Being an Astrologer for over 30 years now, I know that when the planet Mercury goes Retrograde our communication can become fraught with mix-ups, miscommunication, disagreements and tension...and this is putting it mildly.

My belief is that if indeed the planets have influence over our daily lives in a somewhat predictable fashion, and I believe they do, then these precisely timed energies are exerted upon us for very specific reasons.  For Mercury Retrogrades, that reasoning is to make us more aware of what we say and how we say it.

This alone can make these particular times of Mercurial influence to be both ripe with potential for really hearing how we speak and how others hear us, versus what we automatically assume we are conveying.

There are times when Mercury is Retrograde that I have felt my life resembled a pair of dice that were being violently shaken and then hastily spewed out, all upside down and inside out when the tumbling was done.  Leaving me somewhat dazed and confused as to how the communication became so skewed. 

I believe that happens to most of us whenever Mercury is involved in something that is highlighted in our personal charts.  Most people simply aren't aware of when these times are occurring and therefore may not understand that indeed our communications are being tested to see how and where we must rethink our automatic responses to people. 

Being a human, I do not always see this challenging times as positive occurrences.  Instead, I have often wondered “why was it always something?”  Why were people constantly challenging my words or misinterpreting my meaning?

Personally, during one such month not long along, there were days I was angry, days I was sad and days where I felt so confused and even a bit befuddled by what my own thoughts had become, that I began to wonder what purpose life served, what purpose I served….ah-ha…thus I saw the seed of potential growth beginning to sprout.  Not because I wanted it to necessarily, but because I had no other choice but to either learn this lesson now, or put it off until the next Mercury retrograde and go through some of these same irritating, frustrating and just plain hard things.

So, being a relatively intelligent girl, I began to see a light slowly begin to shine in response to my internal questioning.  It was a small light that was tucked deeply into the recesses of a darkened place, but it was a light; and the more I focused on this light, the stronger it became and the clearer I began to see the things that this particular planet had to share with me.  Then, all of a sudden, I realized how the discord of the month seemed to have been so necessary for my understanding that I was even slightly appreciative that it had all happened. 

You see Mercury is here to teach us all about the way in which we communicate, he is the messenger.  He also rules everything we do so automatically in our day to day life that unless he is retrograde, we never give these things much thought.  Such as the way we construct our day; perhaps the path we drive daily, the conversations we always have, and the way we move about our life automatically.

But when he turns retrograde, these things no longer seem to flow so smoothly as to go by unnoticed, nor do they seem to be so automatically uncomplicated; thus we are forced to pay attention to even the smallest of habits, routines and day-to-day occurrences that we quite simply never find the desire or the time to do so otherwise.

Some of the discoveries that I have made whilst in the middle of this particular planet in retrograde are quite grand in the scheme of things and therefore I’ll share a few in hopes that they may also make your own confusing encounters less puzzling.

One month I discovered the way in which I enjoy exchanging communication with others and the ways that I felt were a complete waste of my time.  I discovered what I wanted to focus my day-to-day attentions on, and likewise, what I did not.  I also uncovered a method of communicating that I want to employ in all of my work from here on out, and what it is that I feel is really important for me to communicate about.  In other words, what is worth taking up your time to hear?

Now granted, all this insight came about through some grand alterations in my day-to-day thoughts and interactions with others, but again, no major life event occurred on the outside…only on the inside, which is exactly what a retrograde is all about. 

I also discovered that when I chose to focus on the small hint of light versus the abundance of self perceived darkness, that everything that was happening in my life was necessary for me in order that I may move on towards my goals; goals which I had probably set for myself many years ago without my even realizing it at the time.

I think the message is simple; when things slow you down, people get in your way and perturb you, or you have negative conversations with the people in your life; these things are absolutely critical to your future unfold-ment. 

If these hiccups and roadblocks hadn’t occurred you would have never done anything to change these oftentimes robotic behaviors, and thus, may have always settled for living your daily life in a manner that is not conducive to your personal growth or happiness.

We love habit, we love safety and familiarity, and we love to not have to think about some things in our life.  Our life is so full of trials that sometimes we just want things to be automatic and not require any of our attention.  But when Mercury turns retrograde these are the very things we must look at, tinker with and adjust, because it is in these small daily events that we sometimes cheat ourselves out of what is truly best for us.

Perhaps a relationship needs to end, or at the very least the way in which we interact within it needs to be examined and altered.  If we had disagreements at work, perhaps we need to find a new job or at least rearrange the current one so that we can find a “good” reason to stay there.  If you find yourself blurting out things, trust me, they needed to be said.  And lastly, if you find your patience being tested to the limits, perhaps whatever was testing you either made you stronger or made you change the entire make-up of the situation. 

No matter what block, bump or unexpected event you may have run into during a Mercury retrograde, trust me when I say that it was absolutely necessary regardless of whether you can see the positive in it yet or not.  Sometimes these insights take some time and a few more events to occur before we can fully appreciate why certain things needed to happen.  

In the end, I believe we all came here to do something important.  Sometimes that important thing may be on a universal scale, while for others it may be on a more personal level.  Neither is more right nor more important.  It is simply what we may have signed up to do this time around, and therefore of tremendous value to us, our lives and the purpose behind it all.

I could say that I hope your retrogrades are smoother than mine, but that might be robbing you of so many opportunities that instead, I will simply say, I hope it was ripe.

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