You’ve heard the term ‘Mercury is in retrograde’ uttered a thousand and one times, and it’s definitely been used by someone you know as an excuse for all their current problems. Or you’ve heard someone use it as a joke in the form of “Mercury’s in Gatorade” or “Mercury’s doing the renegade.” But what exactly does this loaded, often polarizing, mean?
Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun, and as we all know, the planets revolve in an orbit around the Sun. In the time it takes Earth to complete one revolution (that is 365 and a ¼ days), Mercury will have already made four revolutions within one Earth year. That means that four times a year Mercury will pass Earth during the planets’ respective orbits, and from our perspective on Earth it looks as if Mercury is moving in reverse. Hence the term Mercury is in retrograde (retrograde means to move backwards, shoutout to Google). Each planet in our solar system will appear to be in retrograde at some point during Earth’s revolution. At certain times in the year there can be as many as 5 planets in retrograde all at once.
Mercury is the Roman messenger god who rules over Gemini – one of the three air signs of the Zodiac. Gemini is the sign of communication and Mercury is associated with transportation, communication, and technology. In other words, when Mercury goes into retrograde and moves into the Gemini constellation (which it is currently in), it is when things typically go a bit haywire – especially on phones and social media. Mercury retrograde only lasts a month (with its pre- and post-shadow periods) and before you know it the weird vibes and energy will have dissipated. Hopefully so will have some of the issues you’ve been experiencing.
My advice for surviving the last few weeks of this period is as follows:
- Feeling the overwhelming urge to message your ex? DON’T. Retrograde periods are notorious for a resurgence of old feelings and issues. As tempting as it may be (even for the author of this text) do not text them.
- Contemplating treating yourself to a new piece of technology? If it can wait, hold off on buying anything new for the rest of the retrograde. This is because Mercury in retrograde during Gemini can cause lots of technological issues.
- Stay on the safe side and keep your auto-save on for all the online projects that you’re working on. Be careful during the upcoming exam period as the last thing we all need on top of the academic stress is for a technological glitch just before the Vula submission portal closes.
- Triple check your important emails (especially the ones you send to lecturers and employers) for grammatical errors and unsent emails sitting in your Outbox. This applies across the board to all essential information sent on social media.
- Make sure you know your loadshedding timetable and have your notifications on for any last-minute changes to the schedule. This is to ensure that you’re not caught off guard by Eskom and left stranded in the middle of nowhere without battery life or Wi-Fi connection.
The most important survival tactic for this retrograde period is to prioritize time for yourself, especially amid final submissions and upcoming exams. Retrogrades can be extremely draining for those who don’t have natal retrogrades in their birth chart, and the more we try and fight our feelings, the more we fall out of alignment with ourselves. Take care, try not to start fights with those in your household over mundane issues, and most importantly: DO NOT TEXT YOUR EX!