“According to figures from the Federal Bureau of Transportation Statistics, the percentage of late flights into and out of La Guardia Airport during the past three summers rose to 24.6 during Retrograde periods from 22.8 during non-Retrograde periods. What's more, during the past three years, claims of mishandled domestic baggage rose to 5.44 per 1,000 passengers during months when Mercury spent more than half the time in Retrograde from 5.38 per 1,000 in months when the planet was not in Retrograde. That works out to one extra lost bag per 15,000 passengers.” Those are not hugely impressive numbers, but they are objective enough to help us believe that Mercury Retrograde’s effects are quite real.
To think of the Mercury Retrograde period as simply “bad” is a very simpleminded kind of astrology. It is indeed bad for certain things - and quite excellent for others. When a planet is Retrograde it is going back into earlier degrees of the zodiac. It is returning to ground it has already covered, in other words. And it is encouraging us to do exactly the same thing, “on earth, as it is heaven,” so to speak.
So how has the retrograde unfolded for you? Did you finally see what you've overlooked or been blind to? Did you get a chance to catch a past error and to how it was no accident but a much needed event although you missed it?
During Mercury Retrograde we attempt to go against nature's currents because we are totally out of sync with the energies. Accidents are plenty and in various forms. The biggest tip I offer those around me sleep more, get plenty of rest, slow down, do less, your past is trying to catch up with you to help you see it in a whole new light.
A client of mine has been having a very challenging retrograde time. He has locked his keys in his car at least 3 times now, had near miss car wrecks, car skids and other challenges as he is currently separated from his fresh new wife that he's been married to for less than a year. Much is coming up for the both of them as I observe that they each handle this separation in slightly different ways with 'Fear' as the common factor. Is this retrograde a blessing in disguise for them to see what they could not see in the brief time they've been together with so much quarrels and fights? Will they see that they have worked on the material aspect of their relationship - first their physical meeting and the sudden marriage proposal, an elaborate wedding, the purchase of a new home, the arrival of new baby, new jobs, quitting an old one and a new life together - all under a year, leaving the spirit of their relationship and themselves to suffer? Did they sacrifice the emotional and spiritual - non-material - aspect of their relationship for that which can crumble and fall?
We are all about to get our report cards on how well we did with this Mercury Retrograde period from which we are now emerging. Mercury goes direct tomorrow but the ripple effects last a few days after.
Mercury entered Sagittarius on November 2. Sagittarius correlates with your basic beliefs. That means your philosophy of life, but also your fundamental explanation of “what is going on” in your life. You have been invited, since Mercury turned Retrograde on November 24th, to reflect upon errors and bad assumptions in your understanding. No one likes to do this - and Sagittarius is linked to the universal human desire to be “right!” Yet you have been afforded a chance to reflect on your mistaken attitudes and to weed out beliefs that will make a monkey of you if refuse to see them.
On December 13, Mercury goes Direct. You will be plunging ahead, unfettered. Wisely? Stupidly? Thinking you are bullet-proof? Believing you are right about everything? Setting yourself up to say “oops” in a few weeks? Or will you have have used this Retrograde Sagittarian Mercury period to sort out facts and truth from errors and comforting lies? Were you patient, humble, and reflective - or did you light the fuse on a firecracker in your back pocket?
From January 8 through 27, Mercury is passing through Capricorn, a sign that is linked to commitments and “getting real.” This is the “grown-up world,” and it will up the ante. Will you actually buy that sports car that will only make you miserable - and your chiropractor happy? Or will you harvest the sweet fruits of patience and reflection.
To use Mercury Retrograde periods to sort ourselves out is the aim. Exactly what we are sorting out we can deduce from knowing the sign in which Mercury is moving. (If you are an astrologer, it helps to know the House through which Mercury is passing, and the aspects it is making too). In this case, the sign was Sagittarius, so the errors were tied into our beliefs.
Next Retrograde period. Mercury will make its Station in Aries on March 12, 2012, but then Retrograde back into Pisces on March 23rd, turning Direct there on April 4th. You may, for example, be given a chance to reflect on the right (or wrong) balance between aggression (Aries) and surrender (Pisces). And by fighting that war in your head, you may avoid fighting it in the world.
Mercury’s retrograde periods give us a chance to weed out our thoughts, to go back over our assumptions, to filter out mistakes and rationalizations. If we use it that way, it can be a precious, productive period.
** Excerpts from Your Mercury Retrograde Report Card by Steven Forrest
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