When something goes wrong, we tend to say, Mercury must be in Retrograde. It’s become the catch-all “blame game” when something out of our control – or in our control - goes awry. Mercury in Retrograde has become the automatic culprit in our society – the easy “fall” guy.
We often site that Mercury in Retrograde (Mercury Rx) as the reason why our technology fails, computers, phones and appliances break, the airplane and travel schedules are frequently canceled or delayed. It’s usually what we blame when our car battery dies, our water heater breaks, or our alarm clock doesn’t go off and our lighting systems fail.
As the name suggests, retrograde is when a planet appears to move backward in its orbit, as viewed from Earth. Astronomers refer to this as “apparent retrograde motion,” because it is an optical illusion. Mercury really doesn’t move backwards – it’s our eyes playing tricks on us.
Mercury is the smallest planet in the Solar System and the closest to the Sun - that is called, in fact, “The Inside Track” planet. Picture a horse race or an Olympic track field, Mercury is in the very first lane – on the inside of a ringed track.
Its full orbit around the Sun takes only 87.97 Earth days. An orbital year for Mercury is only 88 days compared to Earth’s year span of 365 days. And because of this, we sometimes see Mercury as moving backwards, although it never really does. It just appears to do so because of the relative positions of the Mercury and Earth and how each are moving (in different speeds) around the Sun give us a false sense of movement and planetary rotation.
Still, there is a dramatic energetic rainfall when Mercury enters this state we call “retrograde” and the affects in our daily life are far from illusionary.
Mercury is the winged messenger of the Gods (Roman Mythology) and is the basis for all forms of communication. In Astrology, Mercury is known as the messenger of the Universe.
Mercury rules over a person's intelligence, mentality, analytical skills, reaction, learning, central nervous system (how the brain communicates needs, pain, and fear), body language, interpersonal communication and the way we conjugate and formulate our thought processes and writing.
It is because of these key elements in communication that we must check all forms of written and oral speech that we must check contracts, texts and emails before we send incorrect data or sent to the wrong person.
Regardless of how we visualize Mercury’s rotation, the energy that rains down onto our planet dramatically affects electrical currents, and our atmosphere, and causes confusion, disarray and electronic breakdowns and breakdowns in communication. It lasts for about three weeks with what is known as “preshadow” for approximately four days prior, and “post-shadow” last the same after.
The emotional disorder we feel down here on Earth creates a personal unrest. This is the time we get the urge to revisit the past even if the past has been in the past for some time. This is the time we can expect calls from our ex-loves, texts in the middle of the night, and dreams will occur often of people and places from our past, or past lives. It is the “remorse” period where we reflect on the “shoulda woulda coulda” elements in our life, and where we somehow find the guts to revisit life’s former connections. There are always funny statements out there during Mercury in Retrograde ‘ “Don’t drunk dial… it’s Mercury Rx” is one of my personal favorites, because it sums up the feeling that innately get stirred up inside of us during this transit.
But like everything else in life, sometimes revisiting the past isn’t the worse thing for us to do. As we reflect, grow, elevate on this spiritual journey we call life, sometimes this transit opens the doors TO communication. It is a time when “I’m sorry” seems to be a little less cumbersome and discussion of past issues seems to be a little easier. It’s the “clear the air” time and a moment we can really do a spring cleaning on our conscience. This is a time for potential reconciliation or on the flip side, the closure we need to finally connect our personal dots, realize that what we once thought (or who) was imperative in our life, really didn’t hold that strong of a title or presence in our life.
This happens in romance, and it also happens in careers – many old jobs, old bosses and old fellow employee friends creep back into our lives. Many old bosses’ revisit ex-employees after comparing work habits, work ethic and productivity in the workplace after a key employee has departed. This is a time period where you should not be surprised if you get an old job offer back, or a current employee put you under review.
How to we combat this extreme push and pull of the past versus now, and all of those feeling that get conjured up because of it? Several gemstones can help ground you during this time.
Clear Quartz: the master healer. Wear a piece of this incredible healing element of the earth around your wrist to help manage anxiety and place pieces of this stone around your bed at night to help regulate breathing and calmness
Tiger’s Eye: helps balance time and perspective. Tiger’s Eye helps with motivation and keeping your eye on the finish line, so the distractions are minimal.
Fluorite - all forms and colors of fluorite help keep your aura and equilibrium intact. It is a natural stress neutralizer and helps keep your decision making crisp and clean so that mistakes can be kept to a minimum.
Rose Quartz – On the flipside, if you are still not over an ex-love, wearing Rose Quartz might help manifest and call your ex romantic partner in… think of it as a sailboat swimming in a current (Mercury Rx) that is already heading your way – manifesting with Rose Quartz might be that extra tailspin that gets them moving in your direction. 
