When Mercury Retrogrades in Your Sign

A planet is retrograde when it appears to be moving backward from our view here on Earth, and Mercury is the only planet who retrogrades several times each year for a few weeks at a time. When a planet is retrograde, it’s operating in reverse, and we can struggle with whatever that planet rules. Mercury is a communication ruler and one of the tech rulers, so in our modern world, his retrograde can REALLY throw off our lives! Mercury also governs our daily lives, work, and health, and he’s pretty important.

Mercury retrograde can impact us in a variety of ways, and for everyone, this is usually found by the house(s) he’s retrograding through in our charts and the aspects he makes. But his energy gets some major elevation when he’s retrograding in our Sun sign. This is when you can feel way off throughout the entire retrograde, and can get easily frustrated, have lots of misunderstandings, feel incredibly stressed out, anxious, and scattered, and have way too much on your plate. There can be so many little things to deal with, and it can be overwhelming to focus on, adding to your stress. Blame Mercury!

When Mercury is retrograde in your sign, it becomes vitally important for you to give yourself a break. This is one of those times when you just have to acknowledge you’re only human, and you don’t need to be so hard on yourself. Give yourself lots of time to get things done, and if you can put off really big stuff, important stuff that requires total concentration and focus, that might be a good idea. If you can’t, again, give yourself lots of time to deal with it, and maybe get a Mercury retrograde native to double check your work!

Since stress is often a biggie when Mercury retrogrades in your sign, make sure you have some outlets for stress that you can use when Mercury strikes. Focus on healthy, positive stress management, and give yourself a variety of ways to manage stress when it hits. You need an arsenal to combat Mercury.

This can be a great time for routine maintenance of any kind in your life, but especially of yourself. The Sun rules you, and your physical body, so it’s a good time to focus on improving your lifestyle in small ways, and getting regular checkups and tending to your physical self. You can use the retrograde period as a remind to take better care of yourself.

Mercury retrograde in your sign can be worst if he actually conjuncts (aligns with) your natal Sun during the retrograde, and around that date, you can feel the most issues arise. It can also be more of a struggle if Mercury retrograde starts or ends within 3 degrees of your natal Sun. If none of that is the case, and it’s just in your sign, the impact can be in a more subtle way. But it can still be there throughout the entire retrograde, so it’s a smart idea to get prepared.