Leo vs. Aquarius ~ The Pattern Behind This Mercury Retrograde ✨

What Mercury Retrograde Has Been Trying to Show You

In this episode of Astrology with Alisa, we’re zooming out to reflect on the bigger story behind this Mercury Retrograde in Leo—
and why it’s part of a much deeper pattern playing out in the sky.

 Venus.
 Mars.
 Now Mercury.
 All retrograding through Leo.
 All facing off with Pluto in Aquarius.

We’ll explore:

✨ Why this Mercury Rx feels like a final message from the universe
✨ What the Leo–Aquarius polarity is asking us to balance
✨ How AI and authenticity are showing up in real life
✨ What Mercury might be delivering now that it's stationing direct opposite Pluto

Sometimes you don’t know what the astrology meant until you look back.

🎥 Don’t miss our Mercury Rx Astro Bestie Chat this Sunday on YouTube!
My Astro Besties & I are sharing real-life retrograde moments and cosmic hindsight.

🌀 Astrology with Alisa – YouTube

✨ Want to explore what Leo is asking from you?
 Book a reading at Book Online | Astrology w Alisa

✨ Need a refresher on what Mercury Retrograde is and how to handle the energy - check out this podcast from June 18th 

Mercury Retrograde Made Simple ~ What to Expect & How to Handle It✨ | Podcasts

Thank you for listening!

Connect With Me!
Instagram @astrologywithalisa
Astrology With Alisa - YouTube
www.astrologywithalisa.com

✨ Book a reading ✨
Book Online | Astrology w Alisa

Transcript

Leo vs. Aquarius ~ The Pattern Behind This Mercury Retrograde ✨

📍   Astrology isn't just about signs and symbols; it's a tool for navigating real life. Hello and welcome to Astrology with Alisa. I'm your host, Alisa Dixon, and I'm so glad you're here. Let's dive in.  Okay, Mercury retrograde is almost over. We've been in it for weeks now, and you may have felt the usual mix of delays, tech hiccups, and miscommunications. Back on June 18th, I released a podcast all about Mercury retrograde —what it is, what to expect, and how to work with the energy rather than fight it.

So if you miss that one or need a refresher over the next few days, I'll link to that episode in the show notes. But today I want to take a step back and zoom out and look at the bigger picture of what this Mercury retrograde has really been all about. Not just on the personal level, but for all of us, because this Mercury retrograde is the third in a powerful series of retrogrades over the last couple of years that have all happened in the same part of the sky.

All in Leo, and all have opposed Pluto in Aquarius—that is a cosmic pattern worth paying attention to, because sometimes you don't realize what astrology has been trying to show you until you stop and look back. And if you're like me, you may not fully understand what it was all about until you're looking back.

That's the gift. And sometimes, during a Mercury retrograde, you can't always get it while you're in it. One of my favorite ways to learn astrology is to look back and ask what showed up in my life during this transit.

What part of my chart lit up, what themes came alive? Because astrology isn't just predictive, it's reflective. It helps you see your life with new eyes. And lately, that Leo part of our sky has been very loud. So, zooming out a little in the summer of 2023. Two years ago, Venus was retrograde in Leo, a time of rethinking love, beauty, and self-worth.

And then last winter, we had Mars retrograde and Leo, a stretch of time that brought heat, frustration, and a push to re-express our drive and desires. And now we're wrapping up Mercury retrograde in Leo, which has spanned about six weeks when you include the shadow phase. And suppose you're wondering what the shadow is. In that case, we actually talk about that in this Sunday's YouTube chat on astrology with Elisa's podcast channel.

My astro besties and I are gonna explain it, so definitely come check it out. But here we're focusing on what this retrograde has revealed when we zoom out and look at the bigger picture. And when you step back and look at what's been happening in the sky, you start to see a pattern because over the last two years, each of the personal planets.

Venus, Mars, and now Mercury have retrograded in Leo, and each one has faced off with Pluto in Aquarius. That's what we call an opposition. When two planets are sitting directly across from each other in the sky, doing a complete 180 in the circle of the Zodiac, it's a cosmic confrontation. One energy staring straight into the eyes of another.

And this isn't random. This is a pattern since March 2023. Pluto has been in Aquarius, and I haven't talked about it much on this podcast because, honestly, it has been talked about to death. But now that I'm looking back from where we are today with Mercury stationing direct opposite Pluto, I finally see the bigger picture landing.

This is more than a Mercury retrograde. This is a conversation between Leo and Aquarius. Between the personal and the collective, between heart and technology, between warmth and distance, between authenticity and advancement, and Pluto is pulling massive focus into the Aquarius parts of our chart, which means we're all being asked in different ways to reevaluate the Leo.

Part two, because Pluto doesn't ask politely, Pluto. Exposes it transforms. It tears down what's fake so that something real can rise. Aquarius is about innovation, the future. The higher mind, but Leo is about heart, about courage, about what's real and personal and yours. Aquarius is cool and detached.

Thinking of the greater good of all. Leo is fiery and expressive. Protecting its pack with pride and passion, both matter. But when we lean too far into one, we lose balance. Ever since Pluto entered Aquarius. AI, for example, has exploded. And like many of you, I have big feelings about it. As a parent, I wonder how my kids will navigate this world. Will academic honesty still mean anything when a paper can be written by a bot in 30 seconds? But on the flip side, AI has also unlocked new ways for us to create. To express, to get out of the weeds of tedious work and into the zone of real human originality.

What if AI isn't the end of creativity, but it's the thing that sets it free? I've watched this at home. My husband has an Aquarius moon and a Leo Mars, so he lives this polarity. He's always up on the latest tech. He's always pushing the envelope, but he's always creating from the heart. He published two books in the last two years, thanks to AI Tools that helped him format, edit, and organize. But the ideas, the message, the content, the soul of the work, it's all him. He was the first person to show me ChatGPT, and if I'm being honest, I completely resisted it because I don't wanna create something that didn't come from me.

But over time, I've learned how to use it in ways that serve my creativity when I get stuck. Or when I feel like giving up on a video edit or don't know how to do something techie, I ask ChatGPT. I've trained my AI assistant to talk to me like a friend, to give me answers without the overwhelm, and that's what keeps me going.

That's why you're hearing this podcast. That's why I'm still making videos: the technology supports my creative expression, not replaces it. That's the dance between Aquarius and Leo, between future and heart, between machine and meaning. And this week, with Mercury stationing, it is directly opposite Pluto.

We're being asked to find that balance in ourselves, to reevaluate how we speak, how we listen, how we connect, and what we share. And what it all means. And just like the myth of Mercury, the only God who could cross between worlds, we are crossing dimensions right now between past and future, between the seen and unseen, between tech and truth,  between soul and system.

And as I record this. I can feel my grandmother with me. She was a proud Leo, and today, the day I'm recording, was actually her birthday. So this is what Mercury does. He moves between the living and the dead, between memory and now, bringing messages we didn't even know we needed until we hear them.

So if something is surfacing for you this week, a truth, a memory, a conversation. Listen closely. Mercury is bringing you exactly what you're ready to hear. It might be bringing up themes from the winter when Mars was retrograde in this exact same place, or even the year before, when Venus was retrograde in the exact same place.

This is what I'm talking about when I talk about the patterns in astrology, and this is what I find so interesting and exciting about the sky. All of these themes showing up in our lives are happening in the universe and vice versa. So. I invite you all to reflect not only on the last five weeks but also on the last two years, especially if you know your chart. You know where Leo is; that is the area where you're really being asked to dig deep and find out what is really important, what is really meaningful for you.

 And I will tell you if you want to hear a few stories about how this Mercury retrograde has played out in real life over the last few weeks, come check out my astro besties and me on Sunday on the astrology with Elisa Podcast YouTube channel. We're gonna be sharing real stories from tech fails and contract mishaps to the big aha moment.

That Mercury always delivers once we're ready to listen, because sometimes the astrology doesn't make sense until you look back. When you do, the message is always there.  We would love to see you over on the astrology with Elisa 📍 podcast and YouTube channel this Sunday at 10:00 AM. Watch for the Mercury retrograde video to drop. It has been so much fun bringing my friends together and connecting with you all. If you have any comments around, anything you've heard on this podcast or on the YouTube show, feel free to leave them in the YouTube comments over on

The Astrology with Elisa podcast and YouTube channel — we'd love to hear from you.

And if you're interested in going deeper in your own chart to figure out what this whole pattern in Leo was all about for you, I would love to do a reading for you. You can book online on my website at www.astrologywithelisa.com. Thanks so much for listening. Take care, and I hope to see you over on the YouTube channel on Sunday.

Have a good one. And I'll see you next time.