This last Mercury retrograde is pretty interesting for some of the coincidences it sent up.

On 9 June, I posted an entry about Mercury retrograde and job applications, and how my applications were affected by mistakes and server breakdowns.


Well, the only interview I was called for came from the application in which the other party’s server kept rejecting my emails and I had to send it multiple times before it got through.

Anyway, they called me for an interview via email while I was away on conference on 18 July. The interview was scheduled for 5 days later on 23 July, and I had to scramble rather madly to change the flights and alter other travel arrangements. On 26 July, I received a letter saying I hadn’t got the job but it wasn’t because I wasn’t qualified but because I was the only ‘foreign’ candidate in need of a work permit.

How do I make sense of it? I don’t really know. But like so much else on this blog, part of the quest is just to write things down and see if something emerges later.

So:

  • On 9 June (back end shadow phase), when I sent out the application and had trouble doing so, Mercury was at 10° Cancer, conjunct my Mars.
  • On 18 July (front end shadow), when I heard the news about the interview, it was at 5° Cancer conjunct my Venus.
  • On 23 July (nearing end of front end shadow), when I went for the interview, it was at 10° Cancer, conjunct my Mars again.
  • On 26 July (out of shadow phase completely), I learn for sure that I hadn’t got it.

Somehow, though, and this might sound like self-consolation, I’m not all that disappointed, maybe because I don’t expect something like a job application and interview to go that well during a retrograde period. If I’d got it, something else might have to give. As it turns out, I had a meeting yesterday (26 July) with my boss, who tells me of a possibility of converting my fixed term contract into a permanent post. There was no assurance of anything concrete, merely the hint of a possibility, but it buys me a bit more time to look for other jobs.

Mercury retrograde has a weird way of throwing one pearls and peanuts, and sometimes it is not always easy to distinguish between the two.