The Deeper Meaning of Mercury Retrograde and My “Camino”
The Sun enters Virgo on August 23 at the same time as Mercury, its ruler, goes retrograde ("Rx). It's common describe Mercury Rx as a time to double check your appointments, deal with tech issues, and take care with documents. All of that is true, but what is the deeper meaning of a retrograde?
When planets go retrograde, they appear to be moving backwards in the sky. You can imagine symbolically that it might be a time for reversals, to rethink or retrace steps you've already taken. When planets move retrograde they are moving in "primary motion" which symbolically reflects movement on the spiritual plane. In contrast, the ordinary motion of the planets, "secondary motion" reflects movement on the material, embodied plane of life.
So, retrogrades can have a quality of re-aligning us with the divine; with the deepest part of ourselves. When things go haywire, we are forced to slow down, redo, reflect and wonder about our path and our actions--retrogrades are a "karmic correction " of sorts.
Does this mean that you should not sign contracts or buy a computer etc...when Mercury is retrograde? No! For me, all it means is pay attention, if something goes awry, use the retrograde to turn inward and wonder about what you might learn.
This is exactly what I did last year when I walked the Camino de Santiago in Spain. The day I started, September 10, was the first day of the mercury Rx, within an hour of my start time. I had no clue when I set the date! When I realized, I took it as fate. that's just how I roll, lol. Predictably, halfway through my 6-week journey I got Covid. It forced me into a 10-day period where I was on my own, in a foreign country, caring for myself. It was difficult and deeply transformative at the same time. I learned lessons about rhythm, pace, life, solitude, and being with myself that I very much needed. On the other end of this experience, my life blossomed in a way that I could not have imagined when I started the journey.
Not every retrograde brings such a big change, of course. My birthday is 9/14, so Mercury was retrograde in my Solar Return chart, emphasizing that this would be an important year that helped re-orient me on my path.