I’ve had three people ask me about this throughout the course of this last week. As a believer that things that happen in threes are matters that need to be looked at or attended to, I’m going to address this subject now.
Ladies and gentlemen, I bring you the infamous Mercury Retrograde.
A planet moving “in retrograde” is actually a reference to the optical illusion of Mercury actually traveling backwards…but really, it’s just a moment in time in which the Earth passes Mercury, and Mercury appears to be traveling backwards simply because it’s moving at a slower rate of speed. That’s all. It’s not really going backwards – it just looks that way.
The retrograde of a planet seems to bring on introspection, internalization, and review of the matters that specific planetary body influences. With Mercury, retrograde brings on a period of going back and reviewing or revisiting communications, renewing ideas or insights that we may have tossed aside, picking up loose ends that need to be tied up, having communications that need to be had, and such. Sometimes, things that needed our attention the first time around may come around again for us to have a ‘second chance’ to attend to them.
But legend has it that when Mercury goes retrograde, all sorts of information and communication channels go haywire. Mail of all sorts gets lost or returned to sender, phone calls go missed or phone tag gets played ad-infinum, miscommunications abound, etc.
Yeah. Okay. Whatever.
Yet I don’t want to write it off completely. I admit – people with heavy Gemini or Mercurial influences in their charts may actually feel some effects of Mercury Retrograde. They may find their minds don’t work as quickly or their communications don’t flow as easily as they usually do. But if you are not heavily influenced (and most people are NOT), it’s really just another day in your life. Please don’t use it as an excuse for everything that doesn’t go the way you want it to go or as an excuse for your own laziness and lack of personal responsibility or accountability. Just deal with whatever comes up and keep on moving on.
However, for this first period of Mercury Retrograde for 2011, with Mercury in Aries you may notice that it might be more difficult for you to follow through on your ideas and intentions or it may be more difficult to encourage other people to follow through on theirs. Aries is related to action and Mercury is thought/mental focus and communication, so Mercury Retrograde may indeed slow things down a bit. Things may take a bit longer to explain or might need to be repeated a few times…but once again, I think the power of Mercury Retrograde is grossly overrated.
Frankly, I’m more concerned about Mars entering Aries at 9:51p PDT on Friday, April 1st – a couple of days after Mercury begins its retrograde on March 30th at 1:48p PDT…and I’m especially concerned about April 19/20-ish when Mercury Retrograde and Mars conjunct in Aries. There may be some very aggressive and/or angry people or events around those times, expressing their frustrations about not being heard or understood or maybe even being misrepresented…or assertive people simply seizing the moment to make their move(s) to advance their interests.
Numbers-wise, March is a 7 month (analysis, introspection, science/Spirit), so that introspective and reflective aspect of “retrograde” is already in play even before the Mercury Retrograde begins, and it should be a pretty intense reflection period throughout the 30th and 31st with Mercury actually in retrograde and the 7 energy still in effect. But starting April 1st, April is an 8 Universal month (power, ambition, competition, achievement). That 8 energy is only going to ramp up the assertive-aggressive energy already present with the heavy Aries-Mars influence. Long-repressed resentments and frustrations are likely to bubble up to the surface, and whatever you and/or others have been holding back may finally be forced to the surface to be expressed. This may be a very good thing, bringing relief and progress…or this may be a very bad thing, unleashing a world of hurt and destructive setbacks. Either way, with the retrograde energy, these energies may come out slowly or indirectly or in very passive-aggressive fashion…or they may come as a huge surprise because they explode full and direct force from seemingly out of nowhere after being held back for so long.
I guess we’ll find out as the month moves forward. In the meantime, this April Fools’ Day, don’t be a fool and fall for the Mercury Retrograde hype. Instead, remember that actions speak louder than words during Sun in Aries, and pay attention to your actions and the actions of those around you – the actions will speak volumes about what really needs and wants to be said. And who knows – you may actually find that one planet “backward” becomes two steps forward.
Until next week…
~ Light, Love, and Blessings,
Grace
