Mercury Retrograde November 2012

Tuesday 6 November, until Tuesday 27 November!

Mercury, the planet of communication, turns retrograde today having started slowing down considerably last Thursday the 1^st of November, giving us a taste of what’s to come! Mercury Retrograde is a time when we must be very aware of our communication, which of course can take many forms including verbal, written, through body language, the telephone, computers, emails, the media and of course texts.  I find that the most important thing to remember during a Mercury retrograde period is to maintain a sense of humour, because otherwise we will just get frustrated and there is no point in that! While Mercury is retrograde he simply becomes more of a pesky trickster than usual, so it is better to just accept rather than resisting it! I am sure that whatever does go wrong or break down during this period will do so for some higher reason that we may not be aware of, but is somehow all part of the grand master plan of this universe of ours! Mercury retrograde time is an excellent time to go back over things and redo them; in fact, anything with a “re” attached to it is appropriate, such as review, re-evaluate, revisit, rethink, research, reorganise, etc. As Mercury travels backwards so will our minds and thoughts, allowing us to catch up on things we may have been putting off as well as looking back and seeing what we may have missed.

Mercury represents the left side of our brain; the rational, logical part of our minds and also rules the nervous system, so this is a perfect time to give it all a rest! As Mercury goes backwards that part of our brain may not work quite so well anyway, making us less clear and focused while causing a bit of uncertainty and confusion, making it harder to get across what we are thinking. This is the time to slow down and “re”lax so that we can see the wood for the trees, allowing our minds to rest and wander. Now we get the opportunity to give our intuitive, imaginative right side of the brain free rein and send the over-analytical, over-thinking left side off on holiday! Mercury retrograde is a wonderful time for meditation and indulging in creative activity; a time to simply let go and be. The right side of our brain knows best anyway as it is our subconscious mind and will find intuitive and creative solutions which all the thinking, rationalising and analysing in the world couldn’t even begin to come up with! We are now offered an opportunity to step back and see things from a different angle as we reflect, recharge, reconsider, regroup, and most importantly relax!

Mercury turns retrograde in the truth-seeking sign of Sagittarius who actually represents the higher mind and much favours intuition and wisdom over reason and intellect. He then heads back into intense and probing Scorpio on November 15^th, where he will remain until the 11^th of December. I guess he hadn’t quite had enough of Scorpio yet and wants to go back in for another round of digging around and uncovering emotional truths! The combination of signs for this retrograde is interesting, as Sagittarius the archer likes to aim his bow so that the arrow hits the target of any matter, zeroing in on the truth, while Scorpio digs deep in order to find out what is buried beneath the surface of things, really getting to the heart of the matter. Mercury’s recent tour through Scorpio involved a massive amount of information to come to the surface which had hitherto been buried; things that society hasn’t liked to talk about and which involve people abusing power over those weaker than them. Scorpionic issues such as sex and power became extremely prevalent in the media in October, and I wonder what will come up when Mercury dips back in for his second tour of this deeply emotional sign. On a personal level it may mean a bit of a psychic clear-out as we dig out the emotional debris and certain emotional truths come to the surface. My sense is that this is the time to dig out the muck once and for all so that we can fill the space with light.

As Mercury is entering his retrograde period on the same day as the presidential election, I wonder what this will mean for America and indeed the world today. The last time Mercury was retrograde during an election was in 2000 for Bush versus Gore when they had to “re”count the votes in Florida, and it was an incredibly close race. Mercury the trickster caused all sorts of trouble back then, creating delays, errors and confusion, and in the end Bush was declared the winner even though Gore had the popular vote. This Mercury retrograde brings the possibility of something similar happening again, though I sincerely hope that the energy of Sagittarius wins out and that the truth shall prevail! It will be interesting to see what comes to light in the next few weeks once the dust has settled a bit.

While Mercury retrograde periods can brings delays, frustration and misunderstandings through communication, as long as we are aware of the possibility of such things occurring it helps us take it all with a pinch of salt. It is far better to make use of the time constructively and make an effort to relax the mind, spending time going back over things, clearing out the debris and reflecting on our lives. It is quite likely that something we might have missed will reveal itself, or that something or someone from the past may pop up so that we can re-examine and re-evaluate, gaining greater understanding of ourselves. Sagittarius may point out whatever it is while Scorpio will dig deeper and investigate the emotional truth of the matter. This is an excellent time for recall; for looking back with a different pair of eyes and recognising the missing pieces in the puzzle of our lives. Both personally and collectively this will be a time for peering behind the veil to see what lurks there and bringing it out into the light so that when Mercury turns direct on November 27 it can be released forever.

Much love

Amy

xoxo