Retrogrades come and go, and so do the people in our lives. Last year, I took on a very strong retrograde about the middle of the year that changed a childhood relationship forever. This year, I can tell I’ve come into another retrograde this last month or so.

How can you tell if a retrograde is hanging around? Signs to watch for when a retrograde is coming through:

• Good friends or family members start to seem odd in their behavior towards you
• You get a sense that views of those around you no longer seem to be aligned
• You may even have more disagreements with others
• You no longer call or hang out with others as often 
• You see the true colors of others
• You are making positive changes in your life and others question you about them in a negative way
• Out of the normal attitudes of others
• Finding yourself trying to make things work and they don’t
• You decide your relationship is over for good

These were just a few signs I’ve taken away from going through a retrograde that hit me pretty hard, once I understood what I was going through.

For me, retrogrades hit hardest with relationships and technical energies. When it comes to personal relationships, my intuition is tested most on who should be allowed into my “circle of trust.”

When retrogrades occur, try to observe the behaviors of others when they are with you or out with others. Pay attention to how you are being treated and even, how you treat them.

If at all, you see what would be known as “red flags,” it is best to determine whether the person is worth having as a friend or not.

Thinking About Your Relationships

There are many people we constantly meet from day to day and will continue this cycle until death. We must be conscious of the fact that people(and you as well) have parts to play in each other lives. Some people will be around most of your life, while others come in for brief moments and then move on in their lives.

Take the short relationship of a delivery person as an example. Often, we see them once and may have a short conversation with them. We don’t stop them from doing their jobs, nor expect them to remain in our lives.

I give this simple example to explain how easy we should allow negative relationships to leave our lives. Think about the persons’ job. What is their main goal in life your life? To deliver your package. 

Whether their purpose is good or bad, we shouldn’t allow emotions to cloud our need to keep someone in our life. Accepting or releasing a person should become as effortless as greeting the delivery person.

Now, let’s think about your friend/family member (or other people who fit this scenario) and the list above. What role does your friend have in your life? What are you teaching each other?

Is there anything that is growing your relationship in a positive way, or is it more of a take-take situation? Are they holding you back? Are you holding them back? We should determine what lessons are being learned from each other.

If there is a lot of resistance to the relationship (hurtful feelings, time apart, excuses, or even verbal, emotional and physical abuse) then the “help” of a retrograde can, and most often do, amplify these actions and emotions for us to end things and move on.

Benefits of A Retrograde

As for my retrogrades, they usually are more helpful when it comes to human relationships and not so much when it comes to technology and electronics.

Since last year, my friendships went through major trials, which allowed me to see I needed another purge of removing people who no longer served a goal in my life.

When life isn’t moving forward for ourselves, we should take a look at each relationship. Feelings and emotions flow and change within our minds and hearts and are not always reliable factors to consider when knowing who to be around.

Keep in mind that you and the other person are affected by the retrograde and each other’s understanding of the relationship will be different. Some people may end things harshly- with a form of abuse that will be the last straw for you- or you both end things maturely and continue with life.

Any type of abuse should not be tolerated in your relationships. If the abuse escalates to criminal behavior, document and report the behavior to local authorities. You have every right to protect yourself from all forms of harm, just as abusers have every right to be subject to criminal charges against them. Our world can not become a peaceful place until victims speak out and change the course.

Troubling Technology, Troubling Retrograde

I often talk about my energy and how it can affect technology and electronics. (However, many people do love their technology devices, so I’ll hold off on speaking about the topic!) Some days are more extreme than others when I’ll notice a light bulb burning out, or an internet connection goes weak. This is because we are made of energy and being no different, I will often become in synch with technology.

At times, all it takes is centered focus and items lose power or strength. Other times I can be completely oblivious to power outages until someone or thing has drawn my attention to surrounding confusion of others.

I’ll share some funny stories at a later time, but for now, here are my struggles with technology and retrogrades.

Most of us can recognize the cycles of when things are going good in life and when there are periods where everything seems to go wrong or multiple occurrences of delays. I have certainly picked up on the cycles even more, now that I’ve started to expand into my spiritual business.

I can go weeks and months of working through to coming to a dead stop when technology up and stops working. For business, this is never a good thing.

Cassie’s List of Technology Fails During A Retrograde:

• Weak internet signal
• No internet at all (even on the clearest blue-sky day!)
• E-mails not being sent or delayed on being sent
• Phone calls not going through
• When internet connection works, but websites or company sites are down (“Due to maintenance”)

These are the top fails of technology I’ve run into. Even though I know now why this occurs, I still attempt to get work done, reach out to others who may be able to help-which rarely works too-but most times I’m stopped dead in my tracks.

I manage to do a lot of work on paper then transfer over to the laptop when things start to run smoothly. I’m thankful for a career where I have this ability!

Here’s A Funny For This Recent Retrograde:

I sent out my upcoming news (see post here) to select people and what do you know…the postal service had a delay in sending mail! It took a few weeks for everyone to finally get their mail.

I try my best not to rely on technology, hence why I love paper-that can ever fail you, right? WRONNNNGG! Still, in retrograde season in August, I was using a pen that clicks to open. As I’m writing the spring in the pen comes undone. The next thing I know the ink cartridge comes flying up and all the parts crumble in my hand.

That’s okay, take your time and laugh. I’m sure you needed a good laugh today 🙂

I sat there staring at this broken pen for about a minute and all I could come up with is, “Really, this too?”

I now have basic pens-purchased in bulk in case they choose to “run out of ink”- and I sharpen every single pencil when retrogrades leave. You know, just in case the power goes out or the pencil sharpener doesn’t work that day. I have backups upon backups now.

What Can You Learn From A Retrograde

• Patience
• Understanding
• A new perspective on life and relationships
• Growth in mind and spirit
• Improving your interpersonal skills around others
• New forms of being self-sufficient
• Being aware of healthy relationships for a safer and happier life

More lessons can be added to this list, but these were the larger lessons I’ve taken away from each retrograde.

How can you learn from a retrograde? Make a list of relationships that you’ve had or lost in the past two years. Reflect how each person made you feel and what lessons you offered, or didn’t offer to each other. Reread this post to help guide you in finding the lessons you were meant to learn. 

Best of luck in the next retrograde!

~Cassie