What does it mean when Mercury is in retrograde?
05/12/25 5:19pm
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Astrologer Mechila Blake explains that when Mercury is in retrograde, it appears to move backward in its orbit. Because Mercury rules communication, when it's in retrograde, you might experience misunderstandings, broken promises, or issues with contracts, travel plans, or technology. It’s a time for reviewing and reflecting rather than starting new ventures, and lasts about 3 weeks.
For starters, a key premise of astrology is that everything is seen from Earth's vantage point. So even though Mercury is not actually moving backwards, it can go retrograde, and that is a part of its cycle. Mercury also spends time not just retrograde, but also pre-retrograde and post-retrograde, so there is a shadow period of a couple of weeks on either side of the retrograde. In total, Mercury spends half the time in either retrograde or the shadow.
As we observe it from our perspective, a planetary retrograde is often a time when that planet's normal significations become unreliable. Every planet does something different when it's retrograde. When Mercury is retrograde, the things that Mercury normally governs, like communication, technology, and travel, are disrupted. Mercury retrograde can be a time when people's computers are crashing, or there's miscommunication in a relationship, or your luggage is lost. Any realm governed by Mercury just becomes a little bit wonky, haywire, and full of glitches.
Mercury retrograde, in particular, has a reputation for being really annoying. I also think that people who are new to astrology think it is the worst thing that happens, but it's actually very common. It happens three to four times a year. It has some constructive uses, like it can be a good time to go back and rework something. As a writer, I find it to be a really productive time for writing about things that have happened in the past because you are literally revisiting things in your mind. You may also hear from people that you haven’t heard from in a while, as past stories or events that are unfinished might come back to be relevant in this season of your life.
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As we observe it from our perspective, a planetary retrograde is often a time when that planet's normal significations become unreliable. Every planet does something different when it's retrograde. When Mercury is retrograde, the things that Mercury normally governs, like communication, technology, and travel, are disrupted. Mercury retrograde can be a time when people's computers are crashing, or there's miscommunication in a relationship, or your luggage is lost. Any realm governed by Mercury just becomes a little bit wonky, haywire, and full of glitches.
Mercury retrograde, in particular, has a reputation for being really annoying. I also think that people who are new to astrology think it is the worst thing that happens, but it's actually very common. It happens three to four times a year. It has some constructive uses, like it can be a good time to go back and rework something. As a writer, I find it to be a really productive time for writing about things that have happened in the past because you are literally revisiting things in your mind. You may also hear from people that you haven’t heard from in a while, as past stories or events that are unfinished might come back to be relevant in this season of your life.
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