When Mercury Goes Retrograde

Mercury stands atop the Royal Palace in Amsterdam, NL

…ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE!

Three to 4 times every year and for approximately 3 weeks at a time, planet Mercury goes retrograde.  That is, it slows down in its orbit around the Sun.  The dates for this year, 2012, are:

March 12 – April 4
July 14 – August 8
November 6 – November 26

Yup, we’re smack-dab in the middle of a Mercury Retrograde (MR) and have almost 2 more weeks to go.  So what?!

Mercury, that mythological Messenger of the Gods, happens to “rule” everything related to communication and transportation, that’s what!  Perception, language, writing, editing, research, speaking, learning, the assessment of data, telecommunications, computing, software, electronic gadgets, cameras(!), the postal service, shipping, couriers, wires, cables, machines with moving parts.

When Mercury retrogrades, it scrambles information and causes static and confusion…which is why it’s not a good time to sign contracts, complete important transactions, make big decisions or purchases, especially electronics (if you don’t want a lemon!).

Everyone in the whole wide world can be affected when Mercury retrogrades but especially Gemini (moi) and Virgos (my wife) who are astrologically “ruled” by the rascal.  Astrid and I always laugh a bit nervously when these times come around because we know we need to PAS OP! (= Pay Attention!).  When we’re driving anywhere, we expect delays/detours and are pleasantly surprised when they don’t happen.  We write everything down to make sure we don’t forget anything.

Once I sheepishly told my preacher dad about MR, not knowing if he’d pooh-pooh me into the ground.  He started laughing and said, “Oh, you mean that’s what happened when Mom and I drove home from Virginia the other day and I had forgotten where I put my glasses!  The next day I found them in the corner of the luggage rack on top of the car!”  Bingo.  Lucky for him, they never fell off during the entire drive to Michigan!

Stupid, crazy, silly, frustrating, befuddling, infuriating, aggravating things happen during MR.  You forget where you put things.  You buy something you regret.  You can’t find the right words to say or write.  Before auto-save happened on the computer, you’d lose whole documents.  [Remember the Jesus Saves computer joke!]  Sometimes you lose your whole computer!  Or your camera falls into the lake.  Or you copy people in e-mails you didn’t mean to.  You press Send before you intend, you lose your comment on FB…. 

Yada Yada Yada.  Been there, done that.

But here’s the GOOD NEWS:  MR is the best time in the world to finish things you’ve already started, so all is not lost!  The closet you started cleaning out, the book you were reading/writing, the trip you were planning, the knitting project, the garden….  When Mercury slows down (like now!), it’s the perfect time to tie up those loose ends.  In fact, Mercury will help you finish them.  He needs calming down himself and would like nothing better than for all of us to just slow down a bit.

Why would the Universe give us Mercury retrograde? Because to move forward it is sometimes necessary to backtrack and reconfigure our paths in life. It is important to reconsider, repair, reflect, and reconnect. Mercury forces us to slow down and fix what's broken, and in so doing, rethink things.  It also gives us time to get to projects we have put on the back-burner.—Susan Miller

Give yourself permission.  You know you want to.  Breathe in, breathe out.

For those of you still rolling your eyes, I bet you believe in the effects of the full moon, right?  I rest my case.

Always Look Up

By the end of this, some of you will be rolling your eyes, I guarantee it.  So up front I'm telling you this is the god-honest truth.

Right now we're in the middle of Mercury Retrograde when electronic gadgets (like computers!) go haywire, transportation 'snarls' more than usual, and, to put it bluntly, we all do more stupid things than normal.  It happens 3-4 times a year for 3 weeks at a time.  This stint is from August 20 - September 12.

Please hold that thought.

The older I get, the more I want to find out about my heritage.  Does knowing where I come from help me know where I'm going?  I have no idea.  But take my two grandpas, for instance, both of whom I never met....

Dad's dad, Thomas, was born in 1847 and served in the U.S. Civil War.  He was 70 when Dad was born in 1917.  Dad was 78 when he died in 1995.  So if you do the math, my grandpa served in the Civil War as a teenager...while his own son, my dad, served in no wars because he was a preacher and was thereby exempt.  What was Thomas like, I wonder, and how did that war affect him, Dad...or me?

Mom's dad, Sidney, was born in 1892 and so happened to be one of America's prominent astrologers in his day.  He published under the pen name Wynn and "began Wynn's Astrology Magazine in 1931, and for the next two decades it was one of the most influential in the emerging field. He also contributed a column to the New York Daily News and wrote a number of popular books."

What I knew about my astrology grandpa while growing up in my conservative preacher's home was that I shouldn't touch him with a ten-foot pole.  I even felt guilty about reading the horoscope, so I didn't.  But when Bill and I divorced in 1990, I suddenly needed to find out why I wasn't supposed to 'touch' astrology?  Would it kill me or my faith?

Since I had already fallen from grace (my last post), I decided there was nothing left to kill, so with a passion I touch-tackled astrology in every way possible.  A lady at work aided my intrigue and put me in touch with a guru of sorts who taught me much.  I purchased top-of-the-line software to work up natal charts and personality reports, which I continue doing to this day with great pleasure.  One of the things I learned along the way is you can get an astrology quack every bit as dreadful as a Bible interpreter quack.  I began to see my life making connections to my past in ways I never thought possible.  Kinda like criss-crossing grandpas.

Now go back to Mercury Retrograde.  I once tried to jokingly explain to do-not-touch-astrology Dad what MR was and he immediately said, "Oh, you mean like when I drove the car from Virginia to Michigan with my glasses caught in the corner of the luggage rack on top of the car...and I couldn't figure out where I had put them till I got home?!"  Yup!

Okay then.  One more week of this madness and all you need to do is pay attention.  Expect delays and try not to take glitches personally.  Before you know it, life will move into the fast lane and become normal again.

"As in the heavens above, so on earth below."   That's why you should always look up!

Are you rolling your eyes?  But I bet you believe in the effects of the full moon, right!  Now that reminds me of when I worked in assisted living....