Mercury Retrograde- the periods of time through out the year that leave many cursing the skies and asking why? What exactly is Mercury Retrograde? Let’s start from the beginning, shall we?  Mercury is best known as the planet of communication and was named by the romans after their swift footed messenger god and Nabu, the god of writing. However, Mercury covers far more than just just communication. Some keys to Mercury are – intellect, speech, awareness, logic, reasoning, expression, short trips, family affairs/siblings, and writing.

Now that we have a better understanding of Mercury, let’s talk about Retrograde movement. When a planet is Retrograde, this gives us the illusion that the planet is traveling backwards through the zodiac when in fact, it is not. So when a planet is Retrograde, it only appears to be moving back wards in the sky due to the position of Earth and other planets placements.

Mercury in Retrograde is like a reversed tarot card. It has shadow side effects as opposed to the upright meaning, but always acts like an influence. What this means is, that all the wonderful aspects of Mercury might held back or become more of a struggle to achieve during this period. So you can expect that communication and self expression to be more challenging with yourself and others. Electronics malfunction and going haywire, losing your train of thought or forgetting what you were gonna say, speech issues, delays in travel plans, or discord amongst close individuals.

Don’t worry, it isn’t the end of the world! In fact I find Mercury Retrograde most helpful on my spiritual journey! During this period I find a lot of people from my past return. Old friends/ex’s or people I’ve lost touch with or had a break down in communication with return. Why? To re-evaluate. Mercury Retrograde happens to give the chance to re evaluate the past/present/future. It gives the opportunity to look back and say ” Did I really mean what I said?”  Or ” why did it not work out” with these questions being pondered, you can learn valuable lessons and gain insight into previous situations that you might not have seen before.

The best way to utilize this energy to your advantage is to give yourself time to stop and think. Give yourself time alone to ponder and reflect. Give yourself extra time for traveling. No rushing because that will only delay you even more. Sometimes during this period you can find that reconnecting with someone from the past is for your benefit and provides a second chance at something you both wanted but didn’t have the tools necessary yet to achieve the common goal.

With all that said, my advice is use this energy to make changes where you want and need them to be and take your time communicating.

How long and when does Mercury Retrograde start? The next two Mercury Retrograde are August 13th 2017- September 5th 2017 and then again December 3rd 2017- Dec 23rd 2017. The important thing to remember is that you have the pre period and the post period. The pre period is two weeks before actual Retrograde, this is when you will start noticing and feeling the effects. The post period is two weeks after the Retrograde period, where you will continue to experience the effects as they start to dwindle off.

During this time stay grounded and remember, it is but an influence and we have power and control over ourselves and how we act and react to the world. With that said,  I wish you smooth sailing while Mercury blesses us with second chances and second reevaluations!

Much love to you,

Jade