A full Mercury Retrograde cycle lasts eight weeks and happens three times a year (in some years, there are four). That's an awful lot of days to cringe and cower, unable to make important decisions or take decisive actions.
You'll hear a lot about what you should not do during Mercury Retrograde -- "don't sign any contracts, don't travel, don't use a computer" -- as if these things are avoidable two months at a time, six months out of the year.
You should take more precautions, double-check your plans, read everything carefully before you sign it, back- up your data…
But when would that not be good advice?
Mercury stations retrograde from June 26 to July 20.
What does that mean? That's the immediate period you're probably most concerned about if you're reading this.
This coming month, Mercury Retrograde is traveling through Cancer.
Cancer's all about feelings.
Some noteworthy, unique themes include:
- balancing of emotions
- sexual libidos
- professional burn-out
- the polarity of right-brain versus left-brain
- mood swings
There's also some kind of Sun, Saturn Rx, Neptune Rx menage-a-trois going on that features:
- turning your dreams into reality
- determination to manifest your vision
- destiny and goals
- sacrificing personal pleasure for success
- testing of willpower and stamina
Smarty Pants Disclaimer Honestly, my chart is heavy on Water and Fire -- I tend to finger-paint with big arty blobs of astrology or draw with the fat kindergarten crayons.
For you more Earthy, Airy practical and/or cerebral folk who want to get all scientifical and mathy -- a little Internet searching and you'll find tons of astrology sites that are super techy and geeked out.
I personally think Dark Star Astrology has a nice balance of in-depth information.
What to Do During Mercury Retrograde Check out a list of ideas about the actions that are most favored during Mercury Retrograde. There are also a lot of things you can choose to do that work especially well during these astrological periods. Check out The Positive Side of Mercury Retrograde.
Image credit Thomas Hawk via Creative Commons on Flickr