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.
So what can we expect from Mercury retrograde in Aries? 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 Aries:
... Here there is a constant distraction by whatever is new, or whatever is emerging in the now; new ideas are more appealing than old ones. Here Mercury glimpses pioneering insights, or insights about new ground broken by someone else.... There may be an indirect, abrupt communication style, or the unconscious speaks, bypassing the consideration system.Seed ideas may be communicated, but in a way that will not be understood until later; here there is an alertness to seed ideas, but these may be so germinal as to not be utilizable.... A retrograde Mercury here is able to verbally nail the subconscious or unconscious issue of another."Mercury in Aries is in its own 11th sign. Here initiative expresses as its own ambition... There is a possibility of initiatives in world service.
It is also in its own 8th sign, indicating "initiative as a renewing force; any new initiative gives a death blow to whatever is old, obsolete, or outmoded... this is an insatiable desire distracted by other desires... there may be power struggles between part of the inward-turned mind. Mercury retrograde in Aries argues cases internally."
"Knowledge comes through direct action and review; knowledge also comes from the unusual past feeding the dynamic future."
Relax into a new sense of potential and new areas of direct action, and review the initiatives shown in the recent past. Take a new look at pioneering activities, new developments about to expand, and recent direct communications that showed the need for rehearsal, review, or research. Here our mind is "on probation," where we must shape our receptivity to embrace a "promise" made to us or by us in the recent past, since it's about to be fulfilled or redeemed in a few weeks.
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 are links to what the recent December 2010 Mercury Retrograde in Capricorn and Sagittarius was all about, which can give insights into what's been up these past few months:
Here are the latest series on the present Mercury Retrograde:
Mercury Retrograde in Aries in March-April 2011 - A New Look At A New World Already Happening
Copyright © 2011 Robert Wilkinson
Comments