As ruler of the opening and closing eclipses for the year, Mercury is a key player in 2025, making its retrograde periods worth paying attention to. Its most recent one, its second of the year, began on July 18th. It will continue retrograde until August 11th when it turns direct.
Occurring in the astrologically monumental month of July, a month when Neptune and Saturn - the dreamer and the dream’s scaffolding - turned retrograde and Uranus, neural awakener of self and collective, entered Gemini (Mercury’s sign), this Mercury retrograde speaks of a turning of our minds, of a loosening of old perceptual and identity holds, opening us to the flow of ourselves and the new age emerging.
The primary theme I picked up on was that of the end of the heroic age. We have been witnessing its death throes for some years now. But this Mercury retrograde speaks of an ineffable shift, one of those moments that mark a definable change from what was to what is becoming, yet a moment that is held like every other in the surrounding stillness, as though nothing extraordinary just happened.
When Mercury’s done, we may feel our light shining just a little brighter - because some of the old habits of mind that have been blocking our light may no longer be holding it back. And it will all happen in the everpresent embrace of the love that holds all in its witnessing gaze. In this gaze, no change is too big or small to enfold in its buffering presence.
Mercury Rx Cycle Dates
2025 Jun 30 | Reconnaissance | Leo 04
2025 Jul 04 | Midpoint 1| Leo 9
2025 Jul 18 | Retrograde | Leo 15
2025 Jul 31 | Solar Point | Leo 9
2025 Aug 11 | Integration | Leo 4
2025 Aug 20 | Midpoint 2 | Leo 9
2025 Aug 25 | End | Leo 15
Under the paywall are two graphics from my design system. One shows the dates and positions of all parts of the larger Mercury retrograde cycle. The other is a table of the planet positions for the Mercury retrogrde chart.
