004: Mercury Rx in Leo - Reclaiming Your Authentic Voice

 Hi, welcome to another episode of Lunar Love Notes. Um, today we're gonna be talking about the Mercury retrograde that begins today on July 17th. But before we get into the episode, I want to extend an invitation that if you. Played this podcast to avoid thinking about something, facing an emotion processing something.

If you played this episode to just like feel the discomforting quiet, I would invite you to pause it and. Allow yourself to be in silence for half an hour, an hour, a period of time. And then if you still feel called to listen to a podcast, then come back. Um, but especially during a Mercury retrograde, creating space for silence and to actually hear our own thoughts is really important.

It's really supportive and. In our very noisy world, we don't always have that opportunity or make that choice to prioritize that. Okay, now let's get into our episode. So for the last two weeks, we've been in the pre retrograde shadow phase for Mercury, a Mercury retrograde, and now the retrograde has officially begun.

Um, I did release an episode two weeks ago for the. Pre retrograde shadow phase. And so you can go listen to that if you want. Um, but it's over now. Um, and we we're having a bit of a shift. It's, it's a bit more intense. So the last two weeks we've been having hints and foreshadowing and clues about what a retrograde invitation is going to be.

And now it's, it's intensifying, it's gonna be more blatant, more. Invitations that are more challenging to ignore and we're gonna be invited into change in some way. So it may be supportive to reflect over the last two weeks to see what has been starting to show up. What have we started to notice is not working perhaps as well as it could.

Um. A personal example for me, this retrograde is taking place in my 10th house, which is associated with career, with how I share my gifts with the world. And this Saturn's is. Usually in my 10th house of how I'm sharing my gift of astrology with the world. And over the last two weeks, I have received a lot of intuitive hits, a lot of, um, emotions, thoughts, noticing ways that things can change in my business, um, ways that things are working well, ways that things are not working well, and there's a lot.

Kind of bubbling beneath the surface. I don't really have clarity yet on what is going to change. Um, but I know that change is coming. Um, it could also show up as like a relationship. There could be there. Maybe like one point of friction in a relationship or a conversation that is being repeated over and over again because the people having the conversation, they don't feel like they've found compromise or they found even ground yet.

Um. And retrograde can also often bring up things from the past so we could be having thoughts, dreams, conversations that are bringing to mind, an experience or a relationship or a thing or a place from the past. I. And so now that we're in the retrograde, these, these nudges are going to become more intense.

Um, so this could show up, uh, as like a creative block. It could show up as tech issues that are forcing you to find a different way to get your task done. It could show up, um, interpersonally. There could be a miscommunication that leads to conflict that then brings the issue to a head and you're forced to fully address it and get into it.

Um, to find resolution. Um, we may have. Um, like intensifying feelings of longing, grief, or anger regarding the past. There might be this temptation to reach out to the ex or reach out to that, um, estranged best friend or that family member where you feel that something was left unresolved. Um. And there could also be this nostalgia, this longing for a younger version of ourselves.

Um, we may want to like, return to the style or the, um, hobbies or the, the habits of that younger version of ourself in an effort to experience that, um, you know, romanticized past version of ourselves. Um, but really. What we, we really can't go back in time. Right. Really what we need to do is reflect and figure out what it is about the past that's calling to us.

Is there something here that we need to work through? Um. Yeah. And so that's like over these next couple of weeks, I think we have about four weeks in the retrograde. We're gonna just be having this deeper, shifting, deeper realignment of what has already kind of been beneath the surface. And even if you didn't really notice a difference over the last two weeks, it may not be, you may not be consciously aware yet of what your invitation.

For change is, and so you can just move forward with this, uh, um, mindset and this openness for change. Um, okay, so this Mercury retrograde is in Leo. And before we get into what the nitty gritty Leo Mercury retrograde details are, I want to remind everyone that retrograde are not inherently bad. They're just invitations for change.

Um, and Mercury retrograde happens multiple times every year. Mercury represents our minds and. You know, when we are working on ourselves, working on, you know, changing our beliefs, working on our self-esteem, working on becoming more open, more accepting, breaking habits, all of these things that help us kind of evolve into better versions of ourselves, our minds are usually the most sticky, tricky, bossy part to get on board.

And these frequent mercury retrogrades are opportunities for us to kind of go in and reroute the mind and get it on board. Um, during a retrograde, the mind is a lot more flexible, a lot more changeable. It's primed to be, um, redirected into a path. Is in alignment with where we want to go, right? Um, in alignment with our values, with our priorities.

And then in getting back to that Leo point, um. In alignment with our passions, with what we care most about. So themes of this retrograde Mercury retrograde in Leo. Some themes that can come up are self-expression, confidence, visibility, willingness to be seen, or a reliance on being seen, um, and courage.

Leo is also associated with the heart and so. This, this is aligned with authenticity, right? Speaking from the heart, from what is true to us, not from what we think others want. And also the heart is what we love, who we love, what we love to do. And that's where that connection to passion comes from. Right?

Um, Leo is also associated with how we express ourselves. So that can be like creative expression, which is, you know, allowing our hearts to speak through words. Music, art, um, and then also how we express ourselves in a way to be witnessed by others public expression.

And then Leo is also a fixed sign. And, um, this is relevant because who and what we love is often a really core part of who we are. And it can be really scary and uncomfortable to experience change here or to consider change here, you know, um. That concept of like letting go of a relationship or a passion project that we have put so much of ourselves into is really uncomfortable.

It's really scary. Um. And that's where that courage of Leo can come in to support us. Right now, the houses in your natal chart that are impacted by the retrograde will also have a really strong influence on how this retrograde. Shows up in your life, shows life. Um, I mentioned a minute ago that the retrograde is in my 10th house of career.

Um, but for you it's probably different. And I created this, um, journal prompts, PDF, that is either in the show notes of the podcast, or if you're listening on Substack, it'll be in the same post and you can. Um, use that to dig deeper into what your retrograde experience may be. The um, the way to find what house this is in is you'll wanna look up your natal chart.

You will need to have your accurate birth time in order to do this, um, because the house is are dependent on birth time. And then you'll find the area of your chart that has Leo in it and the retrograde. Is in the first half of Leo. And so if you use the PLAs house system, which is what I use, then the houses and the signs are not lined up perfectly and probably part of Leo is in one house and part of it is in another house.

And you'll wanna find where the first half of Leo occupies. And it may be one house, it could be two. Um, and then do those journal prompts associated with that house, and that can help kind of bring awareness to this area of life and kind of open you up to experiencing change here. Um, and then we can, we can also then ask ourselves a few questions like, are you being seen the way that you want to be?

Is what you are expressing, your voice, your other means of creative expression. Is that aligned with your heart or are you performing? Are you like giving the people what they want rather than authentically expressing from that heart, from that Leo fiery heart? Okay, now when I look at the chart for the moment that re Mercury stations retrograde, um, I see two key things that kind of will flavor the whole retrograde experience for us.

Um, the first one is really supportive. Mercury is making a sex tile, which is a gently supportive aspect to Venus during, or at the moment of. The station retrograde. Venus is in Gemini, and so Venus right now really loves change, is very curious, open to change, very non-judgmental, and this can give us access to that.

I. Change is good mindset. Now, this LEO area of our life where we're experiencing change, this is probably an area of life that we don't love change that much because Leo is a fixed sign. But Leo and Gemini, these energies flow really well together. Um. And they're both very, very creative signs where Leo is creative from this steady stream of passion for one specific thing.

Um, Gemini is able to. Like have its hands in many pots and create a wide variety of things and be inspired by a wide variety of things. So this support from Venus can kind of give us access to that flexibility and openness that Gemini has. Um, and then the second aspect that I'm seeing at the time of the retrograde is not as comfy, and that is that the moon, which is moves very quickly, um, is conjunct Chiron at the moment of the retrograde.

And this is significant because the moon moves so quickly. Um. Like throughout this day that Mercury stations retrograde, it's only making an aspect to Chiron for like a couple of hours, maybe like half of the day. So it's pretty, um. I'm not gonna say bad luck, but pretty bad luck that the moon is conjunct Chiron at the moment of the retrograde, and that is because the moon is our like underbelly, our softest, most sensitive part of ourselves.

This is where we can experience really positive emotions and also where we can experience really negative emotions. We can experience. Discomfort. And the moon also is associated with safety and what feels safe, what is our comfort zone? And then Chiron is our wounds, our our, our cosmic bruise. And every time something bumps up against it, it hurts.

And then when it's the moon bumping up against it. It's, it's like the two very soft, sensitive things kind of amplifying each other. We're not always super aware of Chiron. You know, you could have a bruise like on your leg and you never notice it until you like bang it into the table one time and then you're like, oh my gosh, I didn't even know there was a bruise here.

But the moon is, um, something that we're aware of. At least subconsciously at all times. And so it's much more present in our awareness. And so when this connects with Chiron, we become really aware of the bruise basically. And this is, and these are in Aries. Uh, I didn't say that earlier. The Moon and Chiron are in Aries.

And so this is just like a moment where we realize that making change to this Leo area of life, this is gonna change who we are and how we see ourselves. And that is very uncomfortable. Um, you know what, if I stop performing, I stop showing up with this like. Perfect or intelligent or hilarious mask that I wear at work or around my friends or in this one relationship.

What if I show up as my true self and I'm rejected? What if people don't respond to me in the same way? What if I lose influence or I, um. Don't succeed in the same way that I used to. Um, those are all very threatening to our identities and Aries represents our identity. It's what if I won't be enough after I make these changes?

And so that can be, that's just a fear that is going to come up and be kind of triggered throughout this retrograde. And it's something to be aware of. Um, now I do think that that's gonna be more, um, prominent in this beginning part of the retrograde. I don't think that it will. Come up throughout the whole thing, but if you are noticing that fear come up, just know that that is valid, first of all, but also that it's being amplified by the astrology and that becoming comfortable with yourself being change is part of the process.

Okay. Um. So some other reminders I have in general for retrograde, for Inner Planet retrograde we'll say is we wanna have patients. We wanna kind of prepare for things to take longer than they should, or maybe not should, but then they would regularly. We wanna double check things. We don't wanna be like.

You know, signing up for something that's a long commitment or anything that costs a lot of money, unless we've really read all of the fine print, you know, this is the time that we wanna actually read those terms and conditions. I hate to say it. Um, and then we wanna give ourselves extra time. So we wanna be patient with others.

We, we also wanna be patient with ourselves. And especially if you are a creative, um, don't give yourself like harsh deadlines. It's not gonna work out well. Give yourself plenty of time. Start on things early, you know, maybe plan an extra editing or proofreading or revision phase in your. Creative process during this time, and if you're feeling like this retrograde is speaking to you really deeply, or you're going through it and you need extra support, I do offer, um, personal retrograde readings, which is like a 15 minute podcast similar to this, but it's more specific.

Like it is completely specific to your chart. So I'll put the retrograde chart on top of your natal chart and we'll see exactly what area of life is, is activated, which you could do on your own with those journal prompts that we talked about earlier. But then we'll also see what other planets are being brought into this conversation.

And because they're being brought into this conversation, what other themes could come up for you? Like for example, if, um. Let's see, like if you are like me and the retrograde's taking place in your 10th house of career, but your son is in Aries in your sixth house, then this retrograde is also gonna have a strongly, um, personal impact on you and your daily life and how you show up on a daily basis.

Um, and it's gonna be positive change, you know. So just things like that. Um, the info for those readings will be in the description, in the show notes or in the body of the Substack post. Okay. And then as we move through the retrograde, as things are feeling like wonky, crunchy, gross, icky, um, stagnant, we wanna take a step back and ask ourselves.

Am I forcing something into the shape that it's always been in or the shape that I think it needs to be in when it could take a different shape? Is there a different way that this could work? We could ask ourselves, does this feel authentic or does it feel performative? Does this feel icky? Because I am showing up as a version of myself that is so far from who I really wanna be.

Can I change something to allow space for my creative flow? So this might be like I gave myself a deadline, and do I have to stick to that deadline? Can that deadline change? Um, maybe I can bring in another set of eyes to look at my work before I publish it. Things like that and just being really gentle with ourselves.

So, um, the retrograde begins today, July 17th, and it'll end on August 11th. So that's about four weeks. And on August 11th, that's when our integration phase begins. So we, right now, we we're, and for the next four weeks, we're really just identifying. Where the change needs to take place. We don't need to try to force a solution right now, but if one comes to you, like, feel free to try it on.

But I urge you not to commit to a solution. If your solution that comes to you is to buy hundreds of dollars worth of equipment, please wait. You know, um. It will still be available in August. Um, yeah, and then I would highly recommend journaling daily about anything that comes up, any, especially any weird like conversations, any interpersonal conflicts when you're creatively stuck.

Um, and then if you have any clues or hints about how things could be resolved. Now again, we're not trying to force ourselves to find solutions now because our brain is still in this like backwards unwinding phase. We're not in solution mode yet. We are in identify the problem mode and we wanna just slow down as much as possible.

It's really easy to make mistakes during this time. Um, it's really easy to overlook things to forget about things. So, you know, put everything in your calendar that you have to do. Give yourself the reminders. Give yourself extra time to get places, you know, anticipate delays. Anticipate construction everywhere that you possibly might need to go in town.

Um. And just, yeah, just give yourself a lot of grace. It is not a negative experience. It is a wonderful, wonderful opportunity for us to. Get our minds on board with where we're going. It just takes a little bit of intentionality to make the most of the retrograde in that way. And, um, you know, if you're having bad experiences, if you're not having a good time, that is just information that things.

Like slipping into this victim mindset around the retrograde if you're having things not work out, instead of slipping into that mindset. Instead, I invite a reframe of you are receiving such clear guidance around something that could change and take note of it. Try not to allow yourself to spiral. Take note of it, move through it, and then on the other side, see what change is available, what, what could be revealed that could make things move more easily in the future.

So thank you so much for being here. Talk to you guys soon.