Uranus Has Another Trick Up Its Sleeve & Yes, That Trick Is A Retrograde

Take a deep breath, stargazers. Now that August has arrived, we're in the home stretch of summer 2018, aka the summer of retrogrades. Before we're out of the woods, however, Uranus would like to join the fun. The planet of sudden change, revolution, and upheaval will begin its annual retrograde next Tuesday, August 7.

This isn't Uranus' first attempt to stir the pot this year. Back in May, this planet moved into Taurus which, as astrologer Kimberly Peta Dewhirst told Refinery29 at the time, kicked off a new astrological era of change, particularly around how we use money and care for the Earth. Where that process will take place over the next seven years, Uranus' retrograde only lasts five months — and, while Uranus in Taurus is expected to exert changes on an external, global scale, Uranus retrograde will incite changes within us.

Retrogrades have a way of urging us to focus on our inner lives. Think about how Mars retrograde tests our tempers or Jupiter retrograde interrogates our approach to learning. Viewed from this angle, planetary retrogrades are just regularly scheduled lessons we have to learn in order to make personal progress. Uranus retrogrades are no exception. Specifically, they're thought to show us how we might adapt to the ever-shifting world around us — if we let them, that is.

As astrologer Jamie King writes, these periods tend to arrive in time to help us either adjust our outlook to fit a recent development or prepare for future growth. In case you haven't been reading your horoscope, this summer's eclipse season (two occurred last month and there's one more to come on August 11) is likely to set off plenty of changes in our lives, professional and personal. So, yes, we'd consider this year's Uranus retrograde to be extremely well-timed.

That said, you probably won't feel this retrograde's influence in the same way that you're feeling, say, the current Mercury retrograde. Uranus' distance from Earth makes its effects on our personal lives pretty subtle, if not downright sneaky. You might find yourself coming around on a plan you initially resisted or you might learn something new that leads you to view a change at work in a whole new light. These shifts in your mindset will occur gradually and may seem minor at first, but they're likely to lead to bigger, even major, progress.

For the record, when we say "progress," we simply mean forward movement — Uranus likes to affect great change, but it's less concerned with who benefits from it. With luck, you'll receive the cues of this retrograde and learn to roll with the good and the bad that comes your way in the next five months.