Welcome back to the Essential Astrocast.

I am your host, Veronica Perretti,
and this is the podcast you listen

to when you wanna know what's going
on up in the heavens, so you can

dictate your fate down here on Earth.

Okay, so.

It's that time.

Mercury is retrograding.

So Mercury will be retrograding this week.

I am speaking to you on
July 16th, Wednesday.

and Mercury will retrograde or stationed
to retrograde on Friday the 18th of July.

So we are, Moving into that time,
you probably have already been

feeling this because we have been in
the shadow, what I like to call the

pres shadow, the retrograde period.

We always have a shadow before and after.

I like to distinguish by saying,
pres shadow and post shadow.

And we've been in the pre shadow for a
little bit, so you might have already felt

like things are getting a little wonky.

Things have been feeling a little glitchy.

Now with that said, this is
not a bad Mercury retrograde.

The last Mercury retrograde we had
was pretty intense because Mercury

was having some really tough.

Aspects with other planets
during the retrograde period.

And because of that period,
we had those hits three times

because of the retrograde path.

So just to remind you, when a
planet retrogrades, which is totally

normal, all of the planets retrograde
except for the sun and the moon.

Our luminaries.

So from our vantage point
here on Earth, retrograde is

actually an optical illusion.

It appears like the planet is moving
backward from our position here on earth.

And of course in astrology, the
earth is always the center because

we are talking about our lives.

This is an artful practice
of bringing together.

the movement of the planet's
astronomy with what we understand

to be the pattern psychologically.

So it's more of an art
form, in the sense that.

It is metaphorical.

And so of course we're
putting the Earth us.

We are the heroes of our own story.

if you are familiar with the work
of Joseph Campbell, the Hero's

Journey, the Heroine's journey,
you are the hero of your own story.

So in astrology, we imagine that
you are the center of the chart.

So of course, earth is
considered the center.

Astrology, and so everything we look
at from the tropical zodiac is the

apparent path of the planets around us.

Of course, we know that we are cycling
around the sun, but we don't look

at it that way from a metaphorical
perspective when we look at a chart.

So I digress.

What I'm saying is that it
is an obstacle illusion.

That Mercury is moving backwards.

But nonetheless, over time, we have
found, or you know, many astrologers

before me, of course, have found
that there are certain patterns.

There's certain things that happen
when Mercury retrogrades, so.

All of that is to say
Mercury is not in retrograde.

Mercury is retrograde.

Right?

So retrograde is an adverb.

I believe that's correct.

So all of that is to say it's that time.

Don't fear it, it's normal.

The beauty of retrogrades is that it
gives us an opportunity to slow down.

And reflect, and you may remember me
talking about at the beginning of the

year, we had a lot of retrograde planets.

We had Venus and Mars retrograde,
which are the two toughest 'cause

they happen the least frequent.

And we had, then we had Mercury also
retrograde and early in the year, I

said, I know it feels like you're stuck.

I know it feels like you're in the
mud trying to trudge through and

you just wanna get some momentum.

And then all the planets went
direct and things got really fast.

And I'm sure if you're listening to this,
you know where I stand in terms of the

political spectrum of what's going on.

In the US and around the world, and
things started to go really fast

and things were going fast, even
with all those planets retrograde.

But now it feels like
we're at a fevers pitch.

So retrogrades are helpful.

They slow us down, they give us an
opportunity to look back, to check our

work, to edit, to redo, to just reassess.

Is this.

You know what I wanna be doing?

Is this, how I should be showing up?

Is this, working for me?

So this Mercury retrograde is in Leo.

Now Leo is a sign that is
associated with the heart.

It's symbolized by the lion.

It is our playful, creative spirit,
our passion, our inner child, our

relationship to children, our.

Identity because it's
associated or ruled by the sun.

The sun is our identity,
our life force in astrology.

The sun will be moving into Leo soon
next week, but Mercury is already in Leo,

and so Mercury stopping and stationing
and retrograding in Leo on Friday.

It's going to be an invitation to
reflect on what ignites your passion,

what ignites your creativity,
what ignites your playful spirit.

It's also an invitation to check in
with how are you expressing your anger

or your frustration, because mercury
is associated with our expression,

how we speak, how we communicate,
how we connect with other people.

But it's also listening because
part of communication is listening.

So maybe check in with,
am I listening enough?

And in addition, mercury is
how we understand information.

So a lot of the time with Mercury
retrograde, you'll get some information,

you'll get some messages, something will
come through and you'll be like, oh wow.

Well now that makes sense.

I got the missing puzzle piece.

I didn't even know that
I was missing that.

So that could be happening.

You could be getting some messages,
you could be getting some downloads.

Um, but it's just an, a nice
opportunity to pause, you know,

spend some time with your journal.

Mercury is of course, our words, and so

sitting with how are
you expressing yourself?

When it comes to anger or frustration,
because it is a fire sign, fire

signs are generally the most
passionate, the most expressive.

While they might not feel the deepest,
that lies with the water signs, the

fire signs express the most, How
are we expressing ourselves and not

just with those negative emotions?

How are we expressing the high
emotions on the other end?

How are we expressing our joy?

How are we expressing our love?

Are we doing that enough?

Are we doing that freely?

These are things that we can think
on, reflect on, meditate on as.

We have Mercury Retrograde and
Leo, and the good news is that

this Mercury retrograde, it's
not having any poor aspects.

You know, mercury is well
positioned in the sky.

He's not gonna be having any
arguments with any other planet.

So he's gonna be free and clear,
and he's even gonna get a few

helpful nudges from other planets.

On Friday when Mercury retrogrades,
he will be in a sextile to Venus.

So that says to me, this is going
to be a period of time where we.

Assess our relationships.

Assess what's important to us.

Venus is not only relationships
and money, it's our values.

What's important to us?

What's important to you.

Now, maybe that's changed.

So these are some ideas of how you
can work with the Mercury retrograde.

It is of course stationing to
retrograde on July 18th, and Mercury

will be retrograde until August 11th.

So on August 11th, he will
station, he will go direct.

He will go through that section of Leo.

A third time.

Mercury is doing his thing, he's
moving through Leo, he gets to 15

degrees, and then he stops on Friday,
or he's really stopping right now.

Turns around and starts to go backwards.

He reviews that first half or so of Leo.

And then on August 11th, he
stops again, does a U-turn and

turns around at four degrees.

Leo.

And starts to move forward once again.

And then we'll do a third pass through
those degrees of Leo, between four

degrees Leo and 15 degrees Leo.

Mercury will finally get back to 15
degrees Leo on August 25th, and that will

be the end of the post shadow period.

So I hope that gives you an
understanding of Mercury retrograde

but do not fret because this
Mercury retrograde, in my opinion,

should be pretty manageable and
more in the emotional realm.

All that said, do your regular
precautions, you know, back up your stuff.

Make sure that, you know, you're not.

I don't really like to buy new
computers or phones or all of

that during Mercury retrograde.

With that said, other people out in
the world are buying new things all

the time, and they probably work.

So don't be superstitious about it,
even though I can't say that I'm not

a little bit superstitious about it.

Don't be superstitious about it.

Don't be worried about it.

Don't fear it.

live your life.

Do what you have to do.

Just make sure you double check things.

if you have to sign a contract,
make sure you really read it.

If you.

Have to tell someone
what time you're meeting.

Just send a little confirmation text
the morning of or the night before.

Just do the extra due diligence, you
know, cross the t's, dot the i's.

That's the way to go with
Mercury retrograde, regardless

of what sign it's in.

Okay, so as I mentioned,
mercury will, sex Tail, Venus

on Friday, all in all this week.

Doesn't have a lot of transits
until we get to Friday, Saturday.

Even then, they are minimal.

So, after Mercury and Venus have a
nice harmonious conversation via a

sex tile on Friday, on Saturday, the
19th of July, we have the sun and a

square to Chiron, which is working
through some of those core wounds.

Chiron is always about the core wounds.

That we house deep in our
soul that we carry with us.

Sometimes they're karm mix, sometimes
they're from other lifetimes,

sometimes they're from childhood.

But generally.

When we have the sun talking to
Chiron, there's an illumination

of those wounds because the sun is
our identity, it's our life giver.

It's how we relate to our ego,
and the ego is not a bad thing.

The ego keeps us safe.

An inflated, unhealthy ego
is one thing, but we all have

egos, so let's try to keep them.

Healthy.

So you know, healthy ego is confidence.

A healthy ego has a strong sense of self.

So the sun's growing.

Chiron on Saturday, it might be an
opportunity to just check in with,

Hey, am I identifying with my wounds?

Am I a person who has wounds or am
I identifying as the wound itself?

Even on the most mundane level, you
know your ailments, you know the things.

If you're in pain, it's very hard
to feel like you have any identity

or any self outside of that pain.

I know that when I've been in
acute chronic pain, it's been

really hard, to put my
energy anywhere else.

I do, but it's very hard to identify
outside of it, think on am I identifying

with the ailments I have the, diagnoses
I have the things that I'm working with?

Is that how I am identifying?

And that's not bad or good, it's
just an opportunity to check

in with it and just notice.

Are you a person that has that
thing or is that thing who you are?

'cause if you're thinking
about it in the second way.

It might be diminishing your light
and the sun wants you to shine bright,

especially as we go into Leo season.

But I don't wanna get ahead of myself
'cause we're still in cancer season and

I wanna honor all the crabs out there.

We're still in cancer season.

This is the time to take care of yourself.

This is the time to nurture your body.

Nurture your soul, nurture
the people that you love.

Take good, good, good care of yourself.

So with that, those are the
transits that we have this week.

We have had such busy weeks
and I've had these super long

podcasts the past two weeks.

So I wanna just offer a reminder, if
you have not had a chance to listen to

the last podcast, definitely go back
and listen to it because I talk all

about Uranus and Gemini and that is an
ongoing conversation that we're gonna

be having for the next eight years.

So really take your time.

Go back and listen to that
Uranus and Gemini episode.

I also talk a lot in that episode about
this magic triangle that's forming.

It's a minor grand triangle.

It's the, some people are
calling it a magic triangle.

I noticed today I went to see my
massage therapist who listens to this

podcast, hi Emily, and she was saying,
talking to me and I was saying, oh my

gosh, she feels like you're so clear.

There's so much that.

Going right and falling into place.

And then I went and saw my chiropractor
in the same office and talking to her.

She was feeling the same way.

Everything's going great.

This is falling into place.

That's falling into place.

And I thought to myself, it's
so interesting 'cause a lot of

us are feeling that right now.

I know.

I'm feeling that in some ways in my life
or in a lot of ways in my life actually.

I really do think it might be
part of this story of having

Uranus go into Gemini and instantaneously
creating this rine to Pluto in Aquarius.

We've been working with Pluto in Aquarius,
off and on since 2022, but he moved in

to settle in for 20 years last November.

Now Uranus moves into Gemini where he's
gonna be hanging out for eight years.

He creates this trine to Pluto.

Now, Uranus will dip back into Pisces, but
for a short time and finish up his work

there before he comes into Gemini to stay.

But that's neither here nor there.

At this moment, Uranus is in Gemini
activating that Pluto and Aquarius,

and they are both in a sex tile
to Saturn and Neptune in the early

degrees of Aries sitting together.

I think that this triangle in the sky
that has formed what some astrologers

are calling the magic triangle really
does feel like a shift in energy, a

fresh start, and a lot of the things
that we've all been trying to, you

know, get the puzzle pieces to fit
together and we had the right pieces,

they just weren't clicking into place.

Some things are starting
to really click into place.

it doesn't mean it's gonna feel like
that forever, but for right now, I think

something about that magic triangle
does have a lot of us feeling like

things are shifting and clicking in.

So honor that, celebrate it.

I know there's a lot of scary,
horrible things going on in the world.

It's also important for us to
celebrate the joys, to celebrate

the wins, to celebrate the moments
where things do click into place.

And yeah, so with that, something that is
going on this week that's pretty intense,

is Mars joining with the south node.

So Mars will conjoin the
south node on Sunday the 20th.

This is something that many astrologers,
many people probably easily overlook,

but I think the nodes are really
important because they've just proven

to be important in my life and I think
they are powerful points in the sky.

So the south node is right now
in Virgo, Mars is in Virgo.

If you feel like you've been super
nitpicky and critical lately of

your partner, of your coworkers, of
your friends, hello, Mars and Virgo.

Mars and Virgo really wants us to get all
the work done, get all the things done.

I've been really struggling with
walking around my house and not

wanting to organize and clean out
every closet and cabinet because.

I don't have the time in the moment that I
wanna do it, and I just, it's killing me.

And that's because Mars is in
Virgo and Mars is in Virgo helping

us get out the magnifying glass
and see all of the mistakes.

So Mars.

In Virgo, the south node is in Virgo.

That means the north node is
in the opposite sign of Pisces.

That is a theme that we're
working with this year.

The nodes take a year and a half to move
through a sign, so once we get to Eclipse

season, you know, soon enough we'll
be talking a ton about the nodes, but

at this moment I just wanna talk about
Mars and the South nodes specifically.

Virgo is about the details.

Virgo is about being devoted
to a ritual, to a routine.

Virgo is also Hypercritical.

Virgo is also about our work.

You know, what we do for
work in a day-to-day manner.

So Mars diving into the South node.

What we consider to be a void.

The south note is considered the void.

it might feel like there is this
urge to release, this urge to let

go, to purge, to actively cut away
something because Mars is cutting.

Mars is separation.

Mars is the knife.

Mars is.

sharp and clear and defined.

So there might be a desire to say, yeah,
I'm gonna let go of that relationship.

I'm gonna make a clean break, or
I'm gonna walk out of this job.

I'm just gonna make a clean break.

Or, you know, I've been doing this
thing every day for a year and I

don't wanna do it anymore, so I'm
just gonna give it up, whatever it is.

It could be a habit, it could be a
person, could be a thought that you just

keep thinking and you think, I don't
wanna think that about myself anymore.

I am gonna release it.

So this can be a really
useful energy if we use it.

but you might notice
that things feel like.

They're being released, or maybe
you are being let go from something.

Maybe there's someone leaving your
community that you really, really like.

So there might be ways that
we're releasing and letting

go in ways that are sad.

maybe there are people that are
leaving this plane of existence.

And there may be ways that we're
letting go that are really awesome

and that feel really freeing.

So just pay attention with Mars
conjunct the south node the next few

days and see how that's feeling and
see what you notice being released.

I know for me, I'm probably gonna
get just absolutely a maniacal

about cleaning my house, but it
might manifest differently for you.

Um, so just see what shows up with that.

But it can feel a little
intense and personally.

I, I just noticed the past couple of
days that I've been feeling a little bit

of sadness and I'm not really sure why.

And I think that that also could
be that Mars conjunct the south

node because Virgo is, you know,
the selfless servant, the being of

service being devoted, the ritual.

So, what rituals, what routines?

Are no longer serving, you might be
time to let them go or just change them.

Might be time to change them to
move towards something more Piscean.

'cause the north node is in Pisces.

And so Virgo can be really,
list oriented and being on task.

But Pisces is in the flow.

So maybe you're releasing the need
to be on task and the need to do it

a certain way and giving yourself
the freedom to be in flow and let

it be playful because remember.

We're about to enter Leo's season.

It's all about play, all about
fun, all about the dramatic flare.

so something else that just crossed
my mind and I wanted to mention it,

we were gonna talk about it in Cosmo
conversation on Monday and we didn't get

to it 'cause we're just talking about
Uranus and all these other fun things.

If you've never joined us,
please come every other Monday,

at 5:00 PM Eastern time.

Host this gathering on Zoom
called Cosmic Conversation.

It's really fun.

It is for astrology enthusiasts like you
who just wanna come talk about astrology.

We talk about the transits,
what's going on right now.

People come, they ask questions.

We have a nice consistent group
of women who have been coming,

but of course anyone is welcome.

And I would love to see you there.

It's really fun to see you guys
on Zoom to see your faces and talk

astrology and answer questions.

And it challenges me because it also helps
me understand the questions that you have.

So please join us there.

You can go to my website,
veronicaperretti.com/events

to join us and make sure you're on
my email list because that is where.

You always know what's happening.

You can go to my website to sign up for
the email list, veronicaperretti.com,

right there on the homepage.

Okay.

So with that, I am going to bid you a due.

I hope you have a wonderful week, weekend.

I'm gonna talk to you next week.

We have the sun moving into
Leo, and then right after that

we have a new moon in Leo.

So lots to talk about next week.

lots percolating.

Next week we're really gonna be working
with a lot of these new energies.

So stay tuned for that.

And if you haven't had a chance,
make sure you go back and listen

to last week's episode when I cover
everything, Uranus and Gemini.

And make sure that you sign up for
the next cosmic conversation, which

will not be Monday, but it'll be
the following Monday, July 28th.

And I'll talk to you next week.

Alright, take care of yourself.

Bye.