Mercury Retrograde

As a baby boomer, I grew up with more than a passing awareness of astrology. I know my sign (Taurus); I know the basic characteristics associated with the 12 astrological signs. I've even had my chart read -- more than once.

Overall, I'm not much of a follower of astrology. I can't say that I even read my horoscope with any regularity. But there is one astrological phenomenon I track: Mercury Retrograde.

Mercury Retrograde occurs about three times a year, for a period of about three weeks. It marks a time when the planet Mercury appears to be moving backwards in its orbit in the night sky. In truth, it's an illusion. But this occurrence is said to wreck havoc with communications between human beings, whether face to face conversations, contracts, correspondence and the devices we use to communicate with each other.

Here's more on the phenomenon, as described on the website About.com:

What happens during Mercury Retrograde?:

Since Mercury rules communication, it's said that everything goes haywire in that area -- emails get deleted or bounced back, mail is returned, calls go out into the ethers, etc. Some people find that their computers go on the fritz or phone lines go down. I've never seen the hard data on this, so make your own observations. It does seem though that miscommunications abound during the retrograde period.

A Time-Out:

Mercury retrograde gives us time to catch up with ourselves, and to look back. Something from the past might return in a different form. This can mean people, ideas or buried insights that need to surface for you to move forward. Often it's felt as a contemplative time, depending on the sign, a chance to go over old ground again, to claim what you missed the first time.

Be Non-Committal:

There's a long-held belief that it's best to avoid making set plans during the Mercury Retrograde. This means being cautious about things like signing contracts, and forming partnerships and corporations. What gets put in writing at this time may turn out to need serious revising after Mercury goes direct. But since tying up loose ends is the domain of retrograde, this type of finalization might fly.

Can you repeat that?:

In our relationships, sometimes we gloss over things that pushed buttons at the time, but which we let slide. What seemed not worth the trouble may reveal itself as a major issue in need of our attention. The Mercury retrograde is a time for review, when the underlying patterns come to light.

Back to the Drawing Board:

Some dreams and goals get lost in the hectic rushing around of daily life. The Mercury Retrograde period can be a rich time of reflection on those longings. This makes it a time for the soul to ponder its destiny. You might look over old journals, review your creative work, muse on serendipities of the past that have pointed you toward your spirit's calling. It can make the retrograde period a time of solidifying a sense of your personal story and where you're headed.

One potent example of the possible power of Mercury Retrograde: the fractious 2000 presidential election happened during a Retrograde period.

The current Retrograde period started Monday, September 7, and lasts through September 29. The Retrograde effect is said to extend at least a week beyond its official start and finish.

I marked the beginning of the current Retrograde period with the repeated failure of a home computer. It's an older machine, but it's been pretty reliable and provides backup for the laptops in our network. Starting in August, this computer divorced itself from the Internet, defeated almost every repair attempt whether by telephone instruction or professional on site repair, and required a complete re-installation of its operating system. We have spent hours trying to restore this machine to connectivity. I gave it all I had in an effort to avoid buying a new machine.

After another three hours of online chat last night, I think we're back in business.

So I'm convinced that Mercury Retrograde is front and center right now. And I'm also trying to remember the opportunities that it can offer. A review of the About.com entry above highlights the idea that tangled communications may force us to focus on problems that we have been glossing over; things that need more attention. The additional effort could leave us in a better place than we were before.

In other words, Mercury Retrograde may provide the perfect opportunity for reflection.