Have you noticed lately that your phone’s been playing up? Your bus is always running late? You’re picking unneeded fights more than usual? Your manager is consistently in a bad mood? If everything’s feeling a bit turbulent and disrupted, well, it’s not actually anything to do with you. Mercury is in retrograde — for the first time this year.
It started on the 30th of January and is set to end on February 21. What does retrograde actually mean? Well essentially, as Mercury passes Earth, it appears to move backward in orbit, specifically when viewed from Earth – but it isn’t actually moving backward.
As Mercury is the planet of communication, it can affect all types of communications. It rules all formal contracts and agreements, as well as all types of code — computer, transportation, shipping, travel.
So yeah, for the next few weeks, your mind isn’t going to be functioning as well as it normally does. Also, avoid making drastic changes or decisions during this time; apparently, you should also put off getting cosmetic surgery.
Oh, did we forget to tell you? This retrograde is going to be a bit different. Why’s that? According to the AstroTwins, “Mercury retrograde joins five other heavenly bodies in Aquarius: Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, the Sun and the February 11 new moon.”
That means that this retrograde is going to affect every area of our lives, from the usual aforementioned ones as well as love and risks we’ll take. It’s also going to be “way harder than ever for anyone to reach consensus,” the AstroTwins told mindbodygreen, as “these modern Aquarius planets are also clashing with warrior Mars and disruptive Uranus in tenacious, old-school Taurus.”
Things to prioritise while Mercury is in retrograde includes exercising patience, double-checking everything (and we mean everything) as well as resting and relaxing as much as possible. Sign us up.