Retrograde Planets: Traversing the Inner Landscape

by Erin Sullivan

"Geocentricity might well be egocentricity" the phenomenon of retrograde motion is based on our Earth-centered view of the solar system, but the movement and cycles of retrograde planets are based entirely on the apparent motion of the Sun through the zodiac. Sullivan organizes and explains retrograde motion from a systems-view-point the system of the Sun and planets and interprets retrograde planets natally, by progression, and in transit.

Genres: Astrology, Nonfiction, Spirituality

448 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Erin Sullivan is a Senior Lecturer at the Shakespeare Institute, University of Birmingham, where she works on the experience of emotion in and through Shakespeare's plays. She is the author of Beyond Melancholy: Sadness and Selfhood in Renaissance England (2016), and the co-editor of The Renaissance of Emotion: Understanding Affect in Shakespeare and His Contemporaries (2015) and Shakespeare on the Global Stage: Performance and Festivity in the Olympic Year (2015). She is currently working on a book about digital technology and Shakespearean performance.

Reviews

[Krista Ann Schwimmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would give this book 10 stars if I could!
My go to book on the concept of retrograde planets.

Erin Sullivan teaches you the mechanics first; then, dives into the more philosophical side of retrograde. An elegant writer, she has such great insights on this topic. Such as looking at what element Mercury is retrograde in for the particular year and how that alone could reflect a theme.

I also enjoyed the mythology she refers to and learned about the two aspects of Venus and of Mars. Belongs on any dedicated astrologer's book shelf.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

does require some technical knowledge beforehand but is otherwise one of the most comprehensive guides on retrograde cycles- exploring not just the retrograde alone but also the implications of planetary oppositions, direct portions of the cycle, brilliant commentary on the plants in relation to the sun, and the inconjunction or “quincunx” pattern that Venus follows.

rip erin sullivan, she was one of the best!

[Lux · Rating 5 out of 5]

great book on retrograde planets both birth and transit. Highly recommended

[Julya Savina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wildly illuminating. A must read for anyone with a deeper interest in astrology

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was so informative and well-writen; she puts forth a very solid case for the significance of retrograde motion and it's effects. The first half of the book was enthralling.
The descriptions of each retrograde planet were good enough, but I do wish she would have gone into more detail about how they are modified by aspects, and how they might operate when unaspected. Even just a little info on Chiron (the only retrograde object in my own natal chart) would have made it a solid five stars for me.