Mercury retrograde is not what you think it is
It's not three weeks of cursed technology. It's a re-do period, and you can actually use it.
Every six months or so, the internet remembers Mercury retrograde exists and people start blaming it for missed flights, dead car batteries, and conversations they should have had two years ago.
Some of that is fair. Some of it is wildly off.
Here's what Mercury retrograde actually is, as briefly as I can say it. Mercury appears to move backward against the stars from our point of view, for about three weeks. It happens roughly three or four times a year. The energy it carries, if you buy into this stuff at all, is about revisiting, reviewing, and finishing things you started and didn't close out.
Notice what's not on that list: doom.
The reason people experience Mercury retrograde as chaotic is that they don't change their behavior. They keep signing new contracts, launching new things, starting new arguments. Retrograde is a season for finishing, not for starting. If you blow through that and keep pushing forward at the same pace, yeah, things are going to feel like they're falling apart. Not because Mercury is cursed but because you're trying to start fires in the wrong season.
What I actually do during retrograde:
Finish projects that have been sitting in my drafts folder. Retrograde is a great window to reopen something and ship a version of it.
Reach out to people I've fallen off with. Old friends, exes I'm on good terms with, mentors. Retrograde pulls people back into your orbit. It's uncanny how often it happens.
Read back through old journals. I notice patterns under retrograde that I couldn't see when they were fresh.
What I don't do: sign a new lease, start a new job if I can help it, buy electronics. Buy electronics any other week.
The next one starts on August 11, 2026, by the way. Mark it now while you're thinking about it.