What Is Mercury Retrograde?

In this talk, El discusses what Mercury Retrograde is, what it does to our daily life, and advice in navigating it. They also share some channeled messages surrounding how to navigate this Mercury Retrograde and what to expect. They do not discuss in depth about the astrology around Mercury Retrograde but rather the energetic influence it has on our lives. This talk was recorded live on Insight Timer on May 8, 2022 and is referring to the May 10-June 3, 2022 Mercury Retrograde.

Transcript

So,

Mercury retrograde.

You always hear people blaming everything on it.

And this Mercury retrograde officially starts on May 10th,

2022.

This,

The Mercury retrograde I'm talking about.

And we'll go all the way until June 3rd.

Now,

With Mercury retrograde,

There is something called the pre-shadow period and the post-shadow period,

Which is around two weeks where the energy is kind of lingering.

So for me,

These last two weeks have been full of miscommunications and being clumsy.

I always,

I talked about a little bit before here that during the pre-shadow period,

I start spilling water.

And I think probably,

If not twice a day,

Every day the last week,

At least once I have spilled some sort of water.

If it's on myself,

If it's on the ground,

If it's on the countertop.

And I don't,

I don't know if anyone else relates to that,

But for me,

It's a sign of needing to take things slow.

In Mercury retrograde,

We can expect breaking things,

Spilling things,

Losing things,

Having miscommunications,

Glitching in technology or any technology issues.

A lot of people say that during Mercury retrograde or before,

You should back up your phone,

Back up your computer,

Any sort of technology that you want to back it up on a hard drive.

There can be a lot of technology glitching and issues and for no reason.

I'm putting that in air quotes because we can see that Mercury retrograde may be the reason that these things are happening.

Some people are skeptical.

Some people say,

No,

I spilled water yesterday on myself.

It has to be because Mercury retrograde.

To each their own.

I definitely like to navigate the Mercury retrograde and notice when I break things or if I forget to respond to a text or I play phone tag with somebody for a few days.

Little injuries here and there,

Totally normal.

And just a little reminder of,

You know,

Staying grounded,

Trying to stay as centered as possible in a time of such uncertainty and feeling unbalanced.

So a lot of people say this is not a time to be making huge binding decisions.

Try not to make any impulsive decisions.

Like if you're trying to find a house or signing a contract for a new job,

Making sure that you have not only triple checked,

Quadruple checked,

Maybe quintuple checked every single piece of information to make sure that it is in alignment with you and that it is okay to move forward because this is a time where miscommunications are very prevalent and you never know what kind of situation you may run into.

You know,

It's funny.

Just the other day,

I received a job offer that I had applied for and I'd been communicating with this person and I got on the phone with them after they send me a contract and I said,

You know,

This contract is really confusing.

I thought that these things were happening and it doesn't say that in the contract and if I'm not getting compensated,

I don't,

You know,

And the person on the phone was like,

Oh,

Well,

I thought this was already in the contract and,

You know,

These things should have been mentioned and you should have known this,

This and this.

And I'm,

And they're like,

You know,

Don't take this personally,

But if this is not going to work,

This is not going to work and I'm going out of town soon and this job,

They wanted me to start like two weeks ago and I told them,

I said,

You know,

I'm going out of town.

I can't promise that I'm going to be there.

This is a planned vacation that I have for myself.

I'm not just going to drop that.

And they're like,

Okay,

If you're,

If you're back and you want to,

You want to see if there's still a spot for you,

Try and go ahead,

But we can't guarantee it.

So I know that facing this contract and not signing this job,

That's a good sign for me because I know that if I would have,

It probably would have run me into some issues with the company that I was working with.

But that's just like a personal anecdote from the last few days of confusion and miscommunicating and trying to figure out what's going on.

But Mercury is the planet of communication and it also rules over things like coordination,

Information processing,

Creative expression,

And travel and technology.

So when Mercury is in retrograde,

The planet is not actually retrograding.

Like it is not actually moving backwards or doing anything in that sense,

But it just appears that it is.

So as hopefully most of you know,

Mercury is the fastest moving planet around the sun.

It's the,

It's closest to the sun and its orbital path is more speedy than the planets around it.

And when it passes Earth,

Which happens three to four times a year,

Which is why Mercury retrograde happens three to four times a year is whenever Mercury passes Earth,

It moves a little bit slower.

And that makes it appear as though it is spinning backwards.

But it's just,

It's just slowed down in speed.

Having Mercury slowing down in front of Earth,

That is what causes all of the different things in life become a little bit more muddled.

You know,

Losing things,

Spilling things,

Breaking things,

Miscommunication,

Delays.

It's,

It's all just caused by the energy of it,

But it's not actually moving backwards.

That's just what it looks like,

Which I feel is why we call it Mercury retrograding because that's just how it appears in the sky.

During this time we are asked to slow down and to double check the details of everything,

Double check,

Triple check,

As I said before,

And this is also a time to give people the benefit of the doubt in confusing times because we're all just trying to make our way through and you may not have heard back from somebody.

So it might be important to double check in with them and know that it's not that they're avoiding you,

I mean,

Most likely it's not that they're avoiding you,

But just that they may have forgotten,

It may have slipped their mind and know not to take it personally,

Because the way that things are moving,

It's very easy to slip up,

To miss a communication,

To forget to respond to a text or to have responded and have the person's phone glitch and them never receive it.

So checking in,

Hey,

Did you get this message?

Things are glitching.

Hey,

Did you get my email?

Knowing that it's okay to check in with people a little bit more than you typically would at any other point in the year.

I have channeled a few messages for how to navigate this time.

So this is specifically for the Mercury retrograde happening from May 10th to June 3rd.

So these are just messages that I directly,

When I channel,

I like to do a free write and just kind of write whatever source is telling me to do.

So I'm reading from my journal.

It says communication may seem more difficult than normal.

Take it easy.

Go slow.

Be patient and compassionate to all,

Especially to yourself.

Having patience and compassion towards yourself,

Especially in the moments that you're feeling frustrated or stressed out is so,

So,

So important right now.

Be aware if,

Even if something feels like it is set in stone,

The stone may be shifting over from where it is and you might need to reevaluate decisions and discuss the same thing over and over multiple times before it is truly set in stone.

Even if you feel like you've made a final decision,

There may be a point where you may have misunderstood something and need to come back and reevaluate it and know that it's,

That it's okay that that is happening.

Treat everybody with extra kindness and remind yourself of joy and gratitude and love during unharmonious times.

It's so important when we're being faced with dealing with a delay or frustration to have gratitude for those moments.

And I channeled some affirmations that I will go over later in a meditation,

But having gratitude to being able to feel the frustration,

Having gratitude to be able to experience the delays and knowing that they will pass and knowing that you are where you need to be way easier said than done,

But is something that is a practice that can help you navigate this time.

In the face of frustration,

It is okay to laugh and find joy in any moment.

This is a time to grow and to learn patience,

Forgiveness,

Listening and understanding,

Compassion,

And to find laughter in upsetting and chaotic times.

Go easy on yourself.

This one kept coming up.

I kept writing,

Go easy on yourself.

Take it easy,

Which I think is the biggest thing is to go easy on yourself,

To move slowly and know that things will get done when they need to.

And trying to rush or to push things to be completed right now may not work out for you.

And that's okay.

And things don't always work out for us when we're pushing and trying really hard to get them done.

Sometimes in order for these things to be completed,

You need to take a step back and to sit and allow yourself to do other things before this thing gets completed and for it to work out for you.

And this time you're not alone in feeling frustrated or hurt,

Deceived,

Unbalanced,

Exhausted or broken.

A majority of the collective may be feeling these things already,

If not very,

Very soon.

Just when you think it's over,

Keep moving forward with patience and continue to expect things to be delayed and expect a little bit more miscommunication for a while and to breathe and to protect your energy and to listen to others and listen to yourself and what you need to fill up your cup before anyone else's.

You will soon feel in alignment with yourself and others,

But we must face this time of trials and tests from the universe.

Find peace using your breath.

And your breath is accessible to you 24-7.

So use it.

And the rest of the things that I channeled are affirmations that I have uploaded to my teacher page as a Mercury Retrograde Affirmations Meditation.

So if you have not listened to that yet,

Feel free to go over after you listen to this talk.

There is a meditation with some of the affirmations that I channeled to navigate through this time.

Kind of going back on some of these,

Having patience and compassion for not only yourself but for every single person,

I think for me that's my,

What I have to remind myself the most during Mercury Retrograde is I can get frustrated really easily if I'm waiting for the bus and it keeps being delayed and delayed to find gratitude in the moment and say I'm so grateful that I get to sit here and wait for the bus in the hot sun.

I'm so grateful that I will inevitably get on this bus and get to my destination and will I arrive late or on time?

It'll be okay.

And I'll get to where I need to go.

And just being able to evaluate how you're moving through this time and trying to connect to gratitude and compassion and patience can be really,

Really,

Really helpful.

I always say it's much easier said than done,

But it's also okay to let your emotions come through when you are feeling frustrated and broken and tired and you want to give up.

It's okay to have little breakdowns here and there.

And some people think of breakdowns as something embarrassing or you're hitting like a breaking point or you're hitting rock bottom.

But sometimes we just need a good cry.

Sometimes we just need to let the feelings of overwhelm and frustration and anger and just let it go through our bodies.

And only after we have that breakdown will we then be able to come back up and feel more composure and feel calmer and knowing that no matter how you navigate the next few weeks,

This is your life journey.

It is unique to your sovereign soul and there is no wrong or right way to navigate through this time.

This is just some tips,

Some advice that may be helpful for you.

So if you're feeling,

You know what,

I'm not going to be patient.

I'm going to be frustrated and I'm going to stomp on the ground and scream and throw my fits and throw a tantrum until I get what I want.

If that's how you need to navigate this time,

Allow it to be.

But know that things may go smoother for you if you allow yourself to take a breath and to slow down and to find gratitude and patience in how you're navigating through time.

It's not an easy time to be alive right now and I am sending so,

So,

So much love and light to each and every one of you here and I hope that you're all doing okay genuinely.

I know so many people who are not doing okay right now.

And again,

It's okay to not be okay,

But it's difficult and sometimes we just need to live in a place that feels more difficult to be able to enjoy living life a little bit more easier.

And I'm going to share just a little bit more about the dates of this year and the zodiac signs that Mercury retrograde is in.

Again,

I'm not claiming to be an astrologer.

I'm not going to go in depth to what this means.

But this might mean something to some of you or you can go ahead and look this up afterwards.

So I'm just going to share that from May 10 to May 22,

The retrograde will take place in Gemini.

And from May 22 to June 3,

It crosses over into Taurus.

So the pre-shadow period already began and we're in it right now.

And after June 3,

That's when the retrograde ends,

But the post shadow period of the retrograde ends on June 18.

So for a few weeks afterwards,

You can still expect some things to come up and the chaos might carry over.

If you want to write this down so you have it in your calendar,

I always like to be aware of when Mercury retrograde is happening just so I can know not to make any big decisions or plans.

The next Mercury retrograde after this one will be September 9 to October 2.

And that one will be in Libra until September 23 and then it crosses into Virgo.

And then the last Mercury retrograde of the year will start on December 29 and that'll move until the new year on January 18.

And that will be in Capricorn.

So just to be aware that a couple weeks ahead and a couple weeks after each of the retrogrades,

There is the shadow period.

You may start to feel the chaos a little bit before and sometimes I think that the pre-shadow period,

Not much is felt.

But personally for me,

The last two weeks,

I have definitely felt the energy shift in the pre-shadow period.

And I have been breaking things,

Spilling things,

Miscommunications all over the place,

Glitching technology.

That has already been happening for me for the last two weeks.

So I know that moving into the next two weeks for me is probably going to be a little intense if the pre-shadow period has already started to be intense.

It's just like a warning for me to kind of get used to moving forward with grace and with compassion and patience for myself and for others.

It's just a little bit of a reminder before stepping into the time.

But hopefully,

Knock on wood,

I'll probably check in back afterwards,

But hopefully that means that the post-shadow period will be a little bit easier for me,

Hopefully.

Definitely try to avoid making any big decisions.

I mean,

If these are decisions that you've been thinking about and talking about for months on end and it's been really well thought out,

You should be okay.

And if you've planned it far enough in the future,

It's okay to make decisions and to do life-changing things,

But know that more often than not,

There may be some sort of slip-up or delay or miscommunication in binding decisions you make during the next couple weeks.

Yeah,

It's very important not to force yourself or others to do things within the next month or so and just allowing things to go through and spread kindness as often as you can and especially take extra good care of yourself and taking extra steps towards self-care and self-love over the next few weeks.

If you know that you are sensitive to other people's energies,

Like if you consider yourself an empath or a highly sensitive person,

Protecting your energy is so,

So,

So,

So important.

Trying to stay as grounded and as centered as possible.

It is so,

So important to be doing this during Mercury Retrograde.

And if you're new to protecting your energy,

I have another talk that will go live on my teacher page in the near future after this talk is uploaded.

So hopefully by the time you're listening to this talk,

That talk is either being edited to be uploaded or will be uploaded within a week or two that you can listen to and learn more about how to protect your energy,

Especially how to protect it while we're navigating through Mercury Retrograde.

And just a few reminders before finishing up this talk.

Send so,

So,

So much love to yourself and have compassion and patience with yourself over this time.

I hope you enjoyed this talk and learned something new about Mercury Retrograde.

Go easy,

Go slow,

And allow yourself to be in gratitude for any delays or disruptions you experience over the shadow period or post shadow period or during Mercury Retrograde.

Have a nice day.