Welcome to Mercury Retrograde! From today until December 30 Mercury will appear to be traveling backwards through the Zodiac. Mercury, named for the Roman god Mercury, aka Hermes (the Greek god, not the fine purveyor of scarves and perfumes. Seriously, Hermes has the best perfumes. And Xmas is coming. Just sayin’). Mercury was the Messenger god who controlled communications and travel. Modern times have attributed technology – particularly communications technology – phones, internet, etc – to his control. While Mercury ‘travels backwards’ (it is actually an optical illusion caused by the relative orbital speeds of Earth and the other planets), it is said that these things get complicated. Mercury Retrograde is a time of troubled or misunderstood communication and travel problems or delays. People are generally advised not to sign contracts or engage in negotiations during Mercury Retrograde or do any complicated traveling.
This year has been especially retrograde-y, with 4 periods of retrograde instead of 3. Although the actual retrograde period is about 3 weeks, there is also a period of approximately 2 weeks before and after where the typical retrograde problems often manifest. These are times when Mercury slows down its travel through the Zodiac in preparation for ‘switching direction’). I, personally, find the 2 weeks before a retrograde to be the most fucked up. Add in the before and after (often referred to as the ‘Shadow’ (before) and the ‘Release’ (after)) and you looking at 6-8 weeks of general miscommunication and technology and travel snafus.
Is it all bad? No. There is some good aspects to a retrograde period. It is an ideal time to look back and reflect on the past and to gain insight into the past and to formulate plans for the future. Just don’t try to kick off those plans until Mercury is direct again! Generally, people may turn especially introspective during this time. If you have to commit to something or sign contracts, it is important to read the fine print and then double read it. Trouble generally arises from miscommunication and misunderstandings so being aware of this can hopefully help you avoid problems. The sign in which Mercury is traversing also affects the general mood as well as whatever else is going on cosmically.
So my advice to you all is to take it easy -especially with family gatherings coming up. Remember the potential for miscommunications and misunderstandings and travel problems and take a deep breath (and/or a deep drink) before flipping out. We will be potentially affected by this retrograde until January 18, 2011 which is when Mercury will be flying forward normally again.
For those who like to plan, the retrogrades for next year are: March 30-April 23; August 3 – August 26 and November 24 – December 14.
“All of us are in the gutter, but some of us are reaching for the stars”