Mercury Retrogrades in Leo

Welcome back to the Essential Astrocast. I am your host, Veronica Perretti, and this is the podcast you listen to when you wanna know what's going on up in the heavens, so you can dictate your fate down here on Earth. Okay, so. It's that time.

Mercury is retrograding. So Mercury will be retrograding this week. I am speaking to you on July 16th, Wednesday. and Mercury will retrograde or stationed to retrograde on Friday the 18th of July. So we are, Moving into that time, you probably have already been feeling this because we have been in the shadow, what I like to call the pres shadow, the retrograde period. We always have a shadow before and after. I like to distinguish by saying, pres shadow and post shadow.

And we've been in the pre shadow for a little bit, so you might have already felt like things are getting a little wonky. Things have been feeling a little glitchy. Now with that said, this is not a bad Mercury retrograde. The last Mercury retrograde we had was pretty intense because Mercury was having some really tough. Aspects with other planets during the retrograde period. And because of that period, we had those hits three times because of the retrograde

path. So just to remind you, when a planet retrogrades, which is totally normal, all of the planets retrograde except for the sun and the moon. Our luminaries. So from our vantage point here on Earth, retrograde is actually an optical illusion. It appears like the planet is moving backward from our position here on earth. And of course in astrology, the earth is always the center because we are talking about our lives. This is an artful practice of bringing together.

the movement of the planet's astronomy with what we understand to be the pattern psychologically. So it's more of an art form, in the sense that. It is metaphorical. And so of course we're putting the Earth us. We are the heroes of our own story. if you are familiar with the work of Joseph Campbell, the Hero's Journey, the Heroine's journey, you are the hero of your own story. So in astrology, we imagine that you are the center of the chart. So of course, earth is considered the center.

Astrology, and so everything we look at from the tropical zodiac is the apparent path of the planets around us. Of course, we know that we are cycling around the sun, but we don't look at it that way from a metaphorical perspective when we look at a chart. So I digress. What I'm saying is that it is an obstacle illusion. That Mercury is moving backwards. But nonetheless, over time, we have found, or you know, many astrologers before me, of course, have found that there are certain patterns.

There's certain things that happen when Mercury retrogrades, so. All of that is to say Mercury is not in retrograde. Mercury is retrograde. Right? So retrograde is an adverb. I believe that's correct. So all of that is to say it's that time. Don't fear it, it's normal. The beauty of retrogrades is that it gives us an opportunity to slow down. And reflect, and you may remember me talking about at the beginning of the year, we had a lot of retrograde planets.

We had Venus and Mars retrograde, which are the two toughest 'cause they happen the least frequent. And we had, then we had Mercury also retrograde and early in the year, I said, I know it feels like you're stuck. I know it feels like you're in the mud trying to trudge through and you just wanna get some momentum. And then all the planets went direct and things got really fast. And I'm sure if you're listening to this, you know where I stand in terms of the political spectrum of what's going on.

In the US and around the world, and things started to go really fast and things were going fast, even with all those planets retrograde. But now it feels like we're at a fevers pitch. So retrogrades are helpful. They slow us down, they give us an opportunity to look back, to check our work, to edit, to redo, to just reassess. Is this. You know what I wanna be doing? Is this, how I should be showing up? Is this, working for

me? So this Mercury retrograde is in Leo. Now Leo is a sign that is associated with the heart. It's symbolized by the lion. It is our playful, creative spirit, our passion, our inner child, our relationship to children, our. Identity because it's associated or ruled by the sun. The sun is our identity, our life force in astrology. The sun will be moving into Leo soon next week, but Mercury is already in Leo, and so Mercury stopping and stationing and retrograding in Leo on Friday.

It's going to be an invitation to reflect on what ignites your passion, what ignites your creativity, what ignites your playful spirit. It's also an invitation to check in with how are you expressing your anger or your frustration, because mercury is associated with our expression, how we speak, how we communicate, how we connect with other people. But it's also listening because part of communication is listening. So maybe check in with, am I listening enough?

And in addition, mercury is how we understand information. So a lot of the time with Mercury retrograde, you'll get some information, you'll get some messages, something will come through and you'll be like, oh wow. Well now that makes sense. I got the missing puzzle piece. I didn't even know that I was missing that. So that could be happening. You could be getting some messages, you could be getting some downloads.

Um, but it's just an, a nice opportunity to pause, you know, spend some time with your journal. Mercury is of course, our words, and so sitting with how are you expressing yourself? When it comes to anger or frustration, because it is a fire sign, fire signs are generally the most passionate, the most expressive. While they might not feel the deepest, that lies with the water signs, the fire signs express the most, How are we expressing ourselves and not just with those negative emotions?

How are we expressing the high emotions on the other end? How are we expressing our joy? How are we expressing our love? Are we doing that enough? Are we doing that freely? These are things that we can think on, reflect on, meditate on as. We have Mercury Retrograde and Leo, and the good news is that this Mercury retrograde, it's not having any poor aspects. You know, mercury is well positioned in the sky. He's not gonna be having any arguments with any other planet.

So he's gonna be free and clear, and he's even gonna get a few helpful nudges from other planets. On Friday when Mercury retrogrades, he will be in a sextile to Venus. So that says to me, this is going to be a period of time where we. Assess our relationships. Assess what's important to us. Venus is not only relationships and money, it's our values. What's important to us? What's important to you. Now, maybe that's changed. So these are some ideas of how you can work with the Mercury retrograde.

It is of course stationing to retrograde on July 18th, and Mercury will be retrograde until August 11th. So on August 11th, he will station, he will go direct. He will go through that section of Leo. A third time. Mercury is doing his thing, he's moving through Leo, he gets to 15 degrees, and then he stops on Friday, or he's really stopping right now. Turns around and starts to go backwards. He reviews that first half or so of Leo.

And then on August 11th, he stops again, does a U-turn and turns around at four degrees. Leo. And starts to move forward once again. And then we'll do a third pass through those degrees of Leo, between four degrees Leo and 15 degrees Leo. Mercury will finally get back to 15 degrees Leo on August 25th, and that will be the end of the post shadow period.

So I hope that gives you an understanding of Mercury retrograde but do not fret because this Mercury retrograde, in my opinion, should be pretty manageable and more in the emotional realm. All that said, do your regular precautions, you know, back up your stuff. Make sure that, you know, you're not. I don't really like to buy new computers or phones or all of that during Mercury retrograde. With that said, other people out in the world are buying new things all the time, and they probably work.

So don't be superstitious about it, even though I can't say that I'm not a little bit superstitious about it. Don't be superstitious about it. Don't be worried about it. Don't fear it. live your life. Do what you have to do. Just make sure you double check things. if you have to sign a contract, make sure you really read it. If you. Have to tell someone what time you're meeting. Just send a little confirmation text the morning of or the night before.

Just do the extra due diligence, you know, cross the t's, dot the i's. That's the way to go with Mercury retrograde, regardless of what sign it's in.

Okay, so as I mentioned, mercury will, sex Tail, Venus on Friday, all in all this week. Doesn't have a lot of transits until we get to Friday, Saturday. Even then, they are minimal. So, after Mercury and Venus have a nice harmonious conversation via a sex tile on Friday, on Saturday, the 19th of July, we have the sun and a square to Chiron, which is working through some of those core wounds. Chiron is always about the core wounds. That we house deep in our soul that we carry with us.

Sometimes they're karm mix, sometimes they're from other lifetimes, sometimes they're from childhood. But generally. When we have the sun talking to Chiron, there's an illumination of those wounds because the sun is our identity, it's our life giver. It's how we relate to our ego, and the ego is not a bad thing. The ego keeps us safe. An inflated, unhealthy ego is one thing, but we all have egos, so let's try to keep them. Healthy. So you know, healthy ego is confidence.

A healthy ego has a strong sense of self. So the sun's growing. Chiron on Saturday, it might be an opportunity to just check in with, Hey, am I identifying with my wounds? Am I a person who has wounds or am I identifying as the wound itself? Even on the most mundane level, you know your ailments, you know the things. If you're in pain, it's very hard to feel like you have any identity or any self outside of that pain.

I know that when I've been in acute chronic pain, it's been really hard, to put my energy anywhere else. I do, but it's very hard to identify outside of it, think on am I identifying with the ailments I have the, diagnoses I have the things that I'm working with? Is that how I am identifying? And that's not bad or good, it's just an opportunity to check in with it and just notice. Are you a person that has that thing or is that thing who you are?

'cause if you're thinking about it in the second way. It might be diminishing your light and the sun wants you to shine bright, especially as we go into Leo season. But I don't wanna get ahead of myself 'cause we're still in cancer season and I wanna honor all the crabs out there. We're still in cancer season. This is the time to take care of yourself. This is the time to nurture your body. Nurture your soul, nurture the people that you love. Take good, good, good care of yourself.

So with that, those are the transits that we have this week. We have had such busy weeks and I've had these super long podcasts the past two weeks. So I wanna just offer a reminder, if you have not had a chance to listen to the last podcast, definitely go back and listen to it because I talk all about Uranus and Gemini and that is an ongoing conversation that we're gonna be having for the next eight years. So really take your time. Go back and listen to that Uranus and Gemini episode.

I also talk a lot in that episode about this magic triangle that's forming. It's a minor grand triangle. It's the, some people are calling it a magic triangle. I noticed today I went to see my massage therapist who listens to this podcast, hi Emily, and she was saying, talking to me and I was saying, oh my gosh, she feels like you're so clear. There's so much that. Going right and falling into place. And then I went and saw my chiropractor in the same office and talking to her.

She was feeling the same way. Everything's going great. This is falling into place. That's falling into place. And I thought to myself, it's so interesting 'cause a lot of us are feeling that right now. I know. I'm feeling that in some ways in my life or in a lot of ways in my life actually. I really do think it might be part of this story of having Uranus go into Gemini and instantaneously creating this rine to Pluto in Aquarius.

We've been working with Pluto in Aquarius, off and on since 2022, but he moved in to settle in for 20 years last November. Now Uranus moves into Gemini where he's gonna be hanging out for eight years. He creates this trine to Pluto. Now, Uranus will dip back into Pisces, but for a short time and finish up his work there before he comes into Gemini to stay. But that's neither here nor there.

At this moment, Uranus is in Gemini activating that Pluto and Aquarius, and they are both in a sex tile to Saturn and Neptune in the early degrees of Aries sitting together.

I think that this triangle in the sky that has formed what some astrologers are calling the magic triangle really does feel like a shift in energy, a fresh start, and a lot of the things that we've all been trying to, you know, get the puzzle pieces to fit together and we had the right pieces, they just weren't clicking into place. Some things are starting to really click into place.

it doesn't mean it's gonna feel like that forever, but for right now, I think something about that magic triangle does have a lot of us feeling like things are shifting and clicking in. So honor that, celebrate it. I know there's a lot of scary, horrible things going on in the world. It's also important for us to celebrate the joys, to celebrate the wins, to celebrate the moments where things do click into place.

And yeah, so with that, something that is going on this week that's pretty intense, is Mars joining with the south node. So Mars will conjoin the south node on Sunday the 20th. This is something that many astrologers, many people probably easily overlook, but I think the nodes are really important because they've just proven to be important in my life and I think they are powerful points in the sky. So the south node is right now in Virgo, Mars is in Virgo.

If you feel like you've been super nitpicky and critical lately of your partner, of your coworkers, of your friends, hello, Mars and Virgo. Mars and Virgo really wants us to get all the work done, get all the things done. I've been really struggling with walking around my house and not wanting to organize and clean out every closet and cabinet because. I don't have the time in the moment that I wanna do it, and I just, it's killing me.

And that's because Mars is in Virgo and Mars is in Virgo helping us get out the magnifying glass and see all of the mistakes. So Mars. In Virgo, the south node is in Virgo. That means the north node is in the opposite sign of Pisces. That is a theme that we're working with this year.

The nodes take a year and a half to move through a sign, so once we get to Eclipse season, you know, soon enough we'll be talking a ton about the nodes, but at this moment I just wanna talk about Mars and the South nodes specifically. Virgo is about the details. Virgo is about being devoted to a ritual, to a routine. Virgo is also Hypercritical. Virgo is also about our work. You know, what we do for work in a day-to-day manner. So Mars diving into the South node. What we consider to be a void.

The south note is considered the void. it might feel like there is this urge to release, this urge to let go, to purge, to actively cut away something because Mars is cutting. Mars is separation. Mars is the knife. Mars is. sharp and clear and defined. So there might be a desire to say, yeah, I'm gonna let go of that relationship. I'm gonna make a clean break, or I'm gonna walk out of this job. I'm just gonna make a clean break.

Or, you know, I've been doing this thing every day for a year and I don't wanna do it anymore, so I'm just gonna give it up, whatever it is. It could be a habit, it could be a person, could be a thought that you just keep thinking and you think, I don't wanna think that about myself anymore. I am gonna release it. So this can be a really useful energy if we use it. but you might notice that things feel like. They're being released, or maybe you are being let go from something.

Maybe there's someone leaving your community that you really, really like. So there might be ways that we're releasing and letting go in ways that are sad. maybe there are people that are leaving this plane of existence. And there may be ways that we're letting go that are really awesome and that feel really freeing. So just pay attention with Mars conjunct the south node the next few days and see how that's feeling and see what you notice being released.

I know for me, I'm probably gonna get just absolutely a maniacal about cleaning my house, but it might manifest differently for you. Um, so just see what shows up with that. But it can feel a little intense and personally. I, I just noticed the past couple of days that I've been feeling a little bit of sadness and I'm not really sure why.

And I think that that also could be that Mars conjunct the south node because Virgo is, you know, the selfless servant, the being of service being devoted, the ritual. So, what rituals, what routines? Are no longer serving, you might be time to let them go or just change them. Might be time to change them to move towards something more Piscean. 'cause the north node is in Pisces. And so Virgo can be really, list oriented and being on task. But Pisces is in the flow.

So maybe you're releasing the need to be on task and the need to do it a certain way and giving yourself the freedom to be in flow and let it be playful because remember. We're about to enter Leo's season. It's all about play, all about fun, all about the dramatic flare.

so something else that just crossed my mind and I wanted to mention it, we were gonna talk about it in Cosmo conversation on Monday and we didn't get to it 'cause we're just talking about Uranus and all these other fun things. If you've never joined us, please come every other Monday, at 5:00 PM Eastern time. Host this gathering on Zoom called Cosmic Conversation. It's really fun. It is for astrology enthusiasts like you who just wanna come talk about astrology.

We talk about the transits, what's going on right now. People come, they ask questions. We have a nice consistent group of women who have been coming, but of course anyone is welcome. And I would love to see you there. It's really fun to see you guys on Zoom to see your faces and talk astrology and answer questions. And it challenges me because it also helps me understand the questions that you have. So please join us there.

You can go to my website, veronicaperretti.com/events to join us and make sure you're on my email list because that is where. You always know what's happening. You can go to my website to sign up for the email list, veronicaperretti.com, right there on the homepage. Okay. So with that, I am going to bid you a due. I hope you have a wonderful week, weekend. I'm gonna talk to you next week. We have the sun moving into Leo, and then right after that we have a new moon in Leo.

So lots to talk about next week. lots percolating. Next week we're really gonna be working with a lot of these new energies. So stay tuned for that. And if you haven't had a chance, make sure you go back and listen to last week's episode when I cover everything, Uranus and Gemini. And make sure that you sign up for the next cosmic conversation, which will not be Monday, but it'll be the following Monday, July 28th. And I'll talk to you next week. Alright, take care of yourself. Bye.