Energy Update: Mercury Retrograde, August 2024
Starting on August 5th, Mercury enters retrograde 3/4 of 2024. The retrograde runs from 04° Virgo to 21° Leo & makes thrice repeating trines with our Wounded Healer Chiron in Aries & squares to Uranus in Taurus. Retrograde Mercury will also conjunct the Sun & Venus once (as it does most retrograde cycles) & sextile Mars in Gemini once, as well.
The Basics
Mercury, our planet of communication, technology, & travel, is the fastest-moving planet in our solar system & retrogrades 3 to 4 times every year. This means that Mercury’s retrograde cycle is “business as usual” & isn’t something that should be feared but it is a change in the energy signature of one of our personal planets, so it’s worth paying attention & making adjustments where necessary.
Retrogrades don’t mean that the planet ACTUALLY is moving backward, of course. It is a perspective shift in our perception of the planetary movement through our skies. In this way, our perspectives & perceptions can get a bit twisted during these times & it is easy to miss key details or communicate ineffectively.
During Mercury’s retrograde, Mercury traces its path backward in our skies & it is considered better to go over your work rather than start something new. Mercury passes over these degrees in the sky thrice: the first time during its pre-retrograde shadow, the second time while it moves backward during its retrograde, & again a third time while it moves forward in its post-retrograde shadow. Because of this, we all get the cosmic opportunity to relearn & refocus on certain things that are going awry in our lives.
Mercury retrogrades affect some people more than others. By order of significance, these people are most likely to be affected by a Mercury retrograde:
If you have Sun, Moon, Ascendant in Gemini and Virgo, or Mercury closely conjunct (within 2°) to your Sun, Moon, or Ascendant
If your natal Mercury was in retrograde or out of bounds
If the current retrograde crosses over your Sun, Moon, or Ascendant (in conjunction) or makes a square or opposition
If the current retrograde crosses over your Mercury, Venus, or Mars or makes a square or opposition with them
If the current retrograde makes a trine with one of your personal planets or a sextile to your Sun, Moon, or Ascendant
If you work in a job that involves technology, communication, or travel or are currently undergoing a task that involves one of these domains during this retrograde cycle
If you live with, are in a relationship with, or closely work with a person who meets the above criteria
One can assume that the more of these factors in play, the stronger you may experience the effects of a Mercury retrograde cycle. This isn’t to say that what you experience will be bad or wrong – some people experience a lot of freedom from Mercury’s journey. The more open you are willing to give up control & stay open to the ever-changing landscape of a Mercury cycle, the easier it will be.
The Nitty Gritty
Now that we’ve gone over the basics let’s take a look at the specifics of THIS Mercury retrograde cycle.
Mercury will retrograde backward from 04° Virgo to 21° Leo. This puts the stressors of this retrograde on the early mutable signs (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, Pisces) & late fixed signs (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius). The switchover from Fixed to Mutable signs can be viewed as the energy of relaxation, both of effort & intent. It’s important that we need both types of energy in our lives (both fixed/controlled & mutable/relaxed); this retrograde cycle is likely to bring up issues of imbalance between these two differing energy signatures. You may find yourself stuck on one side of this equation (all relaxed & unable to accomplish anything or all fixed & unable to stand down).
Mercury will interact with all of our other personal planets (the Sun, Moon, & Venus through conjunction & Mars in sextiles), which shows that this retrograde will take on a more personal nature. Although we experience Mercury’s retrogrades 3-4 times a year, not all of them pack as much punch as others. This Mercury cycle will be inside our homes & likely impact our daily lives & our interactions with our Others.
Additionally, Mercury will make three trines to Chiron in Aries (sitting on top of that touchy point from our total solar eclipse back in April) & three squares to Uranus in Taurus. Unlike our personal planet aspects, these don’t influence our personal lives as directly, but they will impact the general energy of the world at large, which sometimes can trickle into our personal lives. [Note here that if you have personal planets that interact in aspect with these Mercury-Uranus & Mercury-Chiron moments, this may impact you personally.]
Let’s start with Chiron because it’s the energy we’ve already stewed in. Chiron isn’t one of the planets, but an asteroid that has caught the interest of many astrologers in recent years. Often called the Wounded Healer, it represents a pain point or an unhealed wound. Back in April, we experienced a Mercury retrograde that coincided with our eclipse season, & during the total solar eclipse, the Sun was conjunct with both Mercury & Chiron. This was a whopper of a day that many people are still reeling from. Although Chiron has kept moving, it is still only 4° from this fate-filled spot. That means that, to a greater or lesser degree, each connection between Mercury & Chiron is another chance for us to revisit this energy.
“Revisit,” being one of the big re’s, is one of the keywords to understanding Mercury retrograde lessons. We are being given a chance to revisit, revise, rework, & reimagine. With Chiron involved, it’s likely to hurt (at least at first). It may feel like too much. But it’s worth remembering that Chiron isn’t something that happens TO you, it is considered to be a force of strong healing energy working FOR you.
It’s also worth remembering that Mercury will pass over this point with Chiron three times: once in forward motion during its pre-retrograde shadow, a second while moving backward in retrograde, & a third time in forward motion during its post-retrograde shadow.
Newsflash: you don’t have to get it right the first time through.
A common metaphor for imagining retrograde cycles is as a lesson or “hole” in the ground with which we must fall in/pass over/encounter trice to gain the full experience of the situation.
The story unfolds something like this:
Oh, there’s a hole in the ground! I fell into it because I didn’t know that it was there. It’s not my fault. (pre-retrograde shadow phase)
Oh, there’s a hole in the ground. I fell into it again. I did know it was there…maybe I should learn to avoid this hole? (retrograde phase)
If all goes well: Oh hey, that’s a hole in the ground! It’s the same hole I fell into before. I know how to walk around this now. (post-retrograde phase)
If the solar eclipse in April passed by uneventfully, you may find that this Mercury-Chiron set of trines also does. If the eclipse was especially difficult, consider this a chance to gain better insight into what happened & why. We can re-frame these transits to be for our own good by being open to the experiences of Mercury’s underworld journeys.
Lastly, we should discuss Mercury square Uranus. Mercury & Uranus have a lot in common—they both involve & control our brain processes to a certain point. If Mercury is the thinking brain, Uranus can be viewed as pure inspiration. Mercury is quick-moving & changeable; Uranus is slow-moving but enacts drastic & lasting change. Many modern astrologers view Uranus as the higher octave of Mercurial energy; it is Mercury’s energy infused with the beyond.
For the most part, Uranus’s energy simply happens to us. It is the lightning bolt in the Tower card, the hurricane that washes away a whole floodplain, or the volcano that awakens to bring destruction & rebirth. What I mean by this is that it is so far beyond us that it can often feel catastrophic, but – like the eclipses – Uranus has a way of blowing open opportunities that we couldn’t even have imagined. We are all stuck little humans who don’t like to change our own lives & sometimes something beyond us seems to reach down & make that change FOR us so that we are forced to move.
We don’t get a choice in what happens to us in situations like this, but we do get a choice in how we respond.
Two out of these three Mercury square Uranus days are full moons, which puts extra emphasis on their energy signatures. On one of these two days (8/19), the Sun in Leo will be conjunct to Mercury & also square to Uranus in Taurus, making a fixed t-square in the sky. Of the three days, this is the one to watch out for & potentially lie low through. The other two dates are days to encourage divine inspiration if that is your thing.
Watch out for how you speak during these rough squares, as misunderstandings will run rampant, & tempers may be at an all-time low. Uranus is never a patient planet, but in Taurus, it can become a raging bull in about six seconds flat. Give yourself & your others as much grace as you can during this time. Shut your mouth entirely, perhaps, & work on listening (something Mercury in egoic Leo definitely can have a problem with at times).
Any time a retrograde bridges the cusp between signs, you can guess that we will need to dig deep into the differences between the two signs somehow. Virgo is our mutable earth sign, often concerned with work, perfectionism, & effort. Leo is our fixed fire sign, more likely to be the lazy lion basking in the sun while the gruntlings do the work. Remember here, there is no judgment on these energies: there is a time to do the work & a time to bask in the Sun. The problem comes into play when you only do one & not the other.
Standard Mercury retrograde warnings apply:
Technology tends to go a bit wonky, so save your work often & proofread twice before you hit send on an important document. Mercury retrograde is considered the ideal time to edit: reread, rewrite, rework. Travel will take twice as long & almost inevitably involve detours—pack your patience & determination to enjoy the ride. If a person from your past shows up again, look into the unfinished business, but don’t expect it to last past Mercury stations direct. Mercury is a trickster: if it looks too good to be true, it probably is.
All that glitters is never gold during Mercury’s retrograde cycles, but Fool’s Gold can be its own reward.
