Brace Yourself: Summer 2018 Is Also The Summer Of Retrogrades

Take a deep breath, stargazers. We're in for one dizzying summer. According to astrologer Annie Heese's ephemeris (aka her table of future planetary activity), summer 2018 will see seven planetary retrogrades in total, although the most planets that will be retrograde at one time is six. If you ask us, that's still plenty — more than enough to send astrology enthusiasts into a cosmic tizzy, that's for sure.

If you aren't familiar with retrogrades, they're periods of time when a planet appears to be moving in reverse. While that backward movement is just an optical illusion, it carries major astrological implications. Regardless of the planet, a retrograde usually signals a period of delayed progress or disruption. Where we experience that stalling effect, however, depends on which planet happens to be retrograde.

Each planet rules a different area of our lives (Mercury oversees communications, Venus handles our love lives, Mars touches all things related to action and conflict). So, if Mercury is retrograde (which it will be in about a month), we'll feel its effects most clearly when we're trying to coordinate social plans or discuss touchy subjects with our partners.

With so many planets hitting their backspins at once, it can feel like your hands are tied and all you can do is wait for the retrogrades to end. Never fear, you can still go about your daily life with relative ease, though the heavens would appreciate it if you did so with a little more care for the next few months. Because, believe it or not, retrogrades don't solely occur to drive us nuts. They can actually teach us to slow down and act more thoughtfully — as long as we're ready to learn that lesson.

Ahead, we take a closer look at every retrograde we'll experience this summer: how long they'll last, how they'll affect us, and which signs will be hit the hardest.