Have you noticed anything weird happening the past couple of days? Like things are sometimes really TERRIBLE! Having stupid fights with people? Keep dropping things? Continuously running late? Don’t worry guys…it’s just Mercury in Retrograde!
So I’d never heard of this term before, Mercury in Retrograde, and the first time I heard it I thought it meant the poisonous element once found in thermometers had made it’s way into some sort of food or water supply. Boy was I surprised when I found out that Mercury in Retrograde was actually the theory that a few times a year Mercury begins to move backwards…or at least appears to move backwards and everything gets wonky!
Mercury the Roman Messenger God
Mercury being in Retrograde has become a huge superstition within the community of Astrologers and astrology followers. Some people base their everyday lives around it! Mercury, known as the messenger planet, appearing to go backwards alarmed people at one point causing it to become largely a part of Astrologers lore. This stems highly from the idea that because Mercury was the messenger god and the messenger planet if it goes in reverse all forms of communication will end up being thrown off balance; it’s like Mercury is taking a nap which in turn breaks down communication. So, some things to look out for (if you do believe in it) when Mercury is in Retrograde are as follows:
- You’re taking things too personally
- Your data (Back it all up!)
- Don’t make big or drastic purchases
- Don’t make huge plans (they will tend to not work out)
- Avoid signing any contracts or make new agreements (they may backfire)
- Be careful if starting a new job
- Take notice of lack of communication
For the non-believers in lore, I have some science that you may find intriguing, brought to you by the one, the only:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA
NASA has put the motion of Retrograde into simple terms for us common folk:
“Normally, the planets move west-to-east through the stars at night. This is referred to as prograde motion. However, periodically the motion changes and they move east-to-west through the stars. We call this retrograde motion. The retrograde motion continues for a short time and then the motion switches back to prograde. This seemingly strange behavior is easily understood within the context of a Sun-centered solar system. The explanation for retrograde motion…is that retrograde occurs roughly when a faster moving planet catches up to and passes a slower moving planet.” –NASA
To further elaborate NASA is pretty much saying that it’s all completely an illusion. The way that forced me to understand this idea was thinking if you had a friend start to walk in a circle at a slow pace and you begin to walk next to them but at an incredibly fast pace, your friend will appear to be moving backwards. Or like when a big truck passes you on the highway, when you were little you probably thought you were moving backwards but really it was just retrograde.
But here’s where we get conflict between science and myth, Stephen J. Daunt, an assistant professor of astronomy at the University of Tennessee believes that Mercury moving backwards in the sky shouldn’t bother people at all, from a scientific standpoint; while astrologer Anna Payne states that, “This ‘backward’ motion has an overall energetic effect on us. The planet Mercury is the planetary ‘messenger,’ the planet ruling all forms of communication and the mind. In retrograde it slows these areas down, effecting us energetically. Science fights that “astrology has no physical mechanism to explain any physical effect” while Astrologers fight that is it purely the way nature works. What we need to decide is do we follow science or reason? Science has evidence that the planet doesn’t physically move backwards, and Astrologers have agreed with that fact but still stick to the effects on people caused by that movement. We find ourselves with a conflict of interest on our hands, I don’t even know which side I would go for. I’ve noticed the effects of Mercury in Retrograde, but maybe I’m only reflecting on those effects because it’s happening now and being brought up. I see the science said of things, but science isn’t the end all be all, there’s much more to understand than strictly science. So what do you think? Do you believe in Mercury Retrograde?
For those of you on the look out here are the predicted dates of Mercury Retrograde to come (so mark those calendars):
2016
January 5 – January 25, 2016
April 28 – May 22, 2016
August 30 – September 22, 2016
December 19 2016 – January 8, 2017