Velocity or Motion of Planets
Rahu and Ketu rotate on celestial ecliptic path with all the planets. The motion of the planets is of two kinds:
- Rotation 2. Revolution
Rotation
Planets move on their axis from west towards east. This movement is known as rotation.
Revolution
The motion of planets when they move in their orbit and revolve around the Sun is known as revolution.
Rotation and revolution can be understood by the following example. Earth rotates on its axis and completes its rotation in 24 hours because of which day and night occur. This motion of earth is known as rotation. The motion of earth when it is rotating on its axis and when it completes one round of Sun is known as one revolution. The changes in season and change of climate happen because of revolution.
Types of Revolution
Revolution is of two types: Direct and Indirect state
Accelerated or Direct State:
The state of a planet when it moves straight on its path is known as direct state. For eg: the motion of Sun is an example of the direct state. Sun transits in Aries sign and goes to Taurus. After that it transits the Gemini sign and so on. This is known as the direct state of planets.Sun and Moon are always in their direct state.
Retrograde
The motion of the planets when they revert back while going straight in their path is known as the retrograde state. This motion is completely reverse to that of the Sun as the planets move towards west from east in it. When a planet is in retrograde state, it will go to Taurus sign after transiting the Gemini sign and not in Cancer sign. The motion of the planets is backwards in this state.
Apart from Rahu and Ketu, all other planets attain the direct state after moving in retrograde state after some time. In simple words, any planet when transits fourth to eighth house from Sun attains the retrograde state. Among all the planets, Sun and Moon are the exceptional planets which never attain the retrograde state.
