When you hear the term “Mercury retrograde”, what do you think of?

Many people get stressed, scared or anxious around this time because of the intense energies that translate into physical situations or emotions.

Many people dread a planet going into retrograde because, well, once during a Mercury retrograde, my entire face swelled up in the middle of the night because I hadn’t been honest with the people I was living with and was “holding a lot in”.

People get a lot more sensitive, emotional blockages and miscommunications finally get resolved, and sometimes it almost feels like we’re forced to be more open.

So what’s really going on?

Everything is fundamentally energy, and these massive plants surrounding us are constantly letting off energy in the forms of heat, sound and vibration. These energies constantly effect us, but it takes a certain sensitivity to fully feel it.

A planet going into retrograde means it appears to be moving backwards around the sun from our view, but it is just a trick of the eye. It is the intention and focus we put towards a retrograde that makes it what it is. If we’re expecting everything to be negative during a retrograde, we’re viewing it from that lens and so it shall be.

If our collective consciousness looked at a retrograde event as something purely positive, it would have a much different effect on humanity as a whole. Retrograde has never been something negative or something to fear; it is a time for us to grow into ourselves more, and sometimes growing can be a bit painful.

So, on April 28th, five planets will be in retrograde. Something like this hasn’t happened in more than 10 years. So it’s kind of a big deal!

Each planet represents an aspect of us and our lives, so when one goes into retrograde, it’s like it gets turned upside down and the energies are amplified. The reason Mercury gets such a bad rep when it goes into retrograde is because it represents communication. It is the most direct form of connection we have; language.

So when this planet is in retrograde, many people come forth with feelings they’ve been hiding, things come out of the shadows and everything is expressed. For many, this can be stressful when communicating becomes a miscommunication. It takes focus and the will to navigate through these emotions to fully understand, then grow from them. It isn’t something to run from, only something to learn from.

Our personal expansion and transformation of who we are is represented by Jupiter. Our love and relationships are represented by Pluto. Emotions, especially anger, passion and aggression are Mars. And Saturn is Karma.

All of these planets will be in retrograde, so each aspect is going to be amplified majorly. This means many things are going to come to light, so use this opportunity to accelerate your growth. Don’t view this time as a chance to hide away and avoid all the possible issues that may arise.

Use it as a chance to take these things head on and learn how to get through relationship, emotional and karmic problems that keep coming up.

If there is a repetitive pattern, a mistake you keep making in your life; it’s because you haven’t fully understood the problem, to then understand a solution.

Once a lesson is fully learned in life, you do not keep repeating those same patterns.

Learning through a retrograde can really help you decipher peoples energy through their actions, body language and words, that you can smoothly navigate through any issue with an inner calmness. It is a beautiful learning experience that can greatly benefit your life.

The planets come out of retrograde in early May, so until then, start preparing for some realness!