Mercury Retrograde: Is It Really Something to Fear?

Mercury retrograde is the astrological concept that has leaked furthest into popular culture. Phone breaks, message misread, flight delayed — the culprit is ready.

There is a kernel of truth inside the exaggeration, but the exaggeration itself is useless. Let us separate the two.

What retrograde is, and is not

Mercury does not actually move backwards. Seen from Earth, because the two planets travel at different speeds, Mercury appears to move backwards across the sky. Three or four times a year, for roughly three weeks each.

Astrologically Mercury governs communication, contracts, transport and ways of thinking. During retrograde these areas slow down and come back. The key word is: back.

What actually happens?

In my experience the common denominator of retrograde periods is this: new things move with difficulty, old things return.

• A file, a person or an opportunity you thought was lost comes back
• A conversation you considered closed reopens
• Signatures made in haste get renegotiated later

For that reason the classic advice should not be "do not sign contracts" but "read the contract once more".

What to do, what to postpone

Worth doing:

• Finishing what was left half-done
• Reviewing old files, archives, accumulated work
• Making an apology you have been putting off
• Reworking something you wrote

Worth postponing:

• Large, irreversible technology purchases
• Rushed agreements that were never read properly
• Details skipped with a "once won't hurt"

Retrograde does not make anything impossible. It only asks you to think twice.

Where does it fall in your chart?

We arrive at the same place again: retrograde is not the same for everyone. The sign it occurs in and the house it falls in determine what the subject will be.

Siblings and short journeys in the third house, partnerships in the seventh, working life in the tenth. A general forecast gives you only the ground; your chart names the subject.