Just as a refresher, Mercury is the planet of communication, information, logic, and transportation. When it goes retrograde, it’s not actually moving backwards, but it does appear to be from our perspective on Earth—and subsequently, Mercury-related themes can get turned on their heads.
Things like communication mishaps, technological errors, and travel delays are to be expected, and that includes during the multi-week shadow period before and after each Mercury retrograde, as well.
Astrologer Jennifer Racioppi tells mbg that we’re looking at September 9 through October 2 for this retrograde. “Mercury goes retrograde on the 9th at eight degrees of Libra, and then it goes from eight degrees all the way to zero degrees of Libra, moving into Virgo, and stationing direct at 24 degrees of Virgo on the 2nd,” she explains.
For the first half of this Mercury retrograde, while it’s in Libra, astrologer Molly Pennington, Ph.D., tells mbg that Libra themes may be at the forefront: “It’s about our friends, social issues in general, communication, equity, etc.,” she says. And then, when it moves into Virgo, Virgo themes like health, service, and organization may be more prevalent.
