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What actually does Mercury in Retrograde mean?

I’m sure you’ve heard about it, probably from that one friend who always says “oh no Mercury is in Retrograde again!” and starts freaking out and blaming Mercury for everything that goes wrong for a few weeks. What could a planet have to do with this you’re probably wondering? If you don’t follow astrology too closely, we don’t blame you for being so confused. The universe has its own mysterious ways that it can influence your life and we’re here to explain just what Mercury Retrograde means, and why it makes your astrology loving friends nervous. 

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You’ll commonly hear that Mercury Retrograde means the planet is spinning backwards, and it is – kind of. It’s an optical illusion from earth’s viewpoint that makes the planet look like it is spinning backwards. When a planet goes into retrograde, everything it’s associated with is cut loose because the “parent plant” is no longer on track. 

Mercury has earned a reputation for fabulously screwing things up. The planet is associated with communication, clear thinking, electronics and information. Basically, when Mercury goes into Retrograde, it hits us hard in those areas and causes major inconveniences – we lose things, schedules are messed up, you find you’re fighting with bae more than you used to. And for some every little inconvenience may be caused by this…at least so you’re told!

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For the world we live in surrounded by our technology where we can access all aspects of our lives in instant, the planet of communication has a big job to do! If you slow down and pay attention to your life during and in the lead up to these retrograde periods, you’ll see how it affects you and why it’s important to take note of the dates. 

There’s no reason to fear Mercury Retrograde entirely, while it can feel like everything is crashing around you, there are some benefits! (Yes you read that right!). It’s almost like a short period to reset or revisit aspects of your life. The worst thing you can do during retrograde is make big decisions or start something new, so it’s the perfect time to slow down and recalibrate your life. You’ll be thinking of everything from health, your relationships, making big career moves and more so it’s important to know what to expect ahead of time. 

Mercury Retrograde can be a period of creativity and connections if you can be flexible and take each day as it comes. If you can know what to expect, you might just be able to make Mercury Retrograde work for you so take a deep breath and dive into our Mercury Retrograde survival guide. 

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  • Be flexible and patient: You need to accept the fact that you might be stepping outside of your comfort zone to get through whatever life might be throwing in your face. 
  • Brainstorm: don’t just leap right into the first solution for whatever problem you’re facing. Think of a few solutions and find the one that will work the best.
  • Practice your breathing: Utilise some breathing techniques to calm you down through those really annoying inconveniences like when you’re having a technology snafu. There’s no use getting worked up over things you can’t control.
  • Plan a digital detox: If there’s ever any time to separate yourself from technology and social media etc. it’s during Mercury Retrograde. 
  • Embrace self-care: don’t be afraid to add your self-care routine into your usual weekly routine more than once or twice. 



  • Rush: slow yourself down and really think things through and plan. Leave yourself extra time in the mornings and during the day to accomplish things. 
  • Think negative: No matter how annoying or bad things feel around you, stay as positive as you can. It’s only for a short period and things will feel right-side up again soon. 
  • Have unrealistic expectations: misunderstandings and mix-ups happen, things might not turn out how you planned so keep your expectations low and avoid disappointment. 
  • Pass on the sleep: Getting enough sleep will help keep you level-headed and feel more motivated during the day so avoid anything that might affect your eight hours. 
  • Make big decisions: Basically a retrograde period is not a good period to do anything major relating to communications or technology. If you have no choice but to make that big decision, just know there could be rebounding consequences later on. 


Hot tip: each year Mercury Retrograde favours a new element, fire, air, water or earth, Find out what element it favours most and apply the style of thinking and grounding practices of that particular star sign element to come up with solutions. 


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