Does this really affect us?

“Mercury retrograde is back, my darlings.”

Sadicka, an astrologer and spiritual life coach, advises her 5,000 Instagram followers to watch out for technology glitches, difficulties communicating with people and even car accidents, before the planet Mercury goes retrograde starting August 4.

Several times a year, Instagram and TikTok are flooded with cautionary posts like this one — as well as more tongue-in-cheek content (think: “POV: You’re blaming all your problems on Mercury being in retrograde instead of actually dealing with them”).

Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun and Mercury retrograde is an optical illusion that occurs three or four times a year, making the planet appear to be moving in the opposite direction to what it usually does.

It is a similar effect to when a car overtakes another and, to those driving the faster car, the slower vehicle appears to be moving backwards. All the planets appear this way from Earth at different times, because they orbit the Sun at different speeds.

People have been observing Mercury retrograde for thousands of years, and many believers in astrology (the influence of stars and planets on interpersonal events) associate it with an increase in personal problems.

Lina Sahhab, a 42-year-old who works for a non-profit organisation, tells the BBC she once believed the superstitions surrounding Mercury were just that.

“I then started to notice that the obstacles in my life actually happen when there is Mercury retrograde,” she says.

“My laptop would suddenly stop working or I would buy a piece of technology that didn’t work properly.”

The lack of evidence in favor of astrology does not hurt its popularity, especially on social media.

In an age where we can both predict the weather and find answers to most of our questions on Google, astrology enthusiasts often turn to horoscopes for guidance on things over which most humans still feel they have little control, like romance, friendship, or even technology.

It is perhaps no coincidence that, according to Google Trends, searches for “birth chart” and “astrology” both hit five-year highs in 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic, a time of immense uncertainty.

Although astrology is now considered a pseudoscience, in the ancient civilizations where it was conceived, people needed ways to help them predict things like the timing of rainfall, temperature, wind, and sunlight – and this was a survival skill.

Astrology dates back to 3000-2001 BC in a region of western Asia then known as Mesopotamia. From there it spread to India, and came to resemble more closely what it does today during the Hellenistic period (323-31 BC) in ancient Greece.

According to Dr Nicholas Campion, professor of cosmology and culture at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, Mercury retrograde was discovered in the last century BC – but it was not always interpreted as it is today.

Dr Campion explains that in medieval times, if someone was trying to answer a question by tracing an astrological chart, Mercury being retrograde was taken as a sign that the answer was negative or that something was “unlikely to happen”.

“It was only in the 20th century, in English-speaking astrology, that this term began to mean, among other things, ‘delays,'” the astrologer explains, adding that this interpretation took over in the 1980s.

Dr Campion says modern astrologers who subscribe to the influence of Mercury retrograde believe it means plans are going to be put on hold or that it is a bad time to start a new job or begin something new.

“This is a very particular characteristic of Western astrology,” he explains. “Western astrology is now spreading all over the world through social media and apps, so it’s becoming global.”

Dr Campion says Mercury retrograde has not always had the same significance as it does today: “It has always been a very minor phenomenon in astrology.”

“Although astronomy and astrology may have been more closely rooted in the past, the general scientific consensus today is that astronomical phenomena like retrogrades have no predictable effect on people’s lives,” says Dhara Patel of the National Space Centre in Leicester.

If science suggests that Mercury retrograde may have no influence on our lives, why are so many people still looking to the stars for answers?

Some studies have linked belief in horoscopes and zodiac signs to “confirmation bias,” the tendency to believe or remember information that fits our pre-existing beliefs and selectively interpret it to support them.

Zeinab Ajami, a clinical psychologist working in humanitarian mental health in Ukraine, tells the BBC that “people tend to believe things that make them feel better or more comfortable, and that don’t require the brain to constantly analyse and re-evaluate.”

She claims that astrology can provide a “quick and easy explanation” for difficult events, without people having to examine the “multiple layers of their problems.”

But many see astrological signs as a gateway to inspiration, entertainment or some spiritual comfort.

Mireille Hammal, a Beirut-based Reiki (a complementary therapy and form of energy healing) specialist, says clients who believe in the influence of Mercury retrograde “typically avoid buying electronics during this time, or postpone signing contracts, moving to a new home, or getting married or engaged.”

Hammal acknowledges that “many people regard astrology as just nonsense,” but believes it can be useful to people as long as it is avoided “reaching the point of obsession.”

Dr Campion, who runs a masters in cultural astronomy and astrology, believes Mercury retrograde has gained popularity because of its simplicity – but says this can harm the perception of professional astrology.

“(Mercury retrograde) requires almost no interpretation,” he says. “It’s not complicated or complex, and it applies to everyone.”

“The idea that this is a good or bad time to make plans undermines the idea that astrology can be complex and nuanced,” he continues. “Because the fact is that a lot of things go really well when Mercury is retrograde.”

Mercury Retrograde Chart Created by Rafael Chacon