2020, the year of the ongoing, implacable Capricorn stellium, is also a Mercury Retrograde in Water Signs year, but the contradiction is only apparent. Capricorn may be an Earth sign, but the Sea Goat is a hybrid creature which has mastered the sea before conquering the land and making it to the top of the mountain: half-goat, half-fish.

In a way, we are hybrid creatures ourselves, too.

We’re Spirit and matter, body and Soul, descendants and Ancestors. We are gateways through which the formless crystallizes into form, and the visible spills into the visible.

We engage with what we see in ways that reflect what we perceive, what inspires us, what we’re tuned into, what we inherited. Conditionings, ingrained patterns, conscious or unconscious needs, hidden motives we are afraid to acknowledge, dynamics passed down through the bloodline, the very way we feel about the reality that surrounds us.

This year’s Retrograde cycles of Mercury are all about exploring and assessing what we give substance to. What we dream into being. What we think — or worry — into existence. What is unseen, yet capable of steering our direction. What is unknown, yet powerful.

If it’s true that, as C. G. Jung said, ‘Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate’, Mercury Retrograde in the Water signs is an opportunity to take our fate back in our hands through the encounter with all the invisible realities that inhabit our heart, Soul and dreams.

Mercury Retrograde in 2020: dates, signs, degrees

Here are all the specifics of this year’s Mercury Retrograde cycles:

• From February 17 to March 9: 12° Pisces to 28° Aquarius;
• From June 18 to July 12: 14° to 5° Cancer;
• From October 14 to November 4:  11° Scorpio to 25° Libra.

Exact dates may vary depending on your time zone.

Mercury Retrograde in Pisces, February 2020: What does it Mean?

The androgynous messenger of the Gods stations retrograde on February 17, at 12°53 Pisces, re-enters Aquarius on March 4, turns direct on March 9 at 28°13 of the sign of the Water Bearer and slips back into Pisces on March 16. Only on April 11 Mercury will splash out of Pisces for good and enter the sign of Aries.

Mercury floating in reverse through Pisces is the ultimate astro-psychedelic experience. From my Facebook page:

The upcoming experience of Mercury backtracking through Pisces asks us to review the relationship between what we turn our attention to, what we say, what we think, what we speak and declare, and our deepest longings, desires and creative potentials. It’s not about what we say or think. It’s what we’re tuned into. Zodiac Poetry Astrology on Facebook

Mercury Retrograde in Pisces serves to remind us that we are never not channelling something beyond the Self. We are never not picking up something from somewhere else. We’re cosmic antennae, psychic sponges, human vessels, to various degrees of intensity and awareness.

The boundaries of our psychic and energetical space are more porous and pliable than we tend to realize, and if we haven’t been paying attention to uninvited guests, unknown influences and subliminal intruders, the time has come to turn our attention within and notice what replenishes the stream of our inspiration, what fosters our connection with the Universe, what expands our heart and elevates our Spirit, versus what drains us, undermines us, sabotages us.

While Mercury wanders through the holographic, enigmatic, all-encompassing sign of the Fishes, every nuance, every flash, every impression is a symptom of and a portal to other realities, none of which is any less real than the one we witness with our eyes. Dreams speak. Waking life feels like slumber. Random surges of intuition nudge us in the right direction. Slips of the tongue disclose a window to our deepest longings. Misapprehensions hint at the manufactured narratives we are unknowingly partaking in. Mishaps and delays allow us to get back in sync with Divine timing.

If Scorpio is all or nothing, Pisces is all and nothing — the Source and the ocean. The end and the start. Sometimes, we need to experience the elusiveness of paradox to gain a better understanding of the reality in which we live.

The Shadow Periods of Mercury Retrograde in Pisces

The pre-Rx shadow phase started on February 2,  when Mercury reached 28° Aquarius. The post-Rx phase will last from March 9, with Mercury stationary direct on the same degree, to March 29, when the cosmic Trickster will be back at 12°53 Pisces, where it all began.

For some, Mercury’s shadow periods tend to be even more warped and challenging than the Retrograde motion itself, so they are not to be underestimated. You don’t necessarily need to put your life on hold during pre- or post- Rx shadow, but should you find yourself more dazed and confused than usual, it may be the case to postpone any decision that could have a long-lasting impact on your life. This applies to the actual Retrograde phase too, of course.

If you want to know more about Mercury Retrograde in Pisces and how it might affect you, you can request an Astrology reading.