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The Mischief of Mercury Retrograde
Emails lost in space. Text messages sent to the wrong number. Your keyboard’s letter “e” suddenly won’t work. You can’t tell whether Instagram is down or your account has been locked. Is Mercury in retrograde?
What began as an astrology-insider joke has become a full scale meme. Retrograde panic is real.
Mercury Retrograde has become astrology’s boogeyman. Its announcement on any horoscope or forecast instantly sends readers into a frenzy, ruining moods and rescheduling plans faster than an airline shutdown.
Personally, I think Mercury finds this all very entertaining.
All planets (with the exception of the astrological luminaries) experience retrogrades. A retrograde is actually an optical illusion, a point in the planet’s orbit where its distance from Earth causes it to appear slower before traveling backwards to observers. Because astrology is a highly metaphorical language, these points represent periods where the planet’s influence in our life is turned around. During certain times of the year, it’s not uncommon to have five or six planets retrograde at once. Still, very few people experience the same panic over Neptune’s annual retrograde, or celebrate when Pluto stations direct. Why does Mercury’s backspin hold such a special place in our hearts?
