When To Expect The Next Mercury Retrograde And How It Will Affect Us

When Mercury is in retrograde, it’s often blamed for everything, even when it isn’t Mercury’s fault. But what does “retrograde” even mean? Is Mercury in retrograde right now? And why does it seem like it’s always happening? Here is your complete guide to surviving the next Mercury retrograde:

1. What does “retrograde” really mean?

When Mercury is in retrograde, it’s orbit around the sun is just slowing down. From Earth, it looks like it’s going backwards, but sadly (as cool as that would be) it’s not actually going backwards. It’s like watching a car that was going faster than you slow down while you continue at the same speed. It looks like that other car is going backwards, when really it just changed its speed. So while Mercury decides to take a little nap for about 3 weeks, everything the planet rules over goes haywire.

2. What does Mercury do?

Mercury is responsible for many important things, including communication, travel/transportation, coding, electricity, contracts, and trade. Also, Mercury is the ancient Roman name for the god Hermes, who, like the planet in retrograde, is widely known for being a trickster and having generally mischievous behavior.

3. When is the next Mercury retrograde?

The next Mercury retrograde will happen between July 26 and August 19, so buy your sage now and start preparing for the retrograde madness.

4. What to expect and how to handle it

What happens during this period and how we are affected greatly depends on what sign we are in when Mercury begins its retrograde. In this case, it’s in Leo. During a retrograde in Leo, be prepared for inflated egos and extra snobby people. These are two Leo traits that at this time will be emphasized even more in everyone. You may also find yourself being more impatient than normal. A Leo retrograde will spark very intense emotions in all of us, which combined with the temporarily wonky communication skills we’ll most likely have, do not add up to a great conversation. This may cause rough patches between you and your friends or significant other.

You may be itching to do things like start new projects, or buy products you’ve been on the fence about, but these should take a backseat for now until the retrograde is over. While any retrograde is happening, it is best to stay away from buying or selling important things. This is definitely not the time to go apartment hunting.

5. How to turn the retrograde into a positive

No matter when Mercury is in retrograde, a good “safety” tip is to have plenty of backup plans and to always leave extra time for travel. Mercury likes to screw with coding and transportation, so things like subways might be even more temperamental than usual. It’s hard to tell just what Mercury will mess with on any given day, but it is definitely a good idea to have more than just a “Plan A” while it’s on vacation. While you can’t put your life on hold just because some planet decided to take 3 weeks off on it’s job, you can take this time to be reflective and go over all the plans you may have.

People will blame the next Mercury in retrograde for everything, just like they do every time. Even though most of the time, it isn’t Mercury’s fault! They can’t help it, it’s just their time to slow down and take a break. Be like Mercury during this time: take a break, analyze the things that Mercury throws out of whack, and see how you can make them better! You can survive this Mercury mess!

What’s your best advice for how to survive the next Mercury retrograde? Please share it with us in the comments below!