Mercury! What did I ever do to you?

Perhaps Mercury is just hurt because I never paid attention to it before? Because in all the fun I had exploring different theories like astrology and numerology and every other “-ology” that existed in the Spirituality section of the bookstore as a teenager, I never stumbled upon the whole Mercury thing. Now I’ve learned that when Mercury is in Retrograde all hell can break loose!

 From Astrology.com:

“In general, Mercury rules thinking and perception, processing and disseminating information and all means of communication, commerce, education and transportation. By extension, Mercury rules people who work in these areas, especially those who work with their minds or their wits: writers and orators, consultants, commentators and critics, gossips and spin doctors, salespeople, teachers, travellers, tricksters and thieves. Mercury also has an occult side, so healing, astrology and the transmission of spiritual knowledge are also in his area.

Mercury retrograde gives rise to personal misunderstandings; flawed, disrupted, or delayed communications, negotiations and trade; glitches and breakdowns with phones, computers, cars, buses, and trains. And all of these problems usually arise because some crucial piece of information, or component, has gone astray or awry.

It is not exactly wise to make important decisions while Mercury is retrograde, since it is likely that such decisions will be clouded by misinformation, poor communication and careless thinking. Mercury is all about mental clarity and the power of the mind, so when Mercury is retrograde these intellectual characteristics tend to be less acute than usual, as the critical faculties are dimmed. Make sure you pay attention to the small print!”

So, yeah, I am normally NOT someone who buys into these types of things…BUT…..I still remember the first time I heard of this phenomena a few years ago. As technology has taken over our lives, I will fully admit to being one of those people who feels as if her entire LIFE is out of balance if I don’t have access to the internet. I used to positively flip OUT if my home internet connection went haywire. Really, I would be a cranky hot mess until I could get it fixed. Of course, the second I would get everything hooked back up, I would most likely walk away from the computer since I had put my whole life on hold (eating, cleaning etc..) just to get things back in order!  I’d get my browser opened up and then head into the kitchen to fix something to eat as I’d be famished 🙂

When smart phones came into existence – particularly the iphone – for me it became a reliable backup for access at home so that I no longer get quite as icked out if something goes wrong.

Before smart phones though, I remember a particularly BAD week of no connection (no clue why anymore) that not only hit my house, but also spilled over into work where our T1 line went down. Somewhere in between all of that in a moment of internet access, I learned that Mercury was in retrograde and what that could mean. Whether I wanted to believe it or not, there I was faced with a coincidence in timing that was enough to get me pondering.  Not enough to let it rule my life (though maybe I should!) but enough so that I would often be marginally aware of when it happened again. Sometimes things would be only mildly annoying, sometimes the periods would pass without me noticing at all. This most recent time I knew about it right away because a friend posted about it on Facebook just as it turned retrograde. At first, I shook it off and honestly nothing unusual was *really* going on. Plus, I always equated it with something causing haywire in the electronic world. (Silly me eh? Astrology started well before the first light bulb but I never considered that)

See the part in bold up above? Yeah – that hit this week. Three straight days of utter frustration and angst thanks to not one thing to do with technology, but just basic verbal/listening skills going utterly askew. Now, thankfully it’s all really No Harm, No Foul and everything has been smoothed back over between all parties, but STILL!  You can bet your ass I am going to pay closer attention to that pesky little planet the next time it decides to mess with us. Which looks to be just in time for the holidays – oh joy!