Mercury Retrograde in Sagittarius: November - December 2011

Mercury retrograde is nearly here! What is Mercury retrograde? A planet is called retrograde when it's moving backwards; it's not ACTUALLY moving backwards, it just appears that way from our vantage point here on Earth. When a planet retrogrades, it makes the stuff the planet rules all wonky. Mercury retrograde is important because it happens 3-4 times every year, and because Mercury rules communications and technology, two hugely important parts of our lives today. So almost anything can get messed up!

We enter the first Mercury storm period November 19th and exit November 28th. We enter the second Mercury storm period December 10th and exit December 19th. The storm of Mercury is when Mercury is moving at it's slowest, less than 40 minutes per day. Mercury is normally a fast mover, so he HATES the slow movement. We usually have two storm periods, one around the date Mercury turns retrograde, and one around the date Mercury turns direct (begins forward movement).

Mercury turns retrograde November 24th at 2:19AM ET, and direct on December 13th at 8:43PM ET. This retrograde occurs in the sign of Sagittarius, turning retrograde at 20 degrees and direct at 3 degrees. Sagittarius ruled stuff will be hit most: long-distance travel, the law, higher learning, philosophical beliefs. December 4th could prove to be a difficult day with the Sun conjunct and Mars square Mercury.

For how the retrograde will impact you, see which house Mercury will be touring through. If Mercury will cross over a house cusp or turn retrograde or direct near a house cusp or closely aspecting a natal planet, you'll usually feel it most. Those with a Sagittarius Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, or Ascendant will feel it most. The exceptions? If you have Mercury retrograde natally or progressed. Then you're in the clear! Well, sort of. Most of the people you deal with won't have Mercury retrograde natally or progressed, so they could mess you up. Mercury is good for re-'s (redo, renovate, rethink, revise, etc.).

So just hang on and remember, we're all in this together! And if anything goes wrong, just blame Mercury.