I have no doubt whatsoever that observers can grasp the circuits of Mercury and Venus around the Sun along with the transition of the stars from left (evening) to right (morning) of the stationary Sun as the Earth runs its circuit -

http://www.zam.fme.vutbr.cz/~druck/e...Tse1997uw2.png

The sun is always at the center of the planetary loops so the resistance to the partitioning of retrogrades between the inner and outer planets by perspectives is dismaying although so little effort is put into this type of astronomy it is understandable. Even the great Galileo who first used the planetary phases didn't get this one -

"Now what is said here of Jupiter is to be understood of Saturn and Mars also. In Saturn these retrogressions are somewhat more frequent than in Jupiter, because its motion is slower than Jupiter's, so that the Earth overtakes it in a shorter time. In Mars they are rarer, its motion being faster than that of Jupiter, so that the Earth spends more time in catching up with it. Next, as to Venus and Mercury, whose circles are included within that of the Earth, stoppings and retrograde motions appear in them also, due not to any motion that really exists in them, but to the annual motion of the Earth. This is acutely demonstrated by Copernicus . . ." Galileo

It is just hard to imagine why people would choose to willingly behave as they do even though they must be comfortable with the insight which is very much a property of our era.