Baby's First Synodic Years

All these current inner planet Retrogrades I guess have led me down a strange little path. I've found that there's more to the Retrogrades than just a slowing down movement. I've never understood the interpretations for Retrogrades so this is sort of exciting. During my study of Cycles research I came across the Synodic Years Cycles. I'm sort of wondering if a Baby is strongly affected by the Planetary Synodic Years during his first years. So I'm also looking at that idea briefly. Mercury is retrograde right now and Mars feels like it will never be out of retrograde ever again so this is sort of a mish mash I guess.

"Synodic" comes from the Greek word for Assembly or Meeting. Synodic can show a line up of any two or more planets. The Synodic Year as I'm using it here is the transit at which the Sun lines up with the Earth and the Sun.

The Tie-In to Retrogrades is that the Planet is always in the middle of its Retrograde Session when this happens. The cycle that this creates is called a Synodic Year by the astronomers. This shows up clearly in the planets whose orbits are outside of the Earth's orbit, Mars to Pluto. With Mercury and Venus there are Inferior and Superior Conjunctions. Inferior means that the planet lines up with the Earth in front of the Sun and the Superior Conjunction means that the Planet is farthest away from the Earth and is blocked from view by the Sun.

The astrological chart doesn't show the Earth so one must read these transits as oppositions between the Sun and the Planet.

I'm studying it as a way of trying to understand development in a Baby's first couple of years. The Sun, after all, shows the development of the Baby's Will, Ego and Creative Expression. Very important factors in understanding how his life will turn out. Interesting to check to see if these land on natal points as they will be significant to him. I'm thinking that these first Synodic Years are sort of the Baby's first viewing of how Ego relates to the energy of whatever planet is retrograding. The energy is enhanced because Retrogrades extend the time that the Planet will stay in one spot. Will have to research this as somebody has probably already written about it.

The slower moving planets actually experience slightly quicker Synodic Years than the faster transiting planets.

An interesting unfolding through time is involved as the slower moving planets actually have more Synodic Years than the quicker ones (except for inner planets Mercury and Venus). So the Neptunian Synodic Year happens sooner than the Uranian Synodic Year. Pluto's transit is so uneven that some generations will experience a lot more Plutonian Synodic Years than other generations.

I think these might be important to study for a baby just as he is developing his Ego (Sun) during the first couple of years. During these Retrogrades/Oppositions he is seeing how Ego works to balance out and relate to the energy of the planet in the real world. Of course, the most important Oppositions will be the ones that directly land on a natal planet.

The animation feature on Solar Fire is awesome for looking these up. The way my chart is set up there were no "Outer planet" Synodic Year transits (Mars - Pluto) until I was more than 6 months old. Then the Sun opposed Uranus Rx on my natal Mercury (and Uranus, since I have those two in conjunction natally). "The Shock of the New" was pretty much the theme of my childhood. This would have affected my whole expression as Gemini Rules my Ascendant and Uranus rules my Midheaven and I have them both in conjunction in my chart. I know that my one of my first words was "Don't do that!" just because my Mother had an abnormal fear of electricity. She said that she was constantly afraid that my brother and I would stick our fingers in the electrical sockets. What can I say? Some Mother's worry that their kids will poke their eyes out, others worry that strangers will abduct their kids. Mine panicked that the appliances would attack her kids.

I don't remember my life from that point, of course, but I do know that my Father's career as a modernistic, innovative architect was experiencing a meteoric rise. Uranus in my natal chart rules my Midheaven. Also, my Health suffered as I suffered from Bronchial Asthma attacks. This is indicated by my Cancer Sun and Gemini Rising overall (Chest, lungs, bronchials). But I also have a Yod that involves apex Moon to 3d house Uranus-Gemini Rising. Erratic breathing due to emotional shocks was definitely a major part of my existence at that point. As much as I'd like to blame the asthma on my parents 3 pack a day habits, my first attack came the first time they left me with a babysitter, a stranger I had never met. Kind of Uranian. So, I'm not saying there is anything to this, but this might be an interesting way to help a person try to remember that momentous first year. Most people, I'm sure couldn't care less.

Here's a list of how long Each Planet's Synodic Year happens. (from climate.qi.alaska.edu/Curtis/astrol.html).

Moon: Synodic Month: 29.53059 days (I'm listing this for the hell of it, Sun and Moon don't retrograde.

Mercury: Synodic Year: 105-129 days (is Rx for 22 days)

Venus Synodic Year: 1 yr. 6 month + 5-41 days (584 days, inferior conjunction) (is Rx for 40 days)

Mars Synodic Year: 2 years. + 1 - 2.5 months (779.7 days)

Jupiter's Synodic Year: 398.88 days (is Rx for 121 days)

Saturn's Synodic Year: 378 days (1 yr. 12-14 days) (is Rx for 138 days)

Uranus' Synodic Year: 369.7 days (1 yr. 4.5 days) (is Rx 5 mo's.)

Neptune's Synodic Year: 367 days (1 yr. 1.8 days) (is Rx 5 mo's)

Pluto: ????