After the Mercury Retrograde Period ends, Mercury is still in trouble for the rest of July due to being squared by Mars. Normally Mercury moves twice as fast as Mars, but after ending its retrograde, it takes Mercury a couple of weeks to ‘get back up to speed.’ Therefore the two planets will remain in an inimical aspect for the remainder of the month.

Mars Distorts the significations of Mercury. The planet of Force, Aggression, Impatience and Impulse sends out a full force aspect 4 signs ahead of itself, i.e., 90 deg, the ‘square aspect.’ The influence of Mars on Mercury is Unwelcome, causing the planet of Rational Thinking, Communications, Making Choices, etc., to make Mistakes. Therefore Speech & Writing, Decisions, The Media, etc. are still error-prone and Suspect, even after Mercury Retrograde is over. On August 1, Mercury changes signs, and escapes from the influence of Mars.