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.