Mercury Retrograde - a collection of posts on this period

[Shallah Kali]

...hoping that one or more will help people deal most productively with that merry prankster Mercury!

Mercury Retrograde by Planetary Apothecary
http://planetaryapothecary.com/2009/09/mercury-retrograde-2

Any planetary retrograde reflects a period where the energy is focused more internally. Therefore, it’s a wonderful time to turn communication inward to seek insights and understanding. Meditation, journaling, and nondominant handwriting are great activities to do during Mercury retrograde to help you find the pieces of the puzzle and the teachings of wisdom that you seek.

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When you think of how to approach this period, just remember the first two letters of the wordretrograde—“re”—and apply it to the activities you undertake. As such, Mercury retrograde periods are a great time to reassess, review, reanalyze, revisit, rethink, re-edit, and recommunicate.

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“Spring cleaning”: Mercury retrograde is a great time to literally clean your closets. That’s because our abilities to reassess, reevaluate, and reconsider are heightened. Cleaning closets can be wonderfully therapeutic: It provides a trip down memory lane and it also helps us to unburden ourselves of things that no longer best serve us. If your closets don’t need to be cleaned, consider organizing your desk drawers or pantry shelves.

http://www.astrologycom.com/mercret.html

The key issue here is one of focus. Mercury's retro phase tends to bring unforeseen changes and blockages, but the aggravation and frustration that many of us experience during these periods is often due to our own inability to roll with the punches. Is this due to our ego-fixation?

Mercury sets out to restructure our thinking processes and for many of us this is painful and frustrating. Unresolved issues from the past tend to push themselves forward. Moreover, these experiences reveal flaws in our internal organisation as well as our external planning, which can make us feel foolish and inadequate.

Mercury retrograde, like any cosmic aspect, affects people differently, depending on where it hits their personal charts. Some people actually prosper under a retro Mercury, especially if Mercury is retrograde but otherwise well-aspected in their birth charts. It is also a time when matters begun under a previous retro period will come to fruition, or completion as the case may be. Firm decisions that have been previously made when Mercury is travelling normally through the zodiac may be implemented or finalised while Mercury is retrograde without too much worry, for experience shows that this can be done without undue problems arising.

Mercury Retrograde Reveals Saturn in Libra Intent
http://ezinearticles.com/?Mercury-Retrograde-Reveals-Saturn-in-Libra-Intent&id=2724468

Mercury moves retrograde three times every year (on average) for about three weeks at a time. This is a time in astrology when astrologers tell you to catch up with all the little details that have been scattered in your life. In essence when you get in touch with astrology you will go with the flow of life and learn how to listen to the messages from the planets. The message from Mercury retrograde is: Do not start additional projects; complete what you have been working on for the past three months. Also it is not the best time to purchase anything new or major; use what you have, repair or get rid of items in your home and office that no longer work or no longer are useful to your present needs.

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On a personal level it is important to ask: Where in your life do you side step issues because you want everything to be fine with no problems versus getting real about a problem and working hard at it? Are you afraid of saying the truth for fear of not looking good? Critical thinking is necessary to understand the nature of your relationships and to have people in your life that are right for you.

There are action steps to take for this Mercury retrograde. First and foremost is to catch up on loose ends, projects or promises that will help you achieve the goals you have. Recommit to personal health goals. Think about how you communicate with people you are in partnerships with. What is working in those partnerships and what is not quite right?

How can you have partnerships that are fair and balanced? Do you have that balance in your life? Are you fair to yourself when you talk to yourself and your mind is assessing all that you have done, want to do, and think you are supposed to do?