Mercury Retrograde: A Change of Perspective Can Empower You!
Introduction
Thank you for joining me for today’s discussion about Mercury retrograde and why it’s actually a good thing if you pay attention, because that’s exactly what Mercury wants us to do more of at this time.
The noun automatic pilot means:
When we use the idiom “running on autopilot” it means that we are doing things impulsively, instinctively, and without thinking, we’re using our muscle memory in a sense, which is kind of an unconscious or passive state of being, think Mercury in the 12th house versus Mercury in the 6th house or 3rd house. Oftentimes we enter autopilot mode when we’ve established a schedule, routine, system or even a lifestyle that operates on its own, without much cognitive input from us, and overtime we take this system for granted.
Well Mercury does not want us to take things for granted, it wants us to learn, develop and be an active participant in our own lives. When everything is working out the way we expect it, when we expect it, all of the time, we feel less compelled to do things a different way.
Mercury’s Significations
Mercury rules all forms of communication, data collection, data management and data dissemination in analog and digital format. It rules the planets of Gemini and Virgo the signs of information acquisition and analysis that is used to to develop knowledge, wisdom and understanding.. When Mercury is direct, we assume our lives, our schedules, and our routines are operating at an optimal level, and if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, until it does break, and then what? What happens when the things we take for granted are taken away from us or, plans don’t go as expected? How do we react and respond to these inconveniences; are we adaptable, optimistic, inquisitive, and resourceful or stubborn, pessimistic, myopic, and irresponsible.
The Mercury retrograde helps us to correct or recalibrate the auto correction, by forcing us to actively engage in our own learning. Mercury wants us to learn how to think and communicate in ways that are conducive to the development and expression of our ego identity, and if everything is running smoothly , we falsely believe that we are doing everything right, that nothing needs to change, that we don’t need to learn anything new. Because we are creatures of habit, Virgo, we’ll keep doing the same things everyday, even if we’re deeply unhappy, we’ll keep trudging along, afraid to disrupt our daily habits and routines, especially if natally you have mercury in a fixed sign.. Now perhaps your life is working as well as it can under the current circumstances and situations you find yourself in…but supposed you want and need to make drastic changes in your life? Supposed you want to earn more money, or you want to move, or you want to change careers?
We can’t make significant changes in our lives by having the same attitude or belief, schedule, routine, pattern, and program (Virgo); we must take a step back and assess how our thoughts, beliefs, attitudes and behavior align with the goals we want to accomplish. The sign Mercury is retrograde determines the methodology that is used to re-evaluate our situation, and the house determines what is being re-evaluated and why. For example, Mercury Rx in the 1st may elicit a change in personality due to relationship issues or contentious dynamics with people in general; Mercury in the 2nd house may force the native to change their attitude about money relative to their personal power, in the 3rd, the native will have to be more attentive to their environment, especially if they want to travel, in the 4th house Mercury has us evaluating how the obligations of home and family affect career progress, in the 5th house Mercury Rx asks us to reflect on how our children are affecting our friendships and other social activities, and in the 6th, we may have to consider how the current condition of our health may be caused by escapist or irresponsible behavior.
Mercury Retrograde in Virgo
The current Mercury retrograde begins in Mercury’s sign of exaltation, which is Virgo at 3deg of Virgo on August 6th and the retrograde ends at 21deg of Leo about 20 days later on August 26th. Virgo is a mutable earth sign that represents introspection, reflection, analysis, perfectionism, and sometimes compulsive disorders. Leo is a fixed fire sign that represents exuberance, ostentatiousness, creative expression, youthfulness, and sometimes narcissism. During this retrograde people will be forced to run a fine toothed comb through their gnarly lives, messy schedules, unhealthy diets and lifestyles, laziness, financial wastefulness and other sloppy areas that need to be cleaned up with patience, maturity, and close attention to detail.
For example, if someone has a Leo rising sign, Mercury retrograde will begin in the 2nd house of personal possessions, finances, and self-worth. This person may take a closer look at their finances to identify areas of waste, lack, or poor management, and as Mercury walks back to Leo, they’ll realize that their current financial situation is the direct result of their personality and how they relate to people. For example, if you don’t like people, you don’t trust them, and think people suck in general, Mercury retrograde in your 2nd house will force you to acknowledge how this attitude and disposition is limiting your financial opportunities because of your inability to work with people. Or on the other hand, if you’re a people pleaser that is deeply insecure, you may realize that you’re spending a lot of money trying to get people to like you. Or if you are an Aries and Mercury is Rx walking back to the 5th from the 6th house, you may realize that you’re a workaholic because you’re avoiding time with your children (or romantic partner), or you’re using your job to fill the void of not having children/and or being single.
So while the Mercury retrograde can be inconvenient, it’s the wake up call we need to not operate on autopilot, and as busy adults, it’s easy for us to ignore the responsibility of drastically changing our attitudes, perceptions and behavior, until something breaks, or someone gets sick, or someone loses their job, or someone get into a car accident, or a bridge falls down. Sometimes the things that break during the retrograde indicate the areas in our lives we need to take a break from, but the break isn’t just to sit around and do nothing, what are you learning from the experience? How did this situation happen? Are you doing too much or too little in that area of your life? Do you know enough or do you need to study more?
The Mercury Rx is also a good time to take stock of the progress we’ve made in life relative to the house Mercury is traveling though. Mercury Rx in the 9th may make you realize you need more education for your field of work, Mercury Rx in the 7th may start up conversations about marriage counseling due to longstanding unresolved issues coming to a head (especially one or both spouses have malefics like Mars, Saturn, and Uranus transiting through the angular houses.) Mercury Rx in the 3rd house may cause traveling delays that force you to improve your time management, you may have to get up earlier for work, which means you have to go to bed earlier, which means you have to use your spare time organizing your time instead of wasting it on social media or doing other frivolous activities.
Yes Mercury retrograde can be inconvenient and frustrating, but sometimes we get ahead of ourselves, we take things for granted, we’re wasteful and irresponsible which is not conducive to the development and expression of our ego-identity which wants us to show up in the world as the best version of ourselves.
In Conclusion…
Retrograde periods are times of review, revision, re-evaluation, recollection, reconsideration, and ultimately reinvention. And the reinvention takes places after the person realizes that they have to adjust their attitudes, beliefs and behaviors to fix whatever was affected by the Mercury retrograde.