Mercury Retrograde

On August 23, 2023 Mercury will be going retrograde once again. For years, people have demonized Mercury retrograde and blamed it for every mistake, disappointment and failure in their lives. I’ve noticed that the more people learn about how astrology works, the less likely they are to do that, so I always encourage people to learn more about astrology. I believe that the planets describe the quality of our time. The music of the spheres can be seen in the patterns and rhythms of the planets in their courses. Retrogrades are part of that rhythm.

There are many sources that tell you what retrograde motion actually means (it’s an apparent change of the movement of the planet in the sky) and you can pretty easily find ephemerides that will tell you when the retrograde periods are, for all of the planets (some planets go retrograde more often than others). That takes care of the technical part, but what most people want to know is what it means for them in their daily lives.

Mercury the planet is named after Mercury the god and is ascribed similar qualities. It is technically positive/yang/masculine, but pretty close to being neutral, in my opinion. Because of the flexibility of Mercury energy, it is able to function well in any of the signs an