The planet Mercury has entered its retrograde period, spanning from August 5 to August 28th, 2024. The shadow period will officially be over on September 11th, 2024, marking the final end of the retrograde period.
Every year, the planet Mercury has 3-4 retrograde periods, lasting approximately three weeks each. When a planet enters retrograde, it means that through apparent motion, it appears to be traveling backwards in the sky, against the normal planetary flow.
During this time, Mercury is making its transit path from 4 degrees of Virgo, back to 21 degrees of Leo. Mercury is the planet that naturally rules Virgo, so this period will surely be intensely transformative, especially with regards to your daily habits and routines that make up your life.
Virgo is the zodiac sign we associate with all of our daily habits, routines, and the way we structure our lives. The planet Mercury affects our thoughts and mindset. When Mercury is retrograding in the sign of Virgo, it creates a natural process for humans to rethink, refine and make adjustments that may seem small and simple but add up to big results in your life.
On August 14th, Mercury will re-enter the sign of Leo, from which it just came. This going backwards is a chance to right the wrongs and set things straighter for yourself. These next three weeks or so will give you the natural energy boost to take control of yourself, your life, your habits and routines, as well as your mindset for empowering yourself to live your best life.
Leo, the Lion in astrology, is receiving a big maturing energy during this Leo Sun season paired with the Mercury retrograde.
If you remember in the movie The Lion King, Simba started out wild and rambunctious. He made a lot of mistakes and it cost him. But then one day, Simba suddenly seemed to mature. It became hard to tell the difference between grown up Simba and his stoic leader father, Mufasa. Almost like magic, he learned, he grew, he humbled, he matured. Simba was able to go back and be the leader he was destined to be.
This maturing of the self is the natural energy that this particular Mercury retrograde period is gifting to us all. Whichever aspects of your life that you’ve been wanting to mature, now is the time. The planets are aligned and supporting you to make the subtle changes that will make the biggest positive impact for you. Don’t hold yourself back anymore. Don’t feel bad about your past mistakes. They weren’t mistakes, they were growth and learning opportunities. Let them go and just be the better version of you now. You deserve to be free of the guilt, and this retrograde is helping you re-think, re-wire and re-structure anything you wish now.
While the retrograde ends August 28th, there is a shadow period that follows where the energies are still accessible. The shadow period will officially be over on September 11th, 2024, marking the final end until the next retrograde period begins November 25 in the sign of Sagittarius.