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Rethinking Your Present Direction By Rebecca Brents |
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Rethinking Your Present Direction By Rebecca Brents |
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When Mercury is retrograde (Mercury Rx -- in shorthand), it is a time of rethinking, refocusing and recommunicating. Metaphorically, Mercury represents your use of intellectual energy; your mental focus; your involvement with the assets of your conscious mind; your ability to read, write, study, talk, absorb data and learn new things; your skills at communicating your viewpoints and ideas with others, your use of knowledge and your own mind's individual perspective; and your ability to "be mobile," to move around, both physically and intellectually.
When it goes Rx, all these things "back up" to be reconsidered, redone, re-directed, expanded and utilized differently. You'll find yourself re-thinking choices, absorbing new information, considering alternatives you've not thought of before, finding new and better approaches to problems and goals, and focusing your thoughts more 'inwardly" than usual.
Mercury Rx, for all its aggravations – and those can be substantial, is a way of "thinking better by thinking differently" . . . and breaking out of tunnel-vision into more creative and workable possibilities. In fact, that's one of the better features of this pesky little phenomenon. It also symbolizes other experiences that are not nearly so charming.
Mercury "goes retrograde" two or three times a year and remains so for about three and a half weeks at a time. It goes retrograde more often than any other planet, but remains that way for a shorter duration . . . than any other planet. Theoretically, I suppose it sort of balances out. In real life, it doesn't often seem that way.
As with all retrograde symbolism, the emphasis is on the "re . . ." -- doing something over, doing something again, doing something differently, doing something else. I started out saying that as a planetary energy, Mercury represents intellectual processes, logical and analytical thinking, communications issues, information and data gathering activities, conversation, all "linguistic exchanges" -- whether written or verbal, and travel.
When Mercury is Rx, these activities tend to become snarled and problematic. Decisions that are pending when Mercury goes Rx are very often reworked, "re-thought," re-defined, and re-considered when the retrograde energy is in effect. Complications arise; misunderstandings and miscommunications occur. Unforeseen problems present themselves and have to be "handled" somehow. One may experience a "reversal of opinion," or re-evaluate issues that previously seemed more clear-cut or settled. The time of Mercury Rx can seem aggravating, confusing, disjointed, "stagnant" and frustrating.
On a mundane level, information is not heard or understood correctly; messages go undelivered -- or get mis-routed; mail and other items gets "lost" more easily; people are late for appointments -- or forget about them entirely; phone calls may not reach the "right person" the first time -- or the second -- or the third. Transportation problems frequently occur. Your car may suddenly need attention or repair; traffic jams and a lack of parking spaces are more aggravating and inopportune. All things having to do with information, communication, thinking, movement, and travel entail an unusual amount of difficulty.
And as might be expected, when Mercury "goes direct" again things will begin to straighten themselves out, but decisions made in the previous 3 weeks will be changed or reversed, plans that were made will go awry and have to be re-scheduled, misunderstandings will become apparent and require clarification, "lost" items will finally find their proper destination.
There does, in reality, seem to be about a week's worth of lag time to get all this debris cleared away after Mercury Rx goes direct -- and life gets to go on again until the next little speed bump in Mercury's orbit jumbles things up once more. But for practical reasons, it might be wise to keep these things in mind during this time period, in the hope that forewarned is forearmed -- because Mercury Rx throws sand in the gears of everyone's best laid plans.
Important decisions should be "reconsidered" but not finalized when Mercury is Rx. Be ready to take in new information, view new perspectives, consider heretofore unforeseen complications, handle misunderstandings or incomplete data. (Above all -- expect things to take longer than you originally thought !!! ) Keep an open mind -- and keep your options open as much as you possibly can. YOU, TOO, may not have all the information you need to make a proper choice, and YOU TOO may not understand the situation correctly -- yet. You may make adjustments in your plans -- perhaps significant ones -- after Mercury goes direct.
Travel plans that bridge such a period should be re-confirmed both before and after the Rx period -- because things have a way of disappearing mysteriously off computer screens during a time of retrograde -- and you stand a fair chance of showing up at the airport or hotel to find your much-anticipated reservations are "missing in action."
The same hold true for reconfirming important appointments and other plans. This is especially important DURING the time of Mercury Rx. People will write down the appointment on the wrong day of their calendar. Messages will not be properly forwarded. Files get lost. Data doesn't arrive on time. Signatures are missing. People are "unavoidably delayed" . . . and meetings have to be cancelled -- often with no warning. Transportation problems are epidemic -- so give yourself some extra time. People will "miss each other" . . . often by minutes or even seconds, but, as they say, a miss is as good as a mile.
Contracts negotiated and / or signed under Mercury Rx inevitably contain glitches and problems -- and almost always have to be reworked later, sometimes to the point of being nullified and done over completely. The same holds true with all other promises and agreements. People "change their minds" . . . and formal contracts, to say nothing, of casual understandings . . . fall apart.
Purchases made under Mercury Rx often turn out to be unsatisfactory for some reason -- and the more major the purchase, the greater the inconvenience later. For obvious reasons . . . don't buy communications equipment when Mercury is Rx -- computers, telephones, fax machines, printers all fall in this category.
Also never buy a new car or other transportation when Mercury is Rx. There is a real good chance it will cause you nothing but grief -- and you will wind up re-doing . . . or at least RE-gretting your decision.
For the same reasons, NEVER get married when Mercury is Rx. (Give yourself a chance to think it over "one last time.")
Forgetfulness, delays and lack of preparation can become positively overwhelming during these three to four weeks. So plan them into your life. Don't take anything for granted -- if there is communication or travel of any kind involved. Don't assume all is well on any matter of significance to you. Re- confirm. "Get it in writing." Follow up. Be persistent. (Be a pest if that's what it takes . . . and the matter is important enough to you.)
Err on the side of conservatism and caution. Be safe instead of sorry whenever possible. DO take care of auto repairs that present themselves ASAP. That "funny noise" that suddenly appears is not going to go away, but instead could leave you stranded under very inopportune conditions.
Mercury Rx is not actually God's little joke on the human race -- although it can often seem so when you are caught in the middle of it. It is an important time of rethinking, reconsidering, refocusing, turning intellectual and mental energy inward instead of directing it outward in its more usual fashion. Your ability to use it in this way keeps you more in flow with the natural direction of the universe -- but yes, the real results of this "re-direction" can be everything from mildly annoying to positively infuriating.
When Mercury retrogrades, a certain specific area of your chart – as the symbolic representation of your life – undergoes all this re-formulating energy, and benefits in the end from a truly valuable intellectual renewal. If you know where this happening is in your natal chart, you can not only watch the results as they occur . . . you can appreciate the construction that's underway . . . and maybe even arrange to help it along.
That is, indeed, the best use to make of this time when greater self-awareness, introspection, pondering, contemplating, meditating and even praying are legitimate and helpful responses to what is taking place – all over the world.
Mercury will go retrograde again on July 12, 1999 in Leo. There will be updated material attached to this article then detailing how this event is impacting each of the various signs. Watch for the notification of this posting in the Enchanted Spirit Newsletter. If you haven't yet subscribed, why not do so now? We'd love to hear from you and have you join.
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Sandia Park • NM • 87047 |
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