It’s upon us again, folks—the dreaded Mercury Retrograde.

Today at 10:55AM EST, Hermes will begin retracing his steps from 17º Aquarius all the way back to 1º.

Yes, all the way back to the beginning!

See, the good news is we’ve been in the Retrograde Shadow all this time—since the 5th of January.  So, these energies will hopefully feel a bit old hat to us by now.

The not-so-great news is Mercury will remain retro till February 11th, but won’t pass the 17th degree (meaning he clears the Shadow) til the 3rd of March.

Nearly two whole months with this vibe out there—hell, the actual retrograde could be seen as the calm eye of the hurricane. Yeah?

Anyway—

First, I am gonna run down all the stuff the mental Water Bearer gets up to on his little escapade. Then I want to talk a bit about why we should relax and see this whole terrible travesty as an opportunity.

Right out of the gate Mercury conjuncts the Aquarius Moon at 11:15 AM—a jolt of confused feelings, anyone?

But he moves relatively unhindered until the 26th, when he begins interacting with Capricorn Pluto, Aries Uranus and the Nodal Axis for a couple of days.

Introspective obsessing over areas of turmoil and chaos coming from our pasts into our futures are likely to occur. Refuse to get triggered!

I say relatively unhindered, because today, before stationing retrograde, the Messenger of the Gods will just barely miss exacting an opposition with Leo Jupiter Rx, but will remain in loose opposition with the King of Planets for well over a week.

The opposition proper won’t come til March 1st.

What a build up with NO release!!

Unfortunately, this will add to the underlying frustration of the next couple weeks.

On the 30th, our quicksilver God will conjunct the Aquarius Sun at 10º.  A spotlight will shine on the natal house Mercury is rediscovering. Don’t worry, old issues, unresolved, will be right where you left them.

The most rewarding part of the whole shebang just may be Mercury’s sextile with Sagittarius Saturn on the 5th of February.

These two together in easy aspect put our minds through the paces, especially in an Air sign such as Aquarius. Any faulty logic we have been laboring under will meet the rigorous discipline of Father Time. Woohoo!

By February 8th, Mercury has sloooooowed way down and remains at the 1º for almost 3 days. Then he picks himself up and starts the trek back from which he came.

With the exception of conjuncting the Sun, he will do it ALL again, for the 3rd time as he finally makes his way out of the Shadow.

If your chart is heavy on the Virgo or Gemini including 3rd & 6th House placements, the whole ordeal may be intensified, since Mercury is your ruler. (This is the common knowledge, though I have 3 planets, including my Sun in Virgo and don’t feel this is true for me!?)

This time around, if you have Aquarius planets or points between 1 – 17 degrees you may be in for some infuriating adventures in the next few weeks.

Ok. There you have it, the nuts and bolts.

Now, what does it all REALLY mean.

Mercury is the god of communication, learning and travel. So, the things most affected by his retrograde motion fall under those three categories.

For example, your words will be misunderstood and you will misunderstand others. Your car battery may go dead out of the blue, your shiny new computer may eat all your files and your weekend jaunt to the Keys may turn into the road trip from Hell.

This is just par for the course with Mercury retrograde.

Expect it and don’t fight it.

Don’t be making any long term decisions at this time. Don’t be making any large purchases. Don’t go on your dream vacation until after the middle of February.

Stuff like that.

But don’t overturn all your already implemented plans cause you realize they are going down at this unfortunate time—that would be bananas!

Relax.

Mercury Retrograde teaches us that you can’t always get what you want. And regardless of how badly you want something, sometimes you have to wait!

And that is a good thing!

Now is not the time to start new enterprises, now is the time to sit back and contemplate.

With a little investigation, you’ll likely find the Aquarius section of your chart is the area that needs your attention. All those issues that have been rumbling around since the beginning of the year are still in need of some love.

Review, revise, rework.

Patience.

This is a very, very good thing!

I feel retrogrades are one of the universe’s built-in housecleaning services. Most times a subject is visited 3 times during these periods to ensure we’ve gotten it operating in tip-top shape. We silly humans just resist and complain, because it’s hard to go back when we WANT to run forward.

Polish and shine.

Lovely!

Lona

(My theory as to why Mercury Rx doesn’t affect me as it traditionally should, is due the fact I have a stellium, including Mercury, in the 12th House. I live and operate from Neptune’s dreamy fogscape—24/7 Mercury Retro!)