Mercury goes into retrograde Thursday, and while many view this as a bad omen, it’s a natural celestial occurrence that happens three times annually.
The word retrograde comes from the Latin “retrogradus“ for “backward step.” In an astrological context, it refers to planets moving backward. Only, planets do not move backward — the stars sometimes merely align to create the illusion that they do.
All planets in our solar system move in the same direction around the sun, never pausing nor reversing. Due to the fact that planets have differently sized orbits, though, they take different amounts of time to complete an orbit. When the Earth laps planets with shorter orbits, it creates the optical illusion of retrograde.
What does it actually mean?
The Farmers’ Almanac illustrates this phenomenon using two cars on a highway: If both cars are going in the same direction in adjacent lanes, and one car speeds up, the slower car will appear to move backward. The slower car is not moving backward, however, it is just being passed by the faster car.
Mercury is the closest planet to the sun and takes just 88 days to complete an orbit around it. Every time Earth laps Mercury — which happens three times annually — the phenomenon is called Mercury retrograde.
This is Mercury’s second time in retrograde this year, and it will continue through July 12. It was previously in retrograde from February 16 to March 9, and will be in retrograde for a third time, from October 12 to November 13.
A chaotic reputation
Mercury retrograde has a bad reputation because astrologers believe the planet positively influences communication and transportation when it is in forward motion, and when it moves backward, it leads to chaos, writes the Farmers’ Almanac.
According to astrologer to the stars Susan Miller, when Mercury retrogrades, “it scrambles information, causes static and confusion. Its effects are felt universally. Mercury retrograde episodes are highly unreliable to sign contracts, complete important transactions, access accurate information or make big decisions.”