There’s so much to discover in a Mercury Retrograde cycle. We astrologers are happy everyone is catching on, but there’s more to it than
usual mess up with computers, electrical appliances, cars, mail and phone messages. Especially now that we’re relying more on email, cell phones and internet, Mercury becomes more important. After all, it was Uranus in Gemini generation that brought us these fun new toys and Gemini is a Mercury ruled planet.You know Mercury goes retrograde three times a year but how can you tell when? If you don’t have a personal relationship with an astrologer, buy a calendar from Llewellyn called “2004 Daily Planetary Guide” (2005, 2006, etc.) It has all key astrological information in a handy spiral bound desktop calendar that you can also use for notes and appointments. It costs $9.95.
The “Daily Planetary Guide” gives you information you need in plain English. This little calendar is also a great way to learn more about astrology because it has good notes on moon cycles and other retrograde planets as well.
Here’s a typical retrograde experience. I was out at golf club during last retrograde having breakfast next to some really nice guys. They were talking about usual when I heard one of them say, “Whatever happened to that girl you met at xxx?” The other guy replied, “When I had that climbing accident and dropped my cell phone, I lost all stuff that was stored in it. I figured she’d call me but she never did.”
I couldn’t help but think of all girls who come to me for readings wondering whether someone is going to call them but this is a typical Mercury retrograde experience.
Somewhere off to side, god of communication stood chuckling as this poor fellow basically got to review his whole life. What kind of phone do you get now? Did you use all features on other one or could you do without? Who were half people on there anyway? How many phone numbers do you really need? How are you going to explain this to your buddies? Are you going to back up your phone records this time? Why did you take it with you anyway … isn’t whole idea of climbing to get away from phone? And furthermore, she’s not only girl in world!
Mercury Guy is pretty chatty. Pretty curious. And pretty out of control during retrogrades.
The first 11 days of retrograde cycle are hardest. This is why. If we go without sleep for a few days (!), unconscious and conscious minds begin to overlap or bleed into one another, causing hallucinations or confusion about what’s real and not real. The dream world begins to invade waking world. This shows us difference between two ways we can process information. Dreams have wisdom and guidance but their language is very different from everyday.
When Mercury is direct (the opposite of retrograde), as it is 80 percent of time, conscious mind is clearly in control. We think and process information in a practical way that we’ve adapted to fit our needs. Usually this results in a narrow focus. To reach goals, stay in relationships and get along with everybody, we actually tune out a lot of information that doesn’t fit scheme of things.
