The Jester's tricks will last all month long.
Welcome to your Mercury retrograde guide! Here you'll find all the details of the retrograde itself, including the station dates, sign/degree of the station, and the astrological energy of the planet as a whole. You'll also find your personalized retrograde guide based on your rising sign! This guide is meant to help you navigate the retrograde energy and see it as an opportunity for growth. Mercury retrogrades are like using spellcheck. They give us an opportunity to go back and edit something we might not have gotten exactly right the first time. These guides are meant to be just that, guides. They aren't going to tell you how to escape the retrograde or dodge its influence. What they will do though is give you a better understanding of the energy at hand. I hope they help you to see retrogrades as opportunities rather than obstacles.
I'll also be including advice from my tarot cards in each of the guides. The card for each rising sign will further refine as to how we can make the best of this astrological event. So, sit back, relax, and don't fear the retrograde. I promise we'll get through it together. Also, "Rx" means retrograde and "Dx" means direct. That's just some shorthand you'll see me use throughout the post.
The Conditions of Mercury
The last time we had to think about Mercury retrograde was at the very beginning of the calendar year. Mercury started 2024 off with a bang and last stationed direct on January 1st of this year. Since then it’s been business as usual, as least where Mercury is concerned. We’re finally about to have our first full Mercury retrograde of this year and it comically begins on April Fool’s Day. This is not a joke or a drill, Mercury actually stations retrograde on April 1st. While that does feel ominous at best, let’s break down the conditions of Mercury, the energy of the transit, and what major aspects it’ll be making throughout the retrograde period. Knowing what we’re up against will hopefully quell any anxiety the ominous station date instills.
This retrograde is happening in the sign of cardinal Fire, otherwise known as, Aries. Mercury doesn’t have dignity in either direction in Aries, so we aren’t working with a detriment or a domicile. We’re going to see the characteristic fire of Aries come through the realm of intellect, communication, and the mind, so we know this retrograde may be slightly flammable. The area of your life that Mercury is transiting is subject to disagreements, heated debates, or require you to assert yourself more than usual. At their core, Mercury retrogrades are about revisiting and revising. It’s a time when we get to go back and double check our work or get another go at something that didn’t go so well the first time. Old passions might be reignited or you might find the energy to check off those things on your checklist that you keep pushing aside. Cardinal Fire wants to charge ahead at all costs, but the Rx is saying that you might need to go double back before you can move ahead. Mercury will have been transiting Aries since March 9th, so the energy itself shouldn’t be surprising. We’ve been feeling this go-getter haste for a few weeks, but now it’s slowing down and we’re having to potentially look before we leap.
The other key player we need to keep in mind for this retrograde is Mars. Why Mars? Because Mercury is going to be under the sign of Aries and Aries is ruled by Mars. Throughout the entirety of the retrograde, Mars will be in Pisces. This is giving the energy of pushing boundaries and chasing dreams. This makes it feel like the retrograde is showing us what’s necessary in order to move forward with your goals, ambitions, and cut through any illusions standing in your way. Mars will be transiting near Saturn the entire time, so there’s a seriousness to this retrograde that makes it feel like we can really make moves and come out of it more prepared. Sometimes cardinal Fire can get ahead of itself, so having to slow down and think for a moment might not be the worst thing in the world. Frustrating yes, but end of the world, no. Mercury will also be making some intense conjunctions throughout the retrograde. We have conjunctions with Chiron, the Sun, Venus, and Rahu. The Rahu and Chiron conjunctions indicate this might be a time of intense healing or picking at our wounds. We’re liable to hurt our own feelings during this time simply because we got impatient, forgot to use our words properly, or let our anger get the best of us. Don’t expect to hit the mark every time during this retrograde. In fact, I’d say the times you miss the mark are the ones that will end up bearing the most fruit and teach you what you needed to learn in order to hit the ground running when Mercury stations direct.
Below are both charts for when Mercury stations Rx and Dx: