Mercury Retrograde Tips For Artists, Performers, Writers, & All Other Lightworkers + Creatives

Ah, Mercury—the planet everyone loves to hate and blame for everything going wrong.

i’ve been guilty of it too.

A few years ago during Mercury’s second retrograde of the year, my mac book (aka my lifeline) decided to fritz out and i didn’t have anything backed up. i panicked. i cried. i tried to upload everything—my books in progress, my client work, EVERYTHING—to my Google Drive. i shipped my Mac to the Apple gods and hoped for the best.

Luckily, she was returned to me with all my work still intact. 

But had my computer come back with a complete factory reset (which, spoiler alert, was exactly what happened a few months later 🤦🏽‍♀️), i would have no one to blame but myself.

Not Mercury.

Me. 

Cause here’s the real deal with Mercury Retrograde:

Does crazy shit happen during a Mercury retrograde? Yep.

But guess what? Crazy shit happens.all.the.time. And the majority of those times, shit hits the fan when Mercury is directly going about their business. 

While it makes for some really good headline drama, Mercury retrograde’s core purpose and focus is not disaster—it’s attention. 

i should have paid attention to that thing in my gut telling me back up your work. i should have heeded the signs that something was wrong with my keyboard and touchpad a few months ago.

i didn’t.

Instead, i chose to ignore them.

And i know better. We all know better.

But we are procrastinators at heart. And i know i’m a HUGE procrastinating humxn when it comes to caring for both electronic things (and myself).

The medicine for us spiritual folx who pay attention to these energy and cosmic shifts is not to lay blame on things outside of ourselves, like the planets, stars, and the full moon, but how it all connects, mirrors, and calls us out, AND CALLS US INTO OUR LIVES. 

Calls us to ask ourselves tough, praxis shifting questions like what is the universe trying to tell me vs. what pop culture is feeding me vs. what i’m feeling?

Silencing the outside noise is hard.

My advice for sifting out the muck from Mercury Retrograde?

Go with your hut (heart + gut).

And don’t buy into the one-dimensional messages that mainstream media is serving up about this unique comic time. Instead spend your time, paying attention, reflecting, and remaining in complete awareness of your own personal flow.

Mercury is a known trickster—and we all know how pranksters love a good prank. ← And that’s the mindset i go into every Mercury Rx in.

It’s a time to be on the lookout for whoopie cushions in the form of humxns needing to let out some verbal steam. Or fire trick gum in the form of flaring tempers, or invisible ink in the form of details and missing reservations.

But Mercury Retrograde is ALSO full of potential transformational magic—if you choose to ride the wave instead of using force against it.

Below you’ll find some helpful Mercury Retrograde tips for artists, creatives, writers, healers, and performers on how to make the most of Mercury’s retrograde energy.

Enjoy!

 202 Mercury Retrogrades

September 27 – October 18

What is a Mercury retrograde:

Mercury slows down their orbit which gives off the illusion to us earthly humxns that they are moving backward. They’re not. They’re just hanging out by the Sun. Mercury stations retrograde for about three weeks.

Mercury rules:

Mercury is the messenger so they rule: Communication, electronics, mechanical objects, travel, thinking, pretty much all things that make our modern world go round . . .

What it means for us:

Anytime a planet moves into retrograde, the cosmos is asking us to slow down. And to remember that we, like time and the planets that surround us, are not linear. We are cyclical. It is a reminder for us to pay attention. To be extra careful. To remain conscious decision-makers and creators. To practice active listening and grateful living.

And to make really good use of RE words: reboot, reimagine, redo, rethink, replenish, relax, recover, research, refocus, reformulate, rejuvenate, reinvigorate, reinforce.

Mercury Retrograde Tips

Every Mercury retrograde i try to:

✨ Declutter the fuck out of my life. i go through clothes, books, all the things that i adorn myself with and pare down to those things that only bring me joy and make me feel unstoppable. 

✨ Meditate.

✨ Go where the energy flows. Follow my light rabbits and those pockets of energy—wherever they may pull me.

✨ Practice extra patience. Remind myself that we are all doing our best.

✨ Double-check everything—work, trip details, contracts, anything that has to do with written (and verbal) communication.

✨ Make self-care a priority. RELAX.

✨ Tie up loose ends.

✨ Reflect. The first and last retrogrades are perfectly stationed for this—one at the beginning of the new year, one at the end. Use this energy to your advantage.

✨ Pause. Breath. Do as the planets do, SLOW DOWN. Hang out. Get a suntan 😉 .

✨ Remember, whatever it is, it’s only temporary.

As a curanderx, i also like to do things that are specific to my craft. Hone my art & relationship to my tarot cards, astrology, play with my crystals.

The energy that surrounds our orbit is basically begging us to go internal and deep—to venture to the underworld where our creativity lives.

As a multi-medium artist, i’ve found ways to harness and shape the energy of this time into something i can use to better and grow my art—and myself. Here are a few of my tricks to align the energy of this time and your craft.

For performers:

✨ Revisit old show ideas as see if there are any that are speaking to you differently now. Find ways you can rejuvenate them and bring them back into your repertoire.

✨ Go through your costumes. Mend those that need fixing. Or repurpose those that you no longer use.

✨ Delve into your notebook of show inspirations. Don’t a performance grimoire? Now is the PERFECT time to start one (analog, that is 🤗).

✨ Get a jump start on your performance future. Plan, plot, and schedule your dream shows, gigs, and places you want to perform. Then when Mercury stations direct, get busy and start asking, making phone calls, whatever it takes.

✨ Clean your drag, burlesque, whatever room.

✨ Renew your vows to yourself—and your art. Reflect on your why’s. Why are you doing what you’re doing?

For writers:

✨ Get nostalgic. Go through and reread your old journals. Use this energy to drum up the creative juice to feed your stories.

✨ Revisit your unfinished essays, books, and articles. Finish them.

✨ Declutter and organize your folders & files on your computer—or your physical ones. Or both.

✨ Free write on prompts like, i remember . . . ; What i really want to say is. . . Things that call you to go beyond the superficial.

✨ Renew your vows to yourself—and your art. Reflect on your why’s. Why are you doing what you’re doing? Why is your art important to you? 

For spiritual entrepreneurs:

✨ Back-up your data and site. (FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS HOLY!! 🤣)

✨ Rethink your business plans.

✨ Reimage your mission statement and vision statement.

✨ Redo your website (just make sure to obsessively SAVE your work!).

✨ Redecorate your workspace.

✨ Renew your vows to yourself—and your art.

✨ Reflect on your why’s. Why are you doing what you’re doing?

For healer, lightworkers, and medicine keepers:

✨ Check-in with your alignment. How are the pieces and medicines of you fitting together?

✨ Recommit & reconnect to your tarot cards, spirit guides, and medicine.

✨ Retreat. Grant yourself space to work on and heal yourself. You are no good to the world—or yourself—still battling and tending old wounds.

✨ Take a vision bath. Bring your favorite tools, scents, and magic to your bath. Open your mind and heart to receive.

✨ Make plenty of space to receive downloads. Meditate. Take walks. Create space in your life so you can hear what the universe is trying to say.

✨ Reconnect to your medicine.

✨ Renew your vows to yourself—and your craft.

✨ Reflect on your why’s. Why are you doing what you’re doing?

One final BIG tiny note on Mercury Retrograde

Remember . . . no planet or person can determine your destiny.

Choice, not chance, determines your destiny. i got that from a fortune cookie, but it might as well have come from Buddha himself because those words are imprinted in my mind + hut + flesh forever. i call on those 6 words and their power whenever i want to blame something outside of myself for my current situation—like the planets and dear ‘ol Mercury. (Or the car in front of me for not knowing how to make a left without a green arrow. 🤣)

Because really the power lies within us. Our superpower is our personal agency. 

WE get to determine how we respond to any given situation or circumstance. Not the people in the car. Not the planets. Us.

That’s real cosmic power.

Harness it and use it well 🤗✨

💫

i hope you’ve found some magic and inspiration here to help & support you through the next few weeks.

And if you have any questions or would like any more suggestions, we’re here for you. i got your back. Just hit me up in the comments or email brandi@wokemagic.com

Mucho mas 🖤💡✊🏾
contigo,
xo-b