When the weather is acceptable, and when I'm in my home town of Austin, I like to hike around Town Lake. It's a brief and much needed respite from the hurried pace of beepers, computers, and cellular madness that seems to infect everyday life. And it was on just such a hike that I finally got a grip on what to say about Mercury Retrograde. The mechanics of the picture are simple. Mercury takes about 88 days to go around the Sun. It takes us 365 days to accomplish the same thing. So there are a few times in the year when it looks like Mercury is moving in a manner not consistent with our version of reality. That means, it looks like Mercury is moving backwards.
To be sure, you've seen the bumper sticker, popular a few years ago, something about "Feces Occur." And that's the continuing sentiment about what happens when Mercury goes retrograde. Just what is it, in the sky? Mercury is the planet of cars, computers, commerce and communication. Since the little devil is backwards right now, I'll call it the "3 C's." Makes as much sense.
During my enforced solitude, I was busy watching a pair of hawks cruising overhead. From the hawks, I turned my attention to a raven who was busy calling attention to some event requiring his approbation in his world. Then my mind started to wander into some mythology -- in the southwest, he's called Coyote, the trickster. In the Northwest, he's the Raven. In the old European culture, he's Reynaldo, the Fox. In modern, FGS-style astrology, I'll call it Mercury Retrograde.
What is the job of the Trickster? In this way of looking at it the phenomenon, I would suggest that Mercury dredges up past issues and demands that these issues get equal air time in our brains. One of my more frequent observations is that old lovers usually try to contact me at this time. I don't care to submit the figures, besides, the myth about my behavior is far better than the actual numbers. What this tricky planet does, though, is act like a mirror and bring back past occurrences, one more time, for a chance for some revision and editing.
Imagine a military parade ground. Now imagine the commander, in his best command voice, giving the order to "Pass in Review." That's what Mercury is up to, making us all march, one more time, through the past. It also suggests that this time there is room for improvement. Now here's the problem of this tricky little guy: what you can improve upon might not be the most obvious right now. False starts are quite common at this point. That great idea you hatch right now might just be a great idea, but it isn't what you're really looking for.
Doing the right thing when Mercury is in its "Trickster" mode is to write the idea down. By the end of the three week period, you'll have a load of little notes scattered everywhere. Consider this an idea mine. You can go back into and sort out the good stuff from the dreck. Conventional astrology warns about embarking on new projects when Mercury is retrograde. Perhaps this isn't such a bad idea. Of course, you have to realize that Mercury does this about three time a year. If you are going to consider the starting point, the ending point, and everything else associated with its movement, you can tie up close to a third of the year. That leaves a pretty narrow window for things to happen in. Add the phase of the Moon, and pretty soon, there's not much worth doing any of the time.
What can be done about this? The best thing to do is be prepared. When Mercury is retrograde, take note. Don't panic. Don't let the little details get in the way of the larger picture. During the actual period of retrograde, that three week window, make an effort not to start to many new projects, and what you do start, be prepared to go back and rework it a little later.
I had one client who bought a computer when Mercury was retrograde. Of course, this was against my stern warnings, but it was a business necessity at the moment. Mere days after the purchase, the same computer went on sale for a substantially reduced price. If Mercury was retrograde for the buyer, it was also retrograde for the store. A certain amount of judicious complaining earned a credit. Then, a mistake on the manufacturer's part earned another rebate. It is possible to be proactive about Mercury, but the Trickster will demand that you keep the sales slip to prove it.
"Oh my god, they killed Kenny!" --
from South Park
"Oh my god, they killed Kenny G!" -- from South Texas