This phenomenon happens when Mercury, the planet of communication, appears to be going backward in the sky. During this period, we could experience issues with anything that is ruled by Mercury, predominantly traveling and communicating with others. We could feel apprehensive at the thought of this transit because it presents delays, frustration, and obstacles. RELATED: What It Means If You Were Born During Mercury Retrograde To navigate this time, we need to be more conscious of developing patience. Mercury retrograde wants us to think back and go slow, develop a new way of thinking, and rework whatever is not going our way. Instead of going into panic mode, we should take a step back and use this time to reflect. After all, Mercury Retrograde is one of the most common transits (it happens over three times a year!), so instead of fear, we could utilize this time to become more aware of the area in our life where we need to develop more structure.
Benefits of Mercury retrograde
RELATED: What Is The Mercury Retrograde Shadow Period? Everything To Know
1. Experience mental breakthroughs.
During this period, focusing on relearning things could work in our favor. It is the perfect time to go back and analyze topics, reports, books, or anything that could have given us frustrations in the past. I like to go back and read some books I had a tough time getting through during the retrograde period since I can absorb the information a lot better. Editing is a favorable thing to do during this time.
2. Become more disciplined.
Because we could experience some timing chaos during retrograde, we have to adapt and learn how to be more patient and not let minor things set us off. For example, if you experienced morning commute delays during this transit, you might find that you commit to adjusting your schedule to avoid being late in the future. The goal is to be prepared and less stressed with our mundane tasks and retrograde can slowly help us get accustomed to these changes. RELATED: 11 Ways Mercury Retrograde Seriously Messes With Your Relationships
3. Inspiration to set and accomplish goals.
A time for personal progress is usually seen during retrograde. Partly because we are probably so afraid of these transits, we could be inspired to do our best to prevent more problems with timing. Retrograde could be used as a moment to reflect on goals and our commitments. Seeing how much we have pushed ourselves to meet those objectives could give us some inspiration to keep our heads high and in the game. Rescheduling is one of the more essential things we could do during this time as well as redefining our goals. Again, we could feel bold about the decisions we make during this time since we may have repeated the same cycle. Experience is the best teacher, so retrograde can help us see what works and what does not. Because we have a better grasp of what we want and how to get there, it becomes easier to fine-tune each of our goals.
4. Reconnect with people from the past.
This does not always have to mean we have a dreaded moment seeing an ex. Sometimes, retrograde could bring back people we love and care about but have had problems reconnecting with. We could catch up with friends we have not seen in a while, and there could be some moments of reconciliation with people in our lives. Talking things through and reflecting could allow us to muster the bravery to forgive and heal. RELATED: Should You Get Married During Mercury Retrograde? A.T. Nunez is an Afro-Latina Astrologer and philosopher living in NYC. She is passionate about astrology and aims to continue writing more about stargazing in the future.