Mercury retrograde usually happens 3-4 times a year.

In 2021 we end our year with Mercury entering his Retrograde Shadow. Then in 2022 we end 2022 and start 2023 with a Mercury Retrograde Station.

What does this means for you?

The need for continual review of your mindset (attitudes and beliefs) and how you connect and communicate with others (and within yourself) is highlighted over the next two years.

These review periods will get amped up and turbo charged during the usual 3-week Retrograde Cycle. The universe is putting you (and our world at large) on red alert notice that dramatic shifts and changes in your mindset are needed over the next two years. 

Mercury can be a very tricky planet, bringing much chaos and confusion, along with its reviews.

Numerological Meaning

Since 2022 will end with Mercury exactly Stationary Retrograde and we start 2023 with Mercury’s Stationary Retrograde we may experience a kind of limbo for most of 2023. Or, maybe like you're repeating things - like a perpetual groundhog day.

Over the next two years everything may feel up in the air and it may become even more challenging to make decisions. Just as soon as you make a decision things change and you have to tweak things to accommodate the shifts taking place.

The number that rules Mercury is the number five (5). Five is the number of Magic. It can also represent mayhem that can result from much fevered communication that gives rise to drama, misinformation and rampant gossip.

A numerological five year (which both 2022 and 2023 will have overtones of due to the Mercury Retro affect) can seem to zoom by more quickly than any year prior. Sudden technological advancements, as well as breakdowns and disruptions can also result.

I just wanted to give you foreknowledge of the Stationary Mercury Retrograde at the end of 2022. So, that you will be especially focused on making the most of 2022’s somewhat stabilizing energy (that is in comparison with 2023 which will be a seven (7) year, the number of Neptune when you have an opportunity to deepen your faith. 2023 will be a year to let go and let God amid all the confusion and chaos that may ensue with this number).

Re-thinking Values, Lifestyle Choices & Being Practical

2022 can bring a certain amount of stability, as well as healthy and practical oriented achievements. This is your year to make changes for advancements in the future, especially in the areas of your health, lifestyle choices, day-to-day routines and the type of work you do for a living.

The much needed review initiated at the end of the 2022 year and the start of 2023 may also signal an economic slow down world wide. As I said, everything can feel rather stagnant, slowed down, or in limbo. That’s because we’re needing to re-orient our sense of time which may be undergoing profound changes. The usual ways of relating and connecting with others, within our world, and even within our own selves, is getting a major reset.

So, make the most of 2022. If opportunities out of the blue come your way to change your work life balance then go for it.

2022 is a numerological six (6) number which is the number of Venus and supports your making needed changes in your priorities and what you value.

Venus' Stationary Retrograde at the end of 2021 will help you make the shifts that can set you up for success in 2022 and beyond. The world as we’ve known it is rapidly changing. Don’t resist the changes, but rather embrace them and step into a new, yet unimagined, world.

Mercury represents your conscious, everyday, thinking mind. Just as Mercury ‘appears’ to start going backward in the sky, your conscious everyday thinking mind can also take an about face and shift backward, as well. When a planet Stations Retrograde the planet is said to be asleep. You enter the dreamtime when your intuition becomes heightened.

Your everyday thought patterns for making supportive connections and having effective communications in the world are up for review during a Mercury Retrograde.

Mercury Retrograde activates changes and upgrades to your thinking and how you connect the dots. Do you see connections and similarities between things? Or, do you only see how things are different?

Upgrades in Attitudes & Beliefs 

It’s okay to see what’s revealed during Mercury’s retrograde, so that your mind can be upgraded to new levels and ways of thinking about things. More peace and harmony for yourself and others can result.

Though some changes may be necessary for implementation during Mercury’s Retrograde phase, most the changes will primarily get underway after Mercury has Stationed Direct again. After Mercury has made his complete review.

Generally, you want to have a ‘wait see’ approach during Mercury’s Retrograde as all of the information needed for making decisions may not yet be known.

When Mercury is Retrograde much information can come to awareness. Clarity for implementing changes may only come after Mercury Stations Direct.

Mercury Retrograde Affect

Of course, it is an optical illusion that Mercury starts going backward in the sky. Just as when looking out a car window the traffic you are passing looks like it’s going backward as you pass it. But really your car is going faster and passing the other cars, not that they are going backward.

This close proximity of Mercury to the Sun makes for strongly felt electrical currents that affect your thoughts and bring about electro-magnetic field occurrences. Thus, disruptions in your usual activities may result. Mercury Retrograde’s electro-magnetic influences are helping clear away any interference or weakness in your thinking and electro-magnetic fields. Mercury Retrograde can also  reveal any weaknesses or faults in electrical or electronic devices or equipment that connects you to the world and supports communication, like cars, trains and computers.

We are electro-chemical beings and nothing can happen in life without a relationship or some sort of connection or communication. Mercury rules the electrical communications sphere of material life. When he goes asleep (retrograde) your intuition which is the voice you were born with for communicating within yourself and with others telepathically can become louder. Your intuition has a spiritual source, but Mercury has a physical or phenomenal source which is supplied by the electro-magnetic currents of the earth. This is why when Mercury goes asleep you can (potentially) notice your intuition more loudly.

With your rational mind offline the possibilities are endless for making those right connections. It’s a serendipitous time when seeming coincidences can line up for you. Out of the blue extraordinary happenings that you could never have planned for in a million years suddenly can happen.

Mercury in Air/Earth Signs

In 2022 Mercury Retrograde dances between the Air and Earth Elements, weaving the two inextricably together. You’re challenged to make your thoughts more practical and grounded this year.

Mercury is the trickster and magician. Keeping your mental focus on realistic and achievable goals can help you realize much this year. While at the same time you need to be alert to tricks of the mind that can distract and drain you of life energy.

Mercury Retrograde can unblock and enhance the flow of your emotional body. When your emotions flow you are more open to the abundance the universe has to offer you.

Best Essential Oil to Use in 2022

Generally, the essential oils that can be most helpful during each of the Mercury Retrogrades happening during 2022 are the earthy and grounding scents.

#1 Galbanum (Ferula galbaniflua)

Aromas: Earthy, spicy, herbal, warm, woody, balsamic and piney

• An ancient aromatic plant oil
• Intensely green scent appreciated by perfumers
• Referred to as the sacred "mother resin"
• One of the oldest herbs
• Psycho-emotionally calming, grounding and balancing
• Contains rejuvenating, calming and balancing properties

Mercury Retrograde 2022 Dates

• On January 14 Mercury at 10° Aquarius Stations Retrograde, exact at 3:41am PT. Mercury enters his Shadow, the degree to which he will Retrograde back to, on December 30 at 24° Capricorn. Mercury Stations Direct at this degree on February 3rd, exact at 8:13pm PT.
  
• On May 10 Mercury at 4° Gemini Stations Retrograde, exact at 4:47am PT. Mercury enters his Shadow, the degree to which he will Retrograde back to, on April 27th at 26° Taurus. Mercury Stations Direct at this degree on June 3rd, at 1:00am PT.
  
• On September 9 Mercury at 8° Libra Stations Retrograde, exact at 8:38pm PT. Mercury enters his Shadow, the degree to which he will Retrograde back to, on August 21 at 24° Virgo. Mercury will Station Direct at this degree on October 2nd at 2:07am PT.
• On December 29 Mercury at 24° Capricorn Stations Retrograde at 1:31am PT. Mercury enters his Shadow, the degree to which he will Retrograde back to, on December 13th at 8° Capricorn. Mercury will Station Direct at this degree on January 18, 2023.

How Will the 2022 Mercury Retrogrades Affect Me Personally?

This is, of course, is the million dollar question on everyone's minds.

4 Things to Look For:

1) The first thing to look for is what house (click link below to find out the meaning of the 12 houses of the zodiac) will Mercury be transiting in your personal astrology chart. This will tell you where Mercury’s Retrograde force will be affecting you. And, the area of your life set for intensive review and a reset.

2) Next you’ll want to check if Mercury Retrograde will cross over (and conjunct) any of your personal planets or points. Your Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Chiron, Midheaven, Nadir or Ascendant will be the most impactful.

3) You will feel the most dramatic effect when Mercury Retrograde's Station (either Retro or Direct) is exactly conjunct one of your personal planets, or points.

4) Since Mercury rules the 3rd house, all manner of means of connecting and communicating may be affected. Also, the astrological signs Virgo and Gemini (both ruled by Mercury) will be effected. So, if you have any personal planets in these signs pay especial attention to the house meanings for these, as well, to get greater insight about how Mercury Retrograde may affect you.

The two questions to ask yourself over the next two years and especially during the Mercury Retrograde cycles are:

• How do I need to change?
• What needs to change in my life?

READ Meaning of the Twelve Houses of the Zodiac. 

READ Article, What is Mercury Retrograde and How to Survive It. 

• Why Planets Effect You
• What Exactly Is a Mercury Retrograde?
• Why Attitude and Mindset Matter
• Gifts of a Mercury Retrograde Cycle
• How Things Start is How They Go