Mercury Retrograde

Hints and Tips To Navigate

A Mercury Retrograde

Mercury retrograde brings your attention to unfinished business. We all have parts of our lives with loose ends, clutter and energetic blocks. Mercury goes retrograde three times (this year, four) a year, for three weeks each time. So, does it always cause mayhem in your life? Only if you have placements between the degrees it covers during the retrograde. If Mercury, Gemini or Virgo are strong in your chart or ruler of the year for you, you may be affected by Mercury retrograde more than most.

In 2020 Mercury was retrograde in Water signs, marking a year of troublesome emotions. In 2021 all the Mercury retrogrades were in Air signs, emphasizing a need to gain objectivity about what had just happened to the world. It was time to start breathing again and look at things from a higher vantage point. In 2022 these retrogrades begin in Air signs, but start shifting back into Earth signs, indicating a need to take practical steps forward in our lives after our 2021 epiphanies.

See the Retrograde Planets page for a visual of all the Mercury retrogrades, including degrees, shadow zones and dates.

Three Flavours of A Retrograde

The pre-shadow period (two weeks) is when themes from the retrograde start to emerge and you get the chance to minimize any harmful effects. If you keep your spidey senses attuned, and do all you can to address issues before they escalate, you can avoid the chaos and embarrassment of the following phase.

The retrograde period itself (three weeks) is when you need to take extra care, because if things can go wrong, they will. Any decisions made now, are likely to be retracted. Don’t start anything new now, it’s safer to wait a little. Best to take the time to think things through from a new perspective, gather all the details, go within, ponder.

The post-shadow period (two weeks) is when life goes back to normal, some decisions are undone, problems resolved, and the lessons learnt during the retrograde are assimilated.

Useful Approaches to Mercury Retrograde

So what do we do if our natal placements are affected directly? Cancel life, business, and relationships? Unrealistic, and unnecessary.

What we do is

• CHILL… This is not the end of the world and will only last three weeks
• Count to 250 before hitting Send
• Don’t sign on the dotted line… at least, not yet, if you can wait
• Don’t make any final decisions; chances are, they won’t be final anyway
• Check, double check, and triple check anything important
• Don’t message your ex. Just don’t.
• Have a bit of a laugh when something goes wrong. How else are you going to get better in life if not through mistakes?
• Get long-standing projects re-started, finished, repaired or re-vitalized
• Pause and reflect – turn your attention inward to contemplate your inner truths with a fresh pair of eyes
• Re-view, re-visit, and ultimately re-new. Looking at things differently does amazing things for you if you’re stuck in a rut
• Pay special attention to the part of your chart that Mercury emphasizes three times during the retrograde; there’s an important lesson in there for you

What we can also do is

• Reconnect with people from our past (just not your ex…)
• Restart that project we put aside for a while
• Refine what we allow to go through our minds
• Recalibrate any plans for our next move or target
• Take our time to go inside and mull things over
• SMOLDER (when the retrograde happens in Scorpio)

Sounds scary? NAAAH! There are worse things to worry about in the world. Just use humour and common sense and you’ll breeze right through it. It’s only three weeks, after all. How fast have the last three weeks gone for you? They’ve certainly flown for me…

Does this help? Do let me know if you have any questions. Or get in touch for a reading if you’d like more clarity. I’m GOOD at that. Even during Mercruy Gatorade…

Sending you CHILL VIBES for throughout the retrograde…