Practical Astrology in March 2006 - What is Mercury Retrograde Good For?

by Robert Wilkinson

I was asked by a fan of the site to post something about what Mercury retrograde is good for. We all know we're NOT supposed to sign contracts, make purchases of electronics, make major moves or decisions, and are supposed to hang out with the energies, seeing that things may not be as they appear, and so on. That said, there are many things that a Mercury retrograde period is good for, such as traveling. I have found that as long as one is flexible, retrograde travel is actually a good thing. So is research, reflection, review, rehearsals, and returns from the past. It's also a great time for reconnecting with old friends, finding people and things thought lost, It's a great time to explore possibilities, as long as no definitive decisions are made, since they are usually modified or reversed later on.

It's a good time for doing things left undone, or neglected, from previous times. It's good for resuming something from the past, as long as you remember that it may not look like it used to, or requires a different approach than before. It's also good for doing things that fill in gaps in understanding or activity, or for doing things that seem to go in one direction but lead you to entirely new information and understanding. It's a good time for resuming things begun in previous retrograde periods, or for picking up threads that had to be set aside while other things developed. It usually indicates a time when you need to be able to build in a time lag with whatever you're doing, since retrogrades often show that there are things yet to develop that will ultimately fill in whatever is missing in the present.

In my book, "A New Look At Mercury Retrograde," I included a chapter on Mercury retrograde in the signs. Obviously what sign Mercury retrogrades through makes a huge amount of difference in what is appropriate during that period. Since it is going retrograde in Pisces, I'll offer you some possible manifestations of what we may expect, regardless of what Sun sign we are or which house(s) it moves through in our individual chart. That said, here's a bit about Mercury retrograde in Pisces from the book.

In Pisces, Mercury's energies show down to retink in a movie-watching or witness mode. It is over-attracted to the past and re-examines endings and universals that may be beyond words. It is in an intuitive mode, and not quite sure of what it is seeing, hearing, or knowing. There may be visions from the distant past, as information is constantly coming in from the collective consciousness or Collective Unconscious. This position is highly receptive to subtle signals from the subconscious, whether one's own or that of another. There is often a lack of clarity about these signals and their meaning, resulting in ambivalence or an inability to decide anything with certainty.

There may be feelings like being lost in a fog, pressure drops into sorrow, as the mind is shifting in empathy with its environment. Mercury here is able to become a living conscience witnessing the universal human experience. This position reasons intuitively, sees whole situations, but may have a hard time communicating satisfactorily. There is an atmospheric sensitivity and an environmental impressionability. In Pisces, Mercury retrograde can offer a gift of visionary poetry, and use a subtle sense of humor to communicate universal truths.

Mercury in Pisces is in its own 7th sign. Here compassion is a constant self-renewing opportunity, and deceit a constant self-renewing judgment. Here one sees the equality of all beings and the universality of human experiences through all times. This position offers the opportunity to witness another's selfhood, or balance another's karma through offering alternatives.

It is also in its own 10th sign, offering compassion as its own fulfillment and the culmination of the communication process. There may also be deceitfulness that will inevitably show itself in some public way. This sign position gives an awareness of universals, the ability to know and teach the true nature of personal responsibility, and the ability to mitigate the karmic process when appropriate. Knowledge comes from feeling the vastness around the immediate; knowledge also comes from passing on the truth to those who also serve.

And I promise to get the book files straightened out so those of you that are interested can purchase it as an ebook. That's probably a perfect Mercury retrograde project, now that I think about it. On a final note, I would suspect the coming three weeks will be a good time to harvest the best of the old year, forgive much, let go of old sorrows, ambivalencies, and karmic patterns you no longer need to live with. Do not allow the mind to wander off into self-pitying points of view. You can bet that intuition will be up, but so will misunderstandings, misinterpretations, and self-deceit.

Which brings us full circle to something I said in the first paragraph: Hang out with the energies and information, pay attention to details while remembering that a lot of it won't make sense for several weeks or months, and don't believe everything you're told. It will be a great time to bust old lies, old misunderstandings, and old seductions. Just let go, embrace a vaster point of view, see the seeds of what's emerging, and be willing to close things out patiently and compassionately, since a whole new pattern will stabilize by the end of this retrograde period around the time of the Sun trine Saturn.

Comments

[dcu]

Robert, thanks for another helpful article. I am the proud owner of a first edition copy of your book on Mercury Retrograde. My wife and I frequently refer to it. She reminded me that with the current emphasis in Pisces it is helpful to imagine what we DO want instead of focusing only on what we DON'T want; especially with our current national political situation. Let's all spend some time reflecting on what kind of nation we DO want to be a part of, then we can make it so. As my favorite Pisces said-"Here Comes the Sun, and I say, it's all right."

[Robert]

Hey there dcu - yes, you're one of the few, the proud, who own a for real, gen-you-wine copy of the original, the only true blue version of Mercury Retrograde. It's already somewhat of a collector's item.

Your lady has deep wisdom. Truly, if Pisces is "the movie," or the dreamscape, then Mercury retrograde in Pisces requires that we image positively rather than negatively. And since Pisces is "before the beginning," then this is the dreamtime that precedes the dawning of a new form.

[Ruby]

I too found this article interesting and valuable. We often hear what *not* to do during a Merc retro, and less about what the retro's good for.
Also, on a personal note, as a full-on Pisces (Sun, Venus, Mercury, heightened further by a an opposing moon/Jupiter conjunction in Virgo), I'm especially interested in the current Merc retrograde and lunar eclipse (March 14 -- day before my birthday no less!). I have a feeling I'm gonna be surfin' the astrology sites pretty heavily through the month of March! :-D
Keep up the good work.

[Robert]

Hi Ruby - It sounds like you're about to move into a larger sphere of vision and influence, and preparing to make a major life change in late 2007 through 2009. Keep purifying your higher vision, allow what began in 2004 to continue to develop productively, and keep searching for your place of greatest service by unblocking your heart, creativity, and enthusiasm. This is a great time for you to reconsider many things by taking into account useful but overlooked details in past relationships, as well as other areas of misunderstanding or ambivalence. You're coming to an entirely new perspective on your needs, how you can keep the initiative in your own hands, and get focused in which habits help you versus which contribute to drifting tendencies. And of course, Happy Birthday and Happy Solar Return. Remember that every ending portends a new beginning, and the more one cultivates spaciousness and luminosity, the more one is filled with light and becomes that. Namaste'

[hitchhiker72]

Thanks for this article and the blog in general. I've just started a Merc Rx blog (during this Merc Rx ironically), not as a teaching tool (I'm no astrologer), but more as a learning one for myself.

I hope you don't mind my quoting your articles and linking back here from time to time.

Best wishes,
hh

[Robert]

Hi Hitchhiker72 - Glad you made it here. By all means, quote me, and please link to any article you quote. And thank you for putting a link to my main address at http://www.aquariuspapers.com/ on your page. It will help both of us get noticed by the search engines due to my own ranking.

[hitchhiker72]

Hi Robert, that was quick, thanks! I forgot to mention, I'm looking forward to your book on Mercury Retrograde. When you do expect to have it out?

[Robert]

As soon as I can transfer my files off of an ancient floppy onto my hard drive, send them to my webmaster, and then he has to set up the files as an ebook. At that point, the magic begins! When I wrote it 10 years ago, it was the only book on Merc RX anywhere. Since then there have been others put out, though I believe mine goes into depth exploration of subject matter and applications not covered anywhere else. It's just too bad my original publisher, Weiser, buried it in their catalog while promoting obscure 17th, 18th, and 19th century books on subjects of minor interest in the name of not having to pay royalties to authors long dead.