Astrology blog

The concept of "Mercury Retrograde" has become a household name, because the mass media has promoted it well. Astrologers talk about it often too, because Mercury's retro periods (unlike other planets) occur several times a year - sometimes 3, sometimes 4. In general, people like to focus only on regular phenomena such as Full Moon or eclipses, forgetting that the giant planets also turn retrograde twice a year, and this greatly affects the global situation and the development of worldwide processes. But everyone likes to watch the cycles of the small planets - the Moon and Mercury, which are responsible for fleeting circumstances in our private lives. I will devote my other article to the lunar cycles, but today I will analyze in detail the phenomenon of Mercury retrograde in astronomical terms.

Since the trajectory of the Sun, when viewed from Earth, has a circular shape, we represent the zodiac as a circle. The circle is divided into sectors (zodiac signs), some of which are located opposite each other. Aries opposes Libra, Capricorn opposes Cancer, and sidereal Taurus is opposed by two constellations at once - Scorpio and Ophiuchus.

Since each zodiac sign has a ruler planet, the opposition of the signs generates a confrontation of the planets. For example, Mars (ruler of Aries) is the exact opposite of Chiron (ruler of Libra), and the Moon (ruler of Cancer) is the opposite of Saturn (ruler of Capricorn).

To clearly see the kinship and enmity of the signs, I made an infographic that reflects the actual planetary properties adapted to the sidereal zodiac. You can trace in which constellation the planet shows its strength and weakness, based on the traditional astrological concepts of domicile, exaltation, detriment and fall.