Planetary retrograde motion

Any planet is said to be retrograde when it appears to move backwards in its orbit from the point of view of the earth. Of course, this backwards movement is an illusion - planets don't back up in their orbits, but the effects it has are not illusory. When a planet is retrograde, its energy is expressed internally in human beings. The purpose of this is so we can review the effects of that planet's transits while it was direct (moving forward).

Mercury's influence while retrograde is the one that is most commonly known. The United States Presidential Election of the year 2000 took place during a Mercury Retrograde, with utter chaos and confusion as the result.