Advice for Each Zodiac Sign to Follow During Mercury Retrograde of December 2023

If you’re already feeling concerned about the upcoming Mercury retrograde of December 2023, it’s more than understandable. The holiday season is stressful enough, but adding Mercury retrograde into the mix is a recipe for pure and unhinged chaos. Luckily, Mercury retrograde doesn’t have to be the end of the world, especially if you follow this list of dos and don’ts for every zodiac sign.

There’s no doubt Mercury retrograde can be intense. Between the communication mishaps, frustrating brain fog, the unavoidable errors, and the awkward run-ins with your ex, everyone has had a confusing Mercury retrograde experience. However, Mercury retrograde doesn’t inherently have to be a bad thing, especially if you go with the flow rather than resist the inevitable complications.

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When Mercury is retrograde, Mercury is technically moving backward in its astrological path, which tends to kick up unresolved issues from the past. That’s why Mercury retrograde is a perfect time to do things that involve reviewing, rethinking, recalibrating, redoing, reclaiming, redistributing, and pretty much anything that beings with “re”. Mercury retrograde is simply here to help you correct mistakes that you might have overlooked and learn from any unwise decisions you may have made.

On December 13 at 2:09 a.m. ET, Mercury will station retrograde at 8 degrees Capricorn. Taking place all throughout the holiday season, Mercury retrograde won’t come to an end until it stations direct at 22 degrees Sagittarius on January 1, 2024 at 10:07 p.m. ET. If you’re looking for a more thorough and detailed breakdown of how this retrograde will affect you, make sure you check out your Mercury retrograde horoscope for each zodiac sign. However, if you’re interested in a quick summary of what you can expect and all the most important things to keep track of, keep reading.

Mercury Retrograde Dos & Don’ts for Each Zodiac Sign

Here’s what you should (and shouldn’t) do during the upcoming Mercury retrograde, according to your sun signrising sign, and/or Mercury sign:

Aries

What you should do:

  • Rethink your professional plans and the nature of your career ambitions.

  • Polish up on your social media presence and make sure your brand feels authentic.

  • Spend time learning from your mistakes and failures.

What you shouldn’t do:

  • Take criticism from your boss or mentor personally.

  • Obsess over other people’s opinions of you.

  • Judge yourself for how far away you are from reaching your goals.

Read your full Mercury retrograde horoscope here.

Taurus

What you should do:

  • Return to classrooms, books, and learning opportunities that refresh your mind.

  • Focus on the journey rather than the destination.

  • Reconnect with all the things that truly make life worth living.

What you shouldn’t do:

  • Adhere to limiting beliefs about your past, present, and future.

  • Place all your bets on plans running smoothly.

  • Force other people to believe in the same things you do.

Read your full Mercury retrograde horoscope here.

Gemini

What you should do:

  • Look over your finances and settle debts that have been weighing on you.

  • Set healthy boundaries in your relationships, especially with people from your past.

  • Make sure you and your partner are on the same page.

What you shouldn’t do:

  • Make long-term financial investments without a solid plan in place.

  • Commit to starting or ending a relationship before you’re truly ready.

  • Obsess over getting revenge on those who have wronged you.

Read your full Mercury retrograde horoscope here.

Cancer

What you should do:

  • Reconnect with people in your past, especially if there is still unfinished business.

  • Address problems in your relationships and work on finding solutions.

  • Streamline your daily routine and get organized.

What you shouldn’t do:

  • Make assumptions about how the people in your life think or feel.

  • Put more work on your plate than you can realistically handle.

  • Expect instant results.

Read your full Mercury retrograde horoscope here.

Leo

What you should do:

  • Take things one step at a time, especially when it comes to work.

  • Find pleasure in reserving time for healing rituals in your day-to-day life.

  • Reconnect with hobbies and passions that bring you a deeper form of joy.

What you shouldn’t do:

  • Measure your self-worth based on your level of productivity.

  • Ignore health concerns that may resurface.

  • Overlook red flags while dating or in your romantic relationships.

Read your full Mercury retrograde horoscope here.

Virgo

What you should do:

  • Reconnect with your inner child and everything you enjoyed as a kid.

  • Infuse your life with more romance and wonder, especially in your relationships.

  • Deep clean your house and heal rifts in your family.

What you shouldn’t do:

  • Set high expectations that are impossible to reach.

  • Allow your self-esteem to depend on validation from others.

  • Revert back to bad habits that you’ve already spent a lot of time outgrowing.

Read your full Mercury retrograde horoscope here.

Libra

What you should do:

  • Redecorate or reorganize your home environment.

  • Reconnect with family—chosen or blood-related—that you’ve grown apart from.

  • Rethink the way you communicate, especially in times of conflict or misunderstanding.

What you shouldn’t do:

  • Judge yourself based on where you come from or who your family is.

  • Make permanent decisions that affect your family and home dynamic.

  • Give energy vampires too much of your time and effort.

Read your full Mercury retrograde horoscope here.

Scorpio

What you should do:

  • Catch up on emails, texts, and conversations that still require resolution.

  • Reconsider the type of content, information, and media that you’re consuming.

  • Rethink your values and what you choose to prioritize in life.

What you shouldn’t do:

  • Concentrate too much on meaningless details and miss the forest for the trees.

  • Communicate recklessly, especially if the topic is sensitive.

  • Spend money on items that could eventually lead to buyer’s remorse.

Read your full Mercury retrograde horoscope here.

Sagittarius

What you should do:

  • Leave space in your budget rather than rely on future paychecks to fill in the gaps.

  • Tie off loose ends from your past and hold space for how far you’ve come.

  • Accept that you are worthy of love exactly as you are.

What you shouldn’t do:

  • Let anyone or anything tell you who you are or what you stand for.

  • Penny pinch to the point of depleting your confidence levels.

  • Postpone your happiness until you’ve reached unattainable and unrealistic standards.

Read your full Mercury retrograde horoscope here.

Capricorn

What you should do:

  • Embrace the awkward moments in which the past converges with the present.

  • Spend quality time in solitude and get to know yourself all over again.

  • Journal, meditate, and reconnect with your inner voice.

What you shouldn’t do:

  • Feel pressured to bend your sense of self in order to fit in with your surroundings.

  • Obsess over things you truly cannot change or control.

  • Make permanent changes to your appearance until this retrograde is over.

Read your full Mercury retrograde horoscope here.

Aquarius

What you should do:

  • Look into forms of therapy and give yourself time to heal and recover from loss.

  • Cleanse your energy, embrace meditation, and keep track of your dreams.

  • Reconnect with the hopes, dreams, and wishes that you’ve lost faith in.

What you shouldn’t do:

  • Get swept up in the politics and drama of your extended social circle.

  • Allow your negative thoughts consume you.

  • Pressure yourself to keep up with social events if you’re feeling tired or introverted.

Read your full Mercury retrograde horoscope here.

Pisces

Pisces
Pisces

What you should do:

  • Find a way to give back to your community, especially if you’ve broken promises.

  • Reconnect with the humanitarian ideals that drive you to become a better person.

  • Rethink your career and whether you’re on the right path.

What you shouldn’t do:

  • Force yourself to fit in with a crowd and lose your individuality.

  • Spend time with haters who pose as your friends.

  • Measure your self-worth based on your job or career standing.

Read your full Mercury retrograde horoscope here.

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