Mercury Retrograde 2023 – The Ultimate Survivor Guide
If you’re familiar with the term “Mercury retrograde,” odds are you don’t have good feelings about it. “Oh, no, not again!” is the usual reaction to learning that one is coming up. Here is how to handle the Mercury Retrograde 2023 cycles.
How to Handle Mercury Retrograde Cycles in 2023
Take heart! It doesn’t mean the sky is falling. Mercury retrograde is not a freak occurrence, much less the end of the world. It’s a regular phenomenon that happens three or four times a year. We can’t stop it, but we can understand and work with it. Read on for how.
Already know how a Mercury retrograde works? Scroll down for Mercury Retrograde 2023’s details.
What Does Mercury Retrograde Mean?
First, the technicalities: Mercury is retrograde when it looks from the earth as if it’s traveling backward. That’s an optical illusion, of course, and it happens when Mercury’s orbital speed changes in comparison to the earth’s. It’s the planetary equivalent of speeding up on a highway, passing a car, and seeing it fall far behind after you in the rearview mirror.
How this works: When Mercury is retrograde, the areas of life it governs do not play by the usual rules. Anything related to communication and travel requires extra attention. This includes phones, computers, electronic devices, mail, cars, public transportation, and commutes.
Our information flow is always a casualty. Messages go astray. Misunderstandings, confusion, half-truths, and deception are rampant. Both sides of a conversation may use the same words, but the words may not have the same meaning. Or expectations and assumptions may differ.
Vehicles of communication also misfire. Anything with inherent instability hits the breaking point. Technology malfunctions. Websites and networks go down. Programs stop working. Tasks that should be ordinary turn into a gauntlet of error messages and troubleshooting.
Getting around is also a challenge. Traffic snarls. Travel gets delayed. Buses don’t arrive. Cars break down. Detours pop up and complicate your route.
What should you do?
Postpone launching major projects, signing major contracts, and buying big-ticket items if possible. (You may not have complete or accurate information; the subject or purpose may not be what you think it is.) Instead, double-check fine print, backup your data, and allow lots of extra time when you’re on the road.
Watch for opportunities for a do-over, which may initially show up as unraveling or restructuring. Mercury retrograde is also an excellent time to investigate and research, finish old business, clean up paperwork and get in touch with people you haven’t talked to in a while. Pay attention to who surfaces from the past, in person, or in thought. Their reappearance could help tie up loose ends or resolve lingering business. Organize and prepare so you’ll be ready to move ahead when Mercury does.
Mercury Retrogrades in 2023
First, the details. In 2023, Mercury is retrograde from:
January 1 – 18, going from 23 Capricorn to 8 Capricorn;
April 21 – May 14, going from 15 Taurus to 5 Taurus;
August 23 – September 15, going from 21 to 8 Virgo: and
December 13 – January 2, 2024, going from 8 Capricorn to 22 Sagittarius.
Look for effects before and after these dates. Communication and transportation matters usually start slowing (or growing complicated) a couple of days before a retrograde begins. The day of the retrograde station (when Mercury appears to be motionless, as it appears to change direction) can feel as if time has stopped altogether.
The same sensation returns when Mercury stations direct. Communication and transportation matters don’t suddenly speed up once the retrograde ends, either. Give the planet time to get moving again. Wait a few days after Mercury stations direct before resuming business as usual.
All of Mercury’s 2023 retrogrades take place in earth signs, complicating – and inviting review of – real-world practicalities. Expect the pace to slow. Life will sometimes feel as if snafus and details are playing out in slo-mo or suspended in the air or time (especially during the second retrograde, in Taurus). Concrete effects and ramifications will be an ongoing theme.
The first, third, and fourth retrogrades have a characteristic in common besides being on earth. Each has Mercury stationing at 8 degrees earth. That’s the degree of the direct station for the first and third and of the retrograde station for the fourth. If you have planets or angles at 8 degrees of any element (or within a degree or two on either side), look for turning points involving that placement. Also, note that the last retrograde starts where the first one stops, suggesting a storyline that will be going further back.
First Mercury Retrograde 2023
The first retrograde, from January 1 – 18, in Capricorn, has a serious, time-to-suit-up vibe. The first two weeks come with a double dose of the usual retrograde phenomena because Mars is also retrograde, in Mercury-ruled Gemini, until January 12. The coinciding creates a “hurry up and wait” dynamic. Bottom line: Ease into the year.
Dates to Watch:
Windows to imagination, inspiration, and being kindly disposed of open when Mercury sextiles Neptune on January 2.
Breakthroughs, epiphanies, and helpful information unexpectedly dropping come when Mercury trines Uranus on January 8.
Second Mercury Retrograde 2023
The second retrograde, from April 21 – May 14, in Taurus, puts money and comforts center stage. Conversations are the opposite of theoretical; we’re looking at what’s right in front of us, in small, slow, digestible steps. The retrograde paves the way for the May 5 Taurus lunar eclipse because it begins a few minutes away from the eclipse degree.
Dates to Watch:
Look for opportunities to walk your talk or put concrete ideas into action (comfort above all!) when Mercury sextiles Mars in Cancer on April 23. Clarity about your thinking and your worth (self and financial) come when Mercury conjuncts the Sun on May 1.
Eyes and hearts wide open May 12! Sextiles from Mercury to Saturn in Pisces and Venus in Cancer offer to ground, stabilizing bordering on magical, caring, and love. The line-up bodes well for researching family and ancestral matters. It also supports digging up recipes for comfort food. Seriously.
Third Mercury Retrograde 2023
The third retrograde, from August 23 – September 15, in Virgo, is analytical, evaluative, and nit-picky. There’s potential for criticism and fault-finding, but also for cleaning up, re-organizing, and rectifying. Your thinking, at a minimum.
Dates to Watch:
Details pay off in a big way, even financially, when Mercury trines Jupiter in Taurus (as Jupiter stations retrograde) on September 4. Whatever you discover or encounter then may continue to unspool during Jupiter’s retrograde through December 3.
Personal clarity arrives when Mercury meets the Sun on September 6 (but take care not to fixate on flaws).
Fourth Mercury Retrograde 2023
The final retrograde, from December 13 – January 2, 2024, revives the solemnity and long-term, practical focus of Mercury’s retrograde visit to Capricorn at the beginning of the year and then moves into higher energy, philosophical terrain. It picks up where the first retrograde left off and backs us out of de- and re-constructing priorities and foundations (the theme of Pluto’s journey through Capricorn) into a review of what we believe to be true.
Once Mercury returns to Sagittarius on December 23, minds and information streams become more animated, impassioned, and inclined toward the theoretical than they’ve been during Mercury’s retrogrades this year. So watch out for foot-in-mouth disease and intellectual superiority and for issues returning involving politics and policy, education, the media, and foreign affairs.
Dates to Watch:
Conversations and information with long-term value occur when Mercury trines Jupiter in Taurus on December 18.
Mercury sextiles Saturn in Pisces on December 21 and offers to ground, stabilizing bordering on magical, and reward for hard work.
Mercury re-enters Sagittarius on December 23.
Snafus, confusion, and gaslighting spiral into overdrive when Mercury meets Mars, and the pair squares Neptune in Pisces on December 27.
Learn more about the cosmic messenger in Kathy’s Mercury Intensive.
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About the Author
Kathy Biehl is a professional astrologer with more than 30 years of experience. She has been translating astrology for the mainstream since high school and has a knack for combining humor and pop culture with her guidance. Visit EmpowermentUnlimited.net to sign up for her mailing list, listen to her forecasts, and book a session for her. Find her on Facebook at Empowerment Unlimited and the Astro-Insight Lounge, and on YouTube at the Professional Aquarian Channel. Listen to her radio show Celestial Compass on OM Times Radio
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