Mercury Retrograde Shadow Period

Today’s post comes in response to a reader question about Mercury Retrograde.

“Hi, thanks for your blog. Please explain how the shadow time differs and affects us vs the actual dates. Do we have to follow the ‘don’t sign, don’t do anything new’ rules during shadow too? Thanks so much”

As I’ve explained before, I’m not an expert astrologer, but I do recognize astrological influence. That’s why I have so many astrology experts as guest bloggers. In a 2011 post about the Shadow of March/April 2011’s Mercury Retrograde, Master Astrologer Electra Jung explains: “During the Shadow phase of Mercury we are catching up with all the weak links in our plans, our lives.” The Shadow of Mercury Retrograde fosters continued inner evaluation, review and healing.

Please note that if you read Electra’s article on my site, her description of that Shadow period is period-specific, in the sense of other planetary influences for that time. The following general guidelines for Shadow periods of Mercury Retrograde come from this in-depth article by Jim Shawvan of Right Place Consulting:

“In my experience, if one has made a sound decision before Mercury Retrograde, there does not seem to be any problem following through with it during the retrograde period. Catching up, filing, and escrows work fine during this time. More — I have seen buyers of real estate make clear decisions in advance about what kind of property they were looking for, and then pick the specific property while Mercury was retrograde. In these cases, the purchases were successful, and the new owners remain happy with their new homes several years later.

“When students of astrology first hear of the effects of Mercury Retrograde, they often jump to the conclusion that everything will be hunky-dory right up to the moment that Mercury starts its apparent backward motion, then everything will be totally dysfunctional for about three weeks, and then as soon as Mercury resumes its normal direct motion everything will again be just peachy. Unfortunately, reality is not that simple.”

More on this topic from Jim Shawvan:

“To reiterate, Mercury enters the “Shadow” of the following retrograde at 23 Pisces 50 on February 26/27, 2012, and then continues moving direct (forward) as far as 6 Aries 47, at which point it makes its retrograde station on March 12. Mercury then appears to go backwards for about three weeks, and makes its direct station at 23 Pisces 50 on April 4. Then its direct (forward) motion takes it past 6 Aries 47 again on April 23, at which time the Shadow Period is over.

“We can think of the entire cycle as: Front-end Shadow, Retrograde, Back-end Shadow. From experience, it is clear that Mercury-ruled matters start to get weird sometime during the Front-end Shadow, and continue to act weird until sometime during the Back-end Shadow.”

I don’t know Jim, but I found his article one of the more in-depth explanations of the Shadow period. In that article, he also includes additional resources for people looking to delve even deeper into astrological phenomena.

Again, I will reiterate that astrology influences but does not necessarily determine outcomes! Learning to recognize the energies and surf supportive ones for various tasks allows you to flow with the rest of the galaxy rather than in opposition to it; however, your own intentions, focus and vibration ultimately carry tremendous influence, too. As Joni Mitchell says, “We are stardust, we are golden, We are billion year old carbon, And we got to get ourselves back to the garden.” When we realize how vast and interconnected we truly are, then instant manifestation and beautiful creation happen naturally. Harmony is your nature. Focus on “harmony,” and you will feel inner nudges to align with the stars and planets, whether or not you consciously know how to read them.