Mercury goes retrograde next Friday.

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Mercury goes retrograde next Friday, 23rd March, at 0 hours 18 minutes.

Goes direct again on Sunday 15th April at 9 hours 22 minutes.

I know we get Mercury retrogrades all the time, and they seem to cause communication problems from people not focussing, as Rocko commented in another thread.

Any thoughts on what Mercury retrogrades actually do? They seem to occupy such a lot of time, and it is difficult to avoid some things for all this time? Do they only affect us personally when they transit to something in our own charts? And according to the nature of what is being transited in our charts? Surely, transits of a Mercury retrograde to our natal Saturn would be the only real problem? Or do people have experiences of Mercury retrograde transits to other parts of their charts causing problems? And are the effects of Mercury retrograde transits minor and separate from the major transits and arcs that are happening at the same time?

Are Mercury retrogrades always negative? Does anyone have experiences of them being positive? I have read astrologers saying that Mercury retrogrades can be good for clearing out? I suppose they might be good for clearing out old stuff, and maybe finding something valuable thought lost? In theory anyway; I am more curious about real experiences and personal observations than the theory.
Last edited by fleur on Fri Mar 16, 2018 2:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Some people have stronger Mercury influences in their charts than others. If someone already has a debilitated Mercury, it may just be another day for them (unless maybe their difficult Mercury is somehow activated on an angle by primary direction). I have seen it have significance. A friend of mine died during a Mercury retrograde when it first went stationary, and during his illness I asked a horary about him and he was represented as that planet in the 8th house. A retrograde movement in general can signify illness, where when it first turns retro is when a disease might begin. That is obviously not always the case but it is just an example. Retrograde movement is a difficult energy, so I generally don't view it as positive, unless maybe someone is revisiting a good situation, such as reconnecting with a loved one.
Last edited by Tanit3333 on Fri Mar 16, 2018 2:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Tanit3333 wrote:Some people have stronger Mercury influences in their charts than others. If someone already has a debilitated Mercury, it may just be another day for them (unless maybe their difficult Mercury is somehow activated on an angle by primary direction). I have seen it have significance. A friend of mine died during a Mercury retrograde when it first went stationary, and during his illness I asked a horary about him and he was represented as that planet in the 8th house. A retrograde movement in general can signify illness, where when it first turns retro is when a disease might begin.
Interesting. I think Mercury is far more important than most astrologers recognise, and rules things that we don't normally associate with it; this is just a periphery of my vision observation, nothing I can yet pin down.

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I am not entirely sure why it's movement was so key but he was in a lunar profection and that placed his natal Mercury in the profected 8th house. His natal Mercury was also afflicted by natal Saturn and he was in a Saturn return that was in an applying partile conjunction. His natal 8th ruler was also transiting the natal 1st and in partile opposition with natal Mercury. So it was a combo of things but Mercury was why I alerted him to go to the doctor immediately, but he ended up dying that evening of pneumonia. Mercury may be his hyleg or alcoccoden also - I did not calculate that.

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I don't think anybody ever explained why Mercury exactly conjunct the Ascendant was so key in the 9/11 chart.

I think there is something that is about Mercury itself. Which could be behind why Mercury retrograde has a reputation, when we don't usually pay attention to the retrograde periods of planets that are more slow moving, Venus and Mars, or even the outer planets for that matter.

I wondered if Mercury is about manifestation?

I wondered if there were any examples of Mercury retrograde being key in positive manifestations, good things happening to people?

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Flo I think there is more to this. I've know some pretty strong people being brought to their knees as Mercury goes retro. As if somebody had a boot on their neck.

I think it is about Mental flexibility. If you are of the "Strong but Wrong", or "My Way or Highway" type, then when Mercury goes backwards for three weeks, you can find that your plans and hopes are going backwards too.

And if you haven't built in any slack then that can be very problematic.

Why a lone "transiting" Mercury activating little in a natal Chart should be such a problem I don't know.

Except I think all the planets can have their day +VEly or -VEly.

You should also add to your Analysis the combustion. Can it be the final straw ?

You know Mercury in detriment goes retro, it nears the combustion, the filling Moon adds tension. That's a lot of trouble.

Our local Vicar killed himself when Mercury was retro and combust, and the Moon Full.

I think the real problem is that if you've been having a good run with Mercury and then it stalls SR and then retreats.

From nowhere you are going backwards, having been going forward zoom zoom.

H

PS The relationship between Venus and Mercury is important but harder to understand. Which is Rising which is Setting etc.

When all fail then score it. Mercury in Sagittarius and Pisces are problematic.

I'm sure there will be more areas where Mercury is vulnerable.

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I wondered if there were any examples of Mercury retrograde being key in positive manifestations, good things happening to people?
Not really, since I am not a practicing astrologer, just an observer of charts and sometimes a reader, but I remember talking to someone with natal Mercury retrograde on their 7th house cusp (it had other romantic indicators that I can't remember) and I asked if they have someone special in their life that comes in and out of it. They had said the love of their life did that. My guess is that this might occur during a retro Mercury period, especially when it was making contacts to the 7th house and during a 7th house profection where it was brought forward. I didn't follow up to determine periods where this happened but it would be a logical assumption.

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A think a classic symptom of somebody with a weak Mercury is too many short journeys.

They don't plan these well and they go too many times.

Anyway the Witching Time is approaching.

I think Flo has pin pointed a dangerous time. NOT the most dangerous but Mercury is combust around the Full Moon, and the fullish ebbing Moon passes thru Scorpio.

Also people relying on Saturn for stability might get pushed over the edge when Mars smashes into it too.

And with Venus getting the shake down from Pluto and then Uranus, that might be people's Comfort Zones rattled to start with.

Well spotted Flo.

H

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A think a classic symptom of somebody with a weak Mercury is too many short journeys
That is true that it can mean that. It can mean a lot of things related to Mercury. Thieves are ruled by Mercury also, so a retro Mercury could indicate the return of a thief or a period when certain events related to thieving occur. I can think of many scenarios of what it can mean.

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I have sometimes recovered a lost object during mercury retro, which sounds positive, unless you have already replaced the object, which is annoying.

One suggestion for Rx periods I found helpful is to look at the element and house involved. Right now it is fire, so one might examine where in their life they might be experiencing some degree of entropy, lack of energy and inspiration, feelings of oppression, ect. Mercury retro periods can alert us to these unhappy conditions which might have become the status quo, and which we have come to think of as immutable.

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Is the overall hype and alleged malevolence of Mercury's retrogradation highly overrated?

One thing to ponder about the astrology community, at large, is the sheep mentality, whereby people buy into any b.s. planetary nonsense that explains their own inept, failed lifestyle.

Should astrologers perhaps re-approach this common transit with more practicality and common sense.

Has Mercury retrograde become astrology's favorite scapegoat, just like Sun in Gemini or Scorpio is the bogeyman for a lot of you. LOL

Due to the Earth's proximity to the Sun and Mercury's closer orbit to the Sun, a retrograde Mercury will occur up to 18 out of 52 weeks, of every year. That's up to 34 percent of the year, every year, until the day you die.

Similarly, up to 2 billion, 700 million people on the planet Earth were born with Mercury retrograde?

That's one hell of a lot of afflicted people, in your minds.

I no longer believe that starting anything with Mercury retrograde is really that bad.

I do believe in the Wayne Gretzky effect. (For those not familiar, Wayne Gretzky is considered the world's greatest hockey player of all time. Although retired years ago, Gretzky is still the owner of over 61 NHL scoring records. https://bit.ly/2GdBLbI)

The Gretzky effect is that, if one is talented enough, you can score in every arena, in ANY time zone, regardless of whether Mercury (or any other planet) is direct or retrograde and regardless of what relocated chart that you have.

Why is it that Wayne Gretzky can "score" during Mercury R., but you cannot !

Therefore, I say to you all, keep scoring goals and hitting homeruns, every day, whether Mercury is retrograde or in direct motion.

Much of Mercury retrograde's effect, therefore, is psychological. If you think you are going to fail, then you have convinced yourself of failure.

I was born with Mercury direct. I started training in a certain, well known sport in the 1980's and, 30 years later, I continue to do so. The same sport.

Mercury was retrograde at the time that I started.

No, I didn't "change my mind." However, I have changed my affiliation or parent organization, once. Ironically, when I changed to my current affiliation in 1998, (20 years ago), Mercury was also retrograde.

However, since Mercury is retrograde up to 18 weeks a year, should I care ?

I have also started meaningful employment with Mercury retrograde and nothing "bad" happened to me, either. Nobody changed their minds, either.

Regarding Mercury retrograde and transportation, I have driven accident free for nearly 40 years. I have had two major car accidents. Both, not my fault, both were near fatal. One occured when Mercury was R. The other, was when Mercury was in direct motion.

So, there is no consensus on Mercury with that.

I happen to have Secondary Progressed Mercury retrograde in my progressed natal chart. (Mercury in Virgo). (I don't believe in solar arcs).

Secondary Progressed Mercury will not go direct until I am 102 years old ! LOL

So, since I will likely not live to 102, what should I make of that?

By the way, I am doing just fine ! I am hitting homeruns and scoring goals, every day, while Mercury is R.




S.
website: www.rj-smith.ca

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You can definitely still have positive things happen in your life during a Mercury retrograde period. I don't think anyone would dispute that here, especially if someone had something more positive going on astrologically at that time. It is a short transit that happens often and it is also an inferior, so it doesn't have as strong of an impact, except that it is the one planet that is adaptive to the aspects it makes to other planets, where it takes on their characteristics. That might be one of the reasons it can be more forceful for some people than others during certain situations, such as my friend having natal Mercury afflicted by Saturn and those other aspects I mentioned coming together.

I generally just prepare myself for Mercury-like problems. For example, I had an online proctored exam Friday and I made sure my computer was booted and working well 2 hrs before. It went through a 45 min upgrade and was very slow before that, so that would have been a problem if I had just turned it on 15 mins before the exam. Could this happen any other time? Of course, but the fact that I was aware of the transit did make me more prepared. I also had a very bad miscommunication with my professor afterwards regarding the exam and I was again prepared and took my time in understanding the situation and clarifying the miscommunication, which was heightened to the point where she had assumed I had done something forbidden in the exam that I had not. I still got an A and everything is fine but the point is that this has never happened before.