Mercury retrograde gets a bad rap. Many don’t know that it can be an excellent way to learn about ourselves and allow us to improve our lives. Mercury rules communication, and when it retrogrades, those energies turn inward. This can be an excellent time for inner wisdom and learning. This can be a great time to do significant work for those engaged in shadow work, authenticity, trauma recovery, and more. Sometimes, the work does us, and we don’t even realize it until it is finished.
I created this spread for those very moments. You know something happened. You know you have just had an experience that may change everything, but you are not sure precisely what it could be. This spread is meant to give answers in 2 ways. First, to provide a bit extra insight into those moments where we can’t just put our finger on what has changed. Second, to bring to light these times when we get stuck in our Rhetoric and fail to see what the universe is trying to tell us. Either way, this can be an excellent spread for insight.
Lessons Learned Mercury Retrograde Spread
1) Outward Actions
This spread is meant to be read backward – in a retrograde manner. This means we start at the end! This house represents outward expressions relating to the issue/lesson we are currently working on. This can be helpful in that, at times, we can’t connect these behaviors back to reasons. We know we keep doing these things and maybe unsure why. Sometimes, it can be self-sabotage, compulsive behaviors, repeating patterns, etc. These are the things we can see on the outside – the things that affect our lives very impactfully.
2) Inner Monologue
Our inner monologue can sometimes provide the reasons why we do certain things. Sometimes, they support a rhetoric of self-deception when we are too afraid to face something or make changes in our lives. For example, why are we afraid to go for that promotion? How do we decide to do something and somehow talk ourselves out of it?
Or, with compulsive behaviors, how do we keep talking ourselves into anything? That partner we have dates and broken up with four times already. Why do we keep going back? What keeps us repeating these behaviors that we know are not good for us but we can’t help it? Understanding our inner monologue can show us what we must do to manifest positive change in our lives.
3) What do we think the lesson is?
So you have looked at your inner monologue and the actions it makes you take, and now it’s time to look at what we think the issue is. How many times have you had that epiphany of change, and then six months later realize that maybe that wasn’t it after all? How often have we told ourselves, “Aha! I know why now!” only to find out that we don’t? It is so hard to see the core of an issue when we are the center of it. It is much easier to do it for others than for ourselves.
This is important because this knowledge of what we think the problem is will drive us to make changes that begin in our inner monologue and eventually manifest in our outward actions. If we are wrong, we can generate a whole new set of issues by acting on the wrong things, leading to more disappointment and a feeling of defeat. This makes every change more difficult. “Why should I try? I never seem to get anywhere with inner work?” This is how we start to lose faith in ourselves, which is the last thing we want to do!
If we hit paydirt and get to the core of what we need to work on, houses 3 and 4 will be in complete harmony. They will provide different ways to look at the same issue but ultimately tell us we are on the right track.
4) The actual lesson
This is the one nugget that we may be missing. This house represents the core of the lesson we need to learn and the growth that needs to occur. Often, if you read with a Tarot deck and get a Major Arcana card in this house, it can signify that this is a life-changing issue. This may be something that you have been faced with multiple times before but never really given much thought. This can also be something we don’t want to face or admit – even to ourselves.
There is much insight that can be gained between houses 3 and 4 in this spread. If house 3 tells you that you may still be struggling with abandonment issues, house 4 may give you more insight into what you need to do to get to a good place. Sometimes, house 3 will show a strong card filled with vigor and power, and House 4 will show a low number card associated with fear or insecurities. This can signify that we may be trying to cover up the issue with an aggressive and over-compensating attitude because dealing with those feelings of fear or weakness may be uncomfortable.
This spread is meant to bring to light our inner truths, which can sometimes be challenging. Be sure you are ready to step into some deep work before you work with this spread!
