Mercury retrograde, June 26th through July 20th 2013

Mercury turned retrograde this morning and will appear to travel backwards from our perspective on earth for about three weeks.  Even people who don’t believe in astrology have come to believe in Mercury retrograde periods which can often bring communication snafus and equipment breakdowns.  Mercury rules (among other things) the mind, mental activity, interpersonal communication, short trips, and communication equipment.

Retrograde periods serve an important purpose – they encourage us to slow down, to look back over our lives and re-evaluate our path.  It can be frustrating to feel that we are going over the same ground again and again, but if we look carefully we will see that actually progress is being made.  Perhaps there is something that we failed to notice before – something that needs to be redone before we can truly move forward again.

Many of you already know this, but it bears repeating: during Mercury retrograde periods it’s important to be careful about communication.  Don’t be surprised if contracts require renegotiation.  Missed appointments are common.  Important documents may be lost in the mail.

These are typically not the best periods for initiating a major purchase or making a big decision, unless the decision is to REdo another decision that was made before.  But often in life we must make these decisions during Mercury retrograde periods, and then we just have to try to be extra careful to be clear with our communication and think through every possible pitfall.  Then when glitches occur we can just laugh and say “Aha!  That’s just Mercury retrograde.”

These are great times to study, to go back and relearn something you thought you already knew, to redo your website, to update your goals – anything that you can REdo, REnegotiate or REnew is ideal for this time period.

Mercury is in Cancer right now where our thinking tends to be more emotional.  In fact, since Jupiter entered Cancer today there are now four planets in Cancer so the feeling realm prevails over the intellect right now.  As Mercury retrogrades it will draw nearer to a challenging square to Uranus (surprise) which could have a disruptive effect, especially between July 15th and 23rd or so.

Jupiter entered Cancer today as well.  While I was on vacation I wrote an article about Jupiter in Cancer to be ready when I returned, and thanks to good old Mercury Retrograde my article disappeared.  So I am still working on it and will post it in the next few days.

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