Mercury is currently in Sagittarius located at 21 Sag 00' 41"

Planetary Aspects

(out 5 Days)

Mercury is currently in Opposition Jupiter

   Ends on Saturday, 23 November, 2024

Upcoming Retrogrades

PlanetStationary (retrograde)Stationary (direct)In Sign
mercury2024-11-26 02:43:00 UTC2024-12-15 20:57:00 UTCSagittarius
mercury2025-03-15 06:47:00 UTC2025-04-07 11:08:00 UTCAries
mercury2025-07-18 04:45:00 UTC2025-08-11 07:30:00 UTCLeo
mercury2025-11-09 19:02:00 UTC2025-11-29 17:39:00 UTCSagittarius
mercury2026-02-26 06:49:00 UTC2026-03-20 19:33:00 UTCPisces
mercury2026-06-29 17:36:00 UTC2026-07-23 22:58:00 UTCCancer
mercury2026-10-24 07:13:00 UTC2026-11-13 15:54:00 UTCScorpio

Even people who aren’t even remotely familiar with astrology have heard of this one.  Mercury is also Hermes, considered the emissary of the Gods but also, something of a trickster. Ruling Virgo and Gemini, this planetary influence usually denotes something of an adaptable nature but also, a very curious, very chatty sort of feel.

Mercury is also a quick little booger. Because this is one of the inner planets, it moves around the sun much more quickly than other planets - which is, incidentally, why you’ll hear about Mercury's retrograde cycles much more frequently. They happen more frequently! (But wait, there’s more!) The best way to think about what Mercury does in astrology is that it rules your mind and your mouth but also, the way you move: communication, technology, travel, speech and thinking - and everything that ties in there.

The Retrograde

Mercury retrograde is a well known, regular cycle that happens three to four times every year and it lasts around 24 days. You’d think the frequency would kind of hint that maybe the things that occur during it can be prevented with a little foresight - and yet, though most people associate technological breakdowns and communications issues with this cycle, the truth is this is also one of those times an ex might pop up either in your thoughts or in reality. You know that’s a bad idea even without astrological influence, but there you have it. Instead of reaching out, just write this one off to Mercury Retrograde and you’ll be good to go!

This particular retrograde cycle has been known about for a long time. Between the mid-18th and early 19th centuries, the only people who really cared a whole lot about Mercury in Retrograde were farmers. This is because it was usually associated more frequently with heavy rains and bad things happening in that respect, but not very much. If you really want somebody to blame for the rise in this particular scapegoat: blame Baltimore. I blame Baltimore for a lot of things but it was really their horoscopes where you begin to see the big thrust of this as the reason everyone’s life goes to shit or they’re more or less having a time of it. It was April of 1979 when the Baltimore Sun let everyone know, “Hey, this is why this crap keeps happening!” and it just took off from there. As mentioned elsewhere on this site, of course, if you look at the developing technologies and their use gaining popularity - it would make sense that, well, here you have a ready made gremlin that impacts all those things. There are also quite a few people who blame Taylor Swift for this bigger recent uptick in it in terms of pop culture because well, Tay Tay did an interview where she talked about it. With that, hundreds of thousands of teen girls suddenly had a great intangible boogieman beyond their control to blame their bullshit on three or four times a year. It might kind-of explain those breakup songs, if you ask me, but, well, there you go.

Regardless, it’s become so popular, I am not sure I really need to tell you - but if you wanted to really milk it for all its worth, basically don’t do anything that requires communicating, sealing the deal, travel or otherwise during this cycle. I’m sure that’s going to be acceptable when you call into work. Or, you could take the more rational approach and recognize that if you do notice a lot of things really wonking up, maybe those things could stand being corrected inasmuch as you can from your end of things. Is it happening that often because of the speed in which Mercury moves around the Sun or, is it more like problems that go unresolved tend to pop up again and again?

I don’t know. It’s all a mystery of the cosmos!

Planetary Positions

21.11.2024 at 06:27:17 UTC

chart wheel
PlanetLongitude
The Sun29 Sco 25' 57"
The Moon08 Leo 56' 22"
Mercury21 Sag 00' 41"
Venus11 Cap 17' 03"
Mars04 Leo 37' 02"
Jupiter18 Gem 26' 42" R
Saturn12 Pis 43' 16"
Uranus25 Tau 04' 06" R
Neptune27 Pis 12' 37" R
Pluto00 Aqu 01' 33"

Solar Status

BZ Status:-6
Proton Density:7.37
Proton Speed:380.6 k/sec
KP Status:1.33
TypeNov 21Nov 22Nov 23
Active10%25%25%
Minor5%15%15%
Moderate1%1%1%
Strong1%1%1%
Kp Index Prediction
00-03UT1.672.002.33
03-06UT1.331.671.67
06-09UT1.332.332.00
09-12UT1.331.002.33
12-15UT1.331.332.33
15-18UT1.331.672.33
18-21UT1.673.002.33
21-00UT1.673.002.33
Solar Activity
Solar activity reached moderate levels following a long-duration M1.1 flare at 20/1948 UTC from Region 3897 (S12W90, Dao/beta) as it transited the west limb. This region also produced the majority of the C-class flare activity during the period. Region 3898 (S16W27, Cao/beta) exhibited slight decay early in the period, but then had some redevelopment later and managed to produced a C3.5 flare at 20/0632 UTC. Region 3901 (S07E35, Dao/beta-gamma) added a pair of low-level C-class flares, but remained mostly unchanged. The remaining regions were quiescent. New Region 3902 (S17E70, Cso/beta) was numbered. While several CMEs were observed in SOHO/LASCO coronagraph imagery, none were deemed Earth-directed.
Solar Wind
Solar wind parameters reflected a weakly enhanced solar wind regime early, before transitioning to background levels the latter half of the period. Solar wind speeds ranged between 350 km/s - 400 km/s. Total field strength averaged near 10nT, reached a peak of 13 nT, then decreased to remain near 5-8 nT the last half of the period. The Bz component fluctuated between +9/-10 nT before turning mostly north, and the phi angle was predominantly in a positive orientation.
Energetic Particle
The greater than 2 MeV electron flux was normal to moderate and the greater than 10 MeV proton flux was at background levels.