Mercury is Retrograde, and There's Nothing I Can Do

Poor Mercury. It seems like every time there is a communication or technology foul-up, or whenever people are just acting weird, the planet closest to the sun is the prime suspect. If a quick check of the website www.ismercuryinretrograde.com yields a positive response, that cinches it.

Mercury is responsible.

And when Mercury is retrograde, there's nothing you can do but sit back and ride it out.

Brief astrology (and astronomy) lesson: Whenever a planet goes retrograde (some say "in retrograde," but this is grammatically incorrect) it appears to move backward across the sky. All planets go retrograde from time to time. They aren't actually moving backward - it just looks like they are because of how their orbit around the sun looks to us here on Earth.

Astrologically speaking, the planet Mercury is thought to control communication. In mythology, the god Mercury was a messenger (he was known as Hermes to the Greeks...and he was a trickster to boot.) This is why when the planet appears to move backward, many people hesitate to sign contracts, purchase technology, or even have serious conversations with their spouses.

Back to the point of this post.

When your computer won't work, or your kids are in a recalcitrant mood, or a contract negotiation falls through, it's really nice to have some external source - in this case, a planet over 68 million miles away - to blame. Realizing certain circumstances are outside of our control is a relief. It allows us to laugh, shrug it off, and get on with our lives.

(Psst. You don't have to wait for Mercury to go retrograde to do this.)

Like most modern-day humans, I like to think I am in control. I'm a huge advocate of time blocking, up until this year (when I decided to try going goal-free for a change) I loved goal-setting, and I'm all about personal responsibility and intentionally designing the life you want. There is nothing inherently wrong with any of these things. In fact, they're all very beneficial.

What isn't beneficial is to think we can control everything. And getting bent out of shape when things we can't control thwart our best-laid plans? Well, that can be downright harmful.

Mercury will be retrograde until the evening of March 9, and a surprisingly large segment of society knows this. Take advantage of everyone's slightly more relaxed attitude about minor fluff ups with communication and technology and let the things you can't control roll off you. Then, see if you can't take this more relaxed attitude into the rest of the year.

If you find yourself falling back into your old habits, never fear. Mercury will go retrograde again in June.

Special thanks to liveabout.com for the brief refresher on the significance of Mercury in astrology and mythology.