Enough with the Mercury Retrograde Hysteria!

©4-18-2010 by Donna Cunningham, MSW

 Okay, so Mercury just turned retrograde.  I can live with that, and so can you.  It’s neither a bad thing or a good thing, it’s just what is.  Take the necessary precautions and you’ll be fine—just as you’d be wise to carry an umbrella when the weather report predicts heavy rainfall.  And use Mercury retrograde in its helpful applications—you’ll see below what they are.

But for drama queens and kings, it’s one more thing to stir up some excitement. Apparently one astrologer wrote that Mercury retrograde was the reason for the volcanic eruptions in Iceland.   Puhleeze!!

PS. Helpful hint: If anyone tells you that Mercury is IN retrograde, feel free to ignore their advice.  They clearly don’t know Jack about astrology, or they’d say that Mercury is retrograde.

Here’s an excerpt about this transit from my ebook, Astrological Analysis:       

Pop astrology has created entirely too much hysteria about Mercury retrograde. I’ve had endless phone calls from clients and prospective clients hyperventilating over the fact that Mercury was about to turn retrograde.

We are told to sign nothing, buy nothing, make no major purchases, and to expect cancellations, missed appointments, bank errors, and being stood up on social engagements. We are given reams of anecdotes and horror stories to back up this taboo.

And yet, vast numbers of people buy cars, begin jobs, get married, and buy homes while Mercury is retrograde without experiencing any difficulty whatsoever. The world simply cannot come to a screeching halt for the three or four periods a year that Mercury is retrograde for three weeks at a stretch. Imagine the impact on the economy if it did!

Why, then, do so many followers of astrology find these periods troublesome? By well-known metaphysical principles, the power of belief can cause followers of astrology to manifest more Mercury retrograde difficulties than in the general population. By repeated negative suggestion, we can talk ourselves into making major blunders during this time, because we “know” they’re going to happen.

Self-Fulfilling Prophecies Revisited

It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, and when the inevitable snafus of daily living do occur, devotees of astrology say, “I told you so,” reinforcing the belief.

It has also become a convenient excuse for sloppy thinking or incompetence, as well as a socially acceptable reason for not showing up for commitments. Then too, it’s more dramatic to blame your mental vagaries on the stars than to confess that you’ve had a senior moment!

It would be interesting to conduct a research project in which a roomful of people who are interested in astrology but who are not astrology students are told that Mercury is retrograde. After a description of the pitfalls ascribed to it, they are asked to write down examples of how it has been operating in their lives over the past week or two.

The only thing is, the experiment would be conducted at a time when Mercury was not retrograde at all, but direct and clipping right along. I’m willing to bet that, by power of suggestion, nearly every person in that room would come up several juicy textbook examples of Mercury retrograde situations.

 Sensible Precautions to Take When Mercury is Retrograde

That’s not to say that there’s nothing to it…there are things I simply could not be induced to do in those periods, like buy software or communications equipment. I’m cautious to check important messages and appointments and back up computer files. I double check all astrological data for my clients and advice columns and add all totals twice where money is concerned. I certainly would never send it my income tax form then.

 I back up important computer files before the retrograde starts and continue backing them up regularly. It is a good idea to do backups periodically anyway, but the impending event of Mercury going retrograde prompts me to tackle the job. (Whatever works!)

So what is Mercury retrograde good for? It’s a good time for revising and updating your procedures, mailing lists, and other systems, because during the retrograde, you tend to go over things from the past and find the glitches or dead wood.

Sort out old files, catch up on correspondence, finish that backlog of paperwork, compile those tedious statistics the boss insists on every few months, get back in touch with associates and clients, and catch details that have fallen through the cracks.

Reconcile your bank statements, adding all the figures twice for good measure. Deal with those stacks of mail and credit card receipts. Go through that pile of magazines, newspapers, or journals that has accumulated, remove the articles you need to keep, and recycle the rest. You get the picture.

Why Each Mercury Retrograde Period is Different

 Those of you who are more advanced in your studies may be interested to know that not all Mercury retrograde spans are alike. Some are smooth, passing with hardly a ripple if one uses sensible precautions. Others are real bears, with nothing running smoothly, an epidemic of computer crashes, and great difficulty in getting paperwork finished or ironing out agreements.

In my observation, Mercury’s retrograde motion is not the deciding factor, but rather the aspects Mercury forms to other planets around the time it is stationary turning retrograde. From around the time it turns retrograde to the time it turns direct, it moves fairly slowly, so any difficult aspects Mercury forms will be in effect continuously for about three weeks.

With all the serious issues facing us during the various transiting outer planet aspects in effect now, we’d do well to take a long, hard look at potential consequences of our actions.  This transit is PERFECT and reflects the wisdom and perfection of timing of the Universe.

This has been an excerpt from Donna Cunningham’s ebook, Astrological Analysis, published by MoonMavenPublications.com, for $15.  Order a copy here: moonmavenpublications.com

More Mercury Retrograde Articles on Skywriter:

• Why  Mercury Retrograde is a Good Thing–Its Helpful Uses
• Readers’ Comments and Questions on Mercury Retrograde
• Mercury’s Pre-retrograde Shadow and Post-retrograde Shadow Periods
• Obama’s  Flubbed Oath–Perfect Mercury Retrograde Story?

More Excerpts from Donna’s Books:

•  Full Houses vs. Empty Houses in your Chart—What to Expect
• Career Differences between the 10th, 2nd, and 6th House
• Four Kinds of Smart–Which One Are You?
• Donna Cunningham Introduces The Stellium Tool Kit
• English for Astrologers–No Astrobabble Please
• Hyperactive Jupiter Syndrome—The Down Side of an Upbeat Planet
• Getting a Grip on Saturn-Neptune Aspects
• Mars Mission 2: Anger—the Guard Dog of Denial

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