Contents
How to thrive during this astrological event that often stirs up unnecessary fear.
Whether you’re going through a breakup, got into a fight with your best friend or missed an important email related to an amazing job opportunity, it’s easy enough to find yourself wondering, “Is Mercury retrograde?” The word retrograde alone seems to stoke fear, worry, and concern, because it’s been so often associated with any and every kind of chaos or everyday headache that one might experience. But Mercury retrograde doesn’t deserve to be the scapegoat for anything that can possibly go wrong. And, because it happens so frequently (three to four times a year for three weeks at a time), it’s ideal to do your best to work with its energy. It’s something that, as an astrologer of more than a decade and the author of Mercury Magic: How to Thrive During Retrogrades and Tap Into the Power of the Messenger Planet, I’m motivated to spread the word about.
Read on to better understand what Mercury retrograde actually is as well as what you can expect during the astrological transit and how to make the most of it.
What Is Mercury Retrograde, Exactly?
In short, Mercury retrograde is when the messenger planet appears to move backward from our vantage point on Earth, throwing a wrench in communication, transportation, and technology — aka the areas of life that, in astrology, Mercury rules or oversees. It’s why you might notice that your messages suddenly won’t show up in your group chat, there are eyebrow-raising software outages, it feels like you’re speaking a different language (OK, even more than usual) and you find yourself stuck at a red light that won’t change no matter how hard you will it to. These are the stereotypical Mercury retrograde headaches the transit is best known for. But there’s a lot more to it than chaos and aggravation. Just like any other astrological event, Mercury retrograde is neither 100% positive or negative.
The truth of the matter is that every planet—not just Mercury—goes retrograde at its own unique, regular cadence. The purpose of any planet’s retrograde is to encourage us to slow down and go inward to reflect on the themes of that planet and to perhaps tie up loose ends and make necessary pivots, edits, or course corrections to ultimately be even more successful, productive, or just plain on-track. (More in a bit on how you might notice this benefit and take advantage of it.)
It also bears noting that we tend to feel Mercury’s retrogrades more than other planet’s backspins. That’s because the messenger planet is the fastest moving planet in the solar system, moving around the sun every 88 Earth days, traveling at nearly 112,000 mph. It’s also the planet that travels closest to the sun, which is so connected to our vitality—scientifically and astrologically speaking. In turn, Mercury’s transits are more obvious and in-your-face than, say, Saturn’s or Neptune’s movements. We also rely on Mercury-fueled areas of life more than ever before, so it’s no wonder that we feel the planet’s retrogrades so acutely.
How Often Is Mercury Retrograde?
Mercury retrograde happens every three or four months for a total of three or four times a year for about three weeks at a time. That means it’s retrograde approximately 18% of the time. There’s even a pre-retrograde phase-in and post-retrograde phase-out periods known as the Mercury retrograde shadow, which is why even if Mercury isn’t officially retrograde, you could be feeling its effects. But the day on which it is generally the most apparent is the day on which it “stations” or goes retrograde or direct.
How to Make the Most of Mercury Retrograde
Just as you’re going to want to step out wearing your cutest waterproof boots if the forecast calls for rain, it can pay to prep for Mercury retrograde by thinking about what to prioritize and how to best respond to the energy you’re bound to encounter. Here are a few top pro tips.
Slow down as best you can.
This could mean finding more restorative workouts versus high-impact ones, but it might also mean allowing yourself to take your time more than you usually would. For example, you might even consider extending deadlines or hitting pause on in-depth projects that are at a standstill as a result of Mercury-related setbacks. Instead of hitting the gas now, channel your cerebral energy into reflecting on the past in order to revise and reimagine the present, and you might set yourself up for an even more promising, productive path ahead.
Check your Mercury retrograde horoscope.
You can read your own Mercury retrograde horoscope by casting up your birth chart. Then, find out where Mercury will be, or currently is, retrograde. For instance, in August 2024, Mercury will be retrograde in Virgo and Leo—specifically 4 degrees Virgo to 21 degrees Leo. Once you find the exact degrees of those signs in your chart and note which house they fall in, you’ll get a sense of the area of life in which you’ll feel the retrograde the most.
A quick and dirty explanation for each house:
- First House of Self: Reimagine your personal brand and how you want to show up in the world.Second House of Income: Rework your approaches to earning, saving, and budgeting while reflecting on your self-worth.Third House of Communication: Reconnect with old friends, nurture relationships with siblings if you have them, revisit a beloved place via a short-distance trip, reflect on how you’re expressing your ideas. Fourth House of Home Life: Renovate your home, nurture your inner world, reflect on and tend to your sense of security and family. Fifth House of Romance and Self-Expression: Meditate on your creative process, how you want to share your voice, and how you can bring more playfulness and magic into your day-to-day.Sixth House of Wellness: Tend to health-related to-dos that have been left on the back burner, reimagine your daily routine.Seventh House of Partnership: Rethink how you’re showing up in your one-on-one bonds.Eighth House of Intimacy: Prioritize introspection around sex and your closest bonds, and review joint financial projects.Ninth House of Adventure: Revisit and hone previously set aside skill sets, and reassess your philosophies and world view.Tenth House of Career: Revise your professional goals and the game plan for achieving them, and tend to your inner sense of authority.Eleventh House of Networking: Go back to the drawing board on a collaborative endeavor, and reconnect with old colleagues or friends.Twelfth House of Spirituality: Tune into your intuition and dreams more than usual, rest, and care for your psychological well-being.
If your sun or other placements (like your moon, rising sign, Mercury sign, etc.) in your birth chart happen to fall in one of the two Mercury-ruled signs—Gemini and Virgo—you could rely on communication, transportation, and technology in your daily life more than most people, so you might feel Mercury’s retrograde more than others. But because you have the energy of the planet baked into your chart, you’re also a natural-born supercommunicator who can more readily manage whatever challenges might come your way during this time. It also bears noting that both Gemini and Virgo are two of the mutable signs (the others are Sagittarius and Pisces), and therefore, more adaptable and open to change than other signs.
You can also take a look at your birth chart to see if you were born during Mercury retrograde. (This is true for a quarter of the population, and it means, among other things, that you take your time thinking about what you want to say and how to say it and you might express yourself in a way that’s a bit quirky.)
To find out if you were born with Mercury retrograde natal, look for the “Rx” or a lowercase “r” next to the Mercury glyph on your chart — or see if perhaps the degrees of your Mercury placement are in red versus black. If this is the case, know that during Mercury retrograde, the world is encouraged to process information and communication in a way that’s more in tune with how you see the world and express yourself. You could also find it’s easier to get into a flow with Mercury-related endeavors like writing, brainstorming, or public speaking.
Know that not everything that comes up during Mercury retrograde is meant to be taken to heart.
In addition to being nicknamed the messenger planet, because it rules communication and information-gathering, Mercury is also the trickster planet. This is important to bear in mind whenever eyebrow-raising occurrences — like randomly hearing from a date who ghosted you or running into a frenemy at a party — throw you for a loop during a retrograde. It’s only natural that you might want to assign meaning to these incidents, wondering if perhaps you’re meant to pick up where you left off with a person or project from the past. But more often than not, it’s just the trickster planet at play. If anything, these moments are opportunities to go inward and reflect on how far you’ve come since that previous time in your life.