Girly Heart
The chart-reference drawer · sheet seven of eight
Mercury retrograde — the preparation list
A practical list for information, transport, tools and plans. It does not ask you to cancel anything.
Station retrograde
Station direct
Sign, and which house of my chart
Take the dates from the Mercury retrograde page on this site, calculated for your timezone. Do not use a remembered date; the stations move every year.
Before the station
- Confirm travel details
- Save the address offline
- Back up current work
- Name the decision that can wait
- Leave more room between appointments
The decision that can wait, and until when
During the period
- Read the whole message before answering
- Put agreements in writing
- Test links and files
- Return to useful unfinished work
- Correct the mistake without turning it into an omen
Mercury retrograde does not require you to stop living. It is a good prompt for slower handling of information, transport, tools and plans.
The three weeks, in your own life
Nearly all of this list is ordinary good practice. What makes a retrograde period worth marking is that it gives you a reason to do it on a date, rather than after something has already gone wrong.
| What I am handling more slowly | What I actually did about it | What happened |
|---|---|---|
| Travel | ||
| Agreements & messages | ||
| Files, tools & devices | ||
| The unfinished thing I returned to |