Making Merc rx work for you

Most of us know that Mercury retrograde can signal frustrating delays, mistakes and u-turns, but if we adjust our expectations, it is possible to be productive during this period. I have a 6th house natal Mercury placement; being ‘productive’ keeps me sane.

Mercury retrograde may not be good for starting new projects, but as I’ve mentioned before, it can be a pretty effective time to revise, resume or reinvigorate old ones. In the past week, I have been averaging 300-500 words a day on a writing project I began quite a while ago but could never find the time to finish. The general slowdown of other activity is giving me the space to do so.

Here’s a tip: if you don’t have old projects to clear up, but still want to use the energy of Mercury retrograde, it is possible to plan ahead. What I sometimes do is I look in my calendar to see when the next retrograde period is coming up, and I start a project several weeks ahead of time, well before the storm, and then leave it aside until which time I can then complete or revise it during the retrograde period. If you can catch the energy of a new moon when you make this start, all the better. I don’t always get to time things so well, but when I do, it’s worth the effort.

 

Mercury retrograde: Life accelerates

I’ve watched this for a very long time. Life does indeed accelerate for me in the run up to Mercury retrograde just when all the advice is to slow down (see also). It must be the contrarian nature of my having natal Mercury trine natal Uranus or something! Actually I like this take on Merc rx, in that sometimes no matter what you do, stuff happens.

For me, it’s a bit like this: you try to go down a steep stair as slowly and as carefully as you can, but then you slip and are forced to go with the momentum until you stop. Somehow. Mercury retrograde is like that for me.