Mercury Goes Retrograde

On Friday, July 18, another planet stopped and assumed backward motion - Mercury retrograde, in the romantic and creative sign of Leo.  Mercury retrograde is not rare.  It occurs three times a year.  Nothing happens astrologically without a reason, so Mercury retrograde is a season for reviewing and reevaluating issues to gain a new perspective.

Of course, people prefer to look at the legitimate disruption Mercury retrograde can correlate with…miscommunication, interruption of wifi signals, car disruptions, loss of keys, missed appointments, travel disruptions.  Those are all valid manifestations.  But the secret is WHY those things are happening.

In a nutshell, what all those things share is it is time to take a PAUSE to reconsider and reflect.  Stop being too busy to think and absorb the lessons we have to learn.  In this case, because the retrograde is in Leo, what have we missed or misunderstood is about romantic connections, creativity and the joy of spontaneity.  If we allow ourselves time to integrate new understandings, we can find what we have been missing.  Or, we can, as our culture loves, continue on with our relentless drive to GET THINGS DONE AT ALL COST!  And that is when the Universe steps in and loses our keys so we can’t go somewhere or we miss an appointment to disrupt our distraction..  The Universe is whispering “Slow down, you have missed something.”  You can pay attention or simply be annoyed.

So, wherever Leo falls in your chart, this is the behavioral area that will be most affected by Mercury retrograde.  Sometimes, it is very central to our identity.  Other times, it is more something that appears in our peripheral vision.

Again, retrogrades are a pretty normal event that happens regularly, but with varying degrees of centrality to our understanding of who we are.  We almost always miss something, first time around!  So, slow down and take the benefit of a second glance.

The sensitive zone in Leo that affects this retrograde was in Mid February this year.  Harken back to that time.  Some issues that were important then may have relevance now…and you may be deciding to launch yourself a little differently after the retrograde because now you see things you did not fully understand before.

As a side note, Saturn, Neptune and Pluto  are also all retrograde.  These are often planets that manifest as our collective environment.  So we may, as a culture, be looking at how that environment has played out for us as individuals.  Are we happy or sad with the current state of affairs?   Something new is germinating in the collective psyche.

I couldn’t help but think about the furor of MAGA enthusiasts over Trump’s treatment (or nontreatment) of the Epstein files.  Fires seem to be lit in understanding the lack of transparency regarding the Epstein client lists and his alleged suicide.  Secrets often come to light during a retrograde, and the topic with Trump-Epstein definitely falls into the 5th house of attraction, Leo.

As always, things are happening for a reason, not meaninglessly.  You each, individually, are making a decision about what that meaning will be.  Not a time for fear, but one of conscious choice.