Mercury Retro Gemini 2021 – Master That Mayhem!

By our astrologer Elena

Did you know Mercury is gender neutral? It takes on the qualities of the sign it finds itself in. Playful, shapeshifting, gender-fluid Mercury will behave very differently in say Cancer, than it does in Aries. One is associated with feminine, nurturing energy and ruled by the Moon. The other, with confident, go-getting Mars. The same goes for Mercury’s two ruling sign – Gemini and Virgo. One is air and the other earth for one thing. But when it comes to Gemini and the sign of the Twins – are we talking Mercury untucked or Mercury in drag? You never know when Mercury is retrograde in its ruling sign.

Take it you may experience Mercury at its most multi-faceted and difficult to define when it performs one of its thrice-yearly retrogrades in ruling Gemini. Which is what is due to happen between May 29 and June 22, 2021. We are in big mutable, ever-changing weather now. Three weeks of mayhem, madness and a touch of mystery too! But you can work this like a Magician if you come to understand how Mercury manifests itself in its various phases.

Sure, you can’t prevent that Mercury retro cancellation happening. But you can factor in it may. And then if and when it does, have a plan. Anything from an alternative route to that book and a coffee rather than stressing. When it’s out of our hands in in Mercury’s slippery ones, there’s no point in doing anything but going with the flow gracefully.

Trick or treat?

Trust Mercury to have a few tricks up its sleeve. As well as being the messenger of the gods, in mythology, Mercury was also associated with the trickster archetype. Today we see this side of Mercury perfectly embodied in the media by Tom Hiddleston’s portrayal of the Norse trickster god Loki in the Marvel cinematic universe. Negatively, Mercury rules catfish, conmen and scammers. Note how all of these in this day and age operate over the internet – which Mercury rules.

But did you know that just like the Moon, Mercury has ‘phases’? The most obvious one being its retrograde phase, the other direct. Then we have the before-and-after retroshadow phases. When Mercury is either slowing down in preparation to reverse, or has stopped after being in reverse to go forward again. It’s all an illusion of course as planets don’t go backwards in the sky. Mercury likes that. It all adds to the confusion it creates.

When Mercury is direct, it is in front of the Sun. This is because it moves so fast. When it begins to slow down, from our perspective here on earth, the Sun appears to catch up with it. Then when it turns retrograde it will appear to fall ‘behind’ the Sun. When Mercury is conjunct the Sun, this is the equivalent of a full Moon. So, think ‘Full Mercury’. This can be an especially powerful time when it comes to news or our ideas if this Sun/Mercury conjunction makes an angle to a planet in our charts.

And just as we are influenced by what phase the Moon was in when we were born (see your Moon Superpower article), the same goes for what Mercury was up to as well. If you were born with Mercury conjunct your Sun, you were born under a ‘Full Mercury’. You are likely to be someone who is curious, ever learning, open and above all, someone who works with or is at home with words and ideas. You won’t just talk about them either – you use your ideas.

Mercury in front of the Sun

If you were born with Mercury in front of your Sun, then you are organized, take your time planning and work through your ideas. You focus on the details and find it easy to retain facts and information. Often these Mercury types can be fluent in more than one language or have an extensive vocabulary. You may also specialize in one subject as opposed to knowing a little about a lot. Strategic and good planners, the only thing this kind of Mercury needs to watch is falling into the trap of their ideas/way is the best or worse – becoming so fixated on one topic they become boring. This Mercury is linked to the sign of Virgo.

Mercury behind the Sun

If you were born with Mercury behind your Sun, then you were born in a retrograde or when it was just beginning to move forward again through its retroshadow. If this was a Moon phase we would say you are either born under a waning Moon. Now, as with any phase of the Moon, there’s no one that is ‘better’ than the other. They just express themselves differently.

This Mercury is willing to take a chance, is innovative, talkative, funny and clever. But it may lack focus or be all talk and not much else. Or it may have wonderful ideas but not take the time to test or research them. Knowing this about your Mercury however allows you to team up with someone who takes your bold, big picture thinking and adds all the small stuff to make it happen. While you get back to focusing on your next big vision!

Transforming with Mercury Retro

So, while Mercury retro in Gemini may deliver delays, shutdowns and snafus in the outer world, once you know what your Mercury was up to when you were born, you can use your Mercury energy to align with the retro one. Rework ideas, reconnect to people whose Mercury energy compliments yours. Take time to work though any old or new brilliant plans and do your research before deciding whether or not they are worth pursing.  Whatever sign it is in or whether it is direct or retroactive, Mercury rules ideas. And the idea of viewing Mercury different could just be one whose time has come. Retrofactor or not!