Mercury turns retrograde three times per year,
during which time it appears as if Mercury is moving in reverse direction.
September 6th – September 29th 2009
Over the years, I have noticed that people who know nothing about Astrology have heard about Mercury retrograde. It is something that we hear spoken of in the culture even if we know nothing beyond Sun Sign Astrology. We hear that things break down; cars, computers, electronics.
Communications get messy, people are late and misunderstandings occur. “Maybe Mercury is retrograde!” we hear when things go wrong!
During this time things are not as they ordinarily are, we must take a different line of understanding, we must slow ourselves down and do some preparation in order to move forward comfortably. More accurately, we must move backward a bit in order to move forward.
When people hear that Mercury is retrograde they get nervous, they worry. Perhaps it is human nature; people like to be afraid, just a little bit. They also like to have something to blame when the little things go wrong.
With a bit of thought and a little conscious preparation, Mercury’s retrograde period can be an empowering time. A time to go back and repair things that were left behind.
It seems that in our culture we are taught that the right way to do things is to constantly move forward, to push move ahead and never look back. Going back is counterintuitive; we are impatient and somehow feel that once we are done with something we must keep moving on to the next thing.
When Mercury is retrograde, it is not a good time to move aggressively forward. It is a time to slow down and look behind. Look back over the past few months – what did we leave undone, what was never completed or was left for someone else to clean up.
When we rush to the next thing, leaving something incomplete or not up to standard, the negative side of Mercury retrograde shows itself. We stumble, things get lost, we are misunderstood, systems break down.
Let the next thing wait. Take some time to reflect. Research. Review. Revise. Rethink. Redo. Rework. Re-examine. Re-asses. Revise. Rehearse. Re-organize.
And perhaps even take some time to dream. Set aside your schedule. Meditate. Take off your watch. Read a book and count the stones in the river or the stars in the sky.
Follow Us!