Hey friends, it is Jamie. I did not realize how many people hear Mercury is retrograde and have no idea what that means. So let us fix that.

Mercury is the planet of communication. In mythology he was the messenger, carrying word from the gods to us and from us back to them. In the later years he picked up this trickster reputation, which is annoying, but the part I love about him is the original job. He was the one entrusted with the message.

He goes retrograde three or four times a year for about three weeks. From where we are standing on Earth, he appears to move backward in his orbit. He is not actually moving backward. Everything out there is going the same direction. It is a matter of vantage point.

Mercury rules two signs, Gemini and Virgo. Gemini is mutable air, the one asking all the questions like an investigative journalist. Virgo is mutable earth, the one keeping it simple and getting it resolved. Both of them are quick, both of them communicate, so of course Mercury has them both.

The way I work with a retrograde is as a re-evaluation. Things slow down because the energy has stationed and appears to be moving backward, and that is the invitation to go back over what you have been coasting on. I use it to look at how I am talking to myself and how I am talking to other people. Am I listening. Am I paying attention.

Mercury retrograde is not out to get you. It is here to point out where something needs to be cleared up or changed and you have been glossing over it.

People will tell you not to sign anything. That was the standard wisdom for a long time, and honestly, if you have to sign something, you sign it. The useful version is this: you are signing during a retrograde, so ask another question. Is there something here I am not seeing? You can even ask the universe directly. Universe, is there something I need to be aware of that I am not thinking about right now.

The picture I always come back to is butterflies migrating. They get blown off course, they sit a second, they recalibrate, and then they start flying again. That is a retrograde. It wants to make sure you are pointed in the right direction before you pick up speed.

Now look at where this one is landing. Mercury is retrograde at 25 degrees of Cancer. Jupiter has just entered Leo at 0 degrees. The south node is at 0 degrees of Virgo and the north node at 0 degrees of Pisces. Those zero degree marks are karmic turning points. The nodes always start at 30 and count down, so arriving at 0 means the lesson is finished.

South node is what we are leaving behind, and it is in Virgo, the resolver. That is a very specific instruction. This is where we stop fixing everybody else's life. You can work alongside people. It is not your job to resolve them. That is hard for empaths and anybody who likes to be of service, which is most of the people who read this.

So during these three weeks, listen for what you are saying out loud. If it sounds like these people will not make it without me, and it is costing you everything you have, notice it. Start a different sentence.

There is a grand trine holding this. Black Moon Lilith in Capricorn, cardinal earth, trining the south node in Virgo, trining Chiron at 0 degrees of Taurus. Lilith knows how to be in right relationship and she is not submissive, she is not going to let people keep stacking things on her. Chiron is the wounded healer who got shot with the arrow and eventually healed himself. If you are sitting there thinking I do not know how, but I am ready to stop carrying this, that trine wants to move it through.

Jupiter at 0 degrees of Leo is sextiling Sedna. Sedna is the Inuit goddess who was betrayed by her father, thrown overboard, her fingers cut off when she tried to climb back in. Her story and Chiron's are both about great pain and then transformation, and they are both about coming back to trusting yourself.

Both nodes are about to move out of feminine signs and into masculine ones. That is worth sitting with, because divine masculine energy is what makes you feel safe. When your masculine and feminine are working together, you feel safe. So this is a good three weeks to ask yourself plainly: do I feel safe? Do I trust my thoughts? Do I trust my feelings?

If the answer is not really, do not spiritually bypass it and do not beat yourself up about it. Just note it, and then decide where you want to go from the present moment. Retrogrades are good at pinpointing exactly the places where we are still trying to build from old feelings and old events.

So use the three weeks. Maybe the wisest thing you do with them is take an actual break. And if you sign something, do not freak out. Whatever needs to be shown will be shown.