What's Mercury Retrograde: Crystals, Practices, and more to help you understand this complex transit!

If you have started paying attention to astrology or the metaphysical world, you have probably heard about Mercury Retrograde. But do you know what it means or how it might affect you? Mercury Retrograde (or Mercury RX as you might have seen it written as) is a complicated and misunderstood astrological phenomenon that happens multiple times per year. So let’s talk about it!

Mercury Retrograde happens when from our viewpoint on Earth, Mercury appears to be going backwards. Mercury is the ruler of technology, the digital world, and communication, and it is one of the planets closest to Earth. This is why we perceive it as being in retrograde so much more frequently than other planets. When any planet is in Retrograde, the situations and ideas that it rules will be reversed, showing where the stress points are in your life relating to that. If you want to look even more specifically, check out where the Gemini and Virgo placements are in your chart, as these two signs are ruled by Mercury.

It’s here to flip things upside down in your life in order to show you what isn’t working in your life. Does it feel like you’ve dropped the ball on important things? Maybe it’s pointing out that you have taken on too many of other people’s responsibilities. Have you sent an email to the wrong person? Maybe this is pointing out that you need to slow down in your day to day. Even your phone breaking or glitching could be the universe telling you that you need to ground and focus back in on your life.

As frustrating as these experiences can be, they are here for a reason. Take this period of time as a reminder that it is necessary to slow down, ground, and look at your life to see if you are making things more complicated than they need to be. It’s a time to embrace some internal spring cleaning and allow what isn’t working to leave your life.

So how do you cope with your life being flipped upside for approximately 3 weeks, 4 times a year? By giving yourself extra tools and practices to support you through the Ups and Downs.

Crystals

When looking to support yourself with crystals, it’s important to know what you are trying to counteract. Mercury Retrograde specifically connects to technology, communication, and intelligence/logic. What area of your life it affects depends on both your own personal chart and what sign Mercury is in while retrograding, but those are great starting points. 

Communication Stones: Communication will be a struggle during this time. Whether it comes in the form of a message being sent to the wrong person or maybe words coming out wrong and offending someone; Mercury RX can make it feel like you can’t say anything right. Some of my favorite crystals to help combat this include: Aquamarine, Amazonite, Larimar, Blue Lace Agate, and Blue Chalcedony. 

Grounding Stones: Making mistakes, being misunderstood, and having technological mishaps is incredibly disorienting and destabilizing. And unfortunately, Mercury RX loves to throw these at you. In an effort to reduce these faux pas, it’s always good to ground and remain present. Grounding stones help you to feel centered during much uncertainty and awkwardness. Some of my favorite grounding stones are: Shungite, Black Tourmaline, Smoky Quartz, Obsidian, and Garnet.

Self Compassion Stones: Mercury Retrograde has a storied reputation for a reason. It can often feel like you can’t do anything right and like your life is falling apart during this transit. Which is why it is so important to give yourself extra self love and compassion over this time. Focus on using stones like Rose Quartz, Morganite, Mangano Calcite, and Pink Scolecite to help release any heavy burdens on your self love center. 

Wisdom Stones: Though it can be very challenging, Mercury Retrogrades are here to teach us lessons. Rather than burying your head and deciding to fight through this transit, consider leaning into understanding the lessons. Crystals like: Clear Quartz, Lapis, Amethyst, and Sodalite can help you reflect and understand the listen easier.