Mercury Retrograde: Keys to What You Are Working On

Mercury Retrograde: Keys to Your Spiritual Growth

Benjamin Franklin said, ‘…nothing can be certain in this world except death and taxes.’ I’ll add Mercury Retrograde.

It happens three or four times each year and we can count on it to mess up our communication, our travel, our plans, and our technology, and send ripples of disruption through areas of our lives.

2021 brings us three Mercury Retrogrades, each happening in an Air sign.

First up, beginning January 30 is Mercury Retrograde in Aquarius.

I feel like Aquarius is a bit like Marcia Brady this year. Everything seems to be about and pointing to Aquarius. The year starts in Aquarius, Mercury is Retrograde in Aquarius, in February we have six planets aligned in Aquarius, we are moving deeper into the first stage of the Age of Aquarius. Aquarius, Aquarius, Aquarius 🙂

Let me pause here and qualify my approach and what you will get here.

I am *not* an Astrologer. I am a Clairvoyant who is tapped into Collective Consciousness. I get insight and information about what we are working on, how it is showing up in our lives, and most importantly, how we can use this information to deepen our Spiritual Growth. For me, it all boils down to energy and how we can use energy to learn, heal, and grow.

Interestingly though, often what I am picking up correlates to what my Astrologer friends are seeing. We express the information a bit differently, but I have found our insights to layer upon one another.

What You Are Getting Here

Rather than an overview of what Mercury Retrograde in Aquarius will do, cause, evoke and impact, I look at how we can use this moment in time to support our individual spiritual growth, and my information always comes with tools to help you use this moment to go deeper.

So here we go!

An Energetic Primer on Mercury Retrograde

Here’s what I see:

At the root of all things in our lives is the push by our Spirit to learn, heal, and grow (you’ll get tired of hearing me say this 😉 ) The adversity you experience is the unconscious push you need to do that growing. As you step into consciousness and recognize that you are being asked to grow, you can shift away from learning through adversity to learning through awareness and energy work.

That’s where I come in.

I see what you are working on, and how it shows up in your life, and I teach you energy tools to help you learn, heal, and grow through awareness. It makes life a lot easier. It doesn’t mean life doesn’t happen, but it puts you into a state of flow, which, is easier.

This brings us to Mercury Retrograde

As with everything, I look at Mercury Retrograde, which really does create havoc, and I ask, ‘why?’ Everything has a reason. Everything has a lesson. So what is Mercury Retrograde trying to show us, teach us, and help us learn?

And this is where it gets interesting!

Each Retrograde is in a specific sign and for each of us, Mercury impacts us in our own unique ways, depending on where Mercury sits in our chart.

I have noticed that depending on what element Mercury is in, it will impact you differently. There are some retrogrades where it has very little impact on your life, whereas others, it’s like landmines are going off with every step you take which is where this feeling comes into play:

You’ve been there, I’ve been there. You just want to crawl into that sweater and not come out until Mercury goes direct.

Several years ago, when I first started looking at Mercury from this perspective of how the element it goes retrograde in impacts us, I introduced a Mercury Retrograde tracking sheet so my students could get a sense of what happens in specific signs and also better plan for what to expect for themselves.

Step One

Step One is to get a handle on the way Mercury Retrograde in a particular element impacts one’s life.

Students have discovered things like:

Retrograde in an Air sign — it’s much easier, whereas others find in an Air sign their verbal communications get messed up. I personally have discovered Mercury Retrograde in Air signs brings water trouble in our house.

Retrograde in an Earth sign — some have found it brings physical challenges, bumping their head, or stubbing a toe, whereas others have things break like the stove or their car.

I could go on, but it’s been a fascinating exploration to see that in a specific element, individuals have reoccurring challenges.

The Elements

Here’s a little primer on the Elements (you’ll need this later.)

Air signs will usually get along with other air signs, water with water, fire with fire, and so on. As a basic rule of thumb, fire and air signs are compatible together (think oxygen plus flame), while water and earth signs are compatible together (think of rain and plants). Fire and water signs together can be dramatic and passionate, but it often leads to extinguished fire (energy) and scalded water (emotions). Earth and air together can talk for hours, but there could be a lack of emotional bonding. Emily Anne, Elite Daily, Zodiac Element Meanings Can Tell You A Lot About Yourself And Your Attractions

Mercury in Your Chart — Exploring All of This More Deeply

If you want to take all of this deeper, you want to have an understanding of where Mercury is in your chart.

Although your Sun Sign can play a role here, (your Sun Sign is the astrological sign that you were born under,) it isn’t where we want to be focusing in order to explore just what Mercury is trying to teach you. You want to look at which sign and house Mercury is in for you.

If you don’t have your chart, pop over to Astro.com and you can get it for free.

(These instructions work on a computer.)

Create an account, enter your birth information, and then do this:

1. From the home page click on Free Horoscopes along the top.

2. Scroll down to Personality

3. Find and Click on Astro Click Portrait

4. Find where Mercury is in your chart (It looks like a circle with a + with a half circle on its head mercury ☿ )

5. Click on the Sign of the House, the House #, and on Mercury to gather more info.

Here’s my chart. Mercury is in my 2nd House and my 2nd House is in Sagittarius. I’ve marked the areas with Orange Arrows. In your Astro Click Portrait, you simply click on those areas and a window will open to the right with information about what these areas mean.

You want to identify in what house your Mercury is, what sign, and what the sign’s element is. So again for me, my Mercury is in my Second House, in Sagittarius, which is a Fire sign.

Once you have this, you can start to explore more deeply the energetics of each Mercury Retrograde as it pertains to you. As I said, you can explore how Mercury impacts you without knowing all this information, but this just gives you a deeper level of information to explore.

You want to consider which house your Mercury is in, the element, and then what sign and element Mercury is going retrograde into.

So for example this Retrograde, Mercury is in Aquarius which is an Air sign. My Mercury is in Sagittarius which is a Fire Sign. Air fuels fire. The second house is about money and ideas for making money or having money.

So for each retrograde, I want to observe what happens in and around my life. When Mercury is Retrograde in a particular element, does it have reoccurring effects on my life and in what areas of my life? What happens to the things related to the house my Mercury is in? Is there a pattern based on the elements? In other words, it isn’t just that Mercury goes Retrograde, it’s exploring how it impacts you based on the sign and element it moves into.

I mentioned the water issues we have when Mercury is Retrograded in an air element. When it is Retrograde in an earth element I tend to bump myself (head, knee, stubbed toe,) when it’s in a fire element I experience a barrage of glass breaking, and when it’s in an air sign, I should stay out of the kitchen because three visits from the Fire Department within a two week period is just too much.

Once you’ve tracked what happens it can definitely help you plan better.

Can we avoid what’s coming, maybe (see Step Two) but often not, so you can at least be prepared and minimize it? For example, I started having the septic pumped or at least checked when I know we are coming into a Retrograde where water is going to be my challenge. I spend a little money, but nowhere near what I would when the septic would back up and it was an emergency call. (Remember Mercury is in my money house!)

Step Two

Step two is to figure out just exactly what Mercury Retrograde is trying to teach us.

The Simple Answer

At the very core, Mercury’s lesson is to live our lives in Alignment. Yup, it’s that simple. If we live in alignment with our higher self, we do not get caught up in the energies of the Mercury Retrograde. That means right living, that means conscious awareness, that means clarity and certainty.

It’s simple, but it isn’t necessarily easy.

That’s why I create an Energetic Guide for each Retrograde and why I hold a Masterclass each Retrograde to explore what we are working on and how it will be showing up.

Remember, at the root of all of this is learning, healing, and growing as Spiritual beings.

The More Complex Answer

Mercury is asking you to notice where you are unconscious, where you live out of alignment, and asking you to get on or stay on the most direct path.

When you think about it, it makes sense that this is the lesson Mercury shares. When it goes Retrograde, it appears to move back over it’s own path, giving it an opportunity to correct and address anything it encounters that didn’t work, doesn’t work, or isn’t part of its next step moving forward.

When it goes Retrograde, it’s giving you the same opportunity.

One Last Thing

There is no ‘hard & fast rule here. What I’m putting forward is a space for you to explore and learn what you can about yourself as it pertains to Mercury Retrograde. How the elements impact you will be unique to you. It may be obvious — like fire extinguishes water, or water evaporates in fire, or it may not make any sense at first — like what does Earth & Fire have to do with each other?

If you choose to explore Mercury in this way, approach it from a place of curiosity. Like you are a detective putting the pieces together to solve a mystery.