Before I knew anything about astrology, I had heard about the infamous Mercury Retrograde. People would use it as a reason (or an excuse) for being late, for tech snafus, travel disruptions, and anything else that seemed to go wrong.
Warnings abound: don’t sign contracts, don’t make travel plans, watch for emails getting lost.
In pop culture, Mercury Retrograde has acquired a reputation as something to fear, as a phenomenon that can shut down life.
It’s undeserved — and impractical.
About Mercury Retrograde
Mercury Retrograde happens three to four times a year, for three weeks at a time. That’s 9–12 weeks of each year. A whole quarter. You’re not going to shut down your life for three months of the year.
Once I understood what Mercury Retrograde is really about, I’ve began to see it as a potent portal for growth. Rather than being something to fear, Mercury Retrograde is something I welcome and look forward to.
Each Mercury Retrograde has a different “flavor” depending where it lands in the zodiacal wheel and in your personal chart.
Mercury will station retrograde on April 1, 2024 in the sign of Aries, and will be retrograde until April 25. Here’s what you need to know about this iteration and how to work with it.
Retrogrades: A Time to Review
A planet in retrograde is an illusion. Similar to when you’re on a slow train and you pass a train that is stopped: the stopped train appears to be moving backward.
Mercury is the fastest moving planet. At certain points of the year, it appears, from our perspective on Earth, to move backward. This is the period known as Mercury Retrograde. This slow down is an invitation for us to pause, review, and reflect.
Think of it like a quarterly review.
As the team at MoonOmens.com explains,
Retrogrades are evolutionary accelerators because they force us to question how things have always been done, be creative, and explore alternative solutions.
Mercury Retrograde: Question the Status Quo
Every planet is an archetype. Mercury is the Messenger and Thinker. It is the planet of communications, commerce, technology, transportation, and travel. It is also the planet that governs systems we use in our daily life.
When Mercury is retrograde, it invites us to take a look at our communications, our systems, our ways of thinking, and evaluate what isn’t working.
It’s a time to ask better questions and be open to shifts in how we think and communicate, how we sell, and how we interact in commerce.
Mercury Retrograde in Aries: Reflect Before Speaking
Mercury is currently in Aries, the first sign of the zodiac. Aries, ruled by Mars, is impulsive and impetuous. Aries can be hot-headed, often acting before having a plan.
In Aries, Mercury takes on these characteristics. When Mercury is in Aries, we might be more likely to speak without thinking, to blurt out what we’re thinking without considering our intention or the impact of our words.
Sometimes, unfiltered communication is useful and beneficial. And sometimes… it’s not. What we may intend as useful or constructive can come off as harsh and insensitive.
While Mercury retrogrades through Aries, we are invited and encouraged to take a pause before speaking or expressing ourselves to consider whether the impact of our words will match our intention.
During Mercury Retrograde we often come back around to the same situation a few times; each repeat is an opportunity to learn from our previous mistakes and handle the situation differently.
3 Tips For Working With Mercury Retrograde in Aries
You don’t need to put your life on hold while Mercury is Retrograde. Here are some practical tips for working with this transit. These are good communication tips for any time of year, and especially when Mercury is retrograde.
(1) Pause before you speak or respond.
You don’t owe anyone an instant response. Before you respond to a question, a criticism, or a comment, take a pause. Maybe a few minutes, and maybe a day or two.
Same goes for offering advice or guidance, even if it’s constructive. Just because something is true doesn’t mean you need to say it immediately and impulsively.
Anything worth saying is worth holding off saying for a day while you reflect on the tone and whether your helpful remarks will truly be helpful.
(2) Review your words before you hit send.
Before you hit SEND on that email or text message, pause to review what you wrote.
For extra caution: draft all communications outside of your email program or text app, so that you don’t send it by accident. Come back to it when you’re feeling more neutral or have a friend read it over to assess the tone.
(3) Ask questions before responding.
Have you ever gotten into an inflamed exchange based on a miscommunication?
Often, problems arise when we get triggered by what someone said to us based on a misunderstanding of their intention or their words.
Before you “fire off” a response, ask questions. Make sure you understand what the other person meant before you get all hot and bothered by something that might be more innocent than the meaning you gave it.
Interested in more tips for how to work with astrology for productivity? Stay tuned for my upcoming workshop series on Astrology for Holistic Productivity. First notice will go to my community, so make sure you’ve sign up for my newsletter!
Love it? Hate it? What do you think? Don't hold back...