It’s beginning to look a lot like Mecury retrograde season. Yup, again.
For those of us that don’t religiously check our horoscope, this is the several-times-a-year stretch where Earth overtakes Mercury in its orbit and appears to move in a reverse direction and generally just effs things up.
“During Mercury retrograde, the planet of communication appears to move backward in the sky,” celebrity astrologer Aliza Kelly explained to E! News. “This optical illusion occurs because Mercury is speeding past us in its orbit.”
Since Mercury is the planet of communication, “astrologically, Mercury rules expression, technology, travel, and contracts,” noted Kelly, author of the forthcoming book It’s All Magic: 365 Reflections on Astrology, Tarot, and Manifestation. So during this weeks-long phase, she said, “these areas can go a bit haywire.” (Fun fact: In Roman mythology, Mercury was the messenger of the gods.)
However, there’s no need to commit to weeks of bed rotting just yet.
“Not all Mercury retrogrades are created equal,” stressed Kelly. “The impact can vary depending on the sign Mercury is retrograding through and how it interacts with other planets.”