Using Mercury’s Cycle to Track Optimum Periods for Writing, Speaking, or Other Communication Based Work
If you're a writer, you're going to want to read this one.
Hi everyone!
Today we are going over a topic that you can easily apply to your everyday life. I will be showing you how to track the synodic cycle of Mercury in order to recognize periods where you will feel more productive with writing, speaking, or any other type of communication based work. All of these areas are a huge part of what I do for my job, but I don’t always have the motivation to initiate new projects or have an abundance of ideas to write or speak about. I find that inspiration strikes in quick bursts, and is usually followed up by a slower period of editing, reflecting, and considering my next steps.
Mercury’s cycle shows how there will inevitably be periods where work is slower or inspiration is hard to come by, and how you may need to reflect on something until the next busy period for taking action comes up again. Familiarizing yourself with the various phases of Mercury also helps you to realize that you don’t need to be putting so much pressure on yourself to always be creating and putting out content. Before we dig deeper into this topic though, here are my recommendations for the month.
Book:
Ancient Astrology in Theory and Practice: Volume One, by Demetra George. I started this book back in June and finally finished it - it’s 600 pages long, but it opened my eyes to different ways of looking at the birth chart through the lens of ancient astrology. I feel like I’ve gained a whole new perspective on the basics. This book is a great resource if you’re interested in diving deeper into understanding what planets are the most productive in your chart and bring the most benefits to your life, vs what planets tend to bring the most challenges. It teaches you about sect, synodic cycles, sign rulerships, aspects, and a ton of other information. I am now off to order Volume 2, which is all about assessing the houses in your chart.
Podcast:
The Astrology Podcast, “Eclipses That Aligned with Pivotal Moments in History” - I loved this episode and learned a lot about how eclipses show up frequently in major world events and the charts of world leaders. My biggest takeaway that I can’t stop reflecting on is how when a person is born during eclipse season or very close to an eclipse, subsequent eclipse periods tend to mark major turning points in that person’s life, like life and death major.
Okay, on to the main topic.
To track periods of productivity with writing, speaking, and other communication work, we are looking at Mercury’s synodic cycle. Mercury’s synodic cycle is Mercury’s relationship with the sun, and how that relationship changes frequently. And for this, we are looking at where both transit Mercury and the transit sun are at certain times - this exercise has nothing to do with where the sun and Mercury are placed in your birth chart. As a side note though, after reading this you could apply what I say below to interpreting the relationship between Mercury and the sun in your birth chart to see what phase of Mercury you embody the most in your life in general.
So there will be weeks when Mercury is furthest away from the sun, and there will be other times when Mercury is right in the heart of the sun (at the same degree of the same sign), both during and after Mercury retrograde. These are the various phases of Mercury we will be going over, and each phase points to where you might be in the process of writing, speaking, or developing some other type of communication based work. Are you in the beginning phases of just initiating something, feeling kind of confused about what direction to go in next with a project, or are you finally seeing the results and making your writing or teaching visible to the world? And if what I’ve just gone over feels confusing, bear with me. We’re going to break this down, step by step, together.
1. Mercury’s Maximum Elongation Phase, Pre-Retrograde
Let’s first start with noticing periods of Mercury’s maximum elongation. Maximum elongation is when Mercury reaches the furthest distance away from the sun on either side. When Mercury is at its furthest distance from the sun, the themes that Mercury represents (aka writing, speaking, communication) can fully flourish and be realized. They aren’t overpowered by the sun’s rays. There are two times each cycle when Mercury reaches its maximum elongation phase: one right before it goes retrograde, and one right after the retrograde is over.
Take a look at this list of dates to see when past and future Mercury maximum elongation periods will take place. You will want to refer back to this list as we go along.
https://horoscopes.astro-seek.com/mercury-greatest-elongation-astrology-online-calendar
You will also want to look at the dates at which Mercury retrograde will be occurring, so you can know which maximum elongation dates come right before a retrograde, and which ones immediately follow a Mercury retrograde.
https://horoscopes.astro-seek.com/mercury-retrograde-shadow-retroshade-periods
For example, looking at the second link of Mercury retrograde dates, you can see that a Mercury retrograde recently took place from August 23 - September 15. Referring back to the first link of maximum elongation dates, you can see that there was a Mercury maximum elongation phase on August 10, about 2 weeks before Mercury retrograde began on the 23rd. Then there was another maximum elongation phase on September 22, about a week after Mercury retrograde ended.
First let’s look at Mercury’s maximum elongation pre-retrograde, so the most recent one that took place would have been August 10, 2023. At this pre-retrograde maximum elongation, you may have an idea come to you that you want to pursue that is related to writing, speaking, communication, etc. You may start to get super excited about that idea, and you could feel like you’re ready to start developing it. It may feel like you may have more direction and motivation to tend to writing, speaking, teaching, or research related endeavors at this time. However, that idea is likely not coming to fruition quite yet.
Mercury’s pre-retrograde maximum elongation pictured in the diagram above, on August 10. Mercury is about 28 degrees away from the sun.
Reflect back to August 10 to see what new idea may have come to you around then. To give a personal example, this was when I got serious about developing my own podcast. I reached out to a photographer to help me with the cover art for the podcast, and I also hired a producer. However, it’s important to note that the podcast was not launched yet. I was only putting in the initial work at the pre-retrograde maximum elongation, but the actual podcast would not be launched until a later date. The plans for how it would come together became way more clear though around the August 10 pre-retrograde maximum elongation.
2. Mercury stations retrograde
After this pre-retrograde maximum elongation phase, Mercury stations retrograde. The retrograde usually occurs around 10-14 days after Mercury’s maximum elongation happens. To refer back, the last Mercury retrograde we experienced happened on August 23 and lasted until September 15. So that insight or burst of motivation you received at the maximum elongation may suddenly get slowed down when the retrograde begins. You may realize that you need to regroup a bit and figure out how to best approach this new piece of writing or a presentation you’re preparing for work. Putting in the actual effort to develop that project may suddenly feel tedious, and you may need to rework an element of the writing, speaking, or research before moving ahead again.
Mercury stations retrograde in the diagram above, indicated by the small “R” symbol next to Mercury.
Use this retrograde period to revisit the information you already know and refresh your knowledge there, so that you can return to your project with greater confidence and a sound understanding of what you want to say. When I was writing my book last fall, I got to the section of the book that is all about your moon, Venus and Mars signs right at the start of a Mercury retrograde. Before the Mercury retrograde, I was pumped to start writing, but then I hit this section, which was the hardest part of the book for me to get through, because it was such basic astrological information. I had to return to the foundations of astrology, and what each of the twelve signs represents and how that manifests in a person, doing interviews with people who had certain placements to more fully understand how each sign functions. The retrograde period was definitely not a time of quick writing or being hit with new inspiration, and was instead all about returning to what I already knew and brushing up on those skills.
3. Sun-Mercury inferior conjunction
Halfway through the Mercury retrograde, the Sun and Mercury will meet up at the same degree of a sign. This is what is referred to as the “inferior conjunction,” and you can think of this as being the new moon phase of Mercury. You may receive clarity surrounding communication based work at this date and a better sense of direction to go in with a specific project or piece of writing. However, because the inferior conjunction is similar to a new moon, it holds this low energy quality, and it is probably still not completely evident of what you’re developing yet and the end result is not completely visible. The most recent Mercury-Sun inferior conjunction during Mercury retrograde took place on September 6, 2023.
The sun and Mercury’s inferior conjunction. You can see that they have met up at 13 degrees of Virgo in the diagram above.
4. Mercury’s Maximum Elongation, Post-Retrograde
After Mercury retrograde ends, there will once again be a period of maximum elongation, when Mercury moves further away from the sun. This post-retrograde maximum elongation typically occurs between a week to two weeks after the retrograde ends. The most recent date this took place was September 22, 2023.
Mercury’s post-retrograde maximum elongation pictured in the diagram above, on September. Mercury is about 18 degrees away from the sun. Notice how it won’t always be the same amount of degrees separating the two at these elongation periods.
After a slower period of reflection during the Mercury retrograde, you may now notice that there’s a flurry of activity taking place at this maximum elongation. Your ideas may finally be coming together and flowing to you more easily. Whatever you’ve been working on may also be made visible, and the post-retrograde maximum elongation can be a great time to launch a communication project or reveal whatever you’ve been developing.
A few days after the last post-retrograde maximum elongation we experienced on September 22, I launched my podcast on September 25. So the initial steps that were taken at the pre-retrograde elongation on August 10 were made visible at the post-retrograde elongation six weeks later. If we went even further back to the post-retrograde maximum elongation before this most recent one, we can see that it happened on May 29, 2023. Three days after that one, my book was published on June 1, so once again writing and communication based work was made more public at that time. These maximum elongation phases are no joke!
5. Sun-Mercury superior conjunction
The final Mercury phase to take into consideration is the "superior conjunction,” when Mercury and the Sun again meet up at the same degree of a sign, but this time it’s when Mercury is not retrograde. I like to refer to the superior conjunction as the full moon phase of Mercury. The date that this most recently took place on was October 20, 2023.
The sun and Mercury’s superior conjunction. You can see that they have met up at 27 degrees of Libra in the diagram above.
This is a very busy period out of the Mercury cycle, where anything that felt slow or confusing during the retrograde continues to become more clear. Going from the post-retrograde maximum elongation up until this conjunction is likely when you will have the most motivation and inspiration for writing, teaching, speaking, research, etc, so use this month long period wisely! You could also be using this time to connect with people and share your ideas, and you might be ready to speak up about a topic you’ve been reflecting on and learning about for the past several weeks.
In the weeks that follow this Sun-Mercury superior conjunction, you won’t be hit with as many new ideas, and instead you will be incorporating any realizations that came up at the conjunction and making necessary adjustments to your communication projects. After this conjunction, you’re finishing out one phase as you begin to prepare for the next one.
6. Mercury’s maximum elongation phase, pre-retrograde, once again
And the cycle repeats itself once we again return to the pre-retrograde maximum elongation phase. The next time this happens is December 4, so as we build up to that date, you may want to start thinking about what communication project you want to put energy towards next or how you might further develop already existing writing, research, or speaking endeavors. Here are key dates to consider in the next upcoming Mercury cycle.
December 4, 2023: pre-retrograde maximum elongation
December 13, 2023 - January 1, 2024: Mercury retrograde period
December 22, 2023: Sun-Mercury inferior conjunction
January 12, 2024: post-retrograde maximum elongation
February 27, 2024: Sun-Mercury superior conjunction
This is so wild Alice! All of those dates had specific mercurial things I was working on, from speaking on my first podcast to writing my first paid horoscopes – you are so spot on 🌟 I'll definitely pay closer attention to the next cycle that unfolds. Thank you!!