Mercury’s next apparent reversal will begin in Cancer’s fourth degree at 7:56 am EDT Saturday, initiating a retrograde period symbolically distinguished by both long and short. The “long and short” distinction is derived from how Mercury is about to take a long time (nearly 24 days) to regress a short distance (less than 10 degrees) on the zodiac circle as compared to the majority of other Mercury retrogrades.
It is not exactly rare for Mercury to take so long to retrograde over such a short arc. Even so, it is useful to know when such a distinctive retrograde is at hand so you can make plans to achieve gains.
Yes, plans and gains. The long and short of it is that Mercury retrogrades have an undeservedly bad reputation for chaos and misfortune, which you would do well to divest yourself of in order not to be your own worst enemy.
Instead, now is as good a time as any to acquaint yourself with Mercury anew. As with most new relationships, you must overcome your own prejudice, attachments and conditioning, and get to know both Mercury itself and its frequent, famous retrogrades for what they really are.
Mercury is a planet. It orbits the Sun, minding its own business. It does not make anything happen to you. Nevertheless, Mercury and you move about as parts of the same system — the solar system. One defining characteristic of any system is that any one part will give you information about any other part.