7 Good Things To Do When Mercury Retrogrades in Capricorn

Take a leaf out of Rodin’s notebook and have a little think.

Here’s one of the simplest ways to use astrology: work with the energy of the retrogrades.

So hurray, Mercury retrograde is here again, so it’s time to re-think, re-evaluate, review and renegotiate.

This time Mercury is going back in Capricorn (10-19 December) and then into Sagittarius (19-31 December). Here are a few things to do when the planet of communications, speed, siblings and backchat goes into the big brother sign.

Remember that Merc retrograde is more about planning and reflection rather than doing, unless it’s a matter of re-doing. Get it?


1. Take a hard look at your current career.  Is it going as you planned? Is there anything you should readjust? If you seem to have just fallen into something, now is the time to make a plan to get out of it. If you have already made a plan, and followed it meticulously, yet you’re still unhappy, rethink the plan. You may also find that frankly your career is not in your hands, so you are forced to rethink.

2. Consider your status. Are you mainly a mother, business guru, sailor or ballroom dancer? A gypsy, a socialite, a drunk? How do you present yourself to the world and does this gel with how you see yourself? What would you readjust if you could? Again make a plan.

3. Consider your assets. Are they really worth what you think? If not, don’t panic, but this is your opportunity to be brutally truthful with yourself.

4. Take a look at your boss. What is your relationship like with your boss? Do you need to re-negotiate your position? How could you fix it? Or if it’s great already, are you wearing rose-tinted spectacles.

5. The same goes with authority in general. How do you feel about your government? The local council? Is it time to protest? Have they been lying to you?

6. Dad. Do you pay enough attention to your father? Has the family dynamic shifted without your really noticing? For example, maybe your father become a weaker player since his retirement and your mother needs more support.

7. Big Brother. Along the same lines, do you and your siblings have a hierarchical relationship that has changed or needs to changed? Say you’ve always seen yourself as the grown up big sister, have you acknowledged that your little brother may have turned into a grown man or even a dad himself, while you haven’t had the experience of parenthood yet. Or if you are the feckless younger son, is it time you took some of the burden of being the eternal grow up off the shoulders of your big brother?