Mercury Retrograde -When to Freakout and when to Forget About it

Every time Mercury retrograde comes around (about three times a year) you will hear people talking about how your computer is going to malfunction and communication will be muddled.  It seems people will blame Mercury retrograde on just about anything these days.  There is even a website solely dedicated to whether or not Mercury is in retrograde – click here to check it out.

So I’m not going to say that you should always ignore a Mercury Retrograde and not worry about signing contracts or purchasing a house around that time.  But what I am saying is that certain circumstances will provide you with more insight into whether a specific Mercury retrograde will effect you or not.

First, is your natal Mercury in retrograde?  If you are not sure click here  and look to see if there is an R in the column next to Mercury.  If you were born during a Mercury retrograde it generally means that you will not likely feel the effects of a Mercury retrograde as other people may.  This is because you are more assimilated to the energies of this type of planetary position and Mercury going retrograde won’t feel strange or throw you off your game.
There are stories of groups needing to plan events during a Mercury retrograde period and using those members who have a natal Mercury in retrograde to get all the planning and logistics done.  Not a horrible idea if you have enough friends or co-workers with a natal Mercury in retrograde, but I would not go out of my way to make friends with people who only have this configuration.

Next, is this Mercury retrograde making any hard or difficult aspects to your natal chart? Click here during a Mercury retrograde and see if Mercury is making any pesky aspects or angles to your natal planets.  Look especially for the words square or quincunx which are considered the “hard” aspects.  This means that the planets are having a difficult time “seeing each other” and have different agendas which can get in the way of one another.

Personally, I had a difficult time when a Mercury retrograde formed a square to my natal Pluto. My car suddenly broke down out of nowhere with no warning.  Since Pluto is a slow moving planet a lot of my contemporaries would have the same aspect in their chart as well.  And it just so happens that my friend was experiencing her own set of car problems around this time as well.

Finally, the simplest way to determine if you should be wary of Mercury retrogrades is to track it.  Keep a log, perhaps in your daily planner, of any communication, computer, transportation issues that happen.  Match it up with Mercury retrogrades and see if all your technology problems are happening during this dreaded time or if it is more spread out during the year and not any more frequent during these retrograde periods.  Perhaps it is only when the IT guy is on vacation that your computer acts up?

As we head into this Mercury retrograde on April 28th do not be afraid!  Take time to see if it impacts you in any way.  Personally, this upcoming retrograde does not make any aspect to my natal planets, but it makes a quincunx to both Saturn and Neptune in my sister’s chart.  I will definitely advise her against signing any contracts or making any large purchases in the upcoming weeks!

So how about you, is the upcoming Mercury retrograde going to impact you?  Do you have any Mercury retrograde horror stories?