I write about Mercury Retrograde a lot. I recently found myself having to explain the Shadow and Wake periods and it occurred to me that y’all might benefit from that information as well. So here we go!
Nature doesn’t change course on a dime. Regardless of what your calendar tells you, the transition from Spring into Summer is not abrupt. Boats turn on an arc, not a right angle. Your car, when you brake, slows to a stop (even if that’s an abrupt slowing).
As Mercury approaches the point at which it appears to us to travel backwards, it slows to a stop. Likewise, once Mercury appears to travel forward after retrograde, it does so from a stop, and speeds up gradually. Those periods of slowing and speeding up have similar energetic characteristics to Mercury Retrograde, so it makes sense to pay attention to them.
What are those energetic characteristics?
Mercury rules the mind, communication, electricity, and travel. This translates to electronics and technology in general as well. Anything under its purview is up for review, revisiting, reexamination during the Retrograde period. Shortcuts are to be avoided at all costs; the energy has thickened and slowed down.
That break you’re always asking the Universe for? The wish that things would just slow down for a few weeks? Welcome to Mercury Retrograde! My general instructions for Mercury Retrograde are as follows:
- STOP
- Ground
- Breathe
- Take a look at how you got to where you are right now (which might bring you present). Are there any loose ends that need to be tied up? Take care of that.
- Do everything you need to do very consciously and deliberately.
The popular wisdom that your technology is going to go cattywompus comes from the fact that people often use their technology as a shortcut, and they interact with those fairly unconsciously. The more grounded and deliberate you are, the better things are going to go for you.
The expectation that everything is going to go pancake shaped may actually be part of the problem. The energy thickens and slows down during Mercury Retrograde, so it’s an amazing time for manifesting. Energy follows focus, so that which you focus on you feed. If you focus on your fears, you feed those energy; during this period, you are much more likely to bring those into being.
Ok, so how long are we going to be in this energy?
We moved into the official Shadow 8/22/22 – I would argue it has been affecting us for about 5 days already. Mercury stations retrograde 9/9/22 and stations direct 10/2/22. The Wake lasts until 10/16/22 – you might add another 5 days to that to be safe, especially if you’re energy sensitive.