Mercury Retrograde in Leo 2025: Who Are You Really?
Mercury retrograde marks our humble return to radical self-honesty. From July 18 to August 11, 2025, our planet of expression, perception, language, and learning retreats through courageous Leo, challenging our confidence to express ourselves clearly, consciously, and directly. Mercury retrograde in Leo invites you to peel back the layers that disguise the mechanisms of your unconscious mind. This introspective cycle is for reviewing any conversations or conflicts fueled by ego clashes and an unrealized desire to be recognized as a winner or victim. Revisit the stories you tell yourself, or about yourself, that aren’t grounded in truth — not from a place of judgment or shame, but with an open and understanding heart. We have all experienced the desire to elevate our story — to embellish or dramatize our thoughts and experiences. However, as Mercury retrograde guides us back to authenticity, the universe tests our ability to recognize where we embody this pattern and explore the root of our performative instincts. It’s time to deepen your self-awareness and analyze your inner voice.
What to Expect From Mercury Retrograde
Mercury is our messenger planet, governing logic and communication. It rules logistics and exchange, short-distance travel, data, and information. Theatrical Leo is bold and expressive, loud and proud, mirroring the dimension of yourself that thrives under the spotlight. Mercury in Leo strengthens the power of your voice and your courage to share your truth. But when retrograde, it forces a deeper assessment of selfishness or inauthenticity. Reconnect with the innermost parts of yourself that seek applause and question whether recognition, popularity, or praise have led you to suppress your truth or shroud your genuine interests in shame.
Mercury
Listen More Than You Speak
Honest communication is hesitant or strained as Mercury’s energy turns inward, emphasizing internal processing and introspection. This cycle of reconsideration, recalibration, and realignment calls you to reflect on whether you have taken enough time to explore alternative perspectives. Question whether you have championed other people’s valuable insights rather than eclipsing them with your own. Are you listening to understand or to respond? Miscommunications, delays, frustrations, and technological errors now serve as opportunities to raise your awareness rather than resist discomfort. Observe your ego’s impulses when disturbances arise. Notice your streak of stubbornness or pride. Re-evaluate or rewrite your plans to a higher standard.
Read on, using your rising sign, for more guidance. Don’t know what your rising sign is? Click here to find out.
Aries
Mercury retrograde invites a deeper reconsideration of your love life, creative output, and self-expression. Honor this cycle by revisiting old passions and childhood joys. Reignite your inner fire and the happiness lost by chasing people or pursuing projects that do not interest or excite you. Exercise patience when dealing with lovers and children.
Taurus
Your home environment, emotional landscape, and familial dynamics are activated by Mercury retrograde. Meeting challenging conversations with humility and a willingness to listen is now a courageous act of ancestral healing. Memories of the past are resurfacing, inviting you to reframe your perception of old narratives. The universe is calling you back to the place where you belong — where you are seen, heard, and understood.
Gemini
Revising projects, plans, and conversations that left you unsatisfied is how you grow wiser. Mercury retrograde energizes your mind, activating a short season for learning and reconsideration. Don’t be afraid to change your mind, admit where you have gotten things wrong, and rethink whether you are expressing yourself with integrity or saying what others want to hear.
Cancer
Mercury retrograde illuminates themes of worth and wealth, inviting you to reassess your value system and the emphasis you place on your earnings or belongings to feel confident. Consider whether you are accepting less than what you deserve due to the fear of stepping into your power, asking for more, and setting a higher standard. Review your budget and explore creative ways of activating new income streams.
Leo
This retrograde is personal, symbolizing a higher and divine calling to return to who you truly are: the version of yourself that needs no approval, no applause, and is not afraid to share the mic with others who have valuable experience to share. Use this time to rediscover the real you beneath the labels and to embody your truth so deeply that there is no more confusion about what you stand for.
Virgo
Trust the silence. The no’s. The stillness. Mercury retrograde activates an introspective cycle, teaching you to look deeper within when the answers outside of yourself aren’t enough to clear your confusion. Courageously address your stubborn patterns and sharpen your awareness of your hidden need to be right. Practice observing yourself and facing your past without judgment, and you will begin to see others with softer eyes.
Libra
Mercury retrograde calls you to reconsider your vision for the future, whether you are aligned to meet your aspirations, and if you are surrounded by souls who value your truth. Notice how misunderstandings are delicately navigated. You deserve friends and a community who would rather build an understanding through mutual respect than try to prove a point.
Scorpio
Illuminating legacy, ambition, and vocation, Mercury retrograde invites you to reflect on the image you present to the world. Is it authentic or performative? Have you lost your way under the spotlight? Untangle yourself from others’ expectations and reclaim your voice. Wield your influence and authority to share your unique perspective rather than echoing other people’s truth.
Sagittarius
The spotlight turns toward education and exploration as Mercury retrograde invites you to rediscover the wisdom of advice you did not take. Gradually, your worldview will transform as you acknowledge other people’s ways and reflect on the beliefs and opinions you once held that no longer resonate. Travel delays and detours emerge to teach you to flow with life rather than live in a state of resistance.
Capricorn
Humbling, healing, and vulnerable, Mercury retrograde reawakens thoughts and fears surrounding partnership, trust, and intimacy. Deepen your awareness of the internal barriers that prevent you from sharing yourself fully, and clear any lingering shame that hinders the declaration of your desires. Joint financial dealings and contractual bonds will teach you to make decisions with a deeper consideration for others.
Aquarius
A conscious review of dramatic interactions will reveal whether words shared with lovers or friends have inspired cooperation and reconciliation, or competition and division. Mercury retrograde holds up a mirror for you to consciously face your projections and hidden desire to win a fight. If past lovers reappear, address the wounded parts of yourself that crave attention and performative love over sustained presence and devotion.
Pisces
Touching the realms of health, work, and service, Mercury retrograde forces you to slow your daily rhythm, recalibrate, and reconsider your priorities. Returning to old wellness habits and rituals may ground you during moments of confusion or overwhelm. Misunderstandings between colleagues and delayed projects are an opportunity to consider other voices rather than sticking to your own way.