Born During Mercury Retrograde

When you are born during Mercury Retrograde, you have an advantage. You listen between the lines. Your parsing of facts and information is more nuanced than that of other people. Still, it is natural to be concerned. It sounds, you know, backward.

But Mercury is not really reversing when it is ‘retrograde’ – it’s influence is more intense. It’s concentrated. Being born at this time bestows  an innate poetic sensibility. It gives the person a deeper consciousness and surreal literacy that many folks long to emulate.

“Is it bad to be born with Mercury Retrograde?” is a question that comes in spates – nothing for months and then suddenly a flurry of frantic concern. “I want to be a writer but I just found out my Mercury is Retrograde…”

It is not just of no concern – it is an asset. Exhibit A:  Ms. Margaret Atwood, one of the most genius writers to ever grace Gaia. Mercury Retrograde in Sagittarius. Another one: Dostoevsky. The Gravity’s Rainbow author Thomas Pynchon was born with Mercury Retrograde. See also one J.R.R. Tolkien, author of the iconic Lord of The Rings trilogy.

Steve Martin is another fantastic writer born with Mercury Retrograde. More? Henry Miller, William Faulkner, Jorge Luis Borges, and Steve Jobs. The surrealist artist Louise Bourgois; Sun conjunct Mercury Retrograde. “I work like a bee and always feel I have accomplished little,” she said. Of course, she was incredibly accomplished, successful and working her genius right up until the day she left us.

And, hello? The iconic Doris Lessing.

Being born with Mercury Retrograde also ensures that when the Messenger God turns Retrograde (it occurs three times a year), you’re likely to deepen your understanding of life. You’ll be hyper-perceptive. It won’t mess with you the way it does some others.

Think of it as being like how Obelix got invincibility from falling in the druid’s magic cauldron at birth. Come to think of it, Rene Goscinny, creator of the enormously successful Asterix series of comics, was born with Mercury Retrograde.

I love this W-Magazine description of the television producer and writer Shonda Rhimes – born with Merc-Retro in Capricorn:

“Rhimes’s day begins at 6 a.m., when she wakes up to send her kids to school. From 8 a.m. to noon, she does nothing but write. When she’s cooking up dialogue for her characters, she’ll act out every single line, often with headphones on, so she has no idea how much those around her can hear. “That’s my favorite part,” she exclaims.

When she worked in the Shondaland offices, before the pandemic started, “I would always act out all of the scenes, even the tearful ones, even the screaming ones, even the romantic ones.” In the afternoon, she takes meetings, but by 3 p.m. she’s off reading or listening to podcasts, to keep abreast of the cultural conversations that she uses to inform the creation of her sharp, witty characters.”

See also this fantastic wisdom (via Document magazine) from Caroline Herve aka DJ Miss Kittin, a musical genius with Mercury Retrograde in Leo:

“The topic of time—it’s very important, what you said. I just read something about ego in our society—if it’s a disease or if it’s necessary. This social guy said that we have to find inside ourselves what is timeless, and what can’t be copied. We have to find inside ourselves what survives time. It’s about the obsession with being young, tricking all the wrinkles, perfection, and never aging. It was great to hear that because that’s how I feel—about music and about art and everything in general.”

Thoughts?

48 thoughts on “Born During Mercury Retrograde”

  1. Love this article…intrigued I checked my chart to find I was born on the last day of Mercury Retrograde Aries! Holy Wow! Ms. Mystic, is this why Merc Rx usually works out well for me?!

  2. Oh dear, I’ve just realised I booked a trip to Paris during Mercury retro on the Eclipse full moon too. It is the weekend after my birthday, errr Solar Return.
    I’m taking the Eurostar and staying in an air B & B flat. Super affordable and solo wandering time.. I’m thinking it will be amazing to wander Paris alone..
    Gonna brush up on my French and get re-buffed on my art history in the run up.

  3. the conjunction to Lilith 3 times in libra should be interesting. i have Lilith/juno rising at 1 cap, (im a 25 sag rising). i know juno is joining the party in libra too soon, which i think might be very interesting.

  4. I feel so naff having Mercury direct.
    Y’know, so obvious.
    I mean I do have Leo Sun & Mercury in the 2nd (cancer).
    (2nd housers aren’t exactly shutting it down so much
    as delineating how much couch you will get, clear that way).
    My heart is poetic, but I think I my writing style is like, ‘did ya get it?’ *clunk*’.

    Anyway, Mercury in Libra to me has all been about PERSONAL justice.
    Like, I have been really stressed out reading about the no vax, no kinder policy, the nauru/refugee treatment, parents arrested for giving cannabis oil to their epileptic kids who are getting brain damage etc. etc. to the point I just had to STOP.
    This is personal justice, me treating myself kindly, because I cannot change this stuff right now, let alone the arms/drug/war mongerers.

    Though, it’s a good thing that the Melbournites had some success protesting the Police Paper Checks.
    Imho, the way they are brutalising refugees in Australia is just them normalising the public to the idea of cruelty as acceptable behaviour.
    That down the track, the implicit warning from all this is: If you dissent, you are going to Nauru too. Nauru was a warning was for you dissenters and never really was about refugees.

    But yes, reading actual books, not white light iPhone text, internet articles.
    Just letting it go, letting myself surrender to the perfection of this macabre circus dance that is the media. Will def get Marg At’s Oryx & Crake and entertain my brain with her thoughts instead!

    1. The personal & political are so completely entangled… Enmeshed. One coin. Coyne. *swoon* Anyhow–

      Mercury-Lilith-True Node in Libra musings: I haz dem.

      And then with Saturn’s encore performance in Scorpio, how can we not?

      Power power power structures– personal, political, micro, macro– freedom, balance, living authentically. Practically. Realistically. Magically.

      Creatively.

      Goddess speed on all of your creative endeavors, sphinx, y’Creatrix! Like the Chariot: justified 😉

      1. Yes! I am reading “The Individual and the Nature of Mass Events” by Seth, it is so great. They are entangled, I am attempting to disentangle myself and not buy into it emotionally at all. Because it starts to affect my health, I get ragey, I inflame, my immune system gets overwhelmed. Then I meditate. Then the cycle starts again.

        My Pluto in Libra is getting stimulated by Mercury too I guess, so that is the depth trawling mechanism at work with Justice in Libra on Mercury’s Chariot.

        Living authentically, practically, creatively, magically.
        I don’t like word art, but I would almost consider that!

    2. sphinx, i’m hearing you re everything you mention, hon. Also agree with Ankh about the personal and political being completely entangled.

      And i think i know how you feel re your Merc being direct – man, if you think you’re obvious …. well, my Mercury is direct too, but in Leo 10th. Oh yes, the indignation at injustice, lol, in that leonine bombastic way of expressing it (blushing profusely).

      Am also taking a break from electronic light and have been reading actual books – just heaven.

      Actually feeling v trepidatious about Mercury and Lilith heading for Libra which is my 12th H – esp when anything there squares my Sun and opposes my SN. Natal Juno and Athena are conjunct on that very spot. Have a history of getting overly familiar with the forces of the law and police cars during these configurations in the past. This is the first time that i am conscious of this pattern – ever since actually working with an ephemeris. Hooray for ephemerises! So i’ll be interested to know if forewarned is actually forearmed.

      1. Mercury and Lilith are already in my 4th House.
        .
        I am gonna be between houses as I rented a beach house, but now I can’t go as I have back-to-back medical appointments to get funding for my Cap’s school next year.

        My 4th is ruled by Virgo, though it’s mostly Libra. Health and home, health and home…

        I think the Lilith / Mercury thing is going to be great for these medical appointments and documents we have to do as it will require a bit of revision, but also, I think Lilith is kind of sexy?
        So if Lilith is bringing charisma and fascination to Mercurial undertakings, surely it is something that will make people sit up and take notice? I need all the help I can get.

        God it’s nice to talk about Mercury transits, Saturn transits and Pluto transits just bring out the dirge quality to conversation.

        No wonder I vibe on you Skarab! I have Merc/Venus/Saturn in Cancer, am Mercury ruled and then with Leo Sun. Your Leo Mercury is at what degree?

      2. That is interesting about the police/12th H/square info btw. Please let us know how that energy manifests, or if it has to at all…!

      3. (My Mercury is at 10º)

        All the best with your lil Cap’s schooling. A lionesses fighting for her cub – and with added Lillith-Merc power – god save those bureaucrats! …or not, lol!

        *I think Lilith is kind of sexy?* Hahaha. Sexy in a dangerous way, fer sure. It’s that glint in your eye and that tone in your voice that says “fuq with me at your own risk, dahling” kind of sexy. Lillith is a force to be respected. I’ve not paid her the attention she’s due, sometimes. And when i have, it’s usually been too late, because by then the deeds are done and everyone is licking their wounds.
        I love how you describe her as fascinating and charismatic – and she IS, but she is also ferocious and vicious and can take over if i’m not careful. Can be very intimidating for people on the receiving end. Which is great if they are fuqtards – not so great if the fuqtards also happen to be The Law Enforcers (hence the intimacy with the law i mentioned earlier). So from now on i’ll be tracking her.
        So what i’m saying is, be aware of her and use her persuasive charm – but try to be aware of her rage, as well. I’ll be very interested in how she will manifest in your quest. They will certainly *sit up and take notice*, i’m sure!

        Where is your natal Lillith?

        I am now rushing to re-read Seth’s “The Individual…..Mass Events” Thank you for reminding me! Looks like we’re going through a similar rage via the personal/mass axis. I’m trying hard not to be swallowed up in Lillith’s rage, coz as fate would have it, ugly political and social upheavals have erupted again where i’m living – trying to work it with Merc in a more effective way. That’s the theory, lol – rage is too exhausting!

  5. Love Margaret Atwood, Cat’s Eye is my favourite followed by The Edible Woman. Have my own Mercury retro in Gemini – I teach writing and I write so I figure something has to be write (sic) about that 🙂 Uranus trines it too so love anything out there as in really out there. Can’t wait for Lilith and Mercury, bitch me up people. 😉

  6. Virgo Sun here. I was born with Mercury retrograde (in Libra too), and I have had some wonderful things happen to me when Mercury goes retrograde (oftentimes they’re in my personal perspectives as opposed to actual events). Every time I feel Merc going retro I always wonder what new insights I’m going to get out of it. It’s the shadow zones around the retro that unleash the fuqery for me, haha.

  7. Mystic, I often wonder about folks who are well…. say incarcerated for life and what those aspects might look like. “In emptiness all things are equal” I get the non-duality of our trans-rational, trans- cognitive, post-zap, unfolding reality all aspects are good and define not the character of one. But we love those patterns that suggest a certain path, and i wonder if there is another pattern for those who have definitive mental illness and such. Am I dwelling in the morbid here or “do I just not trust anyone without a dark side?” Tony Stark.

  8. i’m working and home researching up to this full moon, so the tarot obviously is cups cups cups cups cups.

    ROMANCE IS IMMINENT, SOMEONE HAS A CRUSH ON ME.

    in my yoga pants while i hermit out. maybe i should brush my teeth.

    i always love mercury retrograde though. it seems like whenever people have stuff bog them down that they don’t want to do anyway, there’s more time for them to talk about things they actually want to talk about. and i love that.

  9. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto – all retro in my chart. Saturn and Pluto are conjunct/retro on my ascendant. I’ve got a packed 8th house and more squares than a checkerboard. Bring it.

  10. Yeah, Margaret Atwood from Lady Oracle, there’s that– and too, I keep waking up with the same song from the past running thru my mind, and I like the song well enough, but it’s not from my past. Holds no personal significance for me. I’m just the medium middle man here, I think.

    So, Knights In White Satin from The Moody Blues. Any takers?

  11. I hate good vs bad in astrology, I hate any kind of of extremist astro actually which is why I love Mystic so much and always recommend her (you) to people who are new to the astro game. People are too complicated and nuanced for such black and white interpretations and it causes anxiety.

    I’m a mercury retro baby and I feel it. The written word has always been my safe place, I’m not so good with verbal communication and I wonder if that’s a mercury retro side effect? I have noticed a massive pattern of writers I love being born during mercury retro though, I always make a point of checking and storing the data in the ol’ astro brain.

    1. Also Merc rx, usually appalling at verbal communication (unless it’s an rx period, when I experience profound relief at being able to speak without feeling like what comes out of my mouth is gibberish), but the written word comes more naturally than breathing. Often I have found with verbal comms is that fellow retro babies will get what I’m saying in seconds but those with it direct will stare at me in utter confusion while I tear my hair out trying to offer various translations. Ugh.

      1. Yes, it can be so infuriating. On the plus side of speaking backwards, mirror writing comes exceedingly easily. All my high school note taking was written in mirror writing. Useless party trick #35…

  12. FireSunna-AquaLuna

    margaret atwood is one of my all time favourite writers, absolutely brilliant! her oryx and crake series my favourite. lol and so many of her other works, theyre all outstanding. havent read stone mattress yet, timely reminder to get my hands on it. i’m also feeling excited about mercury lilith, and intrigued about what this merc retro will bring…

  13. Brill! Mystic. (typing from
    phone, so bear with mistakes) I spent my summer reading, no inhaling, all of her works, fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Her last trilogy remains.

    Lady Oracle and the Robber Bride are my favorites, for character development. “You can’t think straight when you’re drowning in love.”

    The Handmaid’s Tale deserves to be a classic, it gets me going when the going gets rough “I intent to last”
    the Blind Assassin is the one she truly becomes the legend that she is. And lasy, I read Penelopiad whenever I feel down.

    Her poetry is very good, “find shelter in another skin” she says in a poem.

    Thank you Mystic, I think reading her work pays back in spades.

  14. Totally agree about the over-emphasis by some astrologers on ‘bad placements’. Besides those detriments and dignities are based on the seasons of the northern hemisphere, so they don’t universally apply. There might be something to them, but definitely not what the ancient northern hemisphere astrologers went on about.

  15. 😯

    MA has a brilliant mind!

    I envy those with Merc Retro but I loved MM’s comment about Mercury & Gemini’s & being writers on Gemini MP3, went something like ‘god, enough of you are’ 🙂

  16. Bonjour Myst,
    I’ve not read any of her work before, I remember you posting on MA before, whats a ripper of a read to start on ?
    PS Love the new related links pics and moving gifs above !
    Virgo book arrived today ”What a plant knows’…Also went indoor plant 1970’s fern style nursery hunting…Alas, none matched the picture in my mind, will hold steady at the ready.

      1. Madonna came up before eating something like a cheetos twistee or something – in a bra and aviators…Recent post. xx Thank you. Will order now ! Ace. xxx

      1. Year of the Phoenix

        Just tried to read the final in the series- with pig/bird on the front …. Love her but might go the Robber Bride instead

      2. Yeah, I couldn’t bring myself to read the next two. Oryx and Crake really affected me… so truly disturbing, and worse, PLAUSIBLE.

      1. Yes to ‘Cat’s Eye’!

        And can also highly recommend ‘The Edible Woman’.

        Margaret Atwood is a literary genius. Her characters STAY with you. So many layers of meaning in her books.

      2. @Cosmic Fleece
        That wasn’t Madonna, it was MEEEEEE, doing my Venus Retro Junk Food off..No ..I jest, twas Madge..I just totally identified as a crapaholic.

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