ISSUE 57 | JULY 18, 2025
Make Mercury more Freddie and less retrograde
My loves! This is part 1 in an 8-part series about the metaphysics of the days of the week, and which astrological configurations are great to know about. This is for the astrologically curious and the full-on woos.
The big intention: More flow, less force.
We’re going to start with Mercury retrograde since we’re in that period as of yesterday, July 17, 2025. This is one of those transits that even astrologically disinterested or baffled people are like, “Hey, there’s something to this.” Most definitely.
I’ve just launched the DANIELLE LAPORTE NETWORK on Mighty Networks, to send notifications of the energetics of the days of the week. It’s one of the things I’m most excited about right now.
Instagram girls get all freaked out about Mercury Retrograde, but it’s actually a great opportunity for cleaning up and cleaning out. Instead of working against it, we use this shadowy time to clean up the emotional clutter in our own shadow and subconscious. It’s brilliant!
Mercury Retrograde is prime time for letting go and slowing down. Purge, clean out your drawers and the basement of your psyche. Crunchy emotions? Feel them and let them pass through. Be mindful about how we communicate. We can use this energy to create more space, clarity in our lives.
MERCURY RETROGRADES for the rest of 2025
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Thursday, July 17, 2025 to Monday, August 11, 2025 (Shadow period: June 29 to August 25, 2025)
Sunday, November 9, 2025 to Saturday, November 29, 2025 (Shadow period: October 21 to December 16, 2025)
Remember: there’s a shadow period that usually runs about two weeks before and after a retrograde. We don’t hear about this enough in Mercury retrograde conversations. I’ll talk about it below. Here we go!
INFLUENCES
Mercury influences: rules of communication, self-expression, and coordination, travel and technology. Mercury is the planet that rules over the 3rd House of Communication, as well as the 6th House of Details and Daily Routine. These houses are all about processes, and the way you communicate and how you approach daily habits.
WHAT IS MERCURY RETROGRADE?
About three times a year, Mercury goes retrograde for about three weeks (think: “moving backwards energy”) and that can cause some chaos. Babe, just go with it. That’s the best way to handle all planetary movements—don’t fight what’s happening, ride the vibe. When the planets say “new beginnings”, then we start new things—and we’ll be blessed for doing so. When the planets move into heavier formations, then we clean up our own dark corners—and the clean up is easier. Harness it.
SHADOW PERIODS
What’s not often talked about with Mercury Retrograde (probably because it’s so dreaded) is the “approach” and “hangover” periods: the energy is looming and lingering for two-ish weeks before and after the Mercury Retrograde. So it’s wise to think of the retrograde being in effect for that time period as well. Yep… just hold on for a little bit longer. We want to be fully in the clear before we get back to igniting new things.
THE GREAT OPPORTUNITY
Mercury Retrograde is prime time for letting go! PURGE STUFF, clean out your drawers and storage—material and emotional. Reassess plans. It’s a time when the past comes up to be acknowledged—an old boyfriend reaches out, you might bump into a former roommate, people from the past cross your mind more than usual.
Mercury Retrograde is great for slooowing down. So… slow down, love. Especially with Mercury Retrogrades happening in the winter. Lord have mercy, that is not the time to go harder. It’s for ruminating and releasing.
MAKE THE MOST OF MERCURY RETROGRADE
What I avoid during Merc Retros:
I will NOT sign contracts. Ever. I may verbally commit to things, but I won’t execute binding documents one week before or one week after Mercury goes retro. This goes for publishing contracts and legal documents. I just don’t do it.
I avoid booking flights or making travel plans. I will travel, of course, but I won’t do the booking in the MR time period.
I get some extra sleep. No push. Allow the pause.
I try not to hire people, but if I do, see point #1… no signing of contracts.
We do not launch any new classes, programs, or offerings during Mercury Retrograde. I’ve done it before, and the tech snafus were astounding, and the results weren’t great.
What I embrace:
I clean out my closets and living space. (Side note: I have a kind of cosmic Marie Kondo type of practice for this in the Heart Centered Collective called Grace Your Space.) Seriously, first week of Merc Retro, I get a box happening and start filling it up over the weeks.
This is a great time for doing a digital cleanse. Go through your Google Docs, your email subscriptions, apps.
On a business side note… One year we finally got down to it and did a company-wide cleanup of all of our apps and subscriptions. We gave everybody two weeks to look at everything they were subscribed to, that the business was paying for. We saved $14,000 in silly subscriptions. Scrubbed!
Every few years during a retro I’ll go through my pile of journals, pull out the pages that I want to keep (usually ideas or bad poems) and I burn the rest. Yep. Bye. It’s hugely liberating. Here’s the podcast where I talk about the ecstasy of burning journals.
I most definitely do The Heart Centered Write n’ Burn practice and focus on the emotional stuff I want to release. Most importantly, I follow it up with a salt bath ritual.
Remember: this is about working with the energy, not against it. Trust the process, trust the pause, and trust that sometimes going backwards helps us move forward with more wisdom.
The Gayatri Mantra
Musician: Meditative Mind
Album: Mantras for Deep Inner Peace
The Gayatri Mantra is considered to be the mother of all mantras—foundational, widely recited for thousands of years. Gayatri is about illuminating the mind and invoking Cosmic Light to dispel the darkness of unconscious patterns.
Recommendation: Play this particular track I’ve linked to. I collaborate with an metaphysical practitioner, V.S., and she selects and blesses up the mantras for us in our Heart-Centered Collective.
Play on repeat. It can be very low volume—you don’t need to fully hear it for it to have an energetic effect.
Sanskrit:
Om Bhur Bhuva Suvaha
Tat Savitur Varenyam
Bhargo Devasya Dheemahi
Dhiyo Yonah Prachodayat
English:
O Self Effulgent Light that has birthed all the spheres of Consciousness,
Who is worthy of worship and devotion and appears through the Sphere of the Sun,
Illumine our minds.
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