August 21, 2004
Mercury Retrograde
For those unfamiliar with astrology, there are periods where, due to differences in perspectives of their orbits, the planets appear to go backwards through our heavens. This is called retrograde motion and is indicative of a counterpoint to the normal symbolism of the planet.
Mercury represents mental activity and perception, communication and transportation among other things and goes retrograde three times a year for 3 weeks at a time. It is retrograde now. It made its station (appeared to stop in the sky and proceed backward) on August 10th at 8 degrees of Virgo. It will go direct on September 2nd at 25 degrees of Leo.
Mercury retrograde is often charactarised by misunderstandings, misperceptions, sometimes some clumsiness. It is a time to be particularly careful in driving, making sure that what others think they heard is in fact what you think you said and that what you wrote is what you intended. It seems to be reflected in everyday equipment and machinery which is more prone to work erratically. (Around our house, if something like a toaster stops working properly during mercury retrograde and we can't get it running right away, we will often just put it away until mercury goes direct and frequently it just works fine or can be repaired then.) When I was a real estate broker, contracts negotiated during mercury retrograde were given an extra level of proof-reading and follow up.
I say all of this because it has been fascinating to watch the Olympics which are being conducted during this period. We are watching mistakes and goofs followed by commentators saying "This is so unusual. He never misses this move." We are watching judges disqualify or penalize athletes only to have the penalty thrown out because it wasn't written correctly, or at the right time, or in the right language. It is simply fascianating.