At least when it comes to the “Important Stuff.” What Water signs (Cancer, Scorpio & Pisces) all have in common is their association with cleansing, alchemical processes-metamorphoses-implicitly understanding that there are happenings in life that defy rational explanation, and that these are often the most interesting (or even most important) to pay attention to.Ĭancer is extremely nurturing but this is why they choose who they let into their inner circles so carefully, often relying exclusively on family ties, significant others and BFFs only. Mercury in Water Signs and Communication Paradigms But highly empathetic or so-called sensitive people tend to pick up on everything and everyone’s emotions in the atmosphere that even a trip to the store is an emotionally-charged (if not exhausting) experience. If your birth chart is blessed with any planets in Water signs-especially in Cancer or Pisces-you’re naturally imbued with these naturally beguiling and intuitive qualities. This is especially true if Cancer stays socially isolated for too long, as their intuitive energy that typically helps them “see the light”of insight gets turned inward, awakening crusty cobwebs of fear and potentially-paralyzing levels of paranoia. But with this can easily come a propensity toward hyper-vigilance, defensiveness or (impulsive) outbursts of anger or imagination (you never know with Cancer) in response to the even slightest stimulus. Such is Cancer’s burden to bear-intuitive and emotionally aware, picking up on the subtlest cues, instincts, not to mention every mood in the room. Stubbornness, for one, implies at once an uncompromising and potentially infuriating control-oriented type yet connotes an equally loyal, tenacious and persevering personality. If you think about it, being called stubborn, much like being labelled sensitive, is the Platonic example of the Backhanded Compliment.

Being there for someone who’s been there for you in the past, for instance, whether it’s showing up just by listening or offering help can, depending on the message’s delivery, be the act of a caring friend, or it can be patronizing or insulting (like when a friend or co-worker won’t stop asking you “if you’re okay,” despite that you’ve repeatedly reassured them you’re “fine” aka “don’t really feel like talking about it” (…with them). The same is true for many Cancer buzzwords-Sympathetic, Empathetic, Emotional, Receptive.Take Sympathy. On one hand, sensitive individuals possess a heightened awareness to the point of psychic receptivity on the other, it makes sense when you think about it, that this level of prolonged, heightened awareness of one’s environment is the definition of “both a blessing and a curse.”įor instance, attunement to others’ emotions can be a very useful tool, but is it truly useful if you’re not in tune with (or, at worst, drowning in) your own? And furthermore, what happens when you pick up on so many vibrations, moods or tones that you become unable to remain (emotionally) stable? Sensitivity is a tricky word, as it contains, like the sign of Cancer itself, such extreme duality of meaning. Mercury Rx in Cancer: Treading Through the Spiderwebs In other words? The keyword of this Mercury Retrograde period highlights the dual faces of possibly Cancer’s most infamous of stereotypical traits: SENSITIVITY. This is the theme that is essentially the subtext of this Mercury Retrograde in Cancer, a cycle that lasts from June 2 through July 26, including its pre- and post-Retrograde shadow phases.Īt the start of this Mercury Retrograde, there’s a comforting recalcitrance in the collective refusal to continue to accept the current status quo yet distinct sense of despair in the air.įor one, we’re still reeling from the emotional drain and whatever emotional endings or losses we continue to be forced to face only two weeks ago at the Lunar Eclipse in Sagittarius.Īnd as if that wasn’t enough, with Mercury’s Retrograde in Cancer and Venus still Retrograde (about to turn direct) in Gemini, Water and Air are emphasized, making us hypersensitive to every tone and wording, prone to overanalyze minutiae of every text, tweet or email exchange. In cautious Cancer, Mercury turns our thoughts into preoccupations with financial and emotional security (really, the emotional security that financial security brings). Consequently, Mercury is the natural ruler of the 3rd house, concerned with the day-to-day, surface level facets of life.

Mercury is a symbol of Communication, our Thinking, and our ability to process information.

When was mercury in retrograde 2020