Strap yourself in: Mercury is back in retrograde and it's worse than last time.

In case you haven’t had enough karmic turmoil this year; Mercury retrograde is back with a vengeance.

…And precisely no one invited it to the party.

Look – not everyone believes in this astrology stuff (like your weekly horoscope here) and that’s fine, but if you are one of those people you should probably duck away from this page stat.

Are they gone?

Good.

Earlier this year, you would have heard a lot of people talking about “Mercury in retrograde” as a means of explaining why things were…well, a little bit sh*t.

This is because, as astrologists believe, when the planets pull their cosmic forces backwards against earth, it can have an impact on our own personal energies.

So if you felt like your life was a bit of a mess from March 22 – April 15, and again from July 25 – August 18 it was Mercury’s fault.

(Thanks, Mercury).

via GIPHY

In all honesty, I still don’t truly understand what it all means (although I do enjoy having something to blame when things go wrong), so here’s a quick breakdown courtesy of energy consultant and mindfulness mentor Lynette Arkadie, who enlightened us last time:

“As we came into the end of June we entered an unusually massive ‘retrograde period’,” Lynette explained.

This meant five planets – Jupiter, (luck, wisdom), Saturn, (discipline, fear, karmic challenges) Pluto (transformation, wider connection) , Mars (power, life direction), Neptune (dreams, subconscious and healing) Uranus (change, originality) and Mercury (thoughts, communication, electronics) were shifting in relation to their position from earth.

“The planets are not literally turning backwards of course, rather they appear to be pulling in force backwards past our planet as the solar system rotates at different speeds and in different orbits,” Lynette clarified.

And while the planets were doing their thing, the moon didn’t help (cheers, moon):

“We experienced the energy of full moon in the sign of Capricorn. This big moon pulled us through into an eight week astral period of big change,” Lynette added.

So how did this affect us personally?

“(It was) possible that you (were) rethinking your life trajectory and the way things work.

“Perhaps you were even been considering some big changes in one or more areas. You might have even felt like something that worked really well in the past, no longer felt right.”

She also said it was likely we would go back over many events, old thoughts, feelings, situations, beliefs and decisions, and in some instances, perhaps fully resolve them.

“…Financially things can dip before they rise, secrets and shocks could be revealed, truths emerge and new conflicts could begin about old issues,” she said.

Lynette said this might’ve bubbled over into “big emotions” and “meltdowns” and oh, we know about those.

But while we might’ve just made it through last time, this Mercury retrograde has returned with a fun little twist.

It’s more confusing.

via GIPHY

It landed last week, on November 16, to be exact, and it’s sticking around until December 6 (so it’s not going to ruin your Christmas).

You have Neptune to thank for this extra powerful (but thankfully much shorter) round, according to astrologer Jamie Partridge, who says: “Mercury retrograde November 2018 is square [90 degrees apart from] Neptune which adds confusion and deception to the usual mercury retrograde problems like communication and technology breakdowns, nervous anxiety, travel delays, and lost items.”

Great.

via GIPHY

He added that this delightful batch might make us feel like our mind is playing tricks on us:

“At first, the journey may have seemed like a straightforward, even obvious, thing — now you discover it’s filled with layers of meaning and may prove itself to be deeply emotional.”

So what do we do? Stay in our rooms and hide?

Never fear, there are solutions:

“When dealing with family and friends, try to stick to the basics of communication. Your imagination and potential for deception can lead to sticky situations,” Partridge advised on website Astrology King.

“You may feel very opinionated on a particular subject and care little what others think. However, this is not a good time to be preaching to others and telling [them] how they should think or act. Your emotional biases can influence your thoughts and intellectual reasoning.”

This seems very inconvenient considering the fact that we are about to kick off into a very busy and social festive season, but anyway.

When we spoke to Lynette previously, she offered these retrograde tips:

LYNETTE’S TIPS TO RETROGRADE-PROOF YOUR LIFE:

• Choose the persona of a wise Buddhist monk as your personality of choice for the next few weeks. Choose to ride the waves and feel the power.
• Back up all electronic devices and secure electronics.
• Double check plans – packing, dates, travel plans as well as meeting times and plans.
• Organise insurance and plan for natural earth shifts (such as earthquakes, floods, volcanic changes).
• Tend to fix outstanding things like that flat tyre or wobbly screw ASAP.
• Ensure all language and communication is clear in emails, texts, invitations etc. It can be easy for something to be received the wrong way or go awry.
• If there is an emotional outburst ​(​yours or someone else’s​), take a moment. Wait to discuss further until everyone can talk calmly and clearly.
• If making any big decisions, take your time, follow your intuition and be flexible and move with the changes.
• Expect things to be slower or delays and prepare fully.
• Have back-up plans should weather change suddenly or plans change suddenly. Remain calm. Look for solutions or what’s great about what is happening.
• Slow things down and allow time.
• Embrace change where possible but also implement change with gentleness, patience and mindfulness – not everyone will react well.
• The good of experience is usually only realised at the end of the period, so for now that’s early December. So focus on a longer game.
• Prepare for sudden plan changes – go with it. You will end up where you need to be if you let go and flow.
• Remember that powerful new creation comes out of a certain degree of chaos.

…Good luck.