How Long is a Planet Stationary?

A stationary planet is a planet that is turning retrograde or is turning direct. For a moment, the planet stops and changes direction. The planet is completely stationary for only a moment. How close to this exact moment when a planet changes direction can we consider the planet to be stationary?

Another way of stating this is that a stationary planet is not actually stationary! Perhaps for a fraction of a second it is actually stationary. How slow must the planet be in order to be considered stationary?

One tradition is to consider a planet stationary within about a day of the moment that its direction changed from direct to retrograde or from retrograde to direct. However, Mercury speeds up rapidly from the moment it is stationary and reaches its maximum speed in about 2 months whereas Mars, for example, speeds up much more slowly and takes over a year to reach its maximum speed. Mercury is like a race car that takes off from the starting line much more quickly than other planets. Therefore, it seems more reasonable to consider Mercury stationary for a shorter period of time than other planets.

An alternative to considering a planet stationary for some fixed period of time such as a day, is to consider the planet stationary when its speed is below some fraction of either its average speed or maximum speed. In this video, we show how basing the time period that the planet is stationary on its maximum speed produces results that intuitively make more sense than basing the timer period that the planet is stationary on its average speed.

Another possibility is to consider the duration of time between planetary stations and an alternative formula for determining the time period that is stationary is given in which the time between planetary stations for a planet is taken into account.

Also shown in this video are options in the Kepler 8 and Sirius 2.0 software for specifying when a planet is considered to be stationary and also options for how to have this indicated in a chart wheel.

Although the details presented in this tutorial video may be a bit tedious, these are important considerations because until now it has not been clear when we should consider a planet stationary and at last we have some clear guidelines for understanding what options are reasonable.

[cavaleer]

Excellent presentation. I’ve found the measure to be a combination of the Planet itself, it’s Speed, and the duration of time it spends in the same degree. Ultimately we know there’s no true station. So we’re really measuring the Concentrated Energy of a planet. So we find that a Jupiter and Saturn will have a wider field of a Chart Impact when they slow down than Mercury or Venus. With Uranus, Neptune and Pluto the Impact is extended over several days but it definitely reaches a Peak Impact. To summarize, I believe the question is not “ When exactly is a planet Station.” The question is, “When in the course of its Transit/Orbit does a planet reach its Peak Impact.” It is not an either or question but one of fine gradations. Great discussion. 👍🏾💯💯

[stephenambrosich]

Thank you for a well explained explanation within the conditioning parameters of the thought. The software program is indeed impressive.

[TheNewCompatibility]

I've seen people who have had heart attacks have Mars at its station aspecting natal or progressed planets

[pakmantih]

the thing I intuitively look at (i.e., haven't given careful thought to) is the time when the planet is in the minute of the degree in wich it stations. i suppose even better would be creating a 1 minite orb around the degree, minute, and second of the point where it changes direction. maybe it should be 2 minutes or another number, but for the outer planets, 1 minute can be a long time. The reasoning for this, if I think about it, has to do with the idea of planets being "weightiest" when they are more or less sounding their single tone on one point in the zodiac for a longer period of time than is normal for them - or for any planet. Anyway, that is the geneal idea - an orb based on the time spent within a definable part of a degree of the zodiac as they change direction.

[KT-sljs]

Thank you for this wonderful video!

Apologies if I've missed it, but what is your interpretation of a stationary planet? I have been searching high and low for your comments on this.

Thank you!