Three or four times a year, everyone who knows something about astrology goes through a ritual called Mercury retrograde. Everyone who doesn't know about astrology gets to have the experience, not sure what it is though, perhaps suspecting that something weird is going on.
We are now approaching the first of four Mercury retrogrades spanning between early February 2014 and early February 2015. The upcoming retrograde begins February 6 with Mercury in Pisces and ends on February 28 with Mercury in Aquarius. What I call the echo phase, and what other astrologers call the shadow phase, began January 22. The after-retrograde shadow phase begins when Mercury stations direct and runs through March 20.
Typically, the retrograde itself lasts three weeks, but the whole process—wherein Mercury is dancing around the same approximately 15 degrees of the zodiac—lasts for two months. Hence, while Mercury is retrograde just 19 percent of the time, the retrograde effect can be felt about half the time. It's the most concentrated around the days when Mercury changes direction.
Associated with lost keys, late or lost payments, disk drive failures, and communication mishaps, Mercury retrograde does not have a very good reputation. Yet some people love it—if you're the creative type, if you have a slightly tweaky mind, or if you like the feeling of swimming against the current, you might be one of the people who looks forward to Mercury retrograde with glee.
Thanks to the Internet, more people than ever know about Mercury retrograde. The idea is now lodged in popular consciousness as what's likely the most familiar technical astrological concept. I just searched Google and got 405,000 results for Mercury retrograde.
Personally, I didn't hear about it online. At my first journalism job I worked for the Echoes-Sentinel, a gritty weekly newspaper in New Jersey. Flo Higgins, my first editor as a professional writer, happened to be an astrologer. She was about 65 years old with long white hair and a fiery point of view, who had probably read the chart of everyone for 100 miles around.
The paper was part of a newspaper chain, the Recorder Publishing Co. Nobody believed in astrology, but we knew better when it came to Mercury retrograde.
Flo could, and regularly did, terrify the entire company with this one, sending the vibrations throughout the central New Jersey countryside, even getting the stunned attention of nerdy newspaper reporters trained not to believe anything.
Mercury meant everything was about to go wrong. Flo was so convincing that even Jim, who ran the production facility and could take apart and reassemble a printing press blindfolded, had a paragraph taped to his office door, copied from Debbi Kempton-Smith's infamous Secret's From a Stargazer's Notebook, warning everyone who visited: Don't Sign, Don't Buy: Mercury is Retrograde.
This was my introduction to astrology, the first paragraph of an astrology text I ever read. Soon, newcomers to Echoland took it for granted that the Full Moon had something do with how the mayor was acting, and when the production facility smelled like electrical smoke, it was clearly because Mercury was retrograde.
But what is this event really about? And how does it work?
Let's start with Mercury, the planet. This fleeting little world, the one closest to the Sun, is associated with the mind, with ideas and with communication. Mercury is the messenger of the gods, and also the trickster. It's associated with Gemini and Virgo.
In modern astrology, Mercury picks up many of its ancient associations—for example, the messenger function translates to mail and telegraph. It's associated with communication of all kinds: communication devices, computing devices, commerce and the flow of money (rather than acquiring wealth—that seems to be more about Mars). Surrounded as we are by all of these devices, and nonstop messaging, and by financial instruments (such as debit cards) that are morphed with communication devices (such as the world wide web), we have given Mercury a lot of power in our lives.
Hence, Mercury retrograde is probably more powerful than it ever was. We swim in an ocean of things ruled by Mercury. Our consciousness is fully immersed in them; in many ways, so is our identity. With the advent of handheld devices that go on the Internet, this seems to transcend economic barriers now more than ever.
In English the word mercurial means "sprightly, volatile, quick," associated with the speed with which the planet Mercury moves, and how fast and how frequently it seems to change directions (that is the retrograde). It can have a sharp wit and seem smarter than you—Bob Dylan has been described as mercurial and he's also a Gemini, one sign that Mercury rules.
Mercury is the Roman incarnation of the Greek god Hermes, and analogues of this figure show up throughout Western mythology. In Norse mythology, he gets the role as presiding officer of the gods rather than as messenger—though of course that supposed role as messenger is a disguise for a much more significant function.
In Egyptian mythology he is the mighty Thoth, who was nobody's messenger, or fool; he was responsible for the development of writing and science, maintained the state of the universe, and assisted with the judgment of the dead. Picking up on the ambivalence theme, Thoth was a mediator between good and evil, making sure that neither had a decisive victory in an ongoing struggle that continues to this day.
There's also an association to the element mercury, or quicksilver, the only metal that is a liquid at room temperature. Mercury's androgynous and liquid quality hints at a certain ambivalence. The old atrsology books describe the planet's nature as neither male nor female. Between metrosexuality and the LGBTQ movement, we have some clues that gender roles and relationships are coming under the increasing influence of Mercury.
It's interesting that mercury the metal is a persistent environmental contaminant, and one that is known to interact with and disrupt the normal action of sex hormones. The element mercury is known to artificially induce androgyny.
Iron, Not Quicksilver: From Astronomy to Psychology
Mercury retrograde happens when the planet Mercury passes between the Earth and the Sun. Because Mercury's orbit is about 84 days, this happens three times a year. While the retrogrades typically last about 22 days, there is a margin on either side of two to three weeks where the influences can be felt—I will get to that in the last section.
Mercury is not made of mercury. It has a huge core with a very high density, leading astronomers to believe that it's made mostly of iron. In fact Mercury is believed to have the highest iron content of any planet in the Solar System.
This is all another way of saying Mercury retrograde means a huge magnet passes between the Earth and the Sun, making its closest pass to our planet at the same time. This may explain why devices act weird, but I think that it also helps explain why the mind gets wonky, tends to lose things, or perceives problems as being worse than they are—the nervous system runs on electricity. The mind is a device that is, at least on the physical plane, rooted in electricity and magnetism.
In my view, the effects of the retrograde are evenly distributed between a perceptual event and one in the world outside the mind. The combined interaction is powerful, the more so for not being easily discernible either as reality or illusion.
With the space remaining, I will pass along, in summary form, some of what I have learned about Mercury retrograde. I don't mean what I have learned from books—I mean what I have observed tracking, experimenting with and doing consulting about every Mercury retrograde since 1994, and some going back to 1987.
I agree with don't sign, don't buy. That is, when you can avoid doing so. I have experimented with making purchases during or near Mercury retrogrades. Most of the time, it turns out that I don't need or don't use what I purchased. Sometimes it does not work, works strangely or does not do what I intended it to do. So I divide my life into times when I buy things and times when I don't. I will generally make major purchases with Mercury direct and out of echo phase. There are rare exceptions, but not so many. If you buy something during a retrograde, try not to be too attached to it, or expect a break-in period, while you work out the bugs. Really, most things can wait a week or two or three. If they cannot wait, be extra conscious, keep your paperwork, and make sure there is a good return policy.
As for contracts, it's not always possible to determine when you sign your lease or make the deposit, but I have been known to make landlords wait for weeks before even leaving a deposit. (Hi Stefan!) Plan ahead and use what flexibility you have. It's worth finagling this when you can. The operative events are the first payment and the signature on the contract. The problem if you sign with Mercury retrograde, or about to retrograde, is that something is likely to reverse itself. Or, you will learn something you wish you had known sooner. Which leads to my second point.
The truth comes out when Mercury stations, either retrograde or direct. Mercury has a way of shaking out information, especially right as it stations. You can count on this. If you're working on a mystery, or a riddle, or an investigation, or research, or trying to solve any mental puzzle, keep it going till the next Mercury station retrograde. Just to be sure, wait for the second batch of information just as Mercury stations direct. This is one reason you want to wait before signing or buying.
If communication is missed, don't assume you're being ignored. Many people shoot off one e-mail and expect a reply. With spam filters, busy people processing hundreds of emails a day and odd errors like e-mails not arriving, it's better to give people the benefit of the doubt. Give people a day or two to respond, and if they don't, send over a friendly one-liner to the effect of, "Hey I emailed you, just want to make sure you saw it."
If communication gets dicey, pick up the phone. We are getting better at communicating online, but still, it can be difficult to relay feelings or basic concepts, especially with Mercury retrograde. The moment things get weird, pick up the phone and clarify—before things get out of control or real misunderstandings happen.
Resolve the past, plan the future. I have found that the best use for Mercury retrograde is to tidy up what you've left unresolved in the past. Clean your desk, organize your stuff, contact old friends, and go through your e-mail and see if you missed anything important. While you're at it, collect your ideas and figure out what you're going to do next. Plot and scheme. Use the various qualities of the retrograde to refine your plan over time, then plan a launch sometime after the station direct.
It may not be broke—don't fix it so fast. One phenomenon I've noticed during Mercury retrograde is that things seem like they're broken or malfunctioning but aren't really. Or, the problem is not as bad as you think. Therefore, before tearing everything apart, or spending a lot of money, or sending anything back to the factory, troubleshoot carefully and try simple solutions. Look for workarounds. The issue I'm suggesting you avoid is solving a problem that doesn't exist, or worse, making a bigger problem than you thought you had.
Always remember that Mercury is the trickster. That means he, she, or it can be tricky, and you need to use your mind—not have your mind be tricked. Mercury is a kind of a game. Be a good sportsman and keep your sense of humor.
