Welcome to your last week of Mercury retrograde! Are you tired of the typos? Traffic got you down? Exes blowing up your inbox? It’s all about to come to an end…but not before it gets a little worse. (Retrogrades are at their most powerful right at the beginning and the end.) Meanwhile Mars (still also retrograde, folks!) moves into Capricorn this week, channeling our energy and drive into serious, practical matters. Like…what are you going to email back to your ex? (Nothing! Seriously, ignore it.)
If you’re scheduling a book club or a creative brainstorm, aim for Tuesday. You’re always overflowing with good ideas, Leo, even when retrograde season has got everyone else in a rut. But on Tuesday your wit will be sharper than usual and your bon mots will be extra…bon.
This week you might feel a little more grounded and secure. If you’re one of those Virgos who is always on high alert (read: all of you), then you might not trust this cosmic emotional serenity. But it’s real, Virgo, and it means you’re allowed to kick off your shoes, skip doing the dishes (you can skip one night) and binge-watch The Crown before bedtime (because you’re a queen, too, dammit).
Your love life is a little too hot, Libra, which, we know, is how some like it. But Mars moving into Capricorn will feel like a cold shower, relaxing some of that momentum so that you can actually evaluate whether or not you’re building something stable that can serve you over the long term. Sounds boring, but all that unsexy introspection will ground your passion into something real, which will ultimately beget, well, more passion.
This week is your oyster, socially-speaking, Scorpio. You’re in-demand for all your skills—your tips for how to ask for a raise (seriously, spill), your killer almond flour maple cookies (please give them to our mouth), your effortless magnetism and general hostessing prowess. When life requests the pleasure of your company (especially this Friday), what can you do but RSVP with pleasure?
Careful that a delicate frenemy dynamic (probably with the Gemini in your life) doesn’t lean too far into pure enemy territory, especially on Wednesday. Jealousy and territorialism may fuel some harsh words you won’t be able to take back. Even if you’re sorry-not-sorry (which is fair,;she did take your parking spot), use the weekend to smooth over the hump of hump day.
You might feel a boost of energy with Mars coming into your sign, inspiring a little something called networking. As the zodiac overachiever, you’re no stranger to making pals and making deals in one fell swoop. But with nearly every planet in retrograde (even your ruler, Saturn, is moonwalking), you’ll want to take those cards and noodle on them a little. Now’s the time for the introductory handshake, not the deal-closing handshake. You know the difference; you probably invented the difference.
Your career is on your mind, Aquarius, and you’re thinking about goals and the future and Jeff Bezos’s Day One mentality—but you’ve got to slow down. Not just because you’re not Jeff Bezos (he’s a Capricorn), but because Mars is pulling your vital forces back into Capricorn (hey, Jeff Bezos!), which will stall your progress. But that doesn’t lay waste to your hustle, Aquarius, it just means you can’t get everything you want as soon as you want it (unless you’re signed up for Prime). Amazon wasn’t built in a day, either.
You might be feeling a little tug-of-war with your partner or family members this week, Pisces. Take the high road (you usually do), and if you think you might snap at your sister, try to avoid her–especially on Thursday morning. If you absolutely can’t—it’s your niece’s birthday party—then be proactive and brush up on best practices for apologies. Even if you don’t need to use them (fingers crossed!), the emotional insurance will make you feel safe.
It’s totally fine to tell your work friends you want to skip drinks this week. Sure, you usually bring the party-don’t-start vibe, but that’s exactly why you need to pace yourself, especially when this summer is bringing back-to-back wedding weekends. You know you can’t really ever catch up on sleep, so do as Bethenny Frankel once said to Kelly Bensimon on Scary Island: “Go to sleep! Go to sleep!”
If you need to have a tricky convo with someone (and during Mercury retrograde, what isn’t a tricky convo?), plan to have it Wednesday night. That’s your best chance for being heard and moving forward. But if you sense a difficult follow-up coming (and, again, with Mercury in retrograde, this is almost guaranteed), avoid that person on Thursday. Stay late at the office, go for a midnight drive. Be creative. It’s not evasive; it’s productive. You are allowed to tell yourself that, for this week at least.
No one more than you (and Virgo) deserves a hearty and robust celebration of the end of Mercury retrograde. He’s your ruling planet, and his mischief messes with your life the most. Toast to the end of his reign of terror on Saturday with mimosas at brunch. You’ll be feeling extra social, and life will be close to returning to normal…which means it’ll actually be on you when you text the wrong niece, “Happy birthday!”
Still feeling tense with a partner, whether business or life? Mars backing up all the way into Capricorn means you’ve got some unfinished business with this person, and you’ll need this week (and the rest of the summer) to sort it through. With all the retrogrades, you don’t want to make big decisions (which honestly takes the pressure off, right?), but you do want to stay open to all possibilities and really listen—no, not speak: listen.
Kiki O'Keeffe is an astrology writer in Brooklyn. You can follow her newsletter, I don't believe in astrology, or her Twitter and Medium @alexkiki.
