Surviving Mercury Retrograde

I used to despise seeing these rotations come around. Absolutely ineffibly despised them. It seemed that if there were a computer bug, glitch, or otherwise unpleasant electronic event it would likely occur during this period. Lucky us we have four such periods in 2010, one of which is about two days away from ending. Usually the effects start hitting during the first 72 hours and steadily increase until you go to work and nothing works, absolutely nothing. People are bickering over nothing... and usually over old ills instead of new ones.

I suppose as a metaphysicist I should have more respect for the universal purpose of this retrograde cycle, of course for me that means dissecting it until it makes appropriate sense to me. I don't accept anything blindly and while I still use appropriate caution during these points in the year, I usually move through them the same way I move through everything else. The key is to understand Mercury and its namesake and also to understand the effects that each sign has on Mercury as it begins and cycles through this period. This month it begins and ends in Taurus. It will likely leave a few people feeling unbalanced as if their brains went on vacation. It's nothing that a little extra grounding and centering won't fix.

Personally I choose this time to reflect upon past endeavors and see which areas of my life need the most work and which ones do not, and more importantly I tend to reflect upon the need to not repeat the same patterns. That is in effect the purpose of this planetary retrograde. It serves to remind us that our highest communication has to be with ourselves first and foremost and then with others. This is a good time to begin a past project that ended up stuck in a box for later. I've found that I tend to start making such reviews several weeks in advance and making decisions within a week or two of the actual retrograde cycle. Keep in mind that the usual take on these periods is that Mercury retro is just not a good time to begin a new project...with emphasis on the word new. It is however the perfect time to pick up old ones. Just as Mercury has a retrograde cycle that repeats itself with the same signs and orbits we also have these periods of "redo' when we are able to go back and correct things or review them and settle them, if with no one other than ourselves.

If someone takes this perspective, Mercury retrograde periods can be an amazing time of self healing and introspection and are far less traumatic. Rather than engage in conversation at work or begin friendships during this period, get in touch with old friends. Purify inside and out. Clean the closets, donate to charities, smudge, practice grounding out old energies and prepare to receive the refreshed ones after this is over with. Instead of making large purchases and major decisions, take this as a time to sit on it.

Other aspects and associations to consider during this period are periods of trade, merchandising, taking life slowly and enjoying it, fertility, work dealing with agriculture (even if it means starting a garden in the back yard), and past life regression.

One of Mercury's duties was not only communication among the living but also between the dead as an escort of the newly demised souls to their awaiting afterlives. This would make this a pivotal point to not necessarily communicate with the deceased, but to honor them. Clean their graves, urns, or lay fresh flowers on their final resting places.

These points can be trying, but it's all in how you take it and how you work it.

Don't stress, it'll just make it more difficult. As always, flow with the energies, not against them.