Mercury's 2021 Whirlwind: Part 2 of 3

Have you ever been working on a project, and the very middle of it is the most difficult part? In rock climbing, that’s called the crux. In suspenseful movies, that’s called the climax. Everything before and after is still pretty tough, nowhere near smooth sailing, but there’s a point in the middle where you feel the winds start to turn. This year, those winds are Mercury’s second retrograde cycle in Gemini.

This is the second of three Mercury retrogrades of 2021, all three occurring in air signs. This is happening in Gemini, and this being one of Mercury’s domiciles means an extra dose of convolution. It will be retrograde from May 29 until June 22, so be aware that your words may get misinterpreted even with due diligence. There is no need to get worked up about retrograde planets as it happens frequently, only an awareness of what’s happening and how it’s happening for you. Mercury is going to have more authority to do its fullest retrograde funkiness by being in one of its domicile signs. You could see arguments over how something was worded, where someone put their hands, why a joke isn’t appropriate in civil conversation, or what people define as right versus wrong. This is the beginning of going back where we’ve just been, so keep a level head.

Jupiter has recently moved into Pisces, copresent with Neptune, and both are about to station retrograde as well. The mutable axis is going to be experiencing turmoil wherever it falls in your chart, as the pair of eclipses on May 26 and June 10 are ruled by Mercury and Jupiter in domicile. This extra nudge makes Mercury think, oh, could we really believe that? This delicate tiptoe of Jupiter gives some oomph to make connections possible that weren’t before.

This retrograde cycle makes me imagine a labyrinth with tricks and traps in the nooks and crannies. We know that there will be things pop up that we aren’t ready for, making it possible to expect what may feel unexpected but very likely to cause confusion. Each corner we turn leads into another opportunity for new belief. Do not blindly trust anything that is expressed to you, especially if it seems off. Mercury and Jupiter love to send, receive, and process information. Both being in their domicile and about to retrograde puts their senses on high alert, as if they weren’t already ready to jump at the first grammatical error or misleading fact. The small scale can be friends telling white lies to avoid hurting your feelings. The big scale can be governments lying about who they’re trying to help. We are not bystanders having to absorb these lies. The power lies in our hands to decide whether we accept these half-truths at face value or whether we dig deeper to search for what’s real.