Astrology associates Mercury with communication.

The directions of its movement are accordingly interpreted as:
1) Mercury Direct: communication progressing forward
2) Mercury Retrograde: communication going sideways (stationary) and regressing backwards

This leads most astrologers to suggest “extra caution” for the times of Mercury Retrograde.

But “communication” already means “commune with caution”; caution is integral to communicaution, so the direction of Mercury is actually linked not to the amount of caution but the type of caution.

Any communicator attracts their interlocutor, in either way:
1) Venusian communicator holds onto their interlocutor.
2) Neptunian communicator synchs with their interlocutor.

This difference nicely manifests in the symbols of these planets:
1) Venoose ♀: Venus symbol looks like a noose, like the infamous noose of matrimony.
2) Neptuning fork ♆: Neptune symbol looks like a tuning fork, it’s an acoustic/spiritual resonator.

Now look back at the Mercury symbol ☿ which looks like a Venoose with horns. If you imagine the horns to be a Neptuning fork, you notice that it is their combination!

As a result:
1) Mercury Direct is Venusian Mercury, it’s about holding onto your interlocutor.
2) Mercury Retrograde is Neptunian Mercury, it’s about synching with your interlocutor.

Mercury Retrograde is less about “extra caution” and more about “caution to the extra”, i.e. showing caution to the surplus-enjoyment (in Žižekian-Lacanian terms).

Işık Barış Fidaner is a computer scientist with a PhD from Boğaziçi University, İstanbul. Admin of Yersiz Şeyler, Editor of Žižekian Analysis, Curator of Görce Writings. Twitter: @BarisFidaner