Mercury retrograde: A Time to Reflect and Reorient
Named after the mythological Messenger, Mercury, in Astrology, is the planet connected with communications, rational thinking, problem-solving, and daily organization. Mercury’s transits mark shifts in collective thinking patterns, communication and learning styles, as well as in how we are drawn to plan, schedule, and organize our daily tasks.
Retrogrades, consisting of the apparent backward motion of a planet from our perspective on Earth, are a time to slow down, reflect, and reorient before continuing to move forward following the inertia. Mercury goes retrograde three to four times per year. This transit has gotten a bad reputation in popular Astrology: it is commonly blamed for communication issues, technology malfunctions, and all sorts of delays in our travels and plans.
While these events can be more frequent while Mercury is retrograde, they are not random: there is a bigger purpose to this transit and to everything that happens during it. Any inconvenience, misunderstanding, or disruption to our plans is an invitation and an opportunity to pause and reconsider what we are doing, why we are doing it, and where we are going.
This transit asks us to slow down the pace of our daily lives, avoid moving forward in autopilot, and reexamine how we think, communicate, make decisions, organize our days, and create our schedules. Mercury retrograde invites us to explore a different way of perceiving time and reminds us that what may seem like confusion or delay on the surface is often life’s way of showing us what needs our attention.
Mercury retrograde in Sagittarius: Realign with What’s True
Sagittarius is the seeker and the philosopher of the Zodiac. Oriented toward growth and expansion, this sign inspires us to search for the higher meaning and purpose of our experiences and invites us to live a life aligned with our authentic nature.
In the sign of the Centaur, Mercury retrograde offers us an opportunity to reflect on the narratives we live by and question existing definitions of growth. This transit is an invitation to review our beliefs and ideals and whether what was true for us in the past is still true for us today. Mercury’s backward motion in the sign is a reminder that growth requires introspection: we can’t constantly move forward, we can’t constantly expand. Pausing and reflecting about where we are going and what we are doing is as important as taking risks and actively moving toward new directions and possibilities.
In Sagittarius, retrograde Mercury offers us an invitation to question what we think we already know, what we think is absolutely true, what we think is right or wrong, and become aware of any tendencies to be dogmatic or too rigid in our opinions. This transit can open our eyes to different ways of thinking, different systems of beliefs, and unfamiliar cultural traditions and teachings.
During the upcoming weeks, we have an opportunity to release mental rigidity and limiting assumptions that prevent growth rather than foster it. Mercury’s retrograde journey through the sign of the Centaur is an invitation to realign with what is true in the present moment and make sure we live according to that.
Closing Past Loops, Stepping Back to Move Forward
During its retrograde journey through Sagittarius and Scorpio, Mercury is likely to bring us opportunities to revisit past choices, conversations, and pending matters. This is a favorable time to close past loops and complete something that remained unresolved or incomplete, maybe approaching it in a different way.
Mercury is stationing retrograde while conjunct Mars in Sagittarius and opposite Uranus on the last degree of Taurus. The Mercury-Uranus opposition was already exact once, and will be exact again two more times: on November 19 and December 10, while Mercury is in Scorpio. Mercury will also meet Mars again twice, on November 12 in Sagittarius and on January 18 in Capricorn.
These alignments add an element of surprise and impulsivity to the upcoming weeks: conversation can take unexpected turns, and new insights arise out of the blue. We have an opportunity to review how we feel drawn to take action on our ideas, and we are being asked to make sure we reflect and consider the potential consequences before doing so.
Rather than rushing to find solutions and make sense of everything, this period invites us to stay curious, be patient, and allow things to unfold in their own time. As Mercury begins its retrograde journey, we are reminded of the importance of slowing down and that, at times, it is necessary to take a step back in order to keep moving forward.
