Re-imagining Mercury Retrograde
This blog is adapted from a presentation we created for an Astrology University Summit in July 2023. Check it out here and get streaming access to the entire Summit for just $25!
"When things go haywire, astrologists know to check if Mercury is entering retrograde....Three times a year, Mercury appears to travel backwards, or retrograde, causing misfortune on Earth for those looking to the stars. Mercury retrograde is often linked to weeks of snafus – from relationship tension to undelivered messages, or from wrecked travel plans to flat tires. Wendy’s is helping fans survive this time of chaos with out-of-this-world ‘Mercury Menu’ deals....a Biggie™ Bag of comfort to help all the zodiac signs survive the chaos of Mercury retrograde with four weeks of Mercury Menu deals."
I especially love this ridiculous pop culture retrograde homage because it is both comically unrelated to the actual essence of Mercury retrograde, and a perfect gateway into deeper understanding of the underlying characteristics of “retrograde time”.
Read on if you’re interested in:
Why Mercury retrogrades have a different “feel” than non-retrograde time.
How Mercury’s relationship with the Sun sheds light on often unappreciated gifts of Mercury retrograde periods.
How to reclaim your engagement with personal challenges or opportunities that may arise during these times.
DIY Mercury Retrograde Resources!
While I’m not sure that anyone is convinced that a bag of fries and a burger will solve the problems they associate with retrogrades, I do appreciate that someone at Wendy’s deemed retrogrades important enough to create a whole marketing campaign around them! And I will give their creative team some credit – they actually do have their finger on the pulse of the pop culture perception of Mercury Retrograde, for whatever that’s worth.
We’re All In This Together
The idea that Mercury retrograde can impact our lives is based on the astrological concept that our collective experience, in any given moment, is characterized by a particular quality of time described by the current planetary configurations (i.e. transits or “cosmic weather”). In the same way that each wine has a unique flavor defined by the particular weather of the season and region it was grown, each of our experiences are colored by the broader quality of time during which they occurred.
One of the best (if unfortunate) examples of this shared quality of time is the felt experience of the early days of the pandemic in 2020. When someone references "2020" or "lockdown" or "the pandemic" – every one of us remembers the broader quality of that time, characterized by restriction, limitation, death, fear and uncertainty. The entire world was having a deeply shared experience.
The quality of time during the pandemic is reflected by the planetary configurations of the time:
Above: Chart for the CDC's media briefing on 2/25/2020 — four days before the first official death in the US — during which Dr. Nancy Messonnier, the incident manager for the COVID-19 response, braced the nation to expect school closings, workplace shutdowns, and the canceling of large gatherings and public events, stating that the “disruption to everyday life may be severe.” The chart’s prominent Saturn-Pluto conjunction reflects “profoundly weight events” (Tarnas, Cosmos and Psyche) that we all associate with our lived experience of 2020. As we will explore below, this event also coincided with the midpoint of the Mercury retrograde period of February/March 2020.
Even without knowing understanding of how to interpret a birth chart, the grouping of planets in Capricorn in the 8th house (circled) visually jumps out, indicating a strong concentration of energy.
On a basic human level, we know that every collective moment is also felt on a personal level by each individual. In astrological terms, this translates into each person experiencing the collective “quality of time” through the filter of their own birth chart. This was most certainly the case during the pandemic, when we each had our own unique engagement with that broader collective experience. The same is true of our personal experience of collective Mercury retrograde periods. So while a current planetary configuration (such as the Saturn-Pluto conjunction of 2020 – OR — a retrograde period) will have a qualitatively similar impact on everyone simultaneously, this uniquely impacts each of us based on how it interacts with our individual chart.
Retrograde Quality of Time
So what exactly is the “quality of time” – or the “felt experience” – of Mercury retrograde periods?
Retrogrades are the visual experience from our position on earth which makes planets appear to move “backward” in the sky. Popular descriptions of “retrograde time” coincide with this surface-level visual experience, associating it with mishaps, glitches, rescheduling and miscommunication.
Herein lies our gateway to seeing the retrograde period from a more holistic and powerful perspective.
At their heart, these pop astrology associations equate “backwards” (retrograde) with “bad” or “negative” and “forward” (direct) with “good” or “positive”. This makes perfect sense in a capitalist culture, where the primary focus is on forward momentum, growth, active, productive “you can sleep when you’re dead” energy. Even in pre-capitalist society, predictability and order that allowed for the accrual of assets necessary for basic survival reigned high on the priority totem pole. “Backward” energy does NOT mesh well in either of these contexts.
But despite these human prioritization of productivity – natural cycles persist. We all sleep. We all take time off work. We all get sick. We all experience loss and setbacks. Each of these moments play a role in our path forward and our overall ability to function as productive humans.
Digging into the basic astronomy of Mercury retrograde periods sheds light on their inescapable, necessary and valuable role in the broader cycle of Mercury’s relationship with the Sun, along with its parallels to our earthly collective experience.
Astronomy
Let’s explore the cycle of Mercury and the Sun, from the viewpoint of Earth. (Don’t be scared. This won’t hurt at all!)
In astro-lingo, this is called the Mercury-Sun synodic cycle (the time period from conjunction to conjunction of two planets, from the perspective of our place on Earth). In a more familiar context, the time between one new moon and the next new moon is the Moon-Sun synodic cycle.
The image above shows the relationship between the Earth, Mercury and the Sun. What I want you to focus on is the alignment of all three planets along the first two sets of dotted lines (from left to right). This illustrates the “new moon” moment in the Mercury-Sun synodic cycle from our viewpoint on earth. Put another way, a new ~116 day Mercury-Sun orbit begins at each “inferior conjunction”.
As you can now see, retrogrades don't happen randomly – they happen at specific points in each planet's synodic cycle with the Sun. In the case of Mercury, this occurs during Mercury’s time traveling between the Earth and the Sun. From earth, it appears to be a conjunction of the Sun and Mercury.
The important take-away here is that Mercury is always retrograde during its inferior conjunction with the Sun — which marks the beginning of new synodic cycle, when Mercury is closest to earth.
**Side note: Keep in mind that we are focusing today on Mercury, an inner planet, so this astronomical concept shifts a bit for all planets that are farther from the Sun than earth. But in good news, it is directly applicable to Venus, so translate these concepts to Venus retrograde to your heart’s content.**
We can see from the diagram that Mercury's Retrograde period encompasses BOTH the end of one cycle with the Sun and the beginning of the next cycle.
Now, if we asked a room full of people to hoot and holler if they like endings better than beginnings, or death better than birth…my guess is that we would hear crickets in the majority of rooms. Endings get a bad rap, for some obvious reasons.
So while pop culture is certainly a bit off with the generalizations it slaps onto retrogrades – it isn't WRONG, in the sense that these periods DO embody an energy that isn't the most comfortable or VALUED in our society. We're much more prone to find value in productivity, rapid growth, and clear forward progress than slow breakdown, revision of plans, or foggy uncertainty of what comes next.
But as we see in the diagram, the retrograde doesn't actually END at the inferior conjunction. Rather, the “new moon” phase of the Mercury-Sun cycle is actually the MIDDLE of the retrograde.
So if we look at the retrograde in its entirety, we find that it inherently embodies BOTH the end AND the beginning. Both "death" AND "rebirth". Both the "going to seed" moment AND the rooting moment. Both the building of the cocoon AND the restructuring of the caterpillar within.
This perspective illuminates the deeper quality of retrograde time. We begin to see them as necessary and valuable parts of a larger cycle. They are moments of reflection and revision that allow us to shed what is no longer serving us, and restructure in order to start a new cycle of growth.
Riding The Retrograde Wave
Astrologer Erin Sullivan, in her book Retrograde Planets: Traversing the Inner Landscape describes Mercury Retrograde periods as necessary REST times. They are:
“instinctive mental 'downtime'...associated with re-doing, re-thinking, re-organizing, re-associating…Just as we recognize [the regulatory mechanisms of] days, years, and seasons...so we should recognize the ordering mechanism of Mercury Retrograde. Natural states of rest [reflection & processing] are to our advantage. To be able to predict and utilize these states is a powerful aid to greater consciousness...It allows the individual to reclaim power that has been subordinated to the organized, external world timing. We then acknowledge [the value of] both awareness and attention."
Thinking of retrogrades in these terms normalizes their occurrence, and empowers us to give value to these experiences. This in turn allows us to reclaim our power and agency in moments that may feel “out of control”.
As Sullivan puts it: “This process is as natural as sleep is to waking”.
If we return to our pop culture descriptions, we can use this foundation to find value in the perceived problem.
Pop culture says miscommunication – we hear an opportunity to reflect on a potential misalignment between yourself and the person or situation. Rather than jumping to blame Mercury for the miscommunication – we own our responsibility in the situation and use it as a growth point.
Pop culture sees tech glitches or general life mishaps as SUCH a pain in terms of their obstruction to productivity. But in the cyclic approach, we might see this as a flag to slow down/rest – take a minute away from the constant grind. And maybe in that minute you will have the chance to reflect on why this felt like such an obstruction in the first place. A time to rethink the value you place on the constant go-go-go, or the way you react and adapt when you hit bumps in the road.
Pop culture prickles when things get rescheduled or have to be re-done during mercury retrograde. But we have all likely experienced this as a gift, at some point or another. Often the result of a second go-around is stronger and more grounded than a first try.
Illuminating Imagery
It’s hammer time, y’all. Let’s etch these ideas into your brain forever with some imagery that hits home this deeper nature of Mercury retrograde time.
Lunation Cycle
The universal starting point for illustrating these concepts is the lunation cycle. We have all visually experienced this phenomenon as a staple in the night sky.
In true retrograde fashion – it’s actually most helpful to start from the bottom of the left-hand chart, which represents the beginning of the retrograde cycle (the retrograde “station,” when Mercury appears to “stop” and “turn around” to begin its backward movement in the sky).
Using the above diagram, we can equate the start of the retrograde with the balsamic – or waning crescent – phase of the moon.
Dane Rudhyar, in his book The Lunation Cycle, describes the balsamic phase as a liminal, in-between time; a SEED or transition state before a new cycle begins at the new moon. He equates this phase with the quality of breakdown, and a surrendering or letting go.
In terms of Mercury retrograde, this parallels the first half of the retrograde cycle (the end of the last Mercury-Sun synodic cycle) which pop culture picks up on so well. That uncomfortable feeling of having to let go of what we were so tightly holding onto in the past, in order to free ourselves to seek and find what is next.
Erin Sullivan describes this part of the cycle as: “the initial stage of the journey” where “our reference points are unfamiliar. It is the descent phase, the early cycle of reflection. Essentially, the beginning of the retrograde phase is marked by an abrupt departure from the commonday experience and is frequently disorienting…Ideally, this should be the time when a concerted effort is made to engage in reflection and review. A form of loosening is taking place, a solution to a stuck situation which disengages one from what was in order to prepare for what will be.”
The new moon phase parallels the Mercury-Sun inferior conjunction – the midpoint of the retrograde. A new cycle begins, but it is still veiled in darkness and uncertainty.
The new moon is a great visual for this energy. Imagine the nights you walk outside and it is truly pitch black. You have to rely on something more intuitive to navigate the space in that moment. Your eye-sight is your first-line of defense, but in the darkness you find that all of your other senses jump to the fore. While they’re always operating in the background, now is the time to lean into them in a more conscious and focused way.
Sullivan’s description of the inferior conjunction echoes imagery, comparing it to a “seed planted during this dark time” which requires a “scaling down of initiatory action and allowing the unconscious to work”.
The second half of the retrograde cycle is parallel to the waxing crescent moon phase. Rudhyar describes this as “a period of instinctive, youthful, essentially unconscious and irrepressible activity.” Sullivan describes it as embodying a feeling of impatience – but where “hastening won’t work” to alleviate that feeling. Rather – this period of time is a “stimulus for gathering new information – a research phase that is a profoundly educational time”.
In other words: the forward momentum is there, but it’s still unconscious to some extent. Think of those very early stages of a new project or idea that aren’t fully formed, but are bursting with excitement.
In the Mercury retrograde cycle – this is the “more than halfway there” period. We’re on the “upswing” of the retrograde period, when all the reflection and revisions are beginning to come together, when we can start the reorienting process – but before we launch into the actual action associated with the direct phase.
Plant Cycle
With the lunation cycle as our foundation, we can launch into some more abstract imagery. The first that comes to mind, and is often used as a analogy for the lunation cycle, is the plant cycle.
A little side note: this seed is CLEARLY not a dandelion seed…but as I was creating these images, I noticed that the plant cycle is almost always illustrated with linear imagery that does NOT include the going to seed moment! What a perfect parallel to the pop culture retrograde vibes – a full avoidance of an essential part of the cycle. So we’re working with what we’ve got.
Again, our parallels to the Mercury cycle are listed in the table on the left.
The first half of the retrograde cycle parallels the seed dropping. It is making its journey from plant to ground – disconnecting from the structure that created it.
The inferior conjunction is the beginning of that seed’s new life.
The second half of the retrograde cycle is very dynamic – the restructuring of the seed to send out its roots, to find its foundational footing in the soil to then grow into the outwardly manifest plant that occurs during the rest of the cycle. So in Mercury retrograde terms – this is that restructuring time that builds the critical foundations for everything that occurs during the upcoming direct phase.
Seasonal Cycle
We can expand the plant cycle to the broader seasonal cycle within which it takes place. The same analogies map onto the seasons: the fall as a time of death and decay – making room for winter’s moment of dormancy – which under the surface is actually creating the conditions for new life in the spring.
We can also see animals following the same cycle as the seasonal plant cycle.
Fall is a time of preparation – full of activities that support the process of going inward (literally, to a cave or a nest or a burrow!) during the winter (gathering nuts, fattening themselves up, focusing on creating a literal inside space where they will spend the majority of the winter). Many animals also enter mating season, when they begin the unseen formation of new life that will be born in the spring.
Winter is then the time of slowing down, of inward focus. Bears are the most obvious: literally hibernating, their bodies biologically slow down and process all the material they fattened up on during the fall in order to survive the harsher conditions of the season.
As the beginnings of spring creep in, mama mammals are feeling the unseen “stirrings” within themselves. New life is around the corner, and their focus will be on making the necessary preparations for its arrival.
Butterfly Cycle
You can’t talk inward transformation without referencing the trusty butterfly. We all know the story: the caterpillar goes into its cocoon and POOF – out comes a butterfly! It’s engrained in us from infant-hood, as generations of well-intentioned parents read the “Very Hungry Caterpillar” to our impressionable young.
But what ACTUALLY happens in the cocoon phase is rarely discussed.
What happens is…the caterpillar’s body literally DIGESTS itself from the inside out! It uses the same juices that it used to digest food to break down its own body.
The most magical part of this whole process is that this fluid breaks the body down into what are called IMAGINAL cells (what an amazing name!). These are undifferentiated cells – meaning they have the capacity to become any type of cell. Think stem cells in humans. (At this point – I am hoping you’re along with me for the ride at how excited I was when I learned this!!)
In terms of Mercury retrograde – the retrograde station parallels the time after the caterpillar has stopped its growth and spins itself into its cocoon. It starts to digest itself – just like we are asked to integrate and process information from the last Mercury-Sun cycle during this time. It’s dark and confusing and sometimes breaks us (nod to pop astrology getting it right for this part!).
The inferior conjunction parallels the turning point, when the breakdown has occurred, and the imaginal cells are ready to start building their new structure. I think we can all agree it would be a bad idea for the caterpillar to jump the gun and exit the cocoon at this stage – given that it is essentially a pile of goo. This parallels the restraint we would do well to exercise during the latter half of the Mercury retrograde cycle – when we spend time reorienting and restructuring ourselves, creating strong foundations for our butterfly moment at the direct station.
Sleep/Wake Cycle
Just in case someone missed all these external reminders of the inherent value of all stages of cycles – the universe also programmed one into our physical body!
As Sullivan referenced, the natural sleep/wake cycle is one we can’t avoid – and would be hard pressed to argue isn’t necessary or useful. She specifically connects Mercury’s role to this process: “Mercury is the guide during the journeys we make between 'awake' and 'asleep' and between consciousness and unconsciousness. The Mercury retrograde cycle is the natural rhythm of the space between here and there, the liminal space of the journeyer on his way to discovery".
In this example, the retrograde station parallels when melatonin secretion starts and we fall to sleep. During the first half of the sleep cycle your breath and heart rate slow down, your muscles relax, and you enter into the second stage of sleep, where your body temperature drops and your brain waves get slower.
We see those slooooow it down and preparatory parallels here pretty clearly.
The inferior conjunction parallels the shift into deep sleep, which is extremely important – as it’s the time that your body repairs bone and muscles, strengthens your immune system, releases hormones and restores your energy. Pretty hard to argue that this phase is a “negative”.
The second half of the retrograde cycle parallels REM sleep and the process of waking. During REM sleep, things start speeding up (parallel to that new beginning vibe after the inferior conjunction). Your heart rate, breathing and brain activity all increase. Brain regions that process emotions and sensory input from your dream world light up. BUT – at the same time – your brain paralyzes the muscles in your arms and legs, preventing you from acting out your dreams.
This is such a beautiful analogy to the second half of the retrograde cycle – we are processing and integrating through our dreams, but our body instinctively knows it’s not time to ACTUALLY LIVE OUT THOSE ACTIONS.
Mmm. So good.
Sullivan relates this process back to Mercury’s mythology beautifully:
"Hermes' to and froing from Hades symbolizes Mercury's ability to descend into the unconscious and transfer information or material to the conscious mind for processing in a linear fashion. The most hidden, recessive and suppressed contents of the psyche are thereby brought to light. Conversely, we are able to suppress a conscious wish or desire to the realm of the unconscious for processing in a non-linear fashion. This can serve as a process of refinement by the greater intelligence of our unconscious, resulting later in a creative manifestation of will"
Our natural sleep/wake cycle also impacts and translates into the workings of our external world.
Stores are open during the day (i.e. the direct portion of the cycle). At closing time (i.e. the retrograde station) they spend some time assessing what needs to be restocked, what prices need to be revised, etc. After this (i.e. the inferior conjunction), they begin restocking – and continue to do so until opening. Again, notice there is a PAUSE built into this process. Sure there are 24 hour shops that manage to stay open through the restock – but I can promise you they’ve at least figured out the quietest times in their cycle to do that behind the scenes work.
DIY Retro Vibes
Enough cycles!
In an effort to find examples that hit home for each of our “Mercury types,” here are a few DIY retrograde vibes for you to try out on your own:
For those of you who need a bodily experience (Mercury in Earth, perhaps!), try either drawing, tracing or walking a Labyrinth. Labyrinths twist and actually force you to walk “backwards” in order to move forward toward the center. This can feel disorienting in the moment, but when you zoom out and see the full path – it becomes clear that the each turn actually brings you closer to your goal. You can either trace this labyrinth with your finger – or look up where to find one near you. You can also draw one with chalk and walk it that way.
I personally have Mercury in a water sign and find that music really does the trick to deepen my understanding of concepts. So for others who feel that same way – check out these songs as you go about your day, and see if you feel the cyclic retrograde vibes:
The Fruitful Darkness by Trevor Hall (check out the song itself, or the album as a whole. I especially love this one because he also released an entirely instrumental version of the album, which is a perfect fit for meditation or setting your daily mood during retrograde time.)
Breakdown by Jack Johnson
River Run by Cereus Bright
For those who prefer a visual – check out Season 3 Episode 10 of Ted Lasso. I won’t spoil it, but there are some gorgeous retrograde themes to be mined in this episode!
And finally, for the parents of young kids: Jessica Sima’s Not Quite Narwahl will kill two birds with one stone (get the kiddos to bed and let you deepen your astro practice!). You’ll feel all the retrograde energy when Kelp gets swept away by that strong current, takes a sloooow swim to an unknown land — only to find and integrate a core truth about himself, which he then integrates into broader life and relationships. Beautiful.
2020 Chart Example
Let’s close with a chart example to bring it full circle (pun intended). As it happens, a Mercury retrograde corresponded with the early days of the pandemic.
In the chart above for the CDC warning of potential disruptions to life (described earlier), Mercury just began its new synodic cycle with the Sun (i.e. it just passed the midpoint of its retrograde: its inferior conjunction with the Sun).
If we track communications (Mercury) about COVID at the collective level, we see a correspondence with the energetic wave of the retrograde.
Right around the retrograde station, the first cruise ship was quarantined on the coast of Japan – and the US declared that folks aboard would need to quarantine upon return. This event parallels the first half of the retrograde cycle: it’s a bit unfamiliar and doesn’t feel entirely close to home. It was certainly tough news to hear, but most of us (objectively speaking) weren’t ON that boat. There remained an element of detachment. We could continue on with our daily lives, relatively undisturbed.
At the inferior conjunction, we hit a bit of a turning point in the communication about Covid. The CDC “braces the nation” and reveals that “disruptions to everyday life may be severe”. Then a few days later, they report the first death in the US. OK – shit’s getting real, for lack of a better phrase. But the disruptions haven’t actually happened for most of us. We are in the mode of processing what’s going on and trying to understand how it will impact us. Our perceptions are shifting, but we’re still able to bury our head in the sand, or pull up the covers so we don’t actually have to experience what’s going on.
The situation continues to unfold – and by the direct station – the World Health Organization officially names the situation a pandemic. No one can hide from it anymore: within days, sweeping closures and the “severe disruptions” warned at the inferior conjunction are in full effect.
I chose this particular retrograde cycle as an example because it is one of the few times that everyone in the world really was having a simultaneous, shared communications (Mercury) experience. And, since it was such a jarring experience, it’s also likely that we each have some pretty strong memories associated with it — making it easier for us each to reflect back on our personal experience of these particular dates.
For me, it looked something like this:
In mid-February I remember thinking my friend was a little nuts for stocking up at Costco – and brushing off a warning from my Mom about how we might need to consider canceling my son’s 3rd birthday party in mid-March.
On 2/26 (the day of the inferior conjunction) I received a text from my Dad warning me about what was going on. It was the first time I heard the name Covid-19.
Within 2 days of the direct station, my son’s preschool was closed (“for two weeks”), my husband’s office was closed and my son’s birthday party was…indeed…canceled (good call, Mom).
Retrograde Reflections
Not that any of us really want to relive those particular days, but for pure-astrological-research-sake (as Chris Brennan on The Astrology Podcast often says, something can be “astrology good” but…objectively bad!), here is a little DIY exercise for you to apply this example to your own life:
I’ve also laid out a chart below of all the 2023 Mercury retrograde periods, including their degrees. You can use the resources above to reflect on your experience of the past retrograde in April and May of this year, or you can take a look what the upcoming retrograde (8/23 - 9/15) might bring up for review or revision in your chart and life. One simple way to do this is to locate the house where the retrograde will occur in your chart, and think through your current experience with those house topics. Be open to reflecting on them in a deeper way during the corresponding retrograde.
Interested in exploring how an upcoming retrograde may impact your chart?
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