There’s a reason you’re feeling out of sorts right now and it’s going to last a little while
Kya Buller
Featured Image Credit: Kseniya Ovchinnikova/Getty Images/Maria Korneeva/Getty Images
If you're anything like us, this past Mercury retrograde wrought absolute havoc upon your life and you've been left feeling as though you've experienced a car crash in slow motion.
We were assured to just hang on in there and wait until 28 August, when the Mercury retrograde came to an end.
We all thought we'd be able to slip back into our non-chaotic lives and get our grooves back.
Not to be the bearer of bad news, but it turns our we're now actually experiencing a Mercury retroshade. Yep, that's a thing.
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In other words, we'll have to endure the difficult effects of mercury retrograde for up to two more weeks.
This is the anxiety-inducing epilogue to the retrograde known as the shadow period - or, the retroshade.
We're already feeling the effects of the retroshade, which began on 28 August and will last until 11 September.
Reda Wigle explained for the New York Post: "Mercury retroshade refers to the two-week period immediately preceding the transit and the two weeks following it.
"Known as the pre- and post-retrograde shadow, these bookends bring the same emotionally congested and off-kilter energy as the retrograde transit but offer lessons in preparation and integration.
They continue: "The fastest-moving planet in our solar system, Mercury goes retrograde three to four times a year, and when you factor in the shadow periods of the retrograde, we spend up to six months a year at the mercy of Mercury’s slow-down showdown."
The pre-shadow phase begins when the Mercury crosses the zodiac degree 'in which it will eventually station directly'.
When Mercury stalls out in the sky, which occurs on the day the planet turns retrograde and the day it turns direct, it earns the name of 'the storm'.
The day before, the day of and the day after all deliver chaotic and confusing feelings.
When Mercury turns direct and undergoes the second 'storm', it begins to pick up speed until it crosses the degree it was initially stationed in.
Then we have retroshade.
Ultimately, Mercury retrograde is in three-parts - the pre-shadow, retrograde and post-shadow.
Wigle explains: "As the planet readies itself for retrograde, the pre-shadow can amplify anxiety and make unresolved issues, looming exes, and general emotional chaffing more present and pressing; cue the overthinking, the messy expressions and the questionable logic.
"In contrast, the post-retrograde retroshade can bring clarity and finality to circumstances we may have been battling during the storm surge and its fallout."
Roll on 11 September, is all we can say.