When Mercury is retrograde, the planet appears to travel backwards in the sky. This happens every 3 months and the more fire you have in your chart, and generally people say : EVERYTHING GOES HAYWIRE WHEN MERCURY IS RETROGRADE, but as an astrologer I want you to know, it’s not always like that.
The cycles in Astrology all have purpose, and it isn’t to foil your plans, it’s a mirror of the normal cycles of life. Mercury is the fastest moving planet, which serves to get things in order and moving. Energetically for it to slow down and go backwards is not it’s familiar nature or pattern, this can cause challenges, like a child that wants to go out and play, but is told to go inside and do homework. One of the purposes of the retrograde is to go inward, to do the inner work, to balance out the way that we live in a busy demanding world. In this sense, the retrogrades are a blessing, they force us to slow down and re-evaluate what has been completed. You can count on retrogrades to force you to slow down, to be creative, to deal with what we have tried to rush through or blow past. That is something that we do as humans, we WANT everything to go our way, to be unstoppable, to win in life. Life is more organic than that, and Mercury is a time where we have to test what we have built, we have to face things we don’t know or aren’t able to rush through or be automatically good at.
WHO IS “IMMUNE” TO A MERCURY RETROGRADE EXPERIENCE ?
Having a natal Mercury in Retrograde : Similar to being born Left Handed, if you were born during a retrograde, then your own Mercury naturally flows in this inner direction. You are more thoughtful, more careful speaking, this may come from a literal speech impediment you had as a child, or it can stem from a family that raised you to hold in your words. Whatever the case, you already know how to work with Retrograde energy, you might be really good at surfing the backwards waves.
Fire Signs : Aries and Sagittarius, both fast moving signs that aren’t as perfectionist or worried about timing I think are less influenced by Mercury Retrograde. It’s my personal observation that while everyone is “worried to do things” during Mercury Retrograde, the non-fixed Fire signs just keep doing how they do. Especially Aries, it is such a raw form of passion, direction of energy doesn’t seem to matter. If you are an Aries with an opinion on this, please let me know.
Those who accept this natural cycle. Anyone can flow with a retrograde period.
The planet Mercury is named after the Messenger God Mercury or Hermes -- the one with wings everywhere, people often say “Don’t travel during Mercury Retrograde. Expect mistakes and delays.” This year, I ended up going on an AMAZING trip during the retrograde. And everything was smooth as butter! (I even missed being affected by COVID during a 2020 trip!)
Sometimes when the Cosmic Gods say : THERE WILL BE TROUBLE AROUND COMMUNICATION then...
I respond by doing something or going somewhere where this can be assured.That way I am aligned with the cosmic storyline. So I travelled to SPAIN where I did not speak the language enough to know exactly what I am doing, and remained open to the unknown, unplanned and random. I had one of the best trips of my life! I visited caves, cafes, and beaches. I fell down some stairs in a castle and broke my phone -- THAT IS SOOOOO MERCURY RETROGRADE!
Phones are ruled by the planet Mercury, in case you were wondering. Phone trouble? Yes, completely smashed, made it hard to navigate… Yet still, when you are living the life you are excited about, you can expect things to go wrong. Laughing is my favorite coping mechanism. It’s great when I am alone, but with other people I hold it in.