scores. Most comparisons depend on where a planet was, not on which way it seemed to be going. If you’re curious about yours, many free chart calculators show a small “R” next to the planet. You can read more about how the sky affects your day in what a transit is.