You’ve heard the cries from every corner of the astrology online niche, “Mercury retrograde is coming!” Astrology enthusiasts will proselytize about your evil ex returning and miscommunications running a fowl while this little planet is retrograde, but is Mercury retrograde really as bad as it sounds? Hardly! Read on to see the real dos and don’ts for a purposeful Mercury retrograde season.
What is Mercury Retrograde?
When a planet is retrograde it means that the distance between Earth and that planet is growing. This is due to the ellipses shape of each planets orbit. Since the two planets are farther and farther apart, the effects of that planet lessen.
Since Mercury is the speedy first planet of our solar system, it appears retrograde from our geocentric (referring to our unique view of the solar system and space from Earth) point of view three times a year.
Mercury rules over such things as communication, learning, and short distance travel. While Mercury is retrograde these things can get muddled and weird. So here are the do’s and don’ts of Mercury Retrograde.
Don’t: Panic
While yes, things are known to go awry during a Mercury retrograde, there’s no need to catastrophize. The love of your life is not going to cheat on you, and you’re not going to miss out on your dream job just because a planet is a bit farther away than usual.
Do: Reflect
Things slow down when the planet most known for its quickness is retrograde. If you try to keep going full steam ahead you may be met with some annoying, but not life altering, issues. The best thing to do is take the opportunity to slow down. Clear your calendar, walk to work, muse on the beauty of your neighborhood, stop to smell the roses, etc.
Don’t: Wing It
While meticulously detailed plans are not ideal during a Mercury retrograde, having no backup plans is also a bad idea. Things rarely work out exactly as you planned at this time, but that doesn’t mean you should avoid planning altogether.
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Do: Reorganize
Now is the time to look at your well laid plans (or lack thereof) and tweak them. The main benefit of a retrograde period is the ability to regroup and come back stronger. Without the usual pace of Mercury pushing you forward, you’ll have more time to be with yourself. Use this time to readjust whatever plans you’re working on.
Don’t: Linger
Things are going to go wrong… big freakin’ deal! What’s meant for you will always find you, so don’t stress out about the missed appointment or the call you forgot to make. Take a deep breath, cry if you need to, but then move on! The gift of Mercury retrograde is learning to not take the small stuff so seriously.
While lingering on minor grievances is not suggested, returning to the patterns of anxiety and disapproval might be. If there is an issue you keep coming across but never reconciling, this is the time to reflect and better understand why. Maybe you keep butting heads with your boss, or your car keeps turning on the check engine light, these are issues that need to be solved sooner or later.
Don’t: Put Your Life on Hold
It can be tempting to put a stop to everything and hide in a cave while Mercury is retrograde. Who wants to deal with miscommunications and missed connections for a few weeks every year? If you had plans to get dinner and drinks with a friend after work would you cancel just because of some rain? No, you bring your nice rain jacket and you show up regardless of the weather. Life happens in bad weather, don’t miss out.
Do: Give Yourself Grace
The most important thing you can learn during a Mercury retrograde is how to laugh at yourself and your life. As we grow older things feel more and more serious. It’s no surprise that after having kids and buying a home you’d live life with more precaution, but a Mercury retrograde is the perfect time to learn to laugh at life’s little blunders. Showed up to your kids dance recital on the wrong day? Texted the wrong person something naughty? Tripped over your own shoelaces? Why not laugh instead of berate yourself!?
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Don’t: Say No Out of Fear
It can feel like the best thing to do is to say no to anything new during a Mercury retrograde. And it’s true that things that begin at this time will not come to fruition, but no journey is linear! What if you are missing an important lesson by not taking those first few steps towards a goal? Success is not always measured by the completion of a thing, but by the lessons you learned along the way. As Jake the Dog once said, “sucking at something is the first step to being sorta good at something.” Don’t let fear of failure stop you from launching.
Do: Let Yourself Mess Up
You’re going to mess up. That is a fact of life that rings true far beyond the reaches of a Mercury retrograde. Life is messy, being a human is messy! Try as you might to organize and perfect yourself, some unknown thing is always lurking around the corner to throw you off kilter. Perhaps the biggest lesson Mercury retrograde can teach you is to be open to the messy parts of life, instead of viewing them as a moral failure.
Jasmine Wolfe is a professional astrologer, tarot reader, numerologist, and witch. Being a Capricorn sun and Scorpio moon, her readings tend to focus on the more challenging aspects of life and what we can learn about ourselves when we lean into the challenge. Having entered the professional scene in 2018, she's grown a loyal following of students and mentees through social media. You can find her on Instagram and TikTok @satinsaturn or through her website https://www.jasminewolfe.xyz/
