Mercury Retrograde

The good, the bad, the ugly.

Part of applied astrology is knowing when the planets incline to more fortuitous events. When’s a good time, when’s a better time, and when’s a bad time? One of my close associates whines, moans, and raises a stink when Mercury goes in apparent retrograde motion.

Mercury in retrograde is a natural cycle. Imagine, this action is like a car, passing you on the left side, maybe just a few miles faster, and to you, it looks like you’re moving backwards. Both cars are moving forward, but the image is one of you moving backwards. That’s the astronomical illusion that goes Mercury in Retrograde. Effectively dealing with the littlest planet’s trickery?

I wrote a short primer about it, not quite a novel, more like an astrological chapbook.  An electronic copy of the book is available at www.astrofish.net/mrx. It includes a decade of dates when Mercury is in its retrograde pattern, plus the signs and significance.

In short, just a few, quick and easy pointers? Imagine, like the word, Retrograde? RE. Any action that has those letters in front of it, review, renew, revise, rework. Not new action, but rewinding a previous action.

As a working artist, and one whose sign is mortally afflicted by Mercury in Retrograde? I took a lesson from my sister, a Gemini. As a working artist, she found my suggestions useful, as the mercurial time was rich with artistic inspiration. Not always the best material in final form, but fecund and ready, ripening over the next few months.

Part of the review process yields new combinations to old material. When possible, my standard warnings include watching, perhaps delaying the big-ticket purchases, or high-dollar electronics, particularly computers and related hardware. I prefer not to initiate real estate transactions when the little planet is apparently backwards, too. In my regular practice, I advise against new transactions under this astrological influence.

However, and I can’t emphasize this enough, it’s not a “bad” time. I understand that some people in my line of work depend on fear, uncertainty, and doubt as ways to coerce clients in a particular direction. Over the years, I’ve discovered that I prefer to look for positive outlets. Besides the notion of putting the letters RE in front of every action for three weeks at a time, that can wear a body out.

While I tend to be all electric, during this time, I carry a pen, a pencil, and notebook — maybe a sketchbook, or two.

These tools work well for capturing fleeting ideas that would otherwise escape. More than any other time, this is good for brainstorming, looking for answers to questions maybe no one has bothered to ask yet.

There’s a particularly clever and witty essence to this time, used properly. After all, isn’t applied astrology as much about effective timing, as anything?