Part of my soul dies off every time I hear or see an astrologer tell others what to avoid during retrogrades (or any other event). That’s terrible life, spiritual, and psychological advice. You should be observing astrology transits and not absorbing every one and you should seek to add more meaning to your daily life with astrology but not be living on the edge with each next astrology transit.

This type of interpretation is the shadow that all of us who love astrology face - are we just using astrology to cling to a false sense of control?

We do not have control. You do not have control. We are all part of something much larger and the universe is going to universe. We need to learn to let go. What you do have control over, however, is your reactivity and retrogrades present the opportunity to change fate by changing that reactivity, for those not afraid to liberate themselves from the past.

The often perceived chaos of a retrograde is an opportunity. Opportunities to look inwards and choose a new response to an unconscious repeated pattern. Instead of avoiding something because of a retrograde, consider choosing a new response to whatever happens.

The red path here on the right is what the perceived visual orbit of a planetary retrograde looks like from Earth, as opposed to the standard or non-retrograde red orbit on the left.

(Graphic image from Wikipedia!)