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Mercury Retrograde Dates for 2023

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What Is Mercury Retrograde and What Does It Mean for You?

Catherine Boeckmann
May 23, 2023
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Mercury enters retrograde motion starting on August 23, 2023! According to the age-old practice of astrology, we are all influenced by the effect of Mercury in retrograde. What exactly does it mean for each of us, though? Read on to find out.

What Is “Mercury Retrograde”?

Three to four times a year, the planet Mercury appears to travel backward across the sky. We refer to these periods as times when Mercury is in apparent retrograde motion, or simply ”Mercury retrograde.” To those who practice astrology, these times in particular were traditionally associated with confusion, delay, and frustration. Think undelivered love letters, email blunders, and frazzled travel plans! This is an excellent time to reflect on the past, however, and it’s said that intuition is high during these periods. Coincidences can be extraordinary.

What Is Retrograde Motion?

The astronomical explanation for retrograde motion starts with understanding that the planets in our solar system orbit the Sun at different distances and speeds. While we orbit the Sun ourselves, we can observe the other planets moving across our sky, following their own paths. 

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Sometimes, it can appear (from our perspective) that a planet has abruptly switched directions and has started to move in reverse across the sky. This is, of course, an illusion caused by the position of Earth in relation to that of the planet, since a planet in orbit always travels in one set direction and can’t suddenly reverse course. This is why we call the phenomenon apparent retrograde motion, as it only looks like the planet is moving backward (“retrograde motion”)!

When Is Mercury in Retrograde in 2023?

In 2023, Mercury will be in apparent retrograde motion during the following ranges of dates: 

  • December 28, 2022, to January 18, 2023
  • April 21 to May 14
  • August 23 to September 14
  • December 13 to January 1, 2024

Please note that dates reflect Eastern Time U.S., not Universal Time.

What You Should Do When Mercury is Retrograde

The planet Mercury rules communication in all forms—listening, writing, reading, speaking, and so on—as well as activities closely related to communication, like negotiations and contracts. It also rules travel, automobiles, shipping, and mail.

So, when Mercury is retrograde, try to remain flexible, patient, and understanding, allow extra time for travel, and avoid signing onto any new contracts that you’re unsure of. Double-check your email responses and check in with reservations before you take that trip. 

Review projects and plans at these times, but wait until Mercury is direct again to make any final decisions. You can’t stop your life but plan ahead, have backup plans, and be prepared for people’s shorter fuses and miscommunication. 

Take a Moment to Reflect

Some blame Mercury retrograde for all chaos that happens in their lives. However, this is a good time to sit back and review what you put your energy toward.

For example, if family and faith are important to you, are you putting enough energy into them or have you overextended in other areas such as your career or a hobby? Losing the balance between different parts of your life can cause all of them to suffer, so being aware of their connections—especially during Mercury retrograde—can help you maintain or at least better understand how that balance works.

Take a moment to reflect. Mercury retrograde can be an excellent time to take a step back and reanalyze who you are and what you are doing—but do refrain from making any drastic changes until after retrograde has ended.

Mercury and the Zodiac

The type of influence you feel also depends on which of the 12 zodiac signs Earth is in when Mercury goes retrograde.

What’s your Zodiac Sign? See here: “Mercury Retrograde and Zodiac Signs.”

Learn more about zodiac sign profiles in general and check out our monthly horoscopes. Make sure that your gardening does not go awry when Mercury is in retrograde by reading your zodiac profile for gardening.

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Comments

Antonio (not verified)

4 months 2 weeks ago

If we go by 13 month calendar how would effect the lunar days of it being in any given sign?

William Bezanson (not verified)

4 months 3 weeks ago

Nice article, but it could be better if you explained just WHY Mercury causes such communications glitches way out here, millions of miles away, where the gravitational pull from Mercury must be so trivial that no discernible effects would be noticed.
It was C.G.Jung, to my mind, who offered a Psychological hypothesis for the Mercury Retrograde phenomenon. Briefly, since Mercury was the Roman god of communication and messaging, when he went "backwards", his messages got lost, or garbled, of mis-delivered. In modern times, we humans remember the Roman god deep in our psyche, and we are affected by the apparent retrograde motion of the planet Mercury, and so our unconscious causes some of our conscious behaviours to be erratic. So, it is not the planet Mercury that causes such glitches, but our own unconscious. This is related to what is called the Mercury Archetype.
Note that ALL planets have an apparent retrograde motion, and have psychological impacts on us. For example, Mars, the god of war; when it goes retrograde we are inexplicably belligerent or short-tempered, looking for a war. Similarly with Venus, making us loving and compassionate.
Fascinating stuff. I hope that my comment here is helpful.

You are obviously arrogant and rude to the author. Why does mercury go retrograde? Not all planets orbit in circles. Mercury has an oblong orbit. That makes it appear that the planet is going backwards when we are going forwards. You were rude to this author. I think you should apologize.

Archangel Raphael oversees the planet Mercury. He rules the heart chakra. When Mercury goes retrograde, it’s bringing everything to a slower pace so we can see what we need to heal in our lives.

Aren’t archangels a Catholic thing? In what way are they related to astrology?

Thank you Sir! I appreciate. I am learning Astrology and your explantion made so many things clear to my mind. Thanks!

Very helpful. I appreciate your expansion on the phenomena. To me, its also a reminder that so much of what i am asked to deal with is outside of my control, not that i am a victime, just that an appreciation and clarification of " how i spend my energy" is a valuable and effective insight.

Love your comment! @akalkambo ♥️🤍🙏🏼 Thank you for that thorough explanation.

Gary Hall (not verified)

5 months ago

This is a funny skit about Mercury in Retrograde https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ef7PeSdrtkA

Hilarious! The troupe from Baroness Von Sketch are great! Thanks for sharing - explains mercury retrograde perfectly! LOL