What it means
Retrogression is an apparent motion, not a real one: it happens when Earth and another planet pass each other and the outer body appears to slide backwards against the stars. Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn all go Vakri periodically. The Sun and Moon never do; Rahu and Ketu are always retrograde by definition.
How it is read
Vedic and Western practice read it differently. Western tradition tends to treat retrogression as weakening or internalising. Several classical Vedic sources treat a retrograde planet as unusually strong - Chesta bala, the motional strength component of Shadbala, actually peaks near retrogression.
What to watch for
The popular reading of 'Mercury retrograde' as a period when technology and travel break down is a modern Western import with no classical Vedic basis, and no established evidence behind it. In a birth chart, a retrograde planet is best read as one whose expression runs against the grain rather than one that is broken.
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