Should you be scared of Mercury Retrograde?

Mercury Retrograde has received lots of bad press lately and invokes fear in the more astrologically-minded or superstitious among us.

Missed your train? Mercury Retrograde’s fault. Hit ‘Reply to all’ by accident and annihilated the boss in front of your entire organisation? Blame the Retrograde. Has your computer died along with an unsaved document? Oh, why have you forsaken us Mercury Retrograde?!

With the next Mercury Retrograde now happening in the sign of Scorpio (until the 3^rd November 2020) let’s take a look at whether we should hide under our duvets for the next few weeks until it’s all over.

First of all, we need to understand what it is…

What is Mercury Retrograde?

During retrograde, Mercury appears to go backwards in the sky from our viewpoint here on earth. However, it is just an illusion due to differences in orbit. The most common analogy used is to imagine travelling in a car and then you overtake the vehicle next to you. The other car appears to go backwards, but you know it isn’t.

Why does everyone get so worked up about it?

Mercury rules communication, technology, information and travel, so many people believe that, during retrograde, chaos and confusion are rife in these areas. The planet is going ‘backwards’ so anything under its influence also slows down and goes haywire.

How do we avoid being affected?

Life can’t stop because the planets are doing a backward dance. Mercury, our closest planet to the sun, has been going retrograde since the dawn of time and we’ve all survived.

However, if you feel affected by the planets and life always turns upside down during retrograde, then it probably makes sense to work with it and make provisions. Forewarned is forearmed and all that. Here are some tips to make the most of the next few weeks…

Things you can do:

• Allow extra time for travel and be prepared for technology glitches (take paper maps just in case, update your GPS etc.).
• Get your car checked before going on major journeys.
• Back up your computer and phone.
• Avoid signing contracts.
• If you do need to sign something then triple check it.
• Re-read all email and text correspondence before hitting ‘send’.
• Double-check all appointment times and dates before setting off.
• Be prepared to deal with miscommunication.
• Avoid making any major life decisions.
• Be flexible and ready to deal with hitches and changes to plans.
• Have a hard copy of your presentation on stand-by in case technology lets you down.
• Try not to launch any new things (website, book, new product etc).
• Insure and track important mail packages.
• Review projects and plans but leave final decisions until after Mercury Retrograde.
• Avoid buying new vehicles or electronic gadgets.

If you’d like to learn a bit more about this then leading astrologer, Yasmin Boland, has a great free Mercury Retrograde Survival Kit.

Do you think Mercury Retrograde impacts you? I’d love to know!

---

Need content written for your blog, website or marketing materials? I specialise in writing content for the holistic and health sectors. Visit my Services page to find out more.