Should I text him back during Mercury retrograde?
What's actually true — the astronomy
Apparent retrograde motion is pure orbital geometry, exactly predictable centuries ahead, and involves no physical change in Mercury whatsoever. AstralMath computes retrograde stations from the real ephemeris. The word "real" applies to the motion, and stops there.
What the tradition says (interpretation)
Astrology assigns Mercury to communication, so tradition reads its retrograde as a time to review and revisit rather than initiate — which is where the folklore about exes resurfacing and messages misfiring comes from.
The decision-science move — what to actually do
Notice the actual function the retrograde is serving: it is a way to not decide, and to have something else be responsible for the delay. That is the part worth dropping. Ask the real question instead — does contact with this person make your life better, based on the last three times, not the best time. Then answer it today. A three-week planetary window is not going to make the answer any clearer, and waiting for it just outsources your judgement to geometry.
References
- [1]Apparent retrograde motion — NASA / astronomy referenceRetrograde is an optical effect of orbital geometry — real astronomy, no physical force on human affairs.
- [2]Is astrology real? Here’s what science says — Scientific AmericanA clear statement of what the evidence supports — and doesn’t.
- [3]The Barnum (Forer) effect — Forer, Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology 44, 118–123 (1949)People rate vague, universal personality statements as highly accurate descriptions of themselves — the measured mechanism behind "how did my astrology app know that?"
More questions like this in the decision-science library, or read how we separate the math from the myth.