Mercury retrogrades from 23° 52′ to 8° 19′ Aquarius, from 28 January to 18 February 2008.
The back-end shadow period lasts from 19 to 27 January 2008 and the front-end shadow period from 19 February to 9 March 2008.

I am discounting the usual glitches and disruptions to do with missed appointments, computer trouble and travel delays. This is a list of events that stood out.

Back-end shadow period, 19 to 27 January 2008:

  • 19 January — some interesting personal revelations and new relationship dynamics I could never have anticipated (details must, out of necessity, remain vague)
  • 23 January — another flurry of friends re-appearing on Facebook

Retrograde period, 28 January to 19 February 2008:

  • from 28 January — intensified flurry of long-lost friends appearing on Facebook
  • 31 January — my computer’s external speakers begin to sputter
  • 1 February — personal closure and decision not to take other people’s games personally
  • 8 to 15 February — several curiously extreme social encounters
  • 15 February — immigration papers come through (ending a saga from long past)

Front-end shadow period, 19 February to 9 March 2008:

  • 25 February — let go of some toxic relationships
  • 25 to 27 February — househunting, and finding one, but falling ill as a result
  • 1 March — publication of paper held over for about a year
  • 3 March — finally starting to organise house move properly!

With Uranus moving out of a tight square with my natal Sun and Mercury, this retrograde finally didn’t feel so much like the universe was having a laugh at my expense. Nevertheless, several social run-ins allowed me to reflect on what it is I could live without, and what it is I wanted to live with.