Mercury retrograde 2023 begins on April 21 at 15° Taurus and ends on May 14 at 5° Taurus.

Mercury retrograde April 2023 is good for making closer emotional connections with friends and family, renewing old friendships, and developing your intuition and psychic awareness. But it does bring the risk of anxiety and impediments, especially concerning legal matters and mortgage repayments. More detail on Mercury retrograde April 2023 follows this general meaning of Mercury retrograde:

Mercury Retrograde Meaning

Mercury retrograde typically slows and complicates your thinking, communications and travel. You may get confused and nervous, make errors of judgment, have trouble remembering things or lose things. There may be unwelcome news, bad advice, technology breakdowns, travel delays, disagreement or arguments. Business negotiations may be in a state of flux. Some crucial details may not yet be available, and others may be unreliable or dishonest.

Mercury is retrograde 19% of the time. It lasts about three weeks and occurs three times a year. During this time, extra care should be taken with important decisions and negotiations, and the signing of contracts. But these should be avoided altogether during the riskiest few days when Mercury stations retrograde and direct.

Mercury retrograde is not all bad news, though. You may experience déjà vu, reminisce about happy times, unexpectedly meet up with an old friend or lover, or recover suppressed memories or skills from your childhood or past lives.

But the karmic nature of retrogrades means you may also experience guilt or payback for past mistakes. This could involve criticism, teasing, bullying, defamation, slander, broken promises, verbal or psychological abuse, fraud, stealing or lies.

Each Mercury retrograde phase has a more specific effect depending on the planetary aspects and fixed stars associated with the moment Mercury stations retrograde. More individual effects depend on the aspects that Mercury stationary retrograde makes to your chart. See Mercury Transits for more detail. If you have Mercury retrograde in your birth chart, see Natal Mercury Retrograde.

Mercury Retrograde April 2023

There are three phases of the Mercury retrograde cycle as it moves forwards, back, and forward again through the retrograde zone. But Mercury stationary retrograde and the retrograde phase is the most critical of these.

April 7, Mercury enters retro zone 5° Taurus
[first shadow phase]
April 21, Mercury stationary retrograde 15° Taurus
[retrograde phase]
May 14, Mercury stationary direct 5° Taurus
[second shadow phase]
May 31, Mercury leaves retro zone 15° Taurus

Mercury Stationary Retrograde

Mercury stations retrograde on April 21, 2023, at 15°37′ Taurus. The horoscope below shows Mercury conjunct Moon and Uranus. Mercury sextile Mars should bring out the best of this triple conjunction.

However, the generally challenging nature of Mercury retrograde is reinforced by the alignment of a difficult fixed star with the Moon and Mercury. Another harsh influence comes from Sun square Pluto, amplified by the April 20 Solar Eclipse only 15 hours before Mercury stations retrograde.

Intuition

Moon conjunct Mercury gives emotional sensitivity, intuition, and sometimes psychic ability. You will likely form tighter emotional bonds with people and form closer emotional attachments to ideas or even possessions.  But be aware that these emotional connections can cloud your judgment and affect your intuition. Mood swings are possible, especially if you come under pressure.

This alignment does encourage socializing. It helps you share your feelings through written or spoken words. Your openness and understanding promote genuine friendship. You can get things off your chest, especially relationship issues. Conversations and reminiscing will be emotionally nourishing, particularly with women and family.

Excitement

Mercury conjunct Uranus brings curiosity, originality, inventiveness, and open-mindedness. This can lead to new ideas, discoveries, and flashes of insight. It is excellent for creative, scientific, technical, and occult work like astrology.

Quick thinking and fast reflexes will help you adapt to sudden changes. But it could make you easily distracted and nervous. Decision-making and planning may be complicated by interruptions and changing opinions. Your interactions and daily routines become more unpredictable and exciting. Unexpected news, chance encounters, and new friendships are possible.

The Moon, Mercury retrograde, and Uranus together are especially good for developing psychic abilities. You could glimpse the future or make a prediction! And with this being a retrograde phase, valuable information can be gleaned from the past.

Courage

Mercury sextile Mars focuses your thinking and reduces the chance of making mistakes or becoming distracted. You will feel driven to succeed at something with a strong sense of purpose and initiative. With courage and a fighting spirit, you can achieve a lot in a quick time.

This aspect reduces the negative impact that Mercury retrograde April 2023 has on your thinking, communications, and travels. It encourages people to be more direct and honest, so there will be less miscommunication, misunderstandings and delays. Socializing and your love life will benefit from a sense of adventure and a more outgoing and charismatic nature.

Conflict

Sun square Pluto has an influence through this retrograde phase because of the amplifying effect of the April 20 solar eclipse. It gives you more energy, strength and motivation. But a need for more power and influence, with a tendency to be more assertive and controlling, can lead to stress, ego conflicts, power struggles or crises with your self-confidence, esteem or identity.

By sacrificing your need to be in control, you can evolve to a higher level and let things go, relax, and feel less threatened. A significant transformation is possible, a rebirth that frees you from the depths of pain and suffering.

Mercury Retrograde April 2023 Stars

In the horoscope, Mercury stations retrograde is in the Sign of Taurus, but in the sky, it is in the Constellations of Aries. The Signs and the Constellations do not match up. Over the last 2000 years, the Constellations have moved nearly 30° out of alignment with the Signs because of the precession of the equinoxes.

The Zodiac was invented only as a measuring device. The ecliptic line in the sky map matches the degrees in the horoscope. Like the original astrologers, I use the Constellations and fixed stars for interpretation, not the Signs.

• 14♉32 – Gamma Andromedae, Almach
• 14♉38 – Alpha Ceti, Menkar
• 15♉37 – Mercury
• 15♉53 – Moon
• 17♉52 – Uranus

The Sea Monster

Fixed star Menkar causes disease, disgrace, ruin, injury from beasts, sickness, and loss of fortune. ^[1] Its Saturn nature corresponds to impediments of many kinds, worries, and tests of endurance; in some, this hardens and toughens the individual. ^[2]

With Moon: Mental anxiety, ill-will of women, danger from thieves, quarrels, legal losses, legacies and inheritances attended by much evil.

With Mercury: Difficulties through writings, difficulty in payment of mortgages, destruction of crops.

Constellation Cetus is said to cause laziness and idleness but to confer an emotional and charitable nature, with the ability to command, especially in war. Makes one amiable, prudent, and happy by sea and land and helps to recover lost goods. ^[1]

Summary

Mercury retrograde April 2023, conjunct with the Moon, is especially good for making closer emotional connections with friends and family, renewing old friendships, reminiscing, and recalling childhood and past life memories and talents.

Adding Uranus to the mix makes this a more unpredictable but exciting retrograde phase. It is good for scientific, technical, and artificial intelligence breakthroughs, developing your intuition and psychic abilities and understanding occult subjects like astrology.

Mercury retrograde April 2023 sextile Mars reduces the negative impact of the retrograde station, so there will be less confusion, misunderstanding and delays. It gives you the courage to speak your mind. However, the star Menkar heightens the risk of anxiety and impediments, especially concerning legal matters and mortgage repayments.

Mercury Retrograde 2023 Dates

• December 29, 2022, to January 18, 2023: 24° to 8° Capricorn.
• April 21 to May 14, 2023: 15° to 5° Taurus.
• August 23 to September 15, 2023: 21° to 8° Virgo

References

1. Fixed Stars and Constellations in Astrology, Vivian E. Robson, 1923, p.38, 176.
2. Fixed Stars and Their Interpretation, Elsbeth Ebertin, 1971, p.12.