If thoughts seem still as a woodland pond, it may be because Mercury is stationary, ready to technically retrograde at 3:34 PM PDT of the 29th at 24 Gemini 43. (Or, if you can’t seem to light on any train of thought for long, that’s also a Mercurial stoppage of a sort, the kind that sends you round and round through the same ‘network’ of thoughts and offers no definitive satisfactions.)

The Moon in Capricorn will have just quincunxed Mercury shortly before turnaround, giving us the feels and probably making for some frustration: the emotions either seem obvious, sitting right on the surface, or seem to be in the depths, hidden even from ourselves–but most likely is a combination, that comes along with an awareness that, ‘this emotion is right in front of me, but I know I have feelings I just can’t pinpoint!’.

Merc in Gemini prompts some overthinking, and probably a yearning to ‘make progress’ somehow, to make up our minds about things, particularly the matters of the House in the natal chart where the retro occurs–or, we have the need to communicate without really knowing what our message is. There are two tendencies at this point, and you’ll likely choose one: thinking you can think your way through ‘it’, whatever it is, or a personal approach that relies on 1) scattershot attention, so that nothing gets focus, and so nothing gets done/ decided, or 2) turning to others for endless surveys of their opinions, what they would do, etc., which does nothing to move the matter forward.

None of those are wrong, but it is just spinning our Mercurial wheels. A retro in Air asks us to, in broadest terms, re-consider what and how we think of our world, so full awareness of our own subjectivity is highly useful, when we bother to compare it to the facts, the info available, to the prevailing thought on any matter. Again, neither is no viewpoint is inherently more right than any other; it’s in the comparison, the review of our own methods cast against the thinking of the wider world or the group, that we benefit, find mental inspiration, sort the wheat from the chaff.

The Cosmic picture at turnaround sets the stage for the retro period itself, with Mercury roughly three-and-a-half weeks ahead. Here we see Mercury at the point of retrograde pulling back just before, in direct motion, it would’ve conjoined Venus, suggesting a pull back in relationships or financial matters, a wait-and-see, or let’s think about this some more approach. First aspect Mercury in retro will form is a square to Neptune, promising that any fantasies we hope to sustain may hit the rocks on retro review, and also making it difficult to connect to inspiration or the creative ideal, probably because the mind isn’t ready to stick with a single idea, just yet.

Right about the same time Merc will also semi-sextile Mars and square Pallas, warning us: you may get antsy, want to act precipitously, but that wouldn’t be smart, or may be impractical. So don’t indulge in impulse, during this retro time. Inferior Conjunction with the Sun comes on the 11th of June, and should be the starting point for beginning to gather your thoughts. If you’re a wordsmith of any kind, work it and re-work it, and if you’re not, just let the mind sort through things at its own pace, and start paying attention to what occupies your mental space on the 11th. Don’t demand answers until a bit after direction, and you’ll be all the better for it.