Modern Witch
The biggest thing happening this week is that Mercury is going Retrograde (Rx) in Scorpio on Thursday, which also happens to be Halloween. It will remain retrograde in Scorpio until November 20, just in time for the madness of the holidays. What is particularly striking about this retrograde is that it will be full of creepy vibes, deep thoughts, the potential for finance-related drama, and we can expect mood swings, especially if you are a Scorpio, Taurus, Leo, or Aquarius. Each of these signs is likely to find their personality traits they feel the most insecure about on blast and are at high risk for oversharing in social settings, so be careful! If you are a Pisces, Cancer, Virgo, or Capricorn you should actually benefit from the usual mix-ups related to Mercury Rx.
Planets go Rx all the time, but we tend to place a heavy significance on Mercury when it goes Rx, which people tend to blame every little trouble on. As fellow Modern Witch Blogger Durgadas says, “You go through mercury Rx three times a year, every year of your life, and you have survived. You will survive this one, too!” I would add to that when Mercury does goes Rx it doesn’t affect everything uniformly. It goes Rx in a different sign each time and so different aspects of our lives are affected each time. Most of what people blame on Mercury being Rx has nothing to do with what would be happening astrologically. Furthermore, depending on your own astrological makeup, you may not really feel the influence of the retrograde at all!
So what should we really be concerned about when Mercury goes Rx? It all depends, and there really is no easy answer. In general, it is best to avoid initiating or signing new binding agreements. This is because it is likely to result in either A) a false start due to human or technological error, B) the discovery that you didn’t have all the necessary information at the time of the agreement, or C) that interpersonal communication false short of expectations. For the most part, the issues take place either within us or during those moments and spaces between when information is sent and when it is received. Magically speaking, we would want to avoid initiations as Mercury does affect how divine energy is channeled (seriously, it’s a bad idea and the three times I have known it to happen the person initiated ended up going a little mad.) This also means that during Mercury Rx our psychic experiences should be scrutinized a bit more than usual as the path for that information is under the influence of a moody messenger.
Aside from these general but vague warnings, we would have to look at the sign it went retrograde in to determine the theme of the individual Rx, and/or we would need to look at where Mercury was in your chart to see how you would be personally affected (which is a lot to get into, so another blog, another time!)
The theme of this particular Mercury Rx is somewhere along the lines of
Pulp Fiction meets Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? meets 13 Ghosts.
What I mean by this is that we are going to get caught up in some trippy, deeply personal, dark and potentially upsetting moments over this Rx that will likely leave us feeling that we have touched the darker recesses of our mind (and temperament); especially in the areas of sex, familial relationships, money, and substances. We can expect to find ourselves attracted to a past lover or someone else who isn’t our current partner(s). We can expect the temptation to take things too far when it comes to alcohol and drugs (SO BE CAREFUL!) We can expect to have moments where we lose ourselves in emotion and act out. We can also expect to want to be a version of ourselves that we once were. This is all going to come from a place of not feeling appreciated, wanted, desired, truly seen/heard by others, and a healthy dose of paranoia fueled by an inability to let go of things that you can’t have or no longer embody. At the heart of our conflicts this Rx will be vulnerability and the sticky things that come from feeling vulnerable. Oh. And ghosts, lots of ghosts. Both in the metaphorical and literal kind.
Witch-folk can expect to have an increase in psychic phenomenon during this retrograde, especially of the spirit kind. This is a good thing, usual protections should work just fine, but your ability to receive messages, and attract the dead in general, should be heightened. The bad thing about this is that if you are depressed and/or are doing a lot of looking into the past, you very well might accidently conjure something up.
So how do you avoid Rx drama this go-round?
Even though the temptation will be to stay spooky after Halloween, you will need to lift your vibe and keep it high. Don’t let yourself become lethargic or listless, but also don’t feel the need to be overly social, either. Find a project to do when you aren’t working and keep your mind busy on productive tasks. This is a very good time to work on your finances, to get things in order like your home and property, and to finish up any unfinished projects from the past few months. Magically speaking, perform extra cleansings on yourself and your environment, and align/center your energy body daily to keep your energy moving. Work with stones like Iolite, Sunstone, Aquamarine, Sodalite, Ocean Jasper, Moss Agate, Lapis-Lazuli, Amethyst, Aragonite, and Dumortierite. Make an offering to Mercury of White Copal on Wednesday and each Wednesday during the Rx.
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