by Robert Wilkinson
Over the years many have asked me what Mercury retrograde is good for. We know it's supposedly NOT a good time to sign contracts, make purchases of electronics or major moves or decisions, and we are supposed to hang out with the energies, seeing that things may not be as they appear, and so on. That said, there is much that a Mercury retrograde period is good for, such as traveling, research, and other important things.
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 and options kept open, since they are usually modified or reversed later on. It's also 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 excellent for getting new information and perspective that fills in gaps in understanding or activity, and doing things that seem to go in one direction but lead us to entirely new information and understanding.
We can safely resume things begun in previous retrograde periods, or pick up threads we once set aside while other things developed. It's an energy that favors building in a time lag in judging or evaluating 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.
Earlier this year we had a very important Mercury Retrograde that conjuncted the Solar Eclipse of February 6-7. Since the, we've gotten signs, signals, and communications related to that time of unveiling of mysteries we all went through one way and another. This was extended by the Summer Mercury retrograde in Gemini which was a trine to the February Mercury Retrograde.
For more info on those very important Mercury retrograde periods impacting us during the past 8 months and well into our future, you may want to check out what I wrote then. Links to those articles are at the bottom of this article.
So what can we expect from Mercury retrograde in Libra? Besides giving a different atmosphere to anything we have in Gemini or Virgo, and the house it's retrograding through will feel more Mercurial, today I'll offer you a bit from my book, "A New Look At Mercury Retrograde," from the chapter on Mercury retrograde in the signs. Here's some of what I wrote about Mercury retrograde in Libra:
Here the mind weighs everything, reduces the extremes, and sees ideas from the side that naturally opposes, counters, or balances the information or premise.... the mind filters all it surveys through aesthetic judgments; these may be based in unrealistic abstracitons, or may be eternal ideals or standards of measurement.This position can name the timeless example, or communicate the transfigured vision, that helps to adjust others' visions, perspective, standards. There may be the light touch of a graceful communication style, or lightweight thinking because of superficiality.
This is a friendly and agreeable communication style that fills in others' gaps and communicates a different aesthetic. This position is able to rationally communicate some reconstructed ideal, or give other a new idea. This is the position of the mature, elegant, and gracious mind, or point of view.
Mercury in Libra is in its own 2nd sign. There is a constant weighing of alternatives to try to establish stability,k and a striving to see the beautiful essence and naturalness of anything.
It is also in its own 5th sign, indicating "that balance is the natural expression of judging and comparing multiple points of view. Here graceful initiatives refine any form by judging its naturalness." This is the mind "refining its observations before expressing itself." Knowing comes through "dancing with the oscillation and finding the balance," and from "observing what is central and what is peripheral."
When retrograde in Libra, Mercury transits through a sign it is harmonious with. These are energies that show how Mercury naturally seeks and sees truth, as well as its natural motive.
Relax into a new sense of perspective and rhythm of coordination and understanding, and review the proportion of what has happened in the past. Weigh and judge, but suspend final conclusions until mid-October. See the higher truths in the discovery process you've been through since Summer, and see the signs and hints of some form of renewal for what is on the way, but is not yet visible mentioned in earlier articles.
That brings us back to something I said earlier: 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 see to the core of things, taking a wide view of recent entries into a new life, new motive, new feelings, and why certain closures were necessary.
Here's the link to the last January-February Mercury RX in Aquarius conjunct the Solar Eclipse article, part 1:
Here are links to what the May-June 2008 Mercury Retrograde in Gemini was all about, which can give insights into what's been up these past few months:
Mercury Retrograde in May-June 2008 Pt. 3 - How Will The Inferior Conjunction in Gemini Manifest?
Here are the latest series on the present Mercury Retrograde:
Copyright © 2008 Robert Wilkinson
Comments