"One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious."

-Carl Jung-

Murky Merc

Mifmarfin ootapuria astralgusta renerf tuga tifressa.

Dijya get that?!?

Oh, come on now! It made perfect sense to me........!

YesYes. The first of Trickster's annual sojourns from Mercury onto the Cerebral Tour Bus through hyper space is sputtering its etheric fumes into our cloudy noggins. He's brought tourists with bright yellow shirts and inter dimensional binoculars and they are keenly looking out for off-kilter foibles, lackadaisical "oops" moments and all genuine befuddlement. They are all taking cosmic notes about how to make the Retrograde journeys more effective for us linear humans.

You got it! MERCURY is in retrograde from January 28 until February 18 through the Uranus-ruled constellation of Aquarius. Be prepared for the wacky, the unconventional, the sudden flashes of humbling nonsense. It is a cosmic co-conspiracy designed to keep our sense of humour fresh. So, remember to laugh, it will be the saving grace during these times of Mercury in Retrograde!

What the heck IS a retrograde period anyhow?
Well, it's not that the planet actually starts to move backwards. It's really all about perspective. And from our earth-centric vantage point of Mercury's current orbit combined with our Earth's journey around the Sun, Mercury "appears" to be moving backwards to our human eyeballs.

The highly intuitive, ancient science of astrology proves to us time and time again that there is sentience, wisdom and subtle communication from the planets in our galaxy and we are in this ongoing dialogue with them constantly, on a cellular level. Instead of just mumbling in our sleep to one another, astrology can help bring some clarity to the ongoing galactic transmissions.

Mercury's Winged Message to us is all about communication in its myriad of form. It is motion, the dance of breath and body as a perceptible current. It is characterised by windy thought processes, logic and reason, our distinct manner of expressing, the flight of ideas, flashes of insight and the delivery of intelligent awareness. It is the movement and transportation of our thinking, both personally and collectively, embodied through computers, telephones, letters, language, fax machines, xerox printers, automobiles and even telepathy. Mercury is witty, often intangible, quick thinking and in constant motion on the mental plane. Our systems of communication and the technologies we have created to promote them are all ruled by Mercury.

When we perceive Mercury up there moving backwards three times a year, we get a tough-love dose of things going awry, or being garbled, of being invited to look more to the past for clarity. It is a RE-VIEW period when we are prompted by the cosmos to slow down and integrate. To stop tirelessly pushing ahead. If we insist our superiority, Mercury gets us by triggering situations which re-quire us to do it all over again or to wait patiently for the slow-moving re-sults of things.

The retrograde periods are all about the RE's of life:
-re-evaluate
-re-organize
-re-view
-re-connect
-re-member
-re-store
-re-new

Some feel this may be speculative, highly subjective hocus-pocus, mumbo-jumbo new-age quackery. That's alright, think what you may! However, thinking this will not guarantee you are impervious or immune to Mercury's Mighty Mischievousness. You might still have oddball occurrences offered to you on a slippery silver platter during Mercury's retrograde periods, all which confound and baffle you. Those astrologically ruled by Mercury,(us Gemini's and Virgo's) or with major planets so ruled, or with major planets (Sun, Moon, Venus, Mars...etc.) in the sign Mercury is currently retrograding in, will be most indelibly affected.

As the retrograde Mercury is transiting Aquarius, Aquarians are the bullseye sign these next few weeks. To understand how this affects you directly, it is helpful to have your natal chart so you can closely observe the direct impact in your life. Knowing the Placidus or Koch House Systems can also help you understand the "house" mercury is retrograding for you and what this may represent on a personal level. This all requires some amount of coherency and self-study for it to congeal as sensible wisdom.
Do check out the link below for free natal charts and more cool astro-info.
Astrodienst

At the beginning of this retrograde I went to dinner with my Aquarian roomie for my Galactic Tzolkin birthday. (4 Cimi) It was Indian cuisine, with lots of saucy, spicy ghee-infused glory. In the middle of my meal I suddenly lost the delicate balance of my silver spoon and wildly flung a whopping spew of dahl into my lap, onto my brand new, funky, teal-coloured top. I looked like I had just publicly puked into my lap. I laughed aloud and called the napkin ambulance to the immediate rescue. The remaining oil stain was a screaming siren on my lovely blouse, so I leaped to the bathroom, having to pass a family of traditionally dressed South Asians who stared at me like a ghee-spot caught in Judith Martin's headlights. I awkwardly clowned my obvious predicament to them and returned minutes later with half my front soaked to the bone because the loo was out of paper towel.

Days later, this same Aquarian roomie had been zapped by retrodgrade Mercury himself and was distressed because the primary file for his community newpaper (which he edits and publishes himself) just disappeared into oblivion after a square-eyed all-nighter of hynogogic writing. Apparently it was nowhere to be found in cyberland and was scheduled to go to press that day. I soothed him with a Mercury in Retrograde lullaby and suggested he return to the bowels of his computer and scour all his files diligently.

Apparently his hard drives were in some chaos with disorganized and miscellaneous filing strategies-Mercury's lesson being for this Aquarian to "clean-up his act" and re-view his computer structure. Hours and hours later, he found this file had been mysteriously saved to some obscure web-design file. He resumed his editing feeling humbled and newly inspired to houseclean his computer.

I tend to recoil from the oppressive "don't's" in life, as the rebel in my trickster-ruled psyche gets a grand charge of curiosity from that which I'm NOT SUPPOSED to do. However, while I suggested some RE;'s for everyone above, I'm also going to suggest some things to politely avoid, if you can, until February 18 or longer.

Side-step and avoid:
-beginning a new job or contract
-buying anything major related to cars, bicycles, rollerblades...etc.
-signing any major contracts, especially with new employers, banks and other major institutions
-starting up a new relationship
-planning a trip
-distance-traveling somewhere new
-buying expensive communication toys (cell-phones, computers, printers...etc.)
-starting a business
-moving house, business, caravan or motor-home
-mailing in anything requiring lots of bureaucratic red-tape processing
-trying to make too much perfect sense out of anything

Re:member to slow down and review. Laugh, see the absurdity of life as a wee little game to play in a clown nose. Stay humble, be spontaneous and explore unpredictability through creativity. Write to a long-lost friend on Facebook (I just did!) and reflect on your perfectly imperfect perfection of life.