The Gold Inside the Pause
Normally I’m a mild-mannered Libra-stellium kind of person. Because it’s in my sixth house (with other planets and asteroids)—and because my Moon is in Virgo—my mission is sacred service, which I try to offer with kindness and empathy.
But thanks to Saturn opposing my Moon and Chiron opposing my Libra Mercury and Sun, the kid gloves have been coming off more regularly. (If you work with me, you’ve probably noticed.)
So thus emboldened, I’m going to make a few uncharacteristically provocative statements in this newsletter. (To which my Libra wants to quickly add, “If I may…”)
Bold Statements
While it’s heartening that astrology is enjoying a renaissance, with that explosion has come—and there’s no other way to say it—a lot of bad astrology.
Telling vulnerable people that something in their charts is problematic or disastrous is unethical and potentially harmful. As is perpetuating the limited understanding that natal dispositions (or transits) necessarily mean just one thing. Or that hard aspects are prison sentences. Or that eclipses or retrogrades are ominous events to be feared and dreaded.
From a soul-centered, evolutionary perspective, our charts are perfect—for us, in this incarnation, to reflect and coach us on our soul’s purpose. Some people seem to be walking an easier path than others, but everyone’s doing exactly what they came in to do.
“Do not free a camel of the burden of his hump; you may be freeing him from being a camel.”
I first encountered this G.K. Chesterton aphorism in a Chinese fortune cookie, which I promptly taped to my refrigerator until it sunk in and became a mantra.
The essence of that quote—that attempting to remove what you perceive as an imperfection or hardship might actually destroy the person's identity or purpose—is at the heart of how I practice astrology.
(But even as I strive to practice nonjudgment and acceptance, I must confess to having little tolerance for intolerance.)
In this newsletter, it’s not my intent to “argue” the merits of this approach or the failings of negative, fatalistic astrology. But I do want to correct some misconceptions about natural, inevitable retrograde cycles because they perpetuate primitive, superstitious thinking and they can prevent us from deriving the benefits of these wonderfully reflective transits.
Don’t Fear the Retrograde
Currently, three planets (Pluto, Neptune, Saturn plus the asteroid Pallas Athena) are retrograde—that apparent reversal of normal movement due to their speed relative to Earth’s. But all the planets from Jupiter outward spend four to five months “off-course,” beginning and ending around the same time every year.
Venus and Mars are less frequently (every other year), and the luminaries (Sun and Moon) never retrograde. A fundamental principle of evolutionary astrology is that nothing is random (and certainly not “wrong”), and that even when it’s not obvious, there’s always a reason—or opportunity—for every natal placement and transit.
But those reasons aren’t just fun and games. "He who dies with the most toys wins" is not even close to being true. Not everyone subscribes to the core Buddhist belief that the purpose of life is to wake up spiritually and break free of the chains of karma, and yet it’s a conceit that's hard to argue with.
Waking up sounds remarkably simple, doesn’t it? Even when we catch glimpses of that blissful, expanded state of consciousness, they're nearly impossible to sustain because 3-D reality insists on pulling us back into a lower, denser frequency. And let’s face it: Life, with its sensual pleasures, ego-stoking and drama, is pretty damn addictive.
We humans charge forward like life is a race or a competition and our assignment is to do, see, get and experience as much as possible. So when forces beyond our control force a pause—or stoppage or reversal—we have a hard time seeing that as “something for our own good.” It feels like an obstacle to overcome, not accept and surrender to. Out of my way, dammit!
Some of us are better than others at crafting goals, plotting strategic ways to achieve them and then taking the action steps that get us there. Yet regardless of our successes to date, a majority of us still acknowledge this is the "correct" approach to life.
But moving ever forward, pushing the same agendas and covering the same well-tread ground seldom leads to internal reflection, which is the cornerstone to realigning with higher truth.
In the West, we aren’t positively reinforced for stopping to feel things through, for checking in long (or deep) enough to discover whether a thing (or person) is truly in alignment with what’s in our heart.
And how will we know when what’s in our heart has changed if we’re always in perpetual fast-forward motion?
That, in my opinion, is the great gift—the essential purpose—of retrogrades. Let’s break down a few.
The Gift of Retrogrades
Mercury, which stations at 12:45 am (EDT) on Friday, July 18, is the most “notorious” retrograde for a few reasons. First, it happens three times a year for three weeks at a pop. It’s the planet that travels closest to the Sun, and not so far from Earth—it’s also the fastest-moving planet—so we believe it affects us the most strongly.
No doubt we all have a Mercury-retrograde greatest-hits list, from lost messages to crazy tech glitches to inexplicable misunderstandings. Now, the thing you don’t hear about is how many flights take off and land on schedule during those 21 days, don’t have mechanical failure or ground you in NOLA, which wasn't on your itinerary, for eight hours. (Which happened to me during the last Mercury rx.)
So will I buy the new computer I desperately need during this current cycle? Call me superstitious, but I’m not going to risk it. I will back up all my files, however, and be ready for the purchase next month.
That's actually a good Mercury rx activity because it requires a backward glance. Also supported is reaching out to old friends, editing a set-aside manuscript, apologizing for something you said, or rethinking a project you’ve been toiling away on.
Venus retrograde is an infamous homewrecker, but in reality, can we really say how many more new or long-running relationships fail during these 40-day cycles compared with times when she’s direct?
A more empowered way to think about Venus rx is as an opportunity to reconsider our core values: around money, resources, how well we’ve secured various aspects of lives, and of course, what’s going on in current committed partnerships as well as how we think about them.
Think of retrogrades as a rare opportunity to hit pause and take mental and emotional inventory on how those areas of life are going for you. And then contemplate what you can do to make needed or desired upgrades.
Mars retrograde lets us stop pushing and competing and ruminate on how we use our energy and passion—and how effective our M.O. is.
Jupiter rx gives a chance to consider how much, how fast, how big, how bold our initiatives are. Are we actually seeking “truth” or only ways to prove our point of view? Jupiter retrograde is not about down- or upsizing so much as it is about right-sizing.
Saturn, which recently stationed retrograde in Aries for the first time since 1998, will dip back into Pisces for five and a half months (Sept. 1 to Feb. 13, 2026), marking its last visit for another 27 years. That’s not just dancing on the cusp of any two signs: 0º Aries is the line of demarcation between one zodiac year and the next.
So this last leap signifies major endings and a dazzling new beginning and is an opportunity to really clean house and expunge outdated, irrelevant structures in our life that don’t support this very new beginning.
Make no mistake: This is a big deal because right alongside Saturn is Neptune, very strange bedfellows, neither of which is comfortable in Aries.
For Neptune, the planet of dissolution and surrender (and ambassador of the water element) to be crossing this critical threshold—0º of the first fire sign—with Saturn, planet of boundaries, discipline and responsibility (and ambassador of the air and earth elements) at this pivotal time in human history…it can’t not be a game-changer. The next year is a chance to take all those brilliant airy ideas and profound emotional reactions and strategic earthy plans and take fiery action.
I say: Thank Goddess for this five-month respite from blasting full steam ahead. I think we all stand to benefit from calling a personal timeout and—if not exactly stepping out of the action, then at least slowing it down to a manageable pace.
Whatever your political or philosophical leanings, I think it's safe to say the past six months have been dizzying and whiplash-inducing for the collective. It's literally a 24-hour onslaught of input and obfuscation that is, arguably, designed to fry our circuits
But with Mercury stationing retrograde, you have a moment to make it personal. Where is 0º Aries in your natal chart? Saturn will reverse back to 25º10’ Pisces (Neptune to 29º22’), giving us a chance to actually digest everything we’ve taken in (literally and energetically) for the past several months and begin to metabolize it.
What are we okay with? What must change? How can we make the internal shifts needed for us to co-exist with all the things out there that we aren't okay with?
We need this time to reflect from a more objective vantage point. Like going on a vacation, or just a digital detox, we need time and distance to gain perspective, which lights the path toward clarity. But first we need to shake off the anger, fear and confusion that's been building and festering.
We must unhook from the flawed thinking only advances are valuable. Gardeners and farmers know the importance of giving soil time to recover, of leaving fields fallow so the nutrients can be replenished.
It’s hardly a stretch to see why we need to replenish our physical, mental and emotional stores as well. Constantly working without breaks depletes our energy and leads to decreased performance and burnout. It’s important to let our energetic field spend a little time not yielding something so it reset and recover its natural rhythm. See what comes in when you stop white-knuckling your way through life.
And Mercury? This cycle tracks the zippy messenger planet backtracking from 15º34 to 4º14 Leo. Where does that fall in your chart; are there planets, angles or major points there? Think poetically: What areas of your life might benefit from a life review, a revamp, a renovation, a rebuild… or maybe just some rest and relaxation (two more excellent, and frequently overlooked “re-” words).
It’s always up to us to shift our thinking, our values, our priorities to recognize the gifts of any transit, including retrogrades. I know I probably wouldn’t stop galloping toward my vision if something outside me didn’t stop or redirect me. It’s taken a while for my own medicine to kick in, but now I do embrace these slowdowns and make every effort to find the gold inside the pause.
It may not be a popular response to shrug when your whole social media feed is abuzz with dire warnings about Mercury retrograde. Or to boldly go where no (or few) astrologers have gone before. But why not try it?
Come out of the bunker, doff the pith helmet, write those emails, declare your intentions, book that flight... Just don’t try to talk me into buying a new Macbook till after August 11.