You Can’t Control Everything Right Now

Post-Virgo eclipse reflections, navigating Mercury retrograde in Pisces and learning to surrender to what you can’t control

Hi Friend,

It feels a bit pathetic to be writing this considering the major current affairs happening in the world right now. But I thought I’d touch base with you all post-eclipse. As a reminder, we are still under the eclipse energy—heightened emotions and out-of-the-blue or shocking events.

Let’s rewind—for those of you who haven’t read last week’s article, you may want to do that for context before continuing here.

Here’s an excerpt from that article:

Watch what happens in the news this week and be careful. This goes for those living in the US especially—as a reminder, here’s a prediction I wrote from my 2026 astrology article:

• Military action instructed by DT—this is going to build around February, I’m looking at 17th February-20th February for something notable to happen, peaking 3rd March.

I said watch what happens in the news that week, and what happened?

Well, the very next day after I posted that article, Paramount was in the news for winning the Warner Bros. bid (thanks Mercury retrograde) and the strikes against Iran were launched, not to mention the death of a world leader—remember I said eclipses were omens particularly for royalty and leaders?…

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I also went into detail about the recent Virgo eclipse being a tough one considering we are in the thick of a disgusting Mercury retrograde (in the sign of Pisces where Mercury does not do well) and a Mars-Uranus square (violence/sudden events).

So you may have noticed over the past week that you’ve had to deal with unexpected situations, communicated with people from your past, experienced travel delays, or faced setbacks due to legal issues or miscommunications. This Mercury retrograde really isn’t playing—it’s come for us all.

Meanwhile, the eclipse energy is still going strong. At the end of last week’s article, I cautioned that this eclipse sits opposite Pisces, the sign associated with endings, and therefore some of you may experience loss or be hit with a wave of grief.

Even if you weren’t personally connected to someone who passed, you may have heard news of someone in your circle experiencing loss. For me, that happened both professionally and personally. My aunt unfortunately lost someone close to her, and my boss lost a parent.

In-between it all, I’ve also been hit with that familiar wave of grief again for my grandparents—conscious that it will almost be a year since my grandad passed.

When you lose someone who was so important to you and so involved in your upbringing, it can feel like once they’re gone none of it was real. Like, did I really get to experience life with this person? Because it starts to feel like a dream—something that existed once but that you’ll never experience again.

This is honestly the roughest Mercury retrograde we’ve had in a long time.

Another key theme of this eclipse is detox.

Virgo rules over our digestion, so some of you may have been experimenting with cleanses, fasting, parasite cleanses (this would actually be great energy to do it under), or simply noticing that your appetite has been off recently.

When I speak about certain zodiac signs, I often look at feedback from people who carry that energy to see whether what I’m describing is aligning. Here’s some feedback from a Virgo friend that put a smile on my face!

As well as other confirmations!

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This retrograde is making everything feel so up in the air right now, like you can’t ground or hold on to anything tangible. That’s the Pisces energy. My best advice is to go with the flow as much as possible and simply observe the shifts occurring in your life. Full clarity isn’t going to arrive anytime soon. We’re still in this retrograde energy until the end of the month, although as of today we’ve reached the midpoint of the journey.

Mercury retrograde doesn’t mean you stop living your life though. We’re still human and still have things we want to do—it just means delays, detours and mishaps are more likely. As an astrologer I’m naturally a bit more cautious during this time. I try not to sign anything major or plan big trips during a retrograde, but sometimes it’s unavoidable.

For example, I’m flying to New York and spending some time there to celebrate my birthday!

Normally I’m very organised ahead of a trip—especially if I’m travelling solo. I like to have a full itinerary so I know exactly what I’m doing, where I’m going, and what bookings I’ve made. I enjoy being prepared and getting the most out of the places I visit so I don’t feel like I’ve missed anything important.

But this has been the most up-in-the-air trip I’ve planned in a long time…and obviously Mercury retrograde has a lot to do with that.

At one point I even considered cancelling the trip. But the Universe seemed to be telling me otherwise.

Every shop I walked into, every conversation I overheard, even the clothes people were wearing on my morning commute to work somehow referenced New York.

And me being me…I took that as a sign to go anyway lol.

Getting coffee, going shopping, attending exhibitions - all NYC signs!

So my itinerary is loosely booked right now, and as much as that makes me anxious, I’m staying open and going with the flow because of all this Piscean energy in the sky.

Even this trip hasn’t been what I originally had in mind for my birthday—a perfect example of how Mercury retrograde can make you rethink and rework your plans.

Originally, I was hoping to go to SXSW with a friend of mine but unfortunately she couldn’t make it. While I was waiting for confirmation from her, I thought I could still go to the States and spend my birthday with my cousin who lives there. But in the two weeks it took for her to get back to me, my cousin’s best friend booked a flight to stay with her…on the exact day of my birthday lol.

This will be my first birthday without my grandad — writing that still feels surreal. And while it isn’t what I originally had in mind, maybe the Universe and this Mercury retrograde has a better plan instead.

I guess that’s the point of Pisces energy: surrendering to what you can’t see ahead of you yet.

When one door closes, another opens. I think I mentioned that in last week’s article when discussing the eclipse.

Rethinking my trip means I get to see a friend I haven’t caught up with in years—and it’s been a while since I’ve been to New York. I’m also looking forward to exploring all the new places I’ve had my eye on from afar, especially the food spots.

Recommendations are always welcome in the comments! Otherwise, I’ll report back with all the hotspots I discover in the next article.