Aquarius season is nearly upon us! But before the Sun moves into the fixed air sign next week, Mercury stations retrograde on the 14th of January.

Mercury retrogrades are very common. They happen consistently, three or four times a year, when the planet’s apparent motion makes it seem like it is moving backwards. This means that they are a kind of transit we’ve moved through up til now – before we were even aware of them – and will continue to move through for the rest of our lives. We know how to live with them. This doesn’t mean we don’t feel their impacts, but those tend to be more short-term.

As I’ve discussed before, the way you experience any transit is determined by your individual birth chart. In the case of Mercury retrogrades, people who will most consistently feel a difference are Gemini and Virgo risings, because of Mercury’s importance in their chart. Other factors to look out for are whether the retrograde is happening in your rising sign, and/or whether it is passing over or stationing (‘turning’) close to any significant planets in your chart (I’m excluding Uranus, Neptune and Pluto here).

This particular retrograde starts with Mercury in Aquarius and ends with Mercury in Capricorn, connecting and continuing some of the sky-stories of the past year. One of those stories is the square between Saturn in Aquarius and Uranus in Taurus, which started in February 2021. This aspect asks us to contend with questions around pressure, change and how we relate to the world around us in the midst of tension.

What plans or ways to create long-term structure are no longer working for you? How can you make enough space to grieve things that have become impossible? What do you need to hold onto your most revolutionary dreams in the midst of so much uncertainty? Which narratives, rules and limitations are helpful, and which are holding you back from agency?

Although the two planets have begun to separate this month, they are still interacting closely as Mercury stations retrograde close to Saturn. This transit, then, may well ask us to slow down and reflect on where we are in relation to those questions. Mercury is archetypally a messenger, a boundary-crosser, a mover between worlds, a storyteller. I also think of them as a weaver, holding and creating with threads of information. In their retrograde form, journeying into the underworld, they are a psychopomp accompanying the souls of the dead into the afterlife. With this retrograde happening in Saturn’s sign, themes and stories from the past year could arise, especially in the Aquarius and Taurus parts of your chart.

In many ways, Mercury retrogrades flip things around in our day to day lives. This means we have to deal with disruption, mistakes and obstacles differently than usual. Like the Hanged Man in tarot, we also learn to surrender, accept and make internal changes. It is a good idea, nonetheless, to communicate as much as possible around your boundaries, needs and plans. And to back up your electronics! With Mercury stationing square Uranus, it never hurts to make sure your digital resources are secure.

On the 23rd of January, Mercury forms a cazimi by conjoining and passing through the heart of the Sun. This might reveal or shed more light on what the transit means for you before the planet dips back into Capricorn.

Once in Saturn’s other sign, Mercury quickly makes contact with Pluto. This connects to another story from last year’s transits – the ongoing Venus retrograde, which started with a Pluto conjunction. Mercury, then, is both bringing and retrieving information from the Capricorn house in our charts, weaving together the cardinal and fixed threads of both arcs. With Venus still moving backwards, we will likely be reminded of the deep and possibly difficult relational work we’re currently undertaking.

Mercury doesn’t stray far from Pluto while it is in Capricorn, but it still makes another exact pass over the outer planet after it stations direct on the 4th of February. By then, Venus has also begun to move forward, and Mercury is ready to carry Pluto’s lessons around control, grief and subterranean richness forward into Aquarius.

In light of the different strands moving together over this period of time, here is a spread that you can use if you could use some information around what’s happening. I can’t stress this enough, though, it’s fine not to pick up your deck if you’re already feeling overwhelmed. Or to ask your own questions! Whatever works best for you, I hope this provides some form of support if you do try it.

Card 1 – How does this retrograde fit into the (Saturn-Uranus) story of 2021-2022?

Card 2 – Where am I being asked to pause and reflect?

Card 3 – What is transforming now?

Card 4 – What is here to support me in grounding?

Card 5 – How can I best integrate this information?

Astrology can be a lot of information because there’s always something happening in the sky, and it can be incredibly useful. But – and yes I’m aware of the irony of ending a post this way – we move through the cycles of the planets in embodied and non-intellectual ways all the time. Understanding is only helpful to the extent that it gives us agency, so trust yourself. You’re the one living these stories. Trust that you’re doing your best, and that if there’s one thing astrology teaches us, it’s the certainty of change and connections through time.

My reminder for this Mercury retrograde is that you’re allowed to choose what information you take in, and where, and how you use it. Sometimes we work things out through processes of elimination, trial and error, and maybe that’s necessary. You’re testing to see what will hold, what structures will stand the test of time, and part of the process is that not all of them will. Let yourself experiment, fail and hold contradictions. I hope you can take the best care of yourself possible through this, and that the spread can offer some support if you try it. Until next time!

MERCURY RETROGRADE IN AQUARIUS

AQUARIUS SEASON

FIVE OF CUPS