Could someone please share with me either their own knowledge or some appropriate links which discuss the impact that retrograde planets have in your natal chart. I apparently have six planets and my North Node retrograde, and I am wanting to learn more about how this supposedly affects my life. I've read some information on a few sites I was able to locate through Google, but would love to know more.
TIA,
Winter x
This isn't as easy to answer as it seems. However, I'll start with simply being Retrograde. All three outer planets are regularly retrograde, so the chances of picking up at least one is quite high. Mercury is also Retrograde quite frequently, indeed the most frequent of the classic seven. On the other hand to get Venus retrograde is quite uncommon.
Three or four planets retrograde is not uncommon. But to have six is uncommon (as it to have 0).
The difficulty comes in interpretation. The modern approach is highly psychologically based, and therefore the interpetations are given according to the focus of the planet being more inward than outward. It's something of an introvert/extrovert measure (Personally I don't take that approach).
In reality, being Retrograde is part of a planet's cycle with the Sun. All planets but Sun and Moon can be Retrograde (which means that you only have two planets that could be Retrograde but are actually Direct). It's best to see it as part of that cycle, which begins and ends with the conjunction with the Sun. Sometimes the planet rises before the Sun, sometimes it sets after the Sun and sometimes it isn't seen at all (during the phase of conjunction). Being Retrograde is therefore better than actually being obscured by the Sun, but it's not as good as being Direct and moving away from the conjunction.
If you follow a psychological approach, then Erin Sullivan has a very good book on Retrograde planets.