Spilt your morning coffee on your pants? Forgot your umbrella on a rainy day? Stepped in a puddle and ruined your favourite shoes? Blame it on Mercury retrograde.
According to astrologers, the movements of the Sun, Moon, stars and planets have an effect on what happens on earth. Mercury is believed to affect transport and communication. When it is in retrograde, many say that it produces negative impacts, so avoid making any crucial financial decisions and definitely don’t travel.
If you’re not into astrology it’s understandable if the decade’s first Mercury Retrograde slipped right under your nose last weekend. You may have heard people complaining, even dreading Mercury retrograde, but what even is it?
The word retrograde on its own signifies a planet moving backwards in its orbit – although this is simply an optical illusion. Each planet in the solar system orbits in the same direction, but when the Earth overtakes an outer planet like Mars and Saturn, from our perspective, it looks like those planets are moving backwards. For Mercury, since it is an inner planet, a state of retrograde is achieved when it itself laps the Earth. And since Mercury orbits the sun in a mere 88 days compared to other planets (who take longer), Mercury Retrograde occurs three to four times in a year.
Occurring from February 17 to March 10, it’s possible to avoid going on holiday or making an investment, but there’s one thing we can’t help but do. Eat. How does Mercury retrograde affect our eating habits? Does it even affect our eating habits?
Doordash, the food delivery service, conducted a study on hungry Melburnians to see how and if there were changes. This is what they discovered:
- 44% of orders were for fast-food. Looks like Melburnians were on the hunt for comfort food.
- Although fast-food as a whole was the most popular, it was Indian Cuisine that topped the demand making up 18% of orders.
- Most orders came from CBD Melbourne
Top Meals
- Indian
- Chicken
- Burgers
- Asian
- Italian
Does Mercury retrograde stress people out? Is that why they’re opting for fast, comforting food? Or is it simply a coincidence?
Although Mercury retrograde itself is an optical illusion, Melburnians’ changing cravings is not. Whether or not you believe in its adverse effects, it never hurts to stay at the very least cautious.
