What Mercury Retrograde Entering Cancer Means For Your Love Life And Relationships
Nothing can be swept under the rug permanently.
getty On July 19th, our zodiac signs will experience Mercury retrograde in Cancer, marking a time for not just crisis when it comes to our feelings, but catalyst as well. In astrology, Mercury is the planet that retrogrades the most often, usually three to four times a year. So while we’re used to his energy and the affect it has on our lives, it doesn’t mean it’s always easy to move through.
Mercury began his retrograde earlier in the month in the heart-ruled sign of Leo, which means we’ve spent the past few weeks thinking about what is most important to us. Whether it’s our own personal ideals about ourselves, our lives, or which relationships we most value, it’s been a time to learn exactly what direction our hearts are calling us to follow.
This usually fast-moving planet is moving back into the sign of Cancer, not just so we might have the chance to face our true feelings regarding issues surrounding home and family, but so we might revisit issues that arose in June.
Whenever Mercury turns retrograde, it means we’re being asked to revisit our past, whether it’s to renew, review or reevaluate. The point is clear: we missed something the first time and now are asked to go back over it for greater clarity and growth.
Cancer is a feminine sign, one that rules the moon and our home and family life. Cancer is very emotional, not necessarily in the deep way that fellow water signs Scorpio or Pisces are, but rather, this sign has a lot of emotions.
Think of the times we’ve felt multiple feelings at once: sad something has ended, excited for what my come, fearful of what could happen, and in love all at the same time. This is how Cancer feels. And because of the retrograde nature of Mercury, we’re being asked to not only deal with anything we’ve tried to ignore, but we’re also being called back to specifically look at what occurred in June.
Mercury first moved into Cancer back in the beginning of June and hung out there most of the month until he moved into Leo the last week. Think back to what was going on for you and what choices you made during that time.
Did you honor your feelings? Did you act from your heart? Did you bring up issues with others in conversation, making moves for change? Or did you try to bury whatever came up? Did you respond how you would have in the past and now are feeling like you wish you did something different?
These are some of the questions that Mercury in Cancer is going to bring up for us in the next few weeks, not just during the retrograde period but also once this planet turns direct. We are being asked to revisit something we dealt with in June, to spend more time with it, and to take a different course of action than we previously had chosen.
While Mercury retrogrades a couple times of year, he does so in different signs, which means that each time he transits, he has a different focus. This retrograde is fire and water, Leo and Cancer, which means its focus is following our hearts surrounding our home and family life.
While many of us immediately think of breakups when we see this transit, it’s also about reconfiguring situations as well. Perhaps we have a stressful situation with an ex or a member of our family, and under this transit we would be supported to look for resolution and have a healthier relationship with them.
However, it also means that something we thought was finished, specifically a romantic relationship, isn't. Sometimes in astrology, it is the obvious that ends up being our focus, and in this situation, we likely will be seeing a person return to our lives this month.
But it’s not just the old storyline of not knowing what you have until you no longer have it; it's that this person or situation was someone very close to our hearts (Leo). Likely, this situation we will be asked to address is someone we considered family, or whom we wanted to build a home and family life with.
This isn’t just about the ex, but someone we wanted to spend our lives with. We likely made choices or decisions regarding them and the future we had planned with them by sweeping emotions or decisions under the rug. We tried to ignore or hide from our truth or the reality of the situation. We thought that we were finished, but now it’s clear that we can no longer hide from what we feel and need to do something about it.
One of the most active times of this retrograde falls around the 19th, which means that from then until Mercury turns direct on the 30th, we will be in the thick of it. Events may happen very rapidly, things may change, and it will likely become apparent that no matter how hard we have tried, we can’t ignore our true feelings any longer.
This is a second chance, another round to do things differently. From July 19th to August 11th, Mercury will be moving through Cancer, giving us another opportunity to acknowledge our feelings and make choices more closely align with our truth.
The period from the 19th to 30th will mark the crisis or catalyst phase when we’re suddenly faced with a "now or never" type of scenario where we will have to make the choice to be brave, to have hard conversations, and to take chances. Then, once Mercury moves direct on the 30th, until he leaves Cancer on the 11th, it’s the time for us to do things right.
We have to be honest about our desires and feelings regarding our romantic relationships, our family connections, and how we envision or define home. It’s the time for us to not just quit sweeping things under the rug, but to finally bring them into the light.
Kate Rose is an artist, writer, passionate yogi, spiritual astrologist, relationship and life coach. For more of her work, visit her website.