Having weird dreams lately? Getting stuck on words or thoughts, resulting in miscommunication?  Having odd luck or coincidences? Blame it on Mercury in retrograde. Lasting from February 16 through March 9, Mercury  is the first planet to go in retrograde this year, and there are some important things to take away from it.

     Whether or not you believe in astrological concepts, or celestial events, Mercury going into retrograde has been explained to be a planetary phenomenon for hundreds of years, being known to affect our lives in drastic ways.

     Occurring around three times a year, Mercury appears to slow down in its orbit, causing an illusion to be moving backwards through the zodiac–a spherical coordinate system in space–resulting in effects here on Earth since the planetary alignment is unbalanced. Planets always revolve around the sun in the same direction, and when Earth passes its orbit, or the planet passes Earth, it results in a retrograde.

     In astrology, Mercury is the planet of communication in all aspects, awareness, and implores us to express ourselves. When the planet appears in retrograde, astronomically speaking, it allows people to help them find clarity on where they should redirect their energies.

     Since it is a time where problems in relationships and emotional baggage suffice, it is all about learning lessons from the past and tying up loose ends so you can create a better future for yourself. 

     This powerful celestial event is known to also create strange occurrences that wouldn’t normally happen, so if you coincidentally find yourself in the right place at the right time, it could very much be influenced by this phenomenon.

     Since astrology is a branch off of metaphysics–separate from science–astronomy and science teacher, Doug Heeter, explains the scientific side of the concept. He states, “the planets do actually go through retrograde as they’re moving in their orbit,” and explains “the Earth is also moving in its own orbit, so the planets do appear to go backwards.”

     Heeter counter-argues this ideology by stating “there is no scientific explanation for it; it does exist, but scientifically speaking– it wouldn’t have any effect on people.”

    Junior Johnny Wu has a different stance than Heeter. He says, ”Mercury has a gravitational pull that can affect things on Earth and things out in Space, like satellites, which allows us to communicate wirelessly.” 

     Wu adds, he “would think it would send out waves of some sort, like radio waves, which could affect or block out the waves here on Earth.” Thinking scientifically, Wu is able to describe why technological communications are being affected by this celestial event.

     Not only technology can begin to have unexplainable malfunctions, but communications in daily interactions and relationships with others can feel more magnified than usual during this time. Junior Caroline Ulmer explains how she is being affected by the effects of this retrograde.

     She says, “me and my friends haven’t been talking to each other as much.” Also she “feels distant from them usually and it’s harder to communicate for no reason.”

    Although strange occurrences or difficulties in usual routine are brought to the surface during this time, there are still important things you can take away. Let your intuition guide you on how to recognize what problems in your life need to be resolved, reflect on them with a different perspective, and identify where you should be redirecting your focus.