What Mercury Retrograde Actually Describes

Mercury retrograde is not the planet moving backwards. As Earth passes Mercury on the inside track, the planet appears to drift backwards against the stars — the same way a car you overtake seems to fall behind. This is called apparent motion, and it is a matter of calculation, not opinion.

When does it happen?

Mercury appears retrograde three times a year, for roughly three weeks each time. The dates are not guessed; they fall out of the ephemeris, at the moment the planet's ecliptic longitude starts to decrease between two measurements.

What it means in astrology

Mercury is associated with speech, writing, contracts and short journeys. The retrograde period is not read as those areas closing, but as their being revisited:

• Reading again, writing again, meeting again
• Returning to unfinished work
• Weighing a rushed decision one more time

Which house the retrograde falls in differs from person to person, so a single reading for everyone would be wrong. Spatyom's sky calendar shows where it lands in your own chart.

Retrograde is a change of tempo, not an obstacle.