As March comes to an end, as does our retrograde-free sky. From April 1, 2024, to April 25 2024, we will be welcoming our first of four Mercury Retrogrades for the year.
And while we may know all about miscommunication mishaps, travel plans gone awry, or technology seemingly combusting out of nowhere when it comes to this cosmic backward spin, but are we missing what really matters here?
Are we missing the deeper invitations?
Mercury Retrograde 2024 Dates
- December 13, 2023 – January 1, 2024
- April 1 – April 25, 2024
- August 5 – August 28, 2024
- November 25 – December 15, 2024
What does Mercury Retrograde mean for You?
Retrogrades in Astrology a re-frame. They are a re-tracing, re-living, re-writing. They are an untangling and re-organising, with the planet in its seemingly backwards spin re-visiting the path it has just walked as if observing it from another perspective. It is our opportunity to re-visit the path we have just walked, too. To re-visit the people we have been and the experiences we have had as if from another perspective.
The planet Mercury in Astrology represents the mind. It represents the lens through which we look to see the world around us. The lens through which we look that seems to shape how we perceive and understand our experiences. The mind forms our beliefs and our perspectives, and it is during Mercury’s retrograde motion that we have an opportunity to peer within and observe the patterns, beliefs, and narratives that we are operating our lives through.
Mercury also represents communication, and while in retrograde, it is through observing our habitual responses that deep insight is gained. And it is through allowing more time and space within our communication that we can begin to question and re-write our inner scripts. We are rearranging. We are reorganising.
Take a few steps to one side and more of what you see is revealed. Turn something over and more unfolds. When we are offered a different vantage – what was once thought was truth or fact perhaps begins to reveal more of the story. What we once thought made perfect sense, we see with new eyes. We have grown since this narrative was created; does it still serve us?
What we once never paused to consider, thought to question, had space to ponder on – when Mercury is in retrograde, this is where it is taking us.
Mercury Retrograde in 2024
All Mercury Retrogrades of 2024 will take place in fire zodiac signs, being Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius, with a short detour into Virgo, an Earth Sign, and will each be connecting with our healer in the skies, Chiron.
Fire is related to our self-expression, ambition, creativity, drive, and adventure. It is how we take action in our lives and harness our willpower. Fire is our life force, spirit, and courage.
As Mercury moves through our fiery zodiacs retracing its steps and re-writing the story, we too, are reconsidering and reframing the ways in which we channel our fire. We are re-writing the narrative of our courage, will, drive, and ambition. We are reconsidering the ways in which we follow inspiration, take actions towards our desires, and express ourselves outwardly in the world. We are observing and making the space to better understand how we regenerate our life force, connect with inspiration, and create our lives.
And as Chiron in Aries connects with each of these retrogrades, we are bringing deep healing and wisdom into these spaces, to our selfhood, confidence, and sense of belonging to ourselves.
April 2024: Mercury Retrograde in Aries
April 1 – April 25 2024
Welcome to our first full Mercury Retrograde of 2024, taking place in Aries on April 1 2024, where it will station direct on April 25 2024.
The sign of Aries is the Self. It is the spark that makes you you, and it is the courage from within to live wholly as you. Aries reminds us that all have our own needs. We all have our own worlds that live within us and dreams that call us towards them, and as the North Node of purpose, evolution, and growth has moving through Aries since 2023 where it will continue into 2025, we have all been healing, building, and cultivating our own Aries fires.
As Mercury stations retrogrades in Aries, we are offered the opportunity to witness and question the inner narratives, experiences, and thought forms that have fed into our selfhood, our identity, and the way we see and therefore express ourselves in the world.
Our first Mercury Retrograde of the year is our opportunity to take some space and breaths and with that, observe how we have been directing our will – has it gone towards creating a life that is true to us, as individuals, or some place else? We are being invited to re-write the script on what it means to be clear and direct, to honour our wants, needs, passions, and dreams, and self-direct our own path with courage and self-ownership.
Mercury will be retrograde for our New Moon Solar Eclipse in Aries on April 8, 2024.
August 2024: Mercury Retrograde in Virgo and Leo
August 5 – August 28 2024
Beginning in Virgo on August 5, Mercury then retrogrades into Leo where it will complete its backwards spin until August 28.
While in Virgo for its short stay, Mercury in its retrograde brings an analytical and highly discerning inward reflection. Virgo is naturally a sign of self-analysis, deeply aware of its own potential and concerned with the self-actualisation of that potential.
And while we are retracing our steps through this Mercury-ruled Earth sign, this natural self-analysis gets to happen from a different vantage. Mercury in its backwards spin is gathering the insights previously missed and reflecting on the expectations we hold of ourselves. Are they inspiring, motivating, enlivening? Or are they inherited, not true to who we are and what we want, or no longer relevant?
As Mercury shifts into Leo for the remainder of its retrograde, we return to fire, self-expression, and inner authority. Leo is here to express into the world a beautiful and bold stamp of who it is inside of itself. It is here to self-validate, create, play, and radiate, offering warmth to the world through simply being who it is.
As Mercury Retrograde journeys through Leo, it does so for empowerment. So that we may heal and reclaim the narratives held around our self-expression. So that we may re-write the stories of what it means to be seen, to take up space, and where we need to pour validation and love into ourselves. Mercury Retrograde in Leo offers us the opportunity to re-frame and embody our own Leo – that is, to radiate the authentic magic that we uniquely are.
Mercury Retrograde in Sagittarius
November 2024: November 25 – December 15 2024
Our final Mercury Retrograde of the year in our final fire sign, Sagittarius. Beginning November 25 2024, and continuing to December 15, 2024.
As Mercury goes retrograde retracing its steps through the fires of Sagittarius, it is a beautiful opportunity to observe the beliefs, the philosophies, and cosmologies that frame the way we not only see, but interact with, life. Humanity has been trying to make sense of existence since the beginning of time, and this retrograde invites us to look to our inner frameworks of what it means to be alive. We are observing our experiences and the way in which life seems to share its meaning with us moment by moment, revealing truths, revealing insights. We are reflecting on what we have been taught this vast journey of being a human means. What we did we allow into our minds? Where did it come from? Does it still align with who we are, or is it time for a re-write? Or, was it ever true to who we are?
This retrograde is also an opportunity to review and renew our beliefs around hope, trust, and faith – both in ourselves, and something larger. The more we believe possible for ourselves, the more life seems to meet us in these possibilities. What do you believe is possible for you?
