Once again, Mercury will begin his second to last retrograde term for the year on September 6th, and will return to direct motion on September 29th. This gives us the better part of September to make use of the opportunities such an event offers us.
While I realize that I have touched on discussing the energies of Mercury in retrograde motion in past articles, this is such an important subject that I feel inspired to once again remind everyone of the benefits and opportunities such an event provides.
This more or less appears to be necessary in my experience. Judging by the fact that whenever I mention “Oh by the way, Mercury will be retrograde this month beginning on such and such a day…” I most often hear a collective groan; it’s likely that I haven’t quite succeeded in convincing you that this period in Mercury’s movement is actually a benefit to us. It seems that whenever Mercury goes retrograde, this little guy gets blamed for everything that goes wrong in our lives. Anything from crazy drivers, lost mail, computer crashes and failed conversations prompt people to ask me, “Any chance Mercury’s retrograde right now?” Of course, 9 times out of 10 he is, but that’s beside the point.
The cool thing about Mercury going retrograde is that he’s actually asking us, “Where are you stuck in your life right now, and what do you need to do to unstick yourself?” This is valuable stuff here, since many of us tend to wear ourselves into a deep rut at some time or another through useless repetition, be it mental or physical, and not even realize it. It is through the energies of Mercury in retrograde motion that we get an intellectual “breather” where our typical mental focus is shifted enough to allow room for alternatives. Mercury is a creator god, after all, and this period of time helps us all to create new spaces in our minds, which in turn help us to create new beginnings in our ideas, our work and our relationships. Of course, this only happens when we work with these energies, allowing them to inspire us, instead of working against them by engaging in fear-based behavior.
In essence, “unsticking” ourselves.
I’ve recently read a quote from the book The Gods in Everyman by Jean Bolen that the elemental metal Mercury only adheres itself to precious metals. I find that fascinating. So in essence, the energies of the planet Mercury can inspire our movement toward creating golden, or even platinum opportunities for ourselves. Sounds good to me!
And so the key here is to remain flexible in our everyday routine; be it business transactions, commuting back and forth to work or school, writing, and all forms of communications and thought processes in general. Understand that when Mercury is retrograde, these areas of our lives may seem a bit cockeyed and bumpier than usual, or even vacant for that matter, and remain calm. Breathe. Stay flexible. Implement your contingency plans.
Oh! Did I forget to mention contingency plans? My bad, since this is essential: Always have a contingency plan to back you up. In cases of Mercury retrograde, have more than one. Get the numbers of coworkers who live near you, just in case your car decides to take the day off when your presentation is scheduled first thing in the morning. Back up all your computer work on more than one storage device, in the event your laptop gets a little wacky and wants to evict your hard drive. Develop communication strategies with those you converse with regularly, such as coming up with a key word that signals the other person that it’s time to take your respective corners and process for a bit when things get heated.
One couple I have heard of uses a code word significant to both of them for this purpose. Apparently they used to fight about how much time the husband watched football while the wife wanted him for other activities. They eventually realized that fighting about this particular subject was useless, since there was no way in heaven or on earth she was ever going to convince him to give up watching his favorite sport. Now, whenever a conversation has neared the red zone, one of them shouts out “Football!” and the other knows that they’ve gone too far, or that the disagreement has reached an impasse.
Not to say that the above things will happen, just that they could and it’s good to be prepared.
So, do you feel better about the encroaching Mercury retrograde? Perhaps the word “encroaching” is a bit too ominous here. Sorry, my mischievous slip is showing. Let’s use the word “approaching” instead.
The approaching Mercury retrograde is a vital opportunity to refresh ourselves mentally. To find the stillness within that allows for new ideas to take form. In what way can you best utilize this opportunity in your life experience at this time? Wouldn’t it be great to find out?
Yes.
Just breathe. Allow. Receive.
Namaste.
