While Mercury in retrograde may not be a stellar time for buying electronics (it's true-it's not!), the entirety of Mercury's cycles illustrates a timeless story of awakening and transformation if we choose to pay attention. The average astro-seeker caught unaware knows only what they should not do during Mercury retrograde, and very little of what can be done by erring on the side of safety, we have seemingly boxed ourselves into an ever-tightening corner of thou shalt not-instructions which are helpful only if we conflate safety with paralysis. The hyperbolic messaging surrounding these cycles hardly ever matures past the near-ancient adage that warns us not to buy electronics or sign on the dotted line, lest be split asunder by the cruel hand of Mercury. This reaction has been compounded by the fact that Mercury's retrograde cycles are the best known of any astrological transit in the mainstream media, so Mercury doesn't suffer from any inter-planetary competition in his presumed role as celestial home-wrecker.
Much has been made about Mercury's retrograde cycle, spawning a bevy of oh-woe-is-mercury memes. Mercury is in retrograde the remaining twenty percent of its cycle, to the chagrin of millions worldwide. Planet Mercury spends roughly eighty percent of its cycle in direct motion, where it splits its time in the heavens between morning star, rising before the sun at dawn, and evening star, setting after the sun at dusk. When planets are retrograde, they appear to stand still, then visually retreat backward, tracing curly-cues in the sky as they station direct, they appear to stand still once again, slowly regaining speed before they amble forward. Show moreĪll planets save for the sun and moon appear at various times to reverse direction in the sky in astronomy, this is referred to as 'apparent retrograde motion', but in astrological parlance, this term is shortened simply to 'retrograde.'Īlthough the word 'retrograde' stems from the Latin meaning 'to go backward,' it's important to note that no planets move backward, they only appear to do so, owing to our Earth-bound perspective. Mercury is often prominent in the charts of speakers, writers, musicians, provocateurs, salespeople, negotiators, tradespeople, astrologers, therapists, and travelers. Planet Mercury's themes: the manner of our minds the ways in which we learn our brand of intelligence our rational processes the speed with which we integrate new information the ways we write, communicate, or speak a natural place of play or discovery our powers of persuasiveness our connection to curiosity a place changeability an area of cunning, transactions, trade, and negotiations skills of the hands, travel, and journeys divination, magic, and astrology. Just as poignantly, with Mercury's visibility only possible when it is at its furthest from the sun, we learn that with distance comes perspective. In a sense, Mercury's closeness with the sun also speaks of our profound attachment to the mind: however far we may travel, we are never very far from our thoughts. For the same reason, the only aspect Mercury can make with the sun is a conjunction, which in turn means that sun-Mercury conjunctions in the natal chart are highly common. Planet Mercury is not often visible in the sky due to its ultra-tight orbit with the sun since Mercury can never be more than twenty-eight degrees away from the sun, it is often eclipsed in the brightness of the sun's rays. Traditionally, Mercury's house of joy is the first house, where he can dance above and below the horizon, like the liminal journeyman that he is (coincidentally, Mercury was said to have been born at dawn, which would place him in the first house). Mercury is the ruler of both Gemini and Virgo and is said to be exalted, or strongest, in Virgo Mercury is considered weakened in Sagittarius and Pisces. Instead, Mercury shapeshifts in relationship to the planets with whom he is in closest contact.
Unlike other planets, Mercury is not considered feminine or masculine, benefic or malefic, diurnal or nocturnal. Every time we pick up a pen, state our case, or travel hither thither, we are in the grips of Mercury. Infinitely clever and full of wiles, Mercury in the natal chart embodies the ways we think, speak, and write, as well as the ways we use our cunning to bend the truth and sidestep responsibility. Mercury is a celestial anomaly and a singularly disruptive, tricky character, in both mythical and astrological interpretation.