To the left of this blog you will see a badge linking to something called Pagan blog prompts. I can't remember how I even stumbled across this but a couple of days ago I received an email with the latest prompt, which is about Mercury Retrograde and what kind of effect it has on you.
So my post today is all about the upcoming Mercury Retrograde, which begins on on November 25th, this coming Friday.
This time last year I was dreading Mercury Retrograde. I have been aware of this particular planet going into reverse three times a year for some time now. I have been aware also of the effect this period of time has on my life. But last year felt different.
It started with my washing machine breaking down on the first day and the engineer being unavailable until a couple of days before Christmas. I had no choice but to accept that and resolved not to let Mercury Retrograde get me down. The next delay came later on the same day in the form of lost paperwork that I desperately needed that day.
But the worst was to come.
On the night of December 11th my brother took ill and slipped into a coma. The doctors didn't expect him to survive and he lingered on for almost a week. I cannot begin to describe the emotions we went through, each night we would go to bed and wonder if he would still be with us when we got up again. The only one who slept during this time was me and this was because DH gave me tablets; you see, stress makes fibromyalgia worse and I was in agony. I also had a virus and felt really awful, so DH convinced me to take his tablets each night. I stopped taking them the night of David's funeral.
Then this year for the first Mercury Retrograde of the year my Dad was in hospital and had been for a long time. We knew he wasn't going to get any better but I had hoped we could get him home. But we were beset by delays in communication and misunderstandings - Mercury Retrograde is notorious for this type of thing - and he started to drift away from us. Again the end dragged on for a good few days before he passed a couple of days after Mercury turned direct.
Of course I have experienced many retrogrades - we have 3 each year - and have not gone through anything remotely like this before. Neither am I saying that these deaths are because of Mercury Retrograde, they clearly weren't. But I will always wonder if they might have died sooner had Mercury not been retrograde.
Of course I have no superstition over this time and death, although you could forgive me for feeling that way I guess. Usually what I find happens during a period of Mercury retrograde is that things get held up, one way or another and communication is painfully slow or even non existent.
However, there is a plus side to this period. Knowing what we do about the delays and lack of communication, we can use this time wisely. We can plan ahead, we can get to grips with things that we normally don't have the time to sort out.
I know that during this time the delays and communication problems are going to arise and so I choose to be as pro-active as in other areas. I know that starting something new, especially anything that requires good communication with others, is a no-go at this time. I am wise enough now, I hope, to understand that swimming against the tide is pointless and so I use this time as wisely as I can.
