The next Mercury retrograde will be December 26 - January 16.  Holiday shopping tip: effects will be felt as early as December 9.  Be sure to get your holiday shopping done soon because waiting until the last week or minute stores will run low or out of inventory and shipments could be delayed!

Mercury Maddness by Susan Miller

At several points throughout the year most of us will be bombarded with the maddening effects of Mercury in retrograde.Mercury is a planet which governs all transportation and communication issues. Mercury is not an emotional planet, but rather a highly objective, truth-seeking one. It rules intelligence, education and truth. When it is in retrograde, some of its power is held back.

When Mercury starts turning in an apparent backward motion, we will start to feel the effects of this event days or even as far as two weeks earlier. When the planet normalizes we will see the tempo of events pick up in our lives as the planet becomes "stationary" and then speeds forward.

Gemini and Virgo are signs ruled by Mercury, so if you are one of those born during those months, you will be complaining especially loudly. If you work in the industries ruled by this planet such as sales, writing, public relations, advertising, publishing, air freight, the post office or express mail, any transportation industry, from the airlines to Amtrak, you'll also be especially vulnerable to this planet's weird motions in September. (If you are a Gemini, for example, who works in publishing, it's no use calling in for a month of mental health days--you can't escape!)

What happens when Mercury retrogrades? You miss appointments, your computer equipment crashes, checks get lost, you find the car you just purchased during Mercury retrograde is a lemon. (Or, you hate your haircut, the lamp you bought shorts out, your sister hates her birthday gift.) There will be countless delays, cancellations and postponements--but know these will benefit you in the long run. Don't fight them, although your frustration level and feeling of restlessness will be hard to cope with at times.

All machinery and things with moving parts--such as computers, VCRs, camera equipment, garbage disposals, and so forth, will reveal any weak links now. It is critical that you back up your data system and be more careful and vigilant than ever. Projects will demand more time and money than anticipated this month.

In matters of the heart, if your boyfriend or girlfriend breaks up with you or says something hurtful, take a wait-and-see attitude. Since Mercury rules speech, they may not mean what you think they are saying now. Let them have some space, and wait to see if they mean in October what they said in September.

When traveling, leave early and allow for extra travel time. Have all bags double-taped closed, count your belongings, double-check addresses and reconfirm appointments. Things get lost when Mercury messes us up. Take NOTHING for granted. The sector of your chart that Mercury happens to be skating through will be effected most dramatically, so check your forecast!

Why would the Universe give us Mercury retrograde? Because to move forward it is sometimes necessary to backtrack and reconfigure our paths in life. It is important to reconsider, repair, reflect, and reconnect. Mercury forces us to slow down and fix what's broken, and in so doing, rethink things. It also gives us time to get to projects we have put on the back-burner.

Some activities are lucky or actually improve when Mercury retrogrades. You are likely to bump into old friends that you haven't seen in years. Adopted children tend to find their birth parents during Mercury retrograde periods, or people locate their long lost siblings. Prosecutors often find clues to crimes that had previously remained unsolved for years. (Although sometimes the reverse is true--there is a greater danger, or example, that police can bungle evidence during a Mercury retrograde period, for clear thinking doesn't come easy for any of us then.) Mail that went astray weeks or even years ago shows up during Mercury retrograde. Some things that were lost reappear.

Now is also a good time to dress old wounds, clean up relationships or to simply bury the hatchet. Some people have great breakthroughs in psychotherapy during a Mercury retrograde period. For salesman, it is a positive time to backtrack over previous contacts rather than call on new ones. It is a perfect time to schedule work on projects that you haven't had time to do and you've let pile up. Bring your resume or portfolio up to date, and clean out your closets. Take time to paint the house. Clear your decks.

Just try not to start new things. If you have to start a job during a Mercury retrograde period know that the nature of the job is likely to change dramatically over time. Perhaps the person you report to will leave, or your responsibilities will be very different from what you thought they would be. Or your company won't be ready to take you on, and you won't have much to do until things are reorganized. But remember, if this was a position that you tried for in the past, then you've got the vibes working for you rather than against you.

Finally, what about people born with Mercury retrograde? If you are due to give birth to a baby during this period, don't fret. The ancients felt that this aspect lends a more philosophical tone to the character. Mercury rules thinking, therefore an individual born with this aspect tends to reflect deeply over events and issues throughout their lifetimes. In this case, having this aspect could be a big plus! Your astrologer was born with Mercury retrograde--so relax! 

http://www.astrologyzone.com/forecasts/mercury.html

My astrology instructor passed this along to me, and now I'm passing it to all of you, it' always nice to get a head's up as to what's going on in the heavens. (Don't worry, Mercury isn't in retrograde...yet)

Mercury is the planet that rules over communication, the transmission of information and the operation of small machinery, and for the next week or so it will be under stress, potentially causing disruptions in the way we communicate with others and the smooth operation of business.

Mercury is in its own sign of Virgo where it is usually practical and logical, good with details and effective in creating order out of the routine of day-to-day life. It is approaching a conjunction to Saturn which will encourage us to take a more serious approach to the everyday workings of our life. This is a time to knuckle down and honor responsibilities rather than seek the freedom of our individuality.

Mars is the planet that stimulates desire and passion, and it is in Mercury's other sign of Gemini. A heightened intensity in communication is one of the hallmarks of Mars in Gemini and we are certainly seeing this with the fervor exhibited in the Town Hall meetings over health care that began last week when Mars (aggression) made a square to Saturn (authority figures)..

Mars in Gemini also seeks new experiences and does not like to be tied down, and as Mercury gets closer to the conjunction (a challenging aspect) to Saturn it will also square Mars which will exacerbate the heightened passions that we are seeing and perhaps feeling as well.

Mars is raw energy, and offers the potential to harness that energy and utilize it to accomplish our goals. However, these are challenging aspects that make it necessary to use a conscious application of WIll in order to focus this energy in a specific direction and mobilize our intentions.
The exact square from Mercury to Mars will occur on August 27, so this tension is likely to prevail until then and will be most problematic for those of us with planets in the later degrees of the mutable signs (Virgo, Pisces, Gemini, Sagittarius).

Written by professional astrologer Lynn Hayes

http://www.astrodynamics.net

What's going on in the world today that has had so many beloved ones departing planet Earth?  NFL star Steve McNair, musical genius Michael Jackson, pop icon Farrah Fawcett, actor Karl Malden, and infomercial hypeman Billy Mays, just to name a few have all checked out within a very recent and short amount of time. 

Those of us making the decision to stay awhile longer on this living school of learning are also experiencing deaths on  metaphoric leves, as shifts are happening quickly, we experience the metaphoric death, shedding that which no longer serves us (beliefs, habits, and relationships).  And believe me it is happening fast!

Why?  What's going on?  The answer is simple Uranus will be in retrograde in the sign of Pisces from July 1, 09 until December 1, 09.

What does that mean? Expect the unexpected.

Below in my research into why this is happening and what it means for the rest of us I found a great article on astrology.com titled: Uranus in Pisces Revolution in the Sign of the Seeker. This three part article is definately worth the time to take to read as we can reflect on the last time this planetary dance occured during the Roaring 1920's and how the cycle has come around again in current times and the correspondenses are mind blowing!

http://www.astrologycom.com/uranuspisces1.html

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