We see Venus and Mercury run circuits of our Sun in much the same way exoplanets can now be spotted transitioning from left to right of their parent star -

https://www.eso.org/public/images/potw1846a/

It should be possible now to dispense with the language of direct/retrogrades for the faster moving planets as a consequence of their back and forth motions against the background stars in their smaller orbital circumference while allowing the line-of-sight transitioning of the background stars from left to right of the Sun as a consequence of the Earth's orbital motion.

This allows an inclusive approach of our planet and the faster moving planets with a central and stationary Sun as a reference.

See how quickly things come together after starting with a blank page ?, of course not.