Witches Cupboard Blog
new age & spiritual guidance

Mercury Retrograde… the astrologically savvy get a little weak-kneed at the mention of it. I barely exaggerate when I say that the fear of an approaching Mercury Rx (retrograde) was nearly palatable in years past. The conditioning of countless retrogrades that had seemingly gone oh-so-wrong would flash through my head like a bad movie. As time has gone on I have done my best to take the whole issue in a new way, to gain a fresher, healthier perspective. As such, I have vowed to use THIS Mercury Retrograde period the way it was intended to be used; to rethink, revisit, contemplate and meditate.

This may sound easy enough, but it isn’t. I am constantly 20 steps behind where I feel I should be, where I know I should be, and where I want to be. At least 20 steps. When you feel like you are constantly playing catch up, time outs are especially difficult. Especially when you feel the pressure of unfulfilled potential brimming in your abdomen on a daily basis. But I have learned (fingers crossed!) that swimming against the tide during a Mercury Rx is no place for this little fishy to be, lest I flop again. I have spent so much of my life feeling like I never get anything done because I am always repeating myself, having to reinvent myself, and having the rug pulled out from under me. Now I realize that feeling was… accurate. I am a victim of Murphy’s Law. Daily perhaps. When I have not been mindful of the Mercury Rx, and when I have been aware but have been too stubborn to play it right, I have inevitably begun all my important new projects during a Mercury Rx. I have also sent important communications, made vital decisions, made large purchases, and countless other no-nos. Although it is true that most people who are unaware, or in denial, of the effects the Mercury Rx will also do these things, I seem to only do them during a retrograde period. Therefore, I spend a great deal of my time revisiting my often unfulfilled ideas, repeating phone calls, revamping decisions, contacting IT support, and filing warranty claims. These consequences of an ill spent retrograde period I have been well aware of for years, yet somehow I continue to perpetuate poor retrograde behavior nonetheless. The good news is, I think this time it may have finally sunk in. Here’s a glimpse into my thought process. Perhaps you can relate, or perhaps you can learn from it. If nothing else, maybe it will give you a laugh.

So, 17 years as a witch (half my life no less!) and I did it again. I lost track. I’m going to be totally honest here, I only knew the Mercury Rx was at hand because the site I get my horoscopes from sent me warning email 2 days prior to the main event. I used to keep track, but I haven’t been very good at keeping track of the planetary movements over the last few months. The shame of it all. So, I get the email and think to myself “Ok self, now what? How are we going to handle this?” At which point I think I was in serious danger of sweeping the matter under the rug… again. Right up until I realized that I hadn’t done… my taxes. And unless I got them done over the following 1-2 days, they would be done during the retrograde. Crap. Granted, taxes aren’t a new thing, but they are a communication thing. So what did I do? Nothing. Again. But I felt bad about it, does that count? So here we are, 2 days into the retrograde, and I haven’t started my taxes. This realization has brought me to the bigger realization. I do this…. all the time. Gee, no wonder life gets so wonky and deja vu for me. Duh. Ok, so let’s assume I’m going to cease being a Nick-at-Night reruns kinda gal and do it differently this time. Let’s do one better, instead of assuming… let’s just make it so.

First step: let’s examine the evidence pointing to impending wonkiness. This will be done to convince the brain what the gut already knows, this is a problem and it needs to be addressed by changing ones reaction to the situation both now and in the future. What, if any, things have failed, or at least struggled, when begun during a Mercury Retrograde? Marketing programs, writing attempts, fitness programs, new business ventures, ok that’s enough. I know this, I know this! Is anything going on now? Well, I discovered today that I have been paying more shipping to one of my suppliers because I go into my account through one portal instead of another. Somehow I had set up the account with the alternate portal, but failed to make the switch, not realizing there would be benefits to ceasing use of the previous portal. This has cost me for months. (I know, you have no clue what I am talking about… but I need to riddle this out.) But that’s a good thing I discovered it right? That’s not an issue now. Well, that depends. Mercury Retrogrades are not just about things going wonky now, they also include things that have been wonky for some time (usual since a previous retrograde period) coming into focus now. So this is likely evidence that my lack of appreciation for a previous retrograde period is to blame.

Ok, check, now what else? Well, I’m not the world’s best speller, but I hold my own. So why does it seem that I am misspelling every third word? (Side note, I misspelled “misspelling” three times just now because my hands and/or brain wouldn’t function. Case in point.) The Mercury retrograde messes with electronics, and the power strip connected to my computer stopped working the other day. It has this button you push at the end of the day that turns off most of the plugs but leaves on the 1 or 2 on that you don’t want to turn off. This is a great way to reduce vampire power usage (your appliances use approximately 20% of their energy while in standby mode) benefiting the environment and ones pocketbook. So the button stops working the other day (not during the retrograde, but it was during the shadow just prior) and I can no longer turn off the power strip, which is distressing. More distressing is when it turns itself off 2 days later, while my computer was on!! After that it has been fine. Huh?!? How can that be? Oh I don’t know, how can it be that both my phone batteries were dead when they had both been charging all night? Or that I failed to hear hubby texting me yesterday (my cell has caller id announce) but heard the text from dictionary.com’s word of the day a couple minutes later? How about the fact that I have had to shut my browser down a couple times a day because I stop being able to type, even though it will still let me browse so it isn’t frozen? These could all be coincidences I guess, just like it is a coincidence that hubby’s fuel pump (only about 1 1/2 years old) went up yesterday, the Roku player wouldn’t connect, an affiliate program I tried to sign up with gave me an error message but no way to fix the error, my washer froze during the spin cycle for 2 hours for no reason, and the electronic locks on my car are engaging on the driver’s side when I try to get in after unlocking it with my key fob. As if all that isn’t frustrating enough, my ecommerce solution emailed me yesterday to let me know that they aren’t raising my monthly rate, they are just discontinuing the discount I currently receive for subscribing to multiple products of theirs. This is somehow resulting in my rate being nearly twice as much as it is now with the discount, and 25% higher than my current rate before the discount, despite the fact that they aren’t “raising” my rate. Um, ok. The list goes on and on, let’s just be a believer and move on.

I’ve established that wonkiness has already ensued, so I need to take a look at the undertakings I had planned for the next couple of weeks in order to reevaluate the wisdom of sticking to said plans. Since my ecommerce guys aren’t being real honest, and are charging an exorbitant amount, I planned to switch (begrudgingly) to a new provider. This is a pain, and I’m concerned what effects it will have on my search engine rankings, but it looks to be a necessary evil. I had considered this previously after some of my favorite features were removed, so I already knew which company I was likely to move to when I chose to do so. That’s a decision I made previously, at least tentatively, so I wonder if it falls under the no major decisions rule or not? Best to err on the side of caution and wait until after the retrograde, which will be cutting it close since I need to complete the move by April 30th and the retrograde will end just 1 week prior. *Gulp* Ok, I can do this. Sticking to the plan. I’ll totally be able to get the site moved in a week, right? Moving on. I had planned to write more; blog posts, periodical submissions, in the book(s) I’m writing, etc. That’s ongoing, not new, so it should be cool. Hmmm, except it is communication. *frowny face* Ok, I’ll write but I’ll be sure to reread what I wrote after the retrograde and do revisions then. I planned a yardsale, that should be safe enough provided I remember to put the signs out tonight and considering I totally forgot to advertise it. I wanted to do some marketing for the webstore, which is pretty passive and old news so it should be ok as long as I look over my campaigns carefully prior to submission. I also planned to read this book about Isis that it took me a year to get my hands on, that will fit in nicely as a retrograde compatible activity. I wanted to start my exercise program which has kinda fallen to the back burner, but after that sad attempt I made 3 days ago (don’t ask) best to wait until the end of the month. And finally, I planned to start taking appointments for tarot readings again, signalling the end to my spiritually imposed hiatus that came on unexpectedly a few months back to assist me with a current growth process.

So planning, but not doing; writing, but not submitting (except for blog posts;) purging my house of useless stuff, and not adding more; marketing, but carefully; reading, being sure to take notes as the info may fly right out of my head during this time; not starting my exercise plan per se; but some walking in the interim will work; resuming my tarot readings as a spiritually productive tool. Add in some cleaning, and a healthy dose of meditation, and it sounds like a plan!

Now the question is… what are you going to do and why?

Wishing you a safe and productive Mercury Retrograde! See you on the other side

~Anyanka Jean

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