Astro Alert: First Mercury Retrograde Of 2020 Incoming!

Every year, 3 to 4 times, Mercury begins his three-week-long retreat, each time in a different sign and house. During this time period, it's as if Mercury, Messenger of the Gods and the ruler of transportation, communication, electronics, expression, coordination, take a nap. Can you see the confusion coming? In Astrology, when a planet appears to be moving backward or is in retrograde, it is considered weakened, off its game and not at its best.

For us earthlings, this can create some joyful times. When Mercury is napping, you can cue the misread emails, lost checks, broken phones, canceled flights, delayed trains, etc. Mercury will appear to go the direction opposite of its normal path. Is it really going backward? Nope. But it sure looks like it.

This dichotomy is the perfect visual of how the next three weeks of your life might go. Life will not be what it appears to be. You might encounter miscommunication about details that might lead you to places that you did not expect.

Get ready to accidentally hit send too soon, mail packages to the wrong addresses, have flight delays, subway route changes and losing cell phone coverage at the most inopportune time. On a happy note, now that you know that Mercury is coming for you, you will remember to triple check all emails, not space out from seemingly shady texts and speak as calmly as possible as often as possible.

First Mercury Retrograde Of 2020

From February 16 to March 9, logical Mercury will be retrograding in intuitive Pisces, a sign where he naturally feels out of sorts. Expect a lot of daydreaming and confusion, especially because many of us will be with our head in the clouds. On the plus side, it’s a wonderful time for meditation and compassion- just don’t aim for things that are too practical!

Expect communication to be vague at best and downright confusing at worst, while staying mindful of the usual Mercury retro mix-ups when it comes to technology, e-mails, documents, transport or commerce. The first part of February might be a good time to back up your data and to arrange the last details of projects or trips before March 9. After that, sit back and enjoy the ride! Mercury retrograde in Pisces is a great time for poetry, music, movies, photography, dreamwork, and meditation, so allow yourself enough downtime to relax and to recharge in the middle of life’s pressures.

You could re-encounter classmates, friends or relatives from your past or you could revise old projects, this time with a creative twist. No matter what happens, the best approach for this period is to find ways to surrender- through a feeling, a prayer, a moment of relaxation or deep connection. From March 4 to March 10, Mercury goes into Aquarius, where he might make mistakes because of being too obstinate about his own opinions or failing to see the practical, humane part of his intellectual plans. Using the retrograde energy constructively, now we can rethink our independence, our ideas about the future and reconsider our friendships based on common perspectives and goals.

Remember, Mercury is a swift, extroverted, chatty planet and retrogradation doesn’t suit him well! It’s difficult for him to stay still, silent, patient- which is exactly what we have to do during the retro time and a couple of days before and after if we want to successfully graduate this three-week course in disasters.

Mercury Retrograde can seem like one of the worst times during the year for many people because it seems like everything might be going backward, even though you might be making efforts for going forward, or trying something new. That’s why it’s important to know when Mercury is retrograding and to know the dos and don’ts during it.

What NOT to do during a Mercury Retrograde?

- Sign contracts (without thinking twice and understanding all the implications)

- Buy a new car or new technology

- Start a new long-term project

- Plan a trip/book tickets

- Go with the “first thought, best thought” or “first version, best version” philosoph

What to do during a Mercury Retrograde?

- read carefully if you really have to sign something

- fix your car or problematic tech equipment

- reorganize your e-mails, your PC, documents at work

- continue working on projects you already started

- double-check the things you write and think twice before speaking

- rest, reflect and regenerate

I highly suggest you spend the next few hours, getting s**t done, now. You’ll be spending so much time trying to decipher, untangle and clean up messes for the next three weeks, I wouldn’t anticipate getting too much new done. On the spiritual tip, don’t hate on Mercury. Yes, I just made him out to be a giant jerkface, but it was more for comical relief. Yes, there could be many frustrations, however, just as Mercury appears to be going backward, he actually isn’t. It is the same for life. We might appear to take a couple of steps backward during the next few weeks, but in reality, we are giving a divine opportunity to re-evaluate and re-position ourselves for a brighter future.

Please take any backtracking frustrations you have and remind yourself, you are not being a setback, no matter how it appears. You have been gifted with the ability to update the past so that when that sucker goes direct you can go back to the slaying. Don’t take yourself too seriously during this period, and try to relax, and take the time you need to charge up for moving forward.

In the meantime, let’s play the Mercury Retrograde Bingo!

Click on the image below to download it and play the bingo. Here are the rules:

While it is a time for us to re-evaluate, review, revisit, reintegrate and reiterate, that doesn't mean we can't have fun with any Mercury Retrograde glitches! This Mercury Retrograde check off all the retrograde experiences you have until you connect 5 boxes and BINGO. If you take a photo and tag us over @mylittlemagicshop (Instagram) you will be entered to win a little magic! Prizes will be revealed when Mercury goes direct on March 9th!