Astrology with Alice: Yes, Mercury is in retrograde, again!

Mercury is going retrograde again. Yes, again, and this time it’ll last from Aug. 4-27. So what can we look forward to this time?

Since Mercury affects our mental processes, our mind focuses inwardly when Mercury reverses course. With Venus also leaving the sign of Leo and entering Mercury’s home sign of Virgo, which is quieter and more demure, the entire vibe of August will take on a more introspective tone.

When Mercury retrogrades, it looks like it goes backwards from our perspective here on Earth. That’s because Earth and Mercury orbit at different speeds, so every time Mercury and Earth get closer to each other, it can temporarily look like Mercury in the sky has slowed down and is drifting backwards. Astrologers know that Mercury doesn’t actually orbit backwards and that we’re working with an issue of optics and geometry.

As with all retrogrades, this is a time for the three Rs—we are being invited to reflect, reconsider, and reevaluate. It’s a time to revise our vision of ourselves and take a fresh look at outdated psychological and relationship stuff from our subconscious storage bins. Instead of focusing forward and outward, we’re invited to reflect and ponder.

And this also is why Mercury retrograde periods are notorious for feeling wonky. The usual best practices and survival tips that we’ve talked about before all still apply, so expect disruptions with technology and travel, and guard against miscommunications. But the real point of Mercury retrograde is an internal process that’s less about what’s going on in the world externally and more about what’s going on within.

The Western modern world worships at the foot of productivity and tangible outputs, so the liminal space that Mercury retrograde pulls us into is really freakin’ uncomfortable for a lot of us. Liminal space can feel very unsettling to people because it’s a transitional state—an in-between space, so to speak. It’s marked with uncertainty because we’re neither here nor there when we’re in liminal space. And we’re so uncomfortable with it that we don’t even like it when others linger in physical liminal spaces. For example, my dog loves standing in the doorway to my office to watch me work, and I just can’t relax until he decides either to come in or leave. It’s unsettling, and I just need him to stop lingering in the in-between!

A lot of people can empathize with this uneasiness, but now imagine that same discomfort in dealing with intangible, figurative, psychological liminal space.

I feel that there’s some powerful symbolism with Mercury’s physical closeness with us during its retrogrades, since Mercurial themes come to the forefront of our lives during these periods. Mercury rules the mind, travel, communication, intellect, and all mental processes. And it’s as if it wants us to witness it in all its brilliance during its retrogrades. It’s as if Mercury reminds us that it’s not only the planet of surface communication and physical travel, but also of prophecy, omens, and traveling between the realms of consciousness.

Also, let’s not forget that in Chinese astrology, Mercury was associated with the intuitive and emotional water element, and is literally called the “water star.” And in India, they call Mercury “budha,” which means “awakened” in Sanskrit. Mercury, therefore, also signifies wisdom, and we overlook that quality of Mercury in modern applications of astrology. And since the development of wisdom is nonlinear, that’s why Mercury retrogrades can feel so confusing.

But if we can increase our tolerance for uncertainty, we’ll also realize that this soupy, unclear mental space is actually where creation occurs. Think of nebulae—those murky, gaseous space clouds—and consider that they don’t have borders or form, but they’re the birthplace of stars. We focus so much on manifestation and the end product that we forget that confusing creation periods and murky gestation periods are mandatory precursors for any successful manifestation attempt. And that’s what Mercury retrogrades are for—to pull us out of our hyperproductivity and future-focus, and to help us reorient ourselves to where we are now, and remember where we came from. We’re invited to soak in the ocean of possibility for a bit.

We focus so much on manifestation and the end product that we forget that confusing creation periods and murky gestation periods are mandatory precursors for any successful manifestation attempt.

And to truly understand what we’re being invited to work on, all we have to do is look to the sign in which Mercury is retrograding. This year, all the Mercury retrogrades will happen in fire signs (Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius). This follows up the earth sign (Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn) retrogrades from last year, and, to me, this means that we went from reevaluating our worth and what we deserve (earth) to now re-igniting the flame of our creativity and vitality. I often think of the word libido with fire signs. Fire energy represents not just sexual libido, but a desire and zest for life in general.

So these fire-sign Mercury retrogrades are about reclaiming and reacquainting ourselves with our vitality, our creative spark, and our inspiration. They will bring us into periods where we’ll address the ways we’ve allowed our responsiveness and excitement for life to dull. And, being in Leo, this upcoming retrograde will ask us to consider how we’ve permitted our light to dim under the pressures of life, and what we can do to shine again.

I think that this is a timely lesson. Recently, the conjunction of two unstable and volatile planets, Mars and Uranus, aligned with the assassination attempt on Donald Trump. Then, President Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race on the day of a karmically heavy full moon that illuminated the failings of old systems. (The full moon happened very close to Pluto, the planet of death and rebirth.) We are all also experiencing post-Covid fatigue, and so many are still trying to recover emotionally and financially. So, given the current landscape (at least here in the States), learning to keep our inner fire alive and healthy when the days feel heavy is an essential skill to cultivate, and this is the genius of the sign Leo. When the proverbial fire is threatening to die out, it’s Leo energy that can reinvigorate it.

Leo is ruled by the sun, and, like the sun, Leo is all about warmth, light, and life. In medical astrology, Leo rules the heart, and that’s why it’s also associated with love and courage. Both the sign itself and its corresponding Tarot card—the Strength Card—represent heart energy that can thaw any chill that the soul is experiencing. Both Leo and the Strength Card are about the courage it takes to show up with optimism and grace, as well as the strength it takes to maintain the fire of the soul’s inner hearth.

So this is the lesson of Mercury retrograde this August—to continue to live bravely and optimistically by remembering to tend to our own hearts.

And these lessons will come to us through reevaluating where in our lives we can show up brighter, warmer, and more visibly, and we can figure that out based on your sign. This is also the area of life where some reassessing is necessary—something there requires your attention and reconsideration. Look up your sign below and see where you’re being invited to apply some TLC.