WW - Mercury Retrograde August 2016

Fasten your seat belts! The third of four Mercury Retrograde phases in 2016 begins on August 30th and lasts until September 22nd. It starts and ends in the sign of Virgo, an Earth sign associated with perfectionism and problem solving. What does this mean for you? Since my astrology skills are still rusty, I turned to other places on the interwebz for answers.

First up, a snippet from a great article called, “Mercury Retrograde in Virgo Horoscopes: Rethink and redo as Mercury backtracks through its critical home sign” by Maria DeSimone

From August 30 until September 22, Mercury will retrograde through Virgo, a sign that Mercury naturally rules. The normal expression of Mercury in Virgo provides us with a discerning — even nitpicky — mental nature. Attention to details is usually on point.

But now that Mercury will retrograde (travel backward) in this sign, it’ll be time to revisit areas where you might have rushed past the fine print originally. You might lose patience at times with all the mental do-overs the universe will ask of you during Mercury Retrograde, but do your best to take it in stride. After all, once Mercury turns direct you can be certain that whatever you’re paying such remarkable attention to will shine.

Be sure to check out the rest of the article (click HERE) to see how your sun sign will fare through this spinny period.

Next up, some encouraging words from the post, “Mercury retrograde August 2016 – Repairs” by Leah Whitehorse.

The problem during the retrograde period is that we may find it far to easy to criticise and overemphasise the things that just aren’t quite right. Whilst it’s important that we attend to these things, it’s equally important that we don’t find fault so much that we end up falling into Pisces patters (Virgo’s opposite sign) – guilt, overwhelm and feeling like giving up.

Generally, with Virgo being a mutable sign, change is easier as Virgo is flexible. We too need to be flexible during this retrograde period and be willing to make improvements. The areas of life most associated with Virgo are health, the day job and routines so all of these come under the microscope as Mercury back-steps through this sign. Whilst it may seem less than glamorous to pay attention to these areas of life, the point is that the more we simplify, the more time we have to do those things that matter most to us.

With Mercury ruling Virgo, whilst we are clearing out the clutter in our cupboards, we are also clearing out the clutters in our minds. I often say that tidying the house is my way of tidying my head. This is the perfect time to sort out your desk or filing, re-vamp your diet and exercise habits, work out a more functional day to day routine. It’s also time to reflect upon where your inner critic may be holding you back.

Finally, here’s the graphic I created for the occasion, using a photograph kindly provided by NASA (see the original here) –