Mercury Retrograde has firmly entered our culture. Many people know about it, or at least have heard of it. However, there are many superstitions and misinformation on this topic.
We have compiled a full guide on what Mercury Retrograde means and how to use it to your advantage.
7 steps to start enjoying Mercury Retrograde
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1. Prepare for Chaos
During Mercury Retrograde, many things may not go as expected: gadgets may glitch, people may seem confused, words misunderstood, transport delays, flights cancelled, plans go wrong, agreements may be revised several times. While not guaranteed, such scenarios are highly possible. Therefore, it’s helpful to mentally brace yourself for potential challenges in various aspects of life and take proactive measures.
🔥 Don’t get mad if your colleague misunderstands you: acknowledge it, exercise patience, and be the one to steer the conversation.
🔥 Anticipate possible delays in transportation and leave early for important meetings.
🔥 Don’t get nervous if things go off course: during retrograde Mercury, going off plans is a part of a plan.
2. Learn to distinguish its effect
Mercury Retrograde affects not everything, but only parts of life it symbolically governs: Communication, Information, Thinking, Studying, Gadgets, the Internet and Mobile connection, Transport, Planning, Scheduling, Trading, Signing contracts, Bureaucracy.
In these areas, we can expect its typical manifestation: malfunctions and delays, misunderstandings and additional revisions, the same repeating patterns, and echoes from the past.
Mercury Retrograde does not affect other areas of life (unless it governs them in your chart – more on this below). This knowledge can help you to understand: where extra measures are needed and where you can be calm.
❌ If you are signing an important contract or applying for a visa – it’s better to wait: these spheres are governed by Mercury.
✅ Getting a new hairstyle, building a house, or changing jobs – these do not fall under Mercury’s domain. You can proceed with them without concern.
3. Clarify what Mercury governs personally for you
Mercury symbolises communication and thinking for all people. But besides this, Mercury governs specific life areas for each individual. For some, Mercury governs relationships with partners, while for others it oversees creativity, hobbies, and children. The period of Mercury Retrograde affects these areas too.
To find out which life areas Mercury governs for you personally, check your natal chart. Look for houses which start in ♊ Gemini and ♍ Virgo. They are governed by Mercury, so Mercury Retrograde will influence them.
Personality and Career. In this chart, Ascdendent and MC are located in Virgo and Gemini, so Mercury will affect 1 and 10 Houses: personality and career.
A person may struggle with self-realization and self-expression. In the professional sphere, they can experience different issues: failed deadlines, additional revisions of the same tasks, work overload, etc.
It’s best to avoid changing their style, undergoing surgeries, or making significant career decisions during Mercury Retrograde.
4. Understand the Meaning of Mercury Retrograde
Few technical facts. Mercury becomes retrograde every three months. On the Zodiacal circle, it never strays more than 28 degrees from the Sun and does not form negative aspects with it. Within the last fact lies a deep meaning, that astrologers have yet to decipher.
Mercury is a constant companion of the Sun. The rational Mind follows the Will, reflecting on the gained experience and directing intention. Movement is never one-way; sometimes we need breaks to rest and to assimilate new information. The retrograde period is precisely for this purpose.
Problems start when we don’t follow the logic of the Universe and swim against the current. When it’s time to move forward and explore new things, we are stuck in the past. When it’s time for reflection and rest, we try to start new projects. As a result, we experience troubles and resistance.
If we understand this cosmic rhythm and synchronize with it, then retrograde Mercury opens many opportunities for us.
5. Be careful with new beginnings
From the nature of Mercury Retrograde comes a fundamental rule: do not start new important matters related to Mercury. There are two reasons for this: general and astrological.
General. During Mercury Retrograde, the Universe’s logic moves in reverse: we assimilate the gained experience, reflect on the past, recall old situations, and finish pending tasks.
If we start a new venture in such a situation, it may naturally progress while Mercury is retrograde. But when Mercury turns direct, the logic of life changes. A venture started during Mercury Retrograde won’t fit into the natural flow of life anymore. We might face strong resistance from the Universe, or we may simply change our minds and lose interest in our venture.
✈️ Imagine you’re buying plane tickets for your vacation during Mercury retrograde. Purchasing tickets is under Mercury’s influence. There’s a chance that when Mercury goes direct, your plans might change for some reason. You’ll realize you can’t fly on the dates you’ve bought tickets for, but the tickets are already purchased.
👩💻 You’re working on a new project during Mercury retrograde. Engaging in mercurial activities: brainstorming new ideas, making plans, and communicating with the right people. When Mercury goes direct, there’s a good chance you might reconsider working on this project. In that case, all the work done would go to waste.
Astrological. When we start a new project, it is symbolically born. And if something is born, we can make a natal chart for it.
A natal chart of a project shows the potential of our venture. If the chart is not favourable, the venture will struggle to succeed. There is an entire branch of astrology that helps to select auspicious times for successful beginnings.
If we start a venture during Mercury Retrograde, Mercury will be retrograde in its natal chart. Such a position is considered extremely unfortunate if our project directly relates to Mercury. This will affect all subsequent venture development even when Mercury turns direct.
Online-media. An online media platform launched during Mercury retrograde. Plus there is a negative aspect to Saturn.
Mercury is especially important in that chart, because both the media and the online site are Mercury-ruled. Therefore, challenging Mercury is a bad sign.
As a result, the platform faced issues throughout: the website glitched, plugins constantly failed, targeting performed poorly. At some point, the publication even got caught in a Google filter and stopped appearing in search results. This put an end to the project in its initial form, although the project itself still exists.
Project management. Work on a series of animated videos began during retrograde periods of both Mercury and Venus.
It’s a long-term project for a major corporation. It involves a large amount of coordinated work within tight deadlines. A large number of people are involved in the project, so communication is especially important.
In the end, the project was successfully completed. However, the process was challenging even when Mercury went direct: a lot of misunderstandings, organizational problems, and missed deadlines.
6. Use the benefits of Mercury Retrograde
Mercury Retrograde time gives many possibilities if we know how to use them. General principle: if we can’t start new things, let’s deal with the old ones.
Resolve old problems. During Mercury Retrograde, we can be thrown back into the past: old patterns may emerge, we may behave and think as we did before, and situations we had long passed and resolved might resurface. It’s time to resolve old problems, now armed with new experience and knowledge. Read more about that in our article.
Complete unfinished business. No one can be 100% productive, so we accumulate unfinished tasks, unanswered messages, unorganised notes, or uncleaned shelves in the cupboard. If we can’t move forward, it’s an excellent time to take a pause and sort things out.
Summarise the past months. Mercury turns retrograde every three months. This offers a great opportunity to divide the year into quarters and review the past months: what happened, what new things you learned, what you successfully finished, and what you planned but failed to achieve. Summarising is a powerful tool which helps our psyche to digest life experience.
Rest. Mercury Retrograde is an excellent opportunity to take a break from active pursuits and just relax. We can treat this period like a weekend: we rest, recharge, finish household tasks, and prepare for the new working week. Mercury is retrograde for everyone, so we can be sure we won’t miss anything.
7. Remember, Besides Mercury, There’s Much More
Mercury Retrograde is important because, in our world, many things are tied to it: communication, gadgets, information, schedules, transport, education, and the Internet. But there are two things to consider: other planets and astrological hierarchy.
Other planets. Besides Mercury, there are 10 other planets in the sky. They constantly make other aspects between each other, which also affect us. Some of them are way more important than Mercury. So pay attention to Mercury Retrograde but don’t forget about other planets.
T-square with Mars and Pluto. In May 2023 Mars formed a T-square with Pluto and Jupiter. It’s a particularly tense aspect which manifested as the intensification of war in Ukraine during the battle of Bakhmut. This battle also called “Bakhmut meat grinder” due to its horrific loss.
At the beginning of October Mars created another intense aspect to Pluto: the Hamas attack on Israel and the subsequent military operation.
The intense aspects between Mars and Pluto are more important than Mercury Retrograde. However there is less hype about them in public space.
Astrological hierarchy. In astrology there is a certain hierarchy: first comes your natal chart, then personal prognosis and only then general aspects at the sky such as Mercury Retrograde. That means, that Mercury Retrograde alone is not enough to create serious troubles.
If your natal chart indicates potential for a specific project and you experience harmonious transits, then Mercury Retrograde won’t affect your success. Maximum it will add a bit of extra confusion.
Land Investment. A native wants to invest money in buying land or real estate.
In their natal chart, there are clear indications of success in this venture: the ruler of the second house (personal finances), the Moon, is located in the fourth house (land, real estate, home). The Moon in the chart is positioned very harmoniously.
At the same time, transit Jupiter, traditionally associated with luck and expansion, forms a harmonious trine to the natal Moon.
These indicators are primary. The deal can be made even during Mercury retrograde. It won’t bring significant difficulties. More likely, it will manifest as little errors in the contract or delays in the purchasing process.
In short
Understand the meaning of Mercury Retrograde and which areas of your life it affects. Prepare for confusion, delays and malfunctions in these areas. Don’t start new ventures, better finish old tasks, sum up the last months and rest. Remember that Mercury Retrograde is one of the most popular transits, but not the only one. So be aware, but don’t be afraid.
