This Little Light of Mine...

I think everyone knows by now that we are in a Mercury Retrograde period. I have already had several wacky communication related experiences: phones not working, messages not sending etc. etc. Ya gotta laugh at this planet’s ingenuity!

Mercury, as trickster, likes to turn things upside down…and it does so in its own crazy way.

Around three times a year, Mercury begins going backward in the sky.  Or so it seems. It’s actually an illusion… as when the car beside you pulls ahead and you feel like you are going backward. The thing is, astrology was/is based on observation and intuition. There is a marked effect when a planet goes in an (apparently) opposite direction to the one it was moving in. Its energies and effects are reversed and /or turned inward.

If you saw the link I posted a few blogs back, showing the movement of the Sun through our galaxy...  http://youtu.be/A434l6td7d4  .... you can see that nothing moves pn a straight as an arrow path. The Sun actually moves in a spiral (I had no idea). And then all the planets swirl around the Sun…, which is whirling around the Galactic Center. It is very cool. Everything is in movement. …nothing is static.

Robert Wilkinson, over at Aquarius Papers (sidebar) calls Mercury is the ‘cosmic coordinator’ and the ‘Guide of Souls’.

So when there is a Mercury retrograde anything planned or static can and will get shaken up.  Mercurius is an old god and it may be prudent to pay him heed while he skips backward through Virgo and Leo. 

Thing is, despite the usual craziness that Mercury Retrograde brings, its not really about that.

Turns out the planet of communication going backward is about more than the usual mix-ups and miscommunications etc. Ok those will happen to some of us. But what about all the stuff that purrs along nicely, thank you very much. Not everything goes wonky…it's just more likely at this time.

The main point is, Mercury Retrograde is a really time for going back over things, and for going inward. It is a time for inner reflection and correction.  In Virgo last week,  this would have brought up details around work and health issues, and service to others.

 Virgo can be highly critical so maybe old irritations came to the surface. I noticed myself being more critical than usual…of self and others…and have had to tell that picky, picky inner chatter to shut up. Best used to pay old bills and go over unfinished paper work than figure out how every body else should be living their life!! Tend to your own business is good advice under a Virgo retrograde.

Now that Mercury is back in Leo, as it was all last month, issues could again come to the for around our feelings of self worth and our need to be center stage. Any passionate expression… our creativity for example, that has been put to the side and ignored, will push forward for recognition.  What about that song that keeps coming into your head? And weren’t you determined to start journal writing this summer… ? 

 So Mercury in reverse says it’s time to slow down and smell the flowers. Allow some time for reflection into your busy life.  During these remaining summer holidays ...  let Mercury loosen things up enough to play a little. 

And, because it is in Leo…let your light shine. Enjoy your passions… enjoy your friends. Leos are loyal to a fault. Perhaps Mercury’s regression here will bring old friends out of the woodwork or give you a chance to get that painting you did last summer. That’s what I am feeling. My urge to start painting again is getting stronger by the day.

So, despite the sometimes-inconvenient way Mercury can fiddle with our best laid plans…(delayed flights anyone?) if we let go of agendas and go with the flow… we have a chance for reconnection and renewal.

Enjoy the sunshine!

p.s. Just saw the news about violence in London. And there are also uprisings in Israel. Mars newly hitting the Cardinal Grand Cross can get ugly. Read last post.