Mercury Retroshade Can Seriously Mess Up Holiday Plans — Here's How to Prepare

If you've been seeing warnings about "retroshade" all over your newsfeed, and you've been assuming it's a typo or a new throwback window dressing style, you'd be mistaken. Mercury's long awaited retrograde will end on Dec. 22, which means that a retroshade period will begin on Dec. 22 and last until at least Jan. 5. Aka, you're going to want to know what Mercury retroshade period means for the holidays, because yep, it's going to start just in time for Christmas. And yep, it can bring on some inconveniences.

Retroshade is a period that occurs two weeks before and after a retrograde, according to Astro Style. People don't talk about it nearly as much as they talk about retrograde, but it's really just as important, and has just as many effects. It's essentially a buffer period that explains why things start to get wonky before the official retrograde, and why sometimes things stay wonky after the official retrograde. Basically, it takes Mercury a minute to switch gears and that transitional period hosts a lot of similar effects as the retrograde period.

You know what it's like, when your life just seems to be low-key broken and nothing is working like it usually does? From your toaster refusing to turn on, your dog barking at imaginary squirrels, to getting into heated fights with your best friend, everything seems backwards and malfunctioning during a retrograde, and I'm sorry to say that this holiday retroshade isn't going to be much different. Here's how you can expect it to complicate the holidays, and how to not let it get you down:

Travel Trouble

Traveling during the holidays is always stressful and always subject to delays and frustrations. Double check all of your travel information before you leave the house. Make sure you have directions printed, tickets handy, and back up options incase flights are delayed, roads are closed or weather is dangerous. Retroshade is going to increase the chances of a travel mishap, so just get ahead of the chances and protect yourself.

Family Feuds

As if you don't have stressful conversations with your family enough, you'll have to prepare to have a few more thanks to heightened sensitivity during the holidays and retroshade. Because Mercury rules over communication and will also be backspinning through Sagittarius, people might be feeling a bit more vocal than usual. They might be oversharing, or complaining more than they normally would find appropriate. Try to take these conversations with a grain of salt. If you can maintain calm reactions, nothing will escalate. Just keep your cool, you know it's only retroshade.

Unforeseen Expenses

So you put aside extra money for gas or bought insurance on your tickets, or made double reservations and felt like there's no way anything could go wrong, but there you find yourself with a flat tire or cancelled flight. Keep in mind that no matter how prepared you are, you can always be more prepared. If you were planing on setting aside $200 for incidentals this holiday season, try to set aside $300. With everyone trying to navigate retroshade at the same time, there are just bound to be expenses that you never saw coming — particularly transportation or travel-related ones.

Technical Difficulties

Make sure you have all of your passwords written down somewhere safe. Back up your phone and your computer. Check on your iCloud account. Save everything. Print things that are extra precious. Read every email twice before sending. Retroshade's effects are most easily noticed with technology. Even if your email does a automatic spellcheck for you, check it again. Retroshade is distracting you in ways you don't even realize. So don't rely on your technology to have your back this holiday season.