In recent days, social networks have been flooded with numerous warnings from astrologers announcing the arrival of Mercury retrograde and the associated problems in communicating with people, accidents, and almost the next end of the world. But what is Mercury retrograde? And does it have anything to do with our everyday life? Let’s find out.
What is Mercury retrograde?
Unlike the stars, whose pattern on the earthly sky remains unchanged (at least during human lifetime), the planets do not stand still. They move. Ancient people noticed that throughout the year they make strange looping movements across the sky. From time to time, the planets can even “stop” and then move in the sky for some time from east to west, which is the opposite of the usual direction. This is called retrograde motion.
Of course, in reality, the direction of planetary motion does not change. This effect is an optical illusion caused by the fact that the planets orbit the Sun at different speeds. It occurs most often with Mercury. The first planet moves in its orbit much faster than the Earth and makes one revolution around the Sun in 88 days. So, during the year, Mercury gets ahead of the Earth3-4 times. At such moments, its movement in the Earth’s sky becomes retrograde. It is similar to when one car is overtaking another, and those in the faster car feel that the slower one is moving in the opposite direction.
Mercury’s retrograde motion lasts about 3 weeks. Another such period just started on August 4.
In order to see the planet’s retrograde movement across the sky, you need to watch its position change over several nights. However, the funny thing is that in the case of Mercury, it is quite difficult to do this, since at the time of the onset of “retrograde” the planet is between the Sun and the Earth.
Moreover, Mercury is not easy to observe, especially in our latitudes. And all because of the planet’s proximity to the Sun. Its periods of visibility rarely exceed a month, during which Mercury can be seen low on the horizon just after sunset or shortly before dawn.
Is Mercury retrograde evil?
So, retrograde motion in the sky is observed for all planets. But astrologers always warn us about Mercury retrograde, completely ignoring all other planets. This tradition goes back to the ancient past, when it was often associated with all sorts of troubles. Nowadays, Mercury retrograde has turned into an easy clickbait for Internet resources of varying degrees of dubiousness.
But do scientists have any confirmation of the danger of Mercury retrograde? Of course not. None of the numerous studies of the accuracy of astrological forecasts and horoscopes have found any correlation between the position of celestial bodies in the sky and events on Earth. The same goes for Mercury retrograde. Which, however, is not surprising. It would be strange to expect that an optical illusion (after all, in reality, the planet has moved and is still moving around the Sun) could have any impact on our fates.
However, despite all its pseudoscience, astrology has always been, and apparently will continue to be, very popular. And there are many reasons for this. People tend to remember information that is consistent with our beliefs. Three weeks is more than enough time for some trouble to happen in our lives, and it is really convenient to attribute it to the machinations of Mercury retrograde. A quick and easy explanation of complex events by external circumstances that are not in any way dependent on us is much more convenient than trying to really get to the root of the problem.
So, most likely, you will hear horror stories about Mercury once again. The good thing is that the next time it will go retrograde is at the end of November this year. Just don’t pay attention to the next loud headlines. Unfortunately, bad things happen and will always happen. But Mercury has absolutely nothing to do with it.
