This seems to be the answer - i.e. "Active" means the Macro is in a Group which is Active (most likely because that Group is set to work when an App like Photoshop is at the front). "Active" does not mean the Macro is actually running.
But - it really depends on what you’re trying to achieve. For example, using a semaphore lock in the macro you want to check for “running” allows any other of your macros to query that semaphore and act accordingly.
It does not make sense to ask whether a specific macro is executing because the engine execution instance is, to a degree, disconnected from the original macro - the macro could be started, changed, started again, and then what does it mean to be running.