The Backwards Planets - Mercury in Retrograde


In our solar system, we periodically have planets that as they are orbiting around the sun and around us, look as if they are going backward. They are not going backward. They are speeding up and slowing down and crossing other planet’s orbits making them look as if they are going in retrograde, or going backward. I am sure that those of you who follow astrology have heard of these events, and most specifically of Mercury going in retrograde. Mercury appears to go backward about three times in a calendar year, and each time is lasting three weeks before speeding up and looking as if it is now going forward.
As with all the planets, Mercury can be seen as an archetype and one that is about how our minds work, what we think about, how we think, how fast or slow our minds go, whether or not we can control our minds, and how we perceive others, events, etc. Mercury is a messenger. Where and how Mercury is in your chart depicts these aspects in yourselves. In other words, are you a slower perceiver? Do you take some time to think about things and feel them and find your words, and even think more in images than in words? Or do you have a very quick mind, quick to perceive and to find your words and to respond to others and situations? Or do you find yourself not thinking so much and trying to fill yourself up with so much activity that you don’t have to think?  Do you love to write and talk and teach and learn, or do you like instead to go inside yourself and meditate and swim and do yoga? Does your mind control you with lots of negative talks or not knowing how to shut up and stop talking?
These are just a few examples of how Mercury, the celestial messenger can show up for you in yourself and your life. When Mercury goes retrograde, it is not so much of a negative period of time as it is a time to, maybe, slow down, listen to your thoughts, take more time to just sit, or to write, or to learn something new, or to see something with fresh eyes and a new perspective, and so on. In the outer world you may find that in these periods of times your computer needs work or got a virus, or your travel plans fell through, or different systems in your house suddenly need work, or you just can’t find the right words to communicate something important to a friend, or you don’t realize that you said something that contradicted yourself or that just didn’t make sense.
It is a period where we need to slow down and think before we speak, for example. Where Mercury is in your chart by your birth placement or by where it is transiting in your chart now and how that moving planet has a relationship with other planets by birth and by progressing, shows us where and how it is time for us to learn more about how to be the best messenger for ourselves as well as to others. How can we look at and make sense of our thoughts and our perspectives so that we can better listen to all of who we are? Where might we have some blind spots that keep us from understanding something in us or others? How best can we find peace between different parts of us much fewer than others? This is our work, and it is such timely work at a time in the world where so many of us feel such differences from each other and so little acceptance of others with different viewpoints. It is time for us to heal our inner rifts so we can be more whole in this world. From this perspective, Mercury in retrograde in a great time to slow down and do this important work before life and we start to speed up again.
Here is to our continued learning and to understanding Mercury in our selves. To book a reading with me, check out my website, www.bodypresencing.com, and email at gail@bodypresencing.com or call me on 314-995-9755.

My soothing words of wisdom is about what you're marching towards in life:


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