and now there's mercury retrograde

horoscopes included

Hi friends,

Tomorrow is the last day to register for Astrology for Writers: How to Make Your Writing Work For You! Remember: use the code “solstice” for a $100 discount!

And now — let’s talk about Mercury Retrograde. As always, mini horoscopes are at the end, if you’d like to skip down.

Xx,

Jeanna

---

To really understand Mercury Retrograde, we have to return to the source.

Mercury — or Hermes — is the consummate messenger. The patron of travelers and thieves, of grain farmers and general commerce, of luck and mischief, Mercury is the kind of deity who runs true neutral: neither good nor bad, chaotic or lawful — but rather, aligning however it suits in the moment, seeing the value of all perspectives. Capable of shape-shifting across a multiplicity of states of being. 

Perhaps most importantly, the winged-shoed god could travel from Olympus to the underworld and everything in between — the only Olympian who could traverse all realms. 

And that’s the Greco-Roman god who was the patron of communication and writers. The one who can embody all perspectives. The one who can go from heaven to hell and back again. 

Or, as they’ve most recently incarnated in the Broadway musical Hadestown, as the narrator of it all: the “man with feathers on his feet / who could help you to your final destination,” because “someone’s got to tell the tale / whether or not it turns out well.” 

*

To look up the word mercurial is to witness a litany of definitions once associated with this ancient messenger, long since lost to history and especially the Enlightenment. As we read beneath the “mercurial” entry in the Oxford English Dictionary, 

2. Astrology. A person born under the influence of the planet Mercury, or having the qualities supposed to result from such a birth; a lively, quick-witted, or volatile person;

The inventiveness of Mercury has been kept in the English language’s rotation of associations, but less so the fact that Mercury — like Coyote, Eshu, Loki — is a trickster. There has been a methodical culling of Mercury’s chaotic neutral, as it were. 

For the Greeks, and then the Romans, the god of language — oral and written both — was also the god of trickery and criminality and the liminal space in which creativity thrives when ungoverned by law: of holding things lightly, lightly, ever so lightly. The god who was willing to work with the underworld to get the job done. 

Mercury has a lot to teach us about tricking the creative process. About what we hold sacred and why. 

*

So, Mercury Retrogrades. I often think that Mercury, were they here, would laugh themselves silly at the sanctity with which so many treat these periods of time. Are these weeks invitations to revise and edit our work? Surely. But the seriousness and fear which accompany them are capitalism’s doing.  

Inevitably, during these weeks, I am asked a variation of this simple question: What am I allowed to do during Mercury Retrograde?

(I do not think Mercury would ask this question.)

And that is not, of course, the entire question people are asking me, an adult that they often don’t know that well. The actual question being asked, upon closer inspection, is, What can I do that is guaranteed not to fail?

(Another question Mercury would have opinions about.) 

Anyway, you know the answer to that question. There are no guarantees in life, or in the stars — the one guarantee is, perhaps, that some things will fail, but that we will get to learn from them. 

(As Mercury/Hermes sings in the opening number of Hadestown: “someone’s got to tell the tale / whether or not it turns out well.” Why can’t the person telling the tale be you?)

What I can offer are some practical reminders about the upcoming few weeks, like that Mercury rules technology and that an uptick in tech fails are one of the hallmarks of such retrogrades. Do make a note to back up your hard drive and make sure your Google Drive and Dropbox and whatnot are syncing.

If you have to sign a contract, do it (the one day to definitely avoid doing so, February 10th, is listed in horoscopes below). Have the Author’s Guild review any book or agent contracts. Dot your i’s and cross your t’s. Common sense. 

Otherwise — put on those winged shoes, and see where you fly. 

---

Horoscopes for Mercury Rx

This year, all Mercury Retrogrades will be in air signs. First up: Aquarius. If you’re like, god, enough with all the Aquarius talk already… well, listen, the Aquarius zone of your chart is getting a lot of action this year, set up by the Great Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn that sparked it all in December 2020. Right now, Mercury is coming through to really highlight the ideas that are going to set up your year and how you’re going to be communicating all of those Big Life Themes you’re working with. 

Mercury will be retrograde from January 30, 2021 - February 20, 2021. 

Aries & Aries Rising

What you’re reviewing & revising: How and why you commit to the communities, organizations, and networks you care about and invest in. The friendships that fill your days, old and new. The hopes & dreams that fuel you.

Tough corners & conflicts, especially between friends & money/value: February 10

Auspicious conversations with friends & abundant, dream-based connections: February 12 & 14

Taurus & Taurus Rising

What you’re reviewing & revising: Your long-term career goals. The public roles you’re known for, and want to be known for. Important professional conversations and debates. The legacy you’re building toward, that you want to leave behind.  

Tough corners & conflicts, especially having to do with your public persona vis a vis your sense of self: February 10

Auspicious professional conversations & abundant career opportunities: February 12 & 14

Gemini & Gemini Rising

What you’re reviewing & revising: Anything you’re publishing, from columns to book projects. Educational responsibilities, both as a teacher and a student. Long-term plans. The beliefs that are at the foundation of your life, whether religious, spiritual, or secular. 

Tough corners & conflicts relating to plans and beliefs that dig up unconscious patterns and assumptions: February 10

Auspicious conversations & abundant adventures, especially around intellectual or spiritual topics: February 12 & 14

Cancer & Cancer Rising

What you’re reviewing & revising: The resources you share and build with others. Creative co-creation and collaboration — and the agreements you have with collaborators. Any unfinished business with taxes, debts, and inheritance. How you care for your mental health.

Tough corners & conflicts, especially when it comes to the communities you’re building with and for: February 10

Auspicious conversations with collaborators & abundant co-creation: February 12 & 14

Leo & Leo Rising

What you’re reviewing & revising: Conversations, agreements, and assumptions with committed partners. Contracts and plans with agents, co-writers, long-time editors, and other business partners.  

Tough corners & conflicts, especially highlighting tension between your public life and your partnerships: February 10

Auspicious, stimulating conversations & abundant, buoyant experiences with partners: February 12 & 14

Virgo & Virgo Rising

What you’re reviewing & revising: Communication in and about your daily work life. How you work, where you want to work, who you want to work with. Relationships with coworkers, bosses, and/or regular clients. How your work habits are impacting your body. 

Tough corners & conflicts, especially between your long-term plans and how you make your money in a daily way: February 10

Auspicious conversations & abundant opportunities at work: February 12 & 14

Libra & Libra Rising

What you’re reviewing & revising: Your creative ideas and inspiration — the inputs and outputs, both. Your need and desire for both pleasure and play, and how you think about those things. Romances. Communication with important children in your life. 

Tough corners & conflicts, especially between your creative and romantic life and your collaborations and resources: February 10

Auspicious connections & abundant inspirations: February 12 & 14

Scorpio & Scorpio Rising

What you’re reviewing & revising: Connections and relationships with family, natal or chosen. What, even, is family to you. What you consider home and why. Your roots and heritage, and what you want to know, or not know. 

Tough corners & conflicts, especially between family and home vis a vis committed partnership: February 10

Auspicious realizations & abundant healing in your private life: February 12 & 14

Sagittarius & Sagittarius Rising

What you’re reviewing & revising: Communication in daily life, such as texts. Daily routines and rituals, such as journaling or working on a book project. The way that writing is and isn’t working for you on a daily basis. Relationships with siblings, extended family, and close friends. 

Tough corners & conflicts, especially between your daily work life and daily routines: February 10

Auspicious conversations & abundant connections that help the writing flow: February 12 & 14

Capricorn & Capricorn Rising

What you’re reviewing & revising: Your budget. How you spend and save money. How you make money. Income streams you want to bring in. Income streams that have dried up. How you talk about what you value. 

Tough corners & conflicts, especially between your creativity and your financial life: February 10

Auspicious conversations about value & abundant monetary opportunities: February 12 & 14

Aquarius & Aquarius Rising

What you’re reviewing & revising: How you talk to yourself about yourself. Your “brand” or persona, and what you do and don’t like about it. The identities you’re comfortable sharing and the ones you aren’t. How you present yourself to the world. 

Tough corners & conflicts, especially between your sense of self and familial or cultural expectations: February 10

Auspicious conversations & abundant healing coming to and through you: February 12 & 14

Pisces & Pisces Rising

What you’re reviewing & revising: Your dreams and fantasies. The subconscious that is making itself conscious. The processing that is happening behind-the-scenes. The creative projects that are still in cocoon phase, that haven’t yet been birthed.  

Tough corners & conflicts, especially between your daily habits and routines and the subconscious activity that is disrupting or guiding them: February 10

Auspicious awakenings & feeling supported in your inner life: February 12 & 14