Updated 2024.12.08
As I type this, we’re in the middle of the last Mercury Retrograde of 2024. This period lasts from November 25 – December 15 in Sagittarius.
Yet, the big wheel in the sky keeps on turning, so it’s already time to start thinking about 2025’s astrological cycles – scroll down for the 2025 Mercury Retrograde dates!
When Mercury Retrograde happens, it means that the planet Mercury appears to travel backward in the sky. This “retrograde motion” is an optical illusion due to Earth’s motion and place in the solar system.
Astronomy.com equates planetary retrogrades, to a faster moving car passing a slower moving car on the highway, it appears as the slow moving car is going backward.
From an astrologer’s point of view, when a planet is moving retrograde, it can “slow down” all things spiritually governed by that planet and the God associated with that planet.
As a God, Mercury is thought to arrange the movement and exchange of all things – goods, ideas, words and people. This is why Mercury is often thought to govern commerce and merchants.
In Astrology, Mercury is primarily interpreted as the Divine messenger of the God. It is a planet that governs day-to-day expression and communication.
Spiritually, this means that when Mercury is in retrograde, communications and exchanges between people may be slowed or bungled. It’s a great time to hold a high level of conscious awareness of your communications and exchanges in trade.
When Mercury is in retrograde, anything exchanged between people, with emphasis on ideas and words, can be misconstrued, take longer to get where they are going and need additional attention to clear errors.
If you know when Mercury is in Retrograde, you can use this information for your benefit.
Be more aware of how you exchange words and ideas, ensure all thoughts and goods coming and going from you have integrity, and allow patience for ideas, words or goods to arrive at their destination.