Mercury in retrograde: Yes, you can turn back time, sort of!

Image by Bruno Albino via Pixabay .

I would like to take a moment to step outside our box of usual content, so that Kemeticism doesn’t become a box, and talk about Mercury in retrograde, as it really seems to be affecting people everywhere I look. It’s affected me, too!

The latest onset of Mercury in retrograde hit me like a load of bricks, with my first set of cold and flu symptoms since COVID-19 began. I went out and got swabbed, and now I’m isolating, awaiting my results, with a bit of time on my hands to work on uni and blogging (though I despise having to call out sick, it’s the most responsible thing to do). Despite the lack of gentleness the universe has bestowed upon me, I do feel like I’ve learned how to work with the energy of Mercury in retrograde and I wanted to share it with readers.

Traditionally, Mercury in retrograde has been a time to watch what you say, limit travel, delay signing contracts and avoid making big decisions. Communication breakdown can lead to misunderstandings, along with technological blunders and seemingly random chaos. Pretty much everything the world relies on to function goes awry. At least, according to myth, right?

According to modern science, Mercury in retrograde is only an apparent backward motion. Although keep in mind, moon phases are only an apparent slicing and dicing of the moon. Sensitives would agree that moon phases affect most of us quite considerably. Personally, I prefer to work with the energy of the new moon, because I find the full moon very full-on and difficult to work with. It’s like attempting to have a meaningful conversation with someone at a party where the music is blaring and you’re shouting, you know what, never mind! In truth, I’ve yet to master working with full moon energy. That’s why I find it so unpleasant. It’s the same with Mercury in retrograde. We have to learn how to work with the energy, if we want to begin benefitting from it.

What I have come to discover, through my own trial and error, is we often deny the meaning and significance of Mercury in retrograde, in the same way we deny the onset of cold and flu symptoms. We say, no, I don’t want to look at this or what it means. We proceed with our own plans anyway, and end up getting frustrated when it all goes wrong, or if we get sick, even. We feel like the universe is messing with us and messing up our lives. I’ve encountered the same pattern, and so like many people, I’ve always dreaded Mercury in retrograde. Until it finally clicked.

Life can go wrong for people during Mercury in retrograde because we are not going with the natural flow of what’s happening in the universe.

 Or, in our solar system, at least. We want to stay on course, keep moving forward, business as usual. Mercury in retrograde is not a time for business as usual, it is not a time to barge forward with new projects. It’s a time to put your car in reverse, so to speak, go back and have a look at what needs to be re-evaluated and revised. Once the course is reset and you are back on track, then you can move forward with better results. If a celestial body is going one way and we’re going another, of course we can expect some cosmic whiplash. Go back and reset your course! Meditate on the energy of Mercury and allow your intuition to show you whatever it is you may need to review.

As a side note: our culture is geared very strongly to never revisit the past. Don’t look back. No regrets. This is not always a healthy mindset. Does it really serve you to never look back on the past? Is it really desirable to evade responsibility for our mistakes? Wouldn’t you want to undo something you’ve done that you messed up or may have even hurt people, including yourself? While Mercury in retrograde can’t change the past, it can help undo the negative effects of our mistakes and misadventures, to begin moving forward again in more positive directions. 

Periods of retrograde are part of a natural cosmic order. We humans are very good at observing the moon and working with lunar energies, well, most of us! Yet our lives are thrown into chaos because we are taught to disregard the cosmic gifts and opportunities of Mercury in retrograde. If you have something important to accomplish that hasn’t worked out previously, Mercury in retrograde is the right time to go back, revisit and revise. If it’s meant to be, you may find a new way forward and a reversal of bad fortune. It’s also a time to seek justice and reprioristise your goals. 

Once you learn to work with the energy of Mercury in retrograde, life can feel like you’re sailing on trade-winds, right to where you’d like to be, or somewhere even better. For example, during a pre-COVID retrograde period last year, I signed a contract for a new job and flew to Sydney for training – which was breaking all the cardinal rules of Mercury in retrograde – but it worked out beautifully because I learned  to navigate the universe. If I can do it, you can definitely do it, too. After COVID hit, I had to leave that job because the work dried up, but I don’t blame the universe for that. It’s important to maintain perspective!

Thank you, for reading Kemetic Blog. I hope you enjoyed our departure from the usual content. This is proof of my eclectic-ness, if you hadn’t already noticed. The main point to remember with Mercury in retrograde is while situations that were previously going right will have a tendency to go wrong, the opposite is also true: things that were going wrong finally have a chance to go right. This is where the focus needs to be during these unique blips in the cosmic scheme of things. Take care!

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