How To Survive Mercury Retrograde!
[ 13 January 2009 ]
Oh, Mercury retrograde. You are here. You have arrived on our collective doorsteps in all your messy glory. You are our dreaded but regular house-guest. You stagger in the door, kick over our furniture, leave crumbs all over the couch & hog the bathroom. Then, as quickly as you appeared, you disappear again, leaving us slightly stunned but much better equipped to continue with our own lives.
Okay, if you have no idea what I’m talking about, here we go. The planets are swinging around at all times, & their movements affect us all in different ways. All planets go retrograde, but Mercury’s journey seems to impact people much more than any other.
Why is that? It’s because Mercury rules communication, clear thinking, truth & travel, so when it goes retrograde — which means that it looks like it’s going backwards in the sky — all those things go backwards. They start to get ugly & tangle up. Mercury isn’t really going backwards, it’s just hanging out by the sun, but from Earth, that makes it look like it’s in reverse. It typically runs for a few weeks.
In 2009, Mercury is in retrograde from…
January 11th to February 1st
May 8th to May 30th
September 8th to September 29th
December 27th to January 15th (2010)
What happens when Mercury goes retrograde? All sorts of things. It’s like everyone you know has suddenly gone mad. You might find yourself getting into bizarre arguments about nothing at all, being unable to finish sentences or barely even able to form a coherent thought. Your computer & other electronic equipment is more likely to go on the fritz. You could experience travel delays, too. Double-check your flights & take a book with you to keep you occupied while you wait for the train! We don’t tend to get all the information we need at this time, so it can be hard to make big decisions & it’s not always the best time to sign a contract, either.
Expect to hear super-loud complaining from your friends who are Gemini or Virgo, since both are ruled by Mercury. Mercury also rules a lot of industries like publishing, writing, editing, advertising, sales, public relations & anything to do with transport, like airlines, the post office & cabs! This means it can be particularly rough for Gemini train conductors & Virgo magazine editors, so be kind to any you know!
I often find that Mercury retrograde makes me want to go into hermit mode. I feel like half my brain is missing so I’m really not that interested in interacting with anyone, plus every conversation seems to go in an unusual, confusing direction. I feel much more irritable & frustrated & things just don’t seem to go how I want them to.
So that’s the bad news. Mercury retrograde can be a total kick in the teeth for those of us who normally pride ourselves on having our karmic shit together! The GOOD news is that Mercury retrograde provides us with lots of beautiful opportunities if we can just tilt our head & squint.
Mercury retrograde wants us to move back spiritually. It is providing us with a chance to re-examine various areas of our life which may need a little more work, so that we can move forward to a bright new dawn. Now, more than ever, the time is right to look at things with clear eyes. Delicious, fresh perspectives are revealed. We often have major breakthroughs — intellectual, emotional or spiritual — during this time.
It’s also a terrific period in which to tie up loose ends. So many of us have unfinished projects. Maybe that door just needs another lick of paint, or you’ll decide to put away your ex-boyfriend’s love letters once & for all. Having said that, this is also a time where it’s very common for old lovers, friends & acquaintances to get in touch! If you hear from someone from your past, get together with them & see what eventuates!
One of the best ways to cope with it — as with anything, really — is to just “go with the flow”. When you fight Mercury retrograde, that’s when life gets really ugly. Just take some time, go slowly, be careful, don’t freak yourself out by expecting to be uber-productive-perfect right now. Be good to yourself & the people around you, now more than ever!
A quick & dirty cheat’s guide to surviving Mercury retrograde!
(Print it off & stick it in your diary or on your wall!)
Be sure not to take things too personally. People will often say offensive things they didn’t mean around this time, because their thinking is clouded! If your best friend suddenly became the most insensitive person in the world, give her the benefit of the doubt.
Back up your data!
Take things with “a grain of salt”. Everyone is a bit confused, & people are much more inclined to change their mind once Mercury goes direct. Mercury can be a bit of a trickster — could it be that the next few weeks are a big karmic joke?!
Read the small print on any contracts. Ask lots of questions. Obviously you can’t put your life on hand just because of some silly planet, but adapt your lifestyle a bit so that things run more smoothly. Communication is a bit of a mess right now & so is thought, but do your best to get as much information as you can.
Finish things you started a while ago. Home improvement projects? Wardrobe re-organisations? Short stories? Love affairs?! This is an excellent time to tie up loose ends & file things away forever.
Get together with old friends, reminisce & laugh!
Double-check any information you’re given, especially as relates to travel arrangements! During the last Mercury retrograde, I actually caught a cab to the wrong airport! Check times, delays, baggage allowances, reservations, everything.
Allow Mercury to nudge you in unusual directions. If you seem to find yourself “back to the future”, don’t just try to wriggle out of it — look at what the universe is trying to show you. This is a fantastic time to re-examine, accept & move on.
Use what you’ve learned from the past to create a dazzling new vision so that you’re ready to blast ahead when Mercury goes direct!
Fingers crossed for the next few weeks!
Hyper-love & bunny kisses,
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Oh gosh Gala. You posted this at the most perfect time. I’ve never heard of Mercury Retrograde before… and it explains my weird, confused state of mind this week! I’ve been late for work 2 days in a row (and I’m never late!) and last night I was trying to have a conversation with my boyfriend and I kept getting tongue-tied. I would quite literally stop talking mid-sentence, mid-word even (when usually you can’t shut me up)! It was so confusing. I ended up just going to bed by the end of it because I felt so silly.
I shake my fist at you, backwards Mercury! ;)
I agree, it’s worse for Gemini’s. :P Haha. I forgot how to sow at work this week! Ahhh! It don’t help when yo have 2 minds either. You’re like, having a battle with yourself on weather you really want to complain out loud or not.
You know, I can just imagine this as a little special report on the six o’clock news. How to survive to credit crunch? Pah! Here’s our reporter Gala Darling on how to survive the Mercury Retrograde, with swirly charts and pink, heart-shaped diagrams! Best news report ever :D
This is totally nuts.
On the weekend I was feeling all tired and achy and sullen, and then yesterday a good friend of mine told me something that was so completely out of the blue and uncharacteristic and COMPLETELY surprising that I pretty much questioned everything I ever knew about him. I was thinking about it all night and then I had weird dreams, and all day today I thought I had dreamed what he told me as well (he didn’t. I double-checked my msn conversation history.) Basically I felt like I was going crazy the whole day, and then I got home and read this, and everything sort of makes sense now.
So thank you thank you thank you a million times for posting this.
P.S. I am going to make about 50 copies of these tips and put them everywhere I look. Also, I think tonight I’ll finish the mural I started last April. And after that, I am reading every possible thing there is to read about Mercury retrograde.
Whoa, this post is so timely! I’m seriously spun out atm…nice to know why!
olivia — Haha, CUTEST VISUAL EVER! I love it :D
ange — Oh I’m glad to be able to bring some clarity through the madness! Mercury retrograde can get SERIOUSLY weird, so at least now you know what the hell is going on!
Amazing photograph you used! Looking forward to the crazy – bring it on mercury retrograde!
This is PERFECT TIMING! Randomly on the 11th my ex boyfriend started going crazy; I had to change my number and everything. One of my ex boyfriends shows up at my door randomly so much since the 11th! Then randomly 2 a.m. on the 12th I stopped breathing & my heart stopped the doctors said they don’t know what happened but the ambulance guys said I was a goner!
Wow mecury is really messing with me! I been saying karma is having it’s way with me atleast I know why everything is going crazy!
Now that I think about it, my mind has been really cloudy ever since the 11th – which was when I decided to cut out most bad foods from my diet and exercise a whole lot more.
So far I’ve been successful, but I’ve felt spaced out even at the best of times. I’ve been off on tangents ever since I started on the healthy lifestyle bandwagon, and until now, I couldn’t figure out why!
I’m usually inclined to think of this stuff as BS but I forget all that as soon as it all adds up with my personal life. :-q
I just started writing a comment and my computer rebooted, I didn’t have time to back up my data! Nothing important was lost though, luckily :)
lookatthatbook.blogspot.com
Oh, wow, for some reason I never realized how very often Mercury goes retrograde! Do you think the overall chaotic and nonsensical nature of human civilization and interaction could be partly because of this?
Nahhhhh…
Heh it’s amazing how true this is for everyone at the moment!
An old lover out of the blue, a wardrobe re-organisation, much communication failure at work, computer shitting itself at random moments(oh the joy!)...
So far it’s been reletively good though! It’s a great year for aquarius, so I’m not going to let a little mercury retrograde kill my good mood! :P
Really? Just the opposite has been happening for me—can mercury retrograde be extra-early for some people? Because until very recently, I was experiencing all that, & now things are beginning to clear up. Hopefully the worst is over for me
Alice — Haha. I think humans are random enough without astrology getting involved!
a — Some astrologers think that Mercury retrograde starts to kick in a couple of weeks earlier than the “official” date, so it might be that you felt it then but have since adjusted & are going with the flow!
Ha – that explains a lot! (Going the long way to the airport is just the tip of the iceberg, I tell ya!)
GAH.
THIS MAKES SENSE.
/breakthrough.
Major communication issues here. MAJOR.
Yep. Exactly. Wish I could hang at the pool all day! Alas there is some Mercury shiz to sort out!
Can we please have some sort of public service announcement about this? This is your brain… this is your brain when Mercury is in retrograde.
I had vaguely heard of Mercury in retrograde but I had noooo idea what it meant until more or less right now. And just yesterday my boyfriend (a total Virgo) got all weird and non-verbal and couldn’t/wouldn’t tell me what was wrong. GAH!
Thank you Ms. Darling!
Redgaloshes — Hahah! “This is your brain on Mercury retrograde!” Yeah, maybe there should be posters!
Serious question: do you guys actually believe this stuff or is it just a bit of fun?
You all sound quite serious about it, is all.
Holly — I believe it when it seems relevant, & the rest of the time I’m just like, “Psshhhh, horoscopes!”. I can only speak for me, though!
Holly – I don’t really “believe” in it, but sometimes it’s a useful tool allowing you to look at things in another way, or open your eyes to things going pear-shaped in ways you hadn’t stopped to analyse. Sometimes it’s just a message of “It’ll be OK” that you really need to hear. (I never read the horoscopes in magazines that tell me about travel/relationships/career – I find them boring.)
This seems totally relevant to what’s going on with me right now; thank you so much for posting this Gala!
I take things personally at the best of times and got totally upset when my boyfriend was just joking yesterday. I can’t think what I want to do for my next project at University (Fine Art course) and went into meltdown about that earlier. Arguments have been springing up with my sisters constantly. All in all, it seems to correlate with Mercury going retrograde on us!
So hopefully I’ll persist with brainstorming ideas for the art project and come up with something wonderful. Maybe eventually I’ll learn not to take things so personally too!
Anyway, I ranted for far too long. Thank you Gala! x
Wow, suddenly the foggy state of my brain makes sense. (Honestly it took several tries to form that sentence in a semi-coherant manner). So terrible.
I find that Mercury Retrograde while challenging is usually full of opportunities for me… Mercury is super prominent in my astro chart. I actually just got my chart done by www.vedicastrologer.net it was such a through, right on reading!
Right now I’m going through the biggest changes I’ve ever had to face. I also learning a whole lot about independence and listening to what it is I want from life. It’s been a very reflective, growing couple of first weeks. I have been super creative and productive though. I’ve made a new paper zine called At The Edge Of The World, one will be winging it’s way to your post box shortly!
On a sidenote I find yourself, Nubby and Amelia’s blogs super inspiring! Thank you for being so open, honest and most of all your creative selves..
mucho appreciation,
B
xo
The last Mercury Retrograde was AWFUL for me….here’s hoping this one might be a little milder. I will definitely be printing this off; perfect timing as usual, Gala! :)
Hmmm it’s funny, I’m a Gemini and my best friend is a Virgo so we should be having it hardest but we’re having an awesome time of it at the moment! Going to gigs (her performing!), last minute trips out, planning trips abroad, partying…. Just today we found out we’ve both been Journey fans for aaaaages and neither or us ever brought it up!! We’re in crazy synchronicity with lots of little stuff too.
this is crazy. i am at work right now and all night i have felt like i’m moving in slow motion. when a customer says something it’s taking me a loooong time to compute what they are saying. ugh.
then i come here and see this and it makes sense to me! i had never heard of retrograde so thank you for this article. :]
Aw man… I am a gemini book editor.
This spells trouble!
I think the best way to keep yourself in good spirits during the retrograde is to eat well, sleep a lot, try to get out of the house, and remember to BREATHE.
My best mates and I got into a huge argument yesterday (and haven’t spoken since) over – ready for it? – TWILIGHT of all fucking things. They couldn’t understand that my relentless mocking of the series was not a personal attack on them, and I couldn’t understand why the fuck the two of them would want to skip off for eight hours to read Twilight to each other.
I blame Mercury.
That is friken unbelievable!! (:. My gosh I love horoscope/zodiac sign/astrology shtuff like that. It made me all excited 0. Well the good news for aquariuses…people who are aquariuses…2009 is suppose to be your year (:...finally…but yeah.
Just thought I’d share more.
Good luck with those Mercury days!
Well then, I suppose that’s why I’ve been so confused since around the 11th. Can I blame it for my black ice-aided car crash as well? Pretty please?
so my ex from three years ago just mailed me his phone number. odd timing, i’ll call him up.
explicit rex — Amazing!!! Yes, do it, let us know how it goes!
wow, thank you! this explains a lot.
what books would you suggest to someone who would like to learn more about astrology? or rather, what research (books, websites, etc) did you use?
Im too hot so I just skim read this and immediately harassed my partner into backing up all my important files ie: cute dresses, cute pictures, cute gifs etc
My first ever backup, a DVD entitled super backup Jan ’09!
Thanks!
Totally explains the emotion overload i’ve been having and how everyone won’t leave me alone.
and I have been talking to old friends and teachers due to my moving to NYC.
Dang I picked the worst time to pack up and move to NYC [during the first retrograde of the year!]
well i’ll just be going with the flow.
good luck everyone!
Wow! Like some of the others I’d vaguely heard talk of Mercury retrograde before but hadn’t paid much attention… but it grabbed me today! Since Sunday/Monday my husband and I have been having communication issues/arguments that come out of nowhere… at least now I can hope that its due to Mercury and we’ll get over it in a couple of weeks!
I’ve always been one to look at the horoscopes but not let them rule my life. Sometimes spookily accurate! I remember my mum had a 70s vintage sun signs book I read as a teenager – very accurate descriptions of personalities of everyone I know! And then there was the time Mum and I met this woman at the beach (complete stranger) and she took one look at us and could pick our star signs! Freaky…
Mercury Retrograde makes me want to bang my head against the wall and then hide under the covers until it’s over.
I shake my fist at the planets.
I’d also like to add that I’ve entered my Saturn’s Return, which also is full of the mind-effs.
So the ex literally showed up at my doorstep this weekend and wanted to ‘hang out’- and he’s a Virgo. And what did the proud Leo me who is still hung up on him do? Said “Not a good time”...mmm maybe I should have said yes…
rachel & lily — This article was a mix of what I knew & a bit of Googling… I recommend Susan Miller’s www.astrologyzone.com very highly though!
I usually hate Mercury retrograde, but this one has been okay. And strangely enough, I have very recently been talking to a blast from the past (#1 on my “list”!) Strange!
aaa! thank you Gala!
No wonder things have been a bit weird lately. Like last night, I couldn’t seem to talk to this guy I’m seeing. I didn’t know what to talk about (which was a shock coz we’re ALWAYS talking about something, anything). My mind was just so blank. It was really awkward, I felt like going to sleep and forget about everything. :S
Again, Thank you, Gala! Thank you! *hugs.
My Mercury retrograde horror story involves me spending the majority of the evening crying and borderline-hyperventilating for ridiculous reasons (A few EFT sessions slowed it down, but it’s STILL not going away completely) Meanwhile, my friend dumped her girlfriend, another is brooding over nothing in particular, and another was angsting and drinking on a Monday night.
Thank you for the article, Ms. Darling, and best of luck to all the non-pareils.
P.S- Pointy objects aren’t the greatest of inventions in times like these. Do stay away from them if possible, lovelies.
Sadly the Mercury Retrograde started hitting me last Friday when I got to work to find out that I had erroneous bank errors to the tune of $400 which has taken me over 5 days and 5+ hours to rectify. At the same time every one of my friends was going through similar and we all chocked it up to Mercury. Can’t wait for the 20th to come so it will be over. In the meantime, I am hiding under the covers. Warning to people DONT BUY ELECTRONICS during this phase. Inevitably they will break.
thank you for the link, gala! :)
Hi waves since its delurking week I thought I’d pop out and say hello.
This makes total sense to me. I got into a MASSIVE fight with a friend (err.. exfriend now) about her views on customer services. I think me and her not being friends would have happened anyway but it was the icing on the cake.
Thanks for posting. Also explains why i’ve been listening to alot of 90s music and reminicing about the “good old days”
I think I’m going through the same thing “a” did. The start of this month was horrendous for me! Lately, though, I’ve been feeling TONS better. Lucky for me, I’m a Scorpio. But my mom and sister are both Gemini! I’ll need to be careful.
ooo this explains a lot!
Oh lordy, this is exactly what I needed to hear. Go with the flow, accept the past for what it was, the present for what it is, and move on!!!
Very interesting.
I think I’m with “a” and Pauline. I finally feel like things are picking up. In fact, I normally have massive problems carrying on conversations, but this past week I’ve been having whole conversations with people I don’t know. HOWEVER, this explains a lot with a friend of mine, who has been feeling a bit off kilter.
Hmmmmm, I know someone who definitely needs to read this.
Oooooooohhhhhhhhhhh….you just gave me a lightbulb moment! This explains EVERYTHING!!
Not so sure I buy into the whole astrology thing, but did you know that the accepted sun signs are wrong?
Sun signs (the zodiac, the basis of astrology) refer to the constellation that the sun would be in front of (if we could see the stars during the daytime) during one’s date of birth.
However, the Earth wobbles as it spins on its axis. This is responsible in the shift of the so-called North Star (currently Polaris), and it also causes the position of the sun to shift with respect to the background stars.
Furthermore, the sun isn’t really inside each constellation for a month – the actual time spent in a constellation can range from 7 days to 45 days.
Anyway, if you ever felt like you didn’t relate to your sun sign, here is an updated version to be astronomically correct.
Sagittarius: Dec 18 – Jan 18
Capricornus: Jan 19 – Feb 15
Aquarius: Feb 16 – Mar 11
Pisces: Mar 12 – Apr 18
Aries: Apr 19 – May 13
Taurus: May 14 – Jun 19
Gemini: Jun 20 – Jul 20
Cancer: Jul 21 – Aug 9
Leo: Aug 10 – Sep 15
Virgo: Sep 16 – Oct 30
Libra: Oct 31 – Nov 22
Scorpius: Nov 23 – Dec 17
paranoidasteroid — Yup, I posted about that last week or the week before!
This totally explains why my day was so messed up! I didnt mess up my karma, Mercury just threw me for a loop.
However, that doesn’t fix my jaw :(
i was a bit skeptical when i first started reading this, but the more i read, the more it seemed to make sense! two days ago (the 11th!), my boyfriend and i were fiercely berated by his boss/instructor for a very stupid reason. this affected my boyfriend deeply, and i’ve never seen him so distraught before. it also led him to say something i’d never thought he would say!
and coincidentally, i had the urge to backup tons of my pictures today.
interesting! :O your pointers will definitely come in handy!
Freakin’ weird. I looked up Mercury retrograde for last year and…it just happens to be the times when my… “boyfriend” disappeared for ages. Weird. Same with right now. He disappeared (though he is not my boyfriend anymore) and we happen to be in that retrograde again. WEIRD. I know there are a lot of other factors that have been contributing to his weirdness, but this is a little bit of a strange coincidence. I wonder if he will show up again when it’s over…
i can’t really believe how true that is!
everything’s went crazy right now, sometimes i was thinking that life actually hates me. but now i have someone to blame. evil mercury, haha!
oh god, and when i think of the things to come… i get scared.
I have been thinking about this lately, here we gooooo.
Things have been going so very well for me lately, I hope Mercury doesn’t throw a wrench into it all. I’ll have to work on going with the flow.
It’s really wierd.
My sister usually has a lot of trouble talking and is a big subscriber to the If-I-ignore-it-it-will-go-away! theory. She has a very rocky relationship with our parents and every other word out of her mouth at the moment seems to be a lie. But then the other night she sat my parents down and tols them everything! It was so wierd! But now I have a reason!
Plus my camera broke today!
Have you heard the song ‘Mercury’ by Bloc Party? I had no idea what Mercury in retrograde meant and there I was singing along merrily when it basically forms the chorus! I feel so much more informed :) (It’s a really good song!!)
I’ve been feeling deflated for days. Nothing’s going write and I have temporary writer’s block! I couldn’t even manage a decent outfit!
This explains why!
Oh no! I’m off to New York (first time ever, woo!) on Saturday! I hope it doesn’t all go pear-shaped, fingers crossed.
Rachel and Lily. There’s actually this really cool book…if you’re an astrology dork like I am…that you can get thats specifically all about you. I received one from my mom that had my name and birthdate and then just talked about everything about aquarius me. It was really cool and such…I read it now and it really is precise. You should look more into it (:...I mean cause that’s way more believing than reading it on google … like I did … back in the day … because not everything that they say is true … mainly because we might all be the same zodiac sign, but you really want to know you. Like I have a rising sign (I think that’s what it’s called) of a gemini.
So yeah, haha (:. Hopefully that gives you an idea or perhaps you already have a book? Sorry about the long post. I get too overly excited (:
This post has prompted me to write a response on my own blog. (http://sparkleandglitter.co.uk/2009/01/what-do-you-believe/) I’ve never been much of a believer in astrology, but this post has started to change my mind slightly, because it would certainly explain a lot about my moods and creativity over the last few days.
Thank you for another great thought-provoking post!
This explains why, out of nowhere (literally) my flatmates have lost their minds collectively, and I am now having to find a new flat, as well as deal with mad money issues. I am choosing to look at it more as the universe kicking my ass into gear and helping me move to a more stable and artistically nurturing home (my new flatmates are AMAZING!). But now that I know about this, I feel even more that it is the universe giving me a positive push that I needed. It also helps me understand why everyone has been fucking nuts around me lately. Oh well, gives me a chance to practice my new zen attitude!
Posh tosh i don’t believe any of this. I don’t believe that our emotions and feelings and behavior can be ruled by a planet that we have never seen nor set foot on before.
Computers going on fizz and travel plans going haywire can happen any other time. Its like that theory/superstition of seeing a black cat and breaking a mirror and Friday the 13th if bad things happened just because you saw a black cat, broke a mirror or was going about your business living on Friday the 13th you would think those were the reasons for bad things happening. But if it happened on any other day it would not take on such significance.
Nice picture for the post anyways.
i’ve been making tons and tons of lists to try and make sure i can keep track of anything.
my to-do lists are crazy right now.
gala, how do you write out your lists?
would you mind sharing a bit?
It is scientifically impossible for astrology to have ANY correlation to people’s lives. All it is a string of “coincidences”, people’s willingness to believe and self-fulfilling prophecies. Predictions are so vague that they will almost always be correct in some sense. Mercury retrograde: people will act bizarrely and there will probably be some arguments and organisation problems. I don’t believe anyone has ever had a two to three-week period in which there have been no minor mishaps or disagreements with other people. And now that people have heard of Mercury retrograde, they will blame all the bad things that happen to them on that rather than taking accountability for their actions or searching for real solutions to their problems.
On the plus side, the photograph is beautiful.
Usually I don’t believe in astrology. I don’t give a damn about horoscopes, but this time, I’ve got to say I’m impressed!
And maybe this can explain why I suddenly went into depressed “nothing-works-the-way-I-want-it-to”-mode as soon as I opened my eyes Monday morning.
It sure is a good reason!
..Now I just have to figure out a way to make my teachers believe it and let me be free from any homework and papers untill February.
This explains a lot!:D My computer is being a bitch lately and now I know why ^^ My brain has also seemed a bit fuzzy too ^^ Thanks for the explanation!
I was going through some stressful time before Jan 11, but after that I’m nothing but smiles and giggles again! Perhaps, Mercury Retrograde is working backwards for this Gemini… ;) xo
Woah I hadn’t heard of Mercury Retrograde before, interesting post!
I can see it’s effects! I have been really fuzzy the past few days and i’m a complaining gemini. I have some new projects due in just before mercury goes direct, i’ll see if my work is different than normal! x
I wondered why my resolutions suddenly seemed like they were dragging under my feet when a couple of days ago I was all gung-ho. I’ve been on nest-improving overdrive as well. It fascinates me that our lives are dependant on a distant star and that planets have such an influence over our us. Thanks for the great reminder! x
I’m a Virgo magazine editor and I need love! It has been a gong show for the last few weeks. In fact, last week I changed my FB status to “is wondering when her translation chip was changed”. Suddenly no one knows what “deadline” means, no one remembers conversations we have…AARRGHH.
Also I’ve been thinking about teaching in Dubai. LOL.
oh wow! i had no idea, but in looking at when those dates tend to fall… yeah. this makes perfect sense, especially when compared to how yesterday was.
thanks for tips on how to use this time to our advantage – i have lots of stuff that’s been taken with me from place to place & usually just sits in storage. i think it’s time to just let it all go, especially since i don’t even know what’s in those tubs anyways! ^^
::smooch::
That’s why the past few days have been so fucked and I haven’t been able to get any work done. (And why I’ve been getting emails and text messages from people I haven’t talked to in months!)
Good tips. I am totally going to write down these dates in both of my planners so I can remember them.
Time to pull out the jump rope, go back to the gym and finish some paintings though. :)
I’m a virgo – in magazine journalism/publishing – my computer just had a virus and my car broke down.
Explains a little?
Thanks for the heads up Gala! Very interesting! xx
Weird, weird, weird.
I’m typically a bit skeptical regarding astrology, but am definitely open to it. There’s no denying that the past few days have had me feeling a bit off kilter.
I’m a Gemini, and do fall closely inline with many of the typical Gemini traits. Typically I am a coherent, rather articulate speaker/writer, and I have been feeling like all my thoughts and words are a jumbled mess. I cannot get the root thought I’m trying to express to process into any sort of solid communication. Interesting.
Additionally, I’ve been irrationally tired, motivated to finally start unpacking my apartment and getting it organized, having a lot of trouble with finances and billing errors, my computer’s acting all wonky, a girl I grew up with and was friends with in elementary school recently contacted me re: my trip to Paris (where she’s currently living) and asked me to meet up with her and I finally got the email address for a friend I lost contact with a couple of years ago and have been trying in vain for ages to reconnect with.
Thanks for posting this, Gala. I have to admit, I’m a bit worried about stuff going wrong now, (ha!), but I’ll just take it in stride.
This post made me smile – my bf blames everything on Mercury Rx even when it’s not :)
Like you said, we shouldn’t fear it, but rather use this time to get our s*** together, tie up loose ends and get rid of what we no longer need!
Yours in Sagittarius,
Megami
Brilliant timing, Gala. I’ve been having major travel issues this week and last night my normally sweet guy friends were being wayyyy offensive. I was definitely freaking out until I read this (I’m a virgo)!
Great. I’m Gemini, trying to live my life without letting my almost-dead relationship drag me down with it. At work I should be very creative now and also work on a few contracts and be super-effective and sell lots of stuff.
None of them seems to work. Now I know why. Maybe I should stop searching for the new appartment and be more careful with the contracts I make and so on.
Hope Mercury is the one I can blame about all this missery I have in my life right now. Then I could at least hope to see some improvements in my life after February 1st.
I think Mercury is also trying to have us all wake up more. Like, not everything runs smoothly. It just trying to tell us to be more careful with stuff and life in general (:.
“Mercury, the messenger of the gods, symbolises mentality: our intellect and mental outlook…”
So, yeah I think Mercury is having its field day of telling us what is up and to just give us all a reality check.
Fun stuff indeed. (:
Hi there and happy new year from Finland! I’v just broken up with my bf after 4 years of relationship but your blog really cheered me up! And you actually gave me inspiration to my painting cos I was really lost with it. It’s not finished but it’s getting there and your positive energy and bubbling personality really gave me the drive to just go with it and paint paint paint and see what comes out of me. Here’s a crappy pic of the painting! 2.bp.blogspot.com/_4AsDO3523cQ… hope you like it. :)
Thank you for writing this. Stuff has been upside down and bass ackwards around here, and this is helping! :D
For several years I worked at Llewellyn Publications – a New Age book publisher – and those guys would blame business mishaps on Mercury going retrograde! No lie.
This is a great tip sheet for dealing with the headaches that inevitably accompany these wacky periods.
lol!
Mercury is in retrograde near my birthday. This totally explains why my best friend was like “Bwaa? Your birthday’s coming up? Oh snap.” when I gave her an invitation to my party.
Love the ‘quick and dirty cheat’ guide! I will most definitely be tying up my current love affair before I [attempt to] fly back to London tomorrow afternoon.
You know I’ve read about this but never really understood what was going on. Last time Mercury was in retrograde I actually felt better and more clear on my life, but this time, I feel like a truck has stopped all my momentum. Thanks for the tips ma’am!
Aargh! This makes so much sense. I’m a Gemini and a writer, in the process of submitting my book to agents. Things are going very badly at the moment – a string of rejections, writer’s block, etc. Clearly it is due to Mercury! Thanks for the tips.
Oh, and we’re flying to Wellington (we live in Christchurch) tomorrow, so I will definitely double-check travel plans! :)
so i read this post earlier this morning and thought it was interesting but i don’t usually follow my horoscope/astrology stuff. but then this afternoon i started to feel all antsy and overwhelmed and off and i began to think “i wonder if it’s the retrograde ahhh”
so now i’m looking over the tips again so i can make it through :)
thanks love
I’ve been hearing alot of Mercury coming in and messing my newly back on track life up in my horoscope!!!
Damn you Mercury!! But I shall be taking Galas advice
The moon was so big and bright on the 11th, the next day my boyfriend of 3 years dumps me out of the blue and I am broke with no where to live. My computer is also playing up. This could be why perhaps…
Anna-Maija, i love your painting!!! (:
Aw Gala,
I love when you post like this. It get all sorts to come out of the woodwork and comment and interesting discussion to boot!
I used to work in publishing and whenever we’d be going through a particularly tough time with what seemed like the whole world getting narky, someone would think to check where our ol’ mate Mercury was at, and sure enough, it was always in retrograde. Scientific proof? Bah! I’m too impulsive to wait for and research proof – I’m with you Gala, if it works for me I’ll subscribe to it!
LOVE this article, you should add “astrologer” to your resume this year
You’ve got that Bloc Party song stuck in my head with all this! Haha
It’s all quite interesting though.
Thanks for heads-up, Gala! I wondered why I was suddenly thinking non-stop about my exes (ex-friends and ex-more than friends), and how I should really get in touch with them so we can put our junky emotional junk to rest.
Do you know if the retrograde effects Leo’s at all?
Ug! No wonder I just got into some weird love affair with a new friend of mine.
It’s only been two weeks since my boyfriend, whom I was immensely happy with, dumped me. I’m just confused all over the board; I think I’m going to have to get things all set straight tonight.
Gah. When Mercury goes into retrograde, my life almost always goes insane. All three last year, I had issues with my then boyfriend. The first two we had our first major fights and in the third we broke up.
But this one has got me a little worried. I’m an Aquarian writer who is trying to write a novel for school while Mercury is retrograding in Aquarius. And I have an interview with a Harvard representative. And mid-term exams next week, which I might not get to study for due to extreme cold weather school cancelations and my textbooks and notes are still in my locker. >.< My brain is starting to feel like it is going to explode.
I guess I at least have 23 and 24 January to look forward to- they’re supposed to be two of the best days for Aquarians in the past twelve years!
UGH! I never believe this stuff – but just the other day, within the set dates of retrograde, I locked myself out of my apartment and had to miss one of my glasses. Craziness.
Urrr, not glasses, I meant ‘classes’. See what I mean?
this explains a lot. lately I’ve been forgetful, feeling fustrated.. I’m totally freaking out over stuff & I just screwed up something today. I really need to pick up that go with the flow attitude.. but I hate messing up!
WOW. This gives me a reason for the car crash I had the other day— travel. And between that and Mercury retrograde I have been a total hermit. Gala, thanks for giving me some insight into the current chaos in my life. : )
Ugh. Perhaps this explains why my life just exploded in a really nasty mess of drama with long-term consequences, somewhat out of the blue. Certainly a wakeup call.
And just today I was thinking how all of it is making me want to crawl into a hole for weeks and weeks. I need some time to be okay with myself and not feel all awful. And when I do that, I kind of retreat into myself and do a lot of quiet thinking, just going through the motions while I sort things out in my head.
So there’s the hermit part.
Funny. I’m like you, Gala – I don’t believe it unless it applies – but it sure fits me right now =(
SO THAT’S WHY I SUDDENLY FELT LIKE A HIGH SCHOOL FRESHMAN AGAIN!
that makes SO much sense.
it explains why I’ve been so out of it lately…
Ahaahaha! I came on again to see if you’d by any chance responded to my post on Mercury retrograde, only to find out I hadn’t managed to post it correctly!!!
Consider posting your survival guide every retrograde! I know I will forget it during the next one.
Wow. Now this, this is super wierd.
A friend of mine, it’s like the language centre of his brain started to shut down – suddenly he keeps mixing up and forgetting words, he can’t read or write properly – and it all started on the 11th. (That’s when we all noticed it anyway.) Luckily he seems to be improving already but everyone (especially him) was totally freaking out! He has been to the doctor and hopefully this will all get sorted out pretty soon…
But woah. This is really strange. Just hope he improves before the 2nd of February, cause that feels like a long way away.
So THAT’S why my camera/pda/ghd have all decided to go weird this week :)
this one is SOOO BADDDD. even my boss is talking about it.
my boyfriend decided to take a 2 week silent “retreat” from me.
3 online orders i placed messed up! and some other stuff i can’t remember.
2nd of february feels like foooreeevverrr. But then it’s awhile til the next one!
weird I just started to hang out with an ex of mine.
I dread these perdios every year. I am a Gemini and thus it feels like my life is falling apart when Mercury goes haywire. Last retrograde I lost my job. My words and thoughts are always misinterpreted by my mum around this time which leads to a lot of horrible arguments that we would never have had otherwise. It feels as though nothing that I say or do is taken the right way, or backfires completely, or upsets somebody I had never intended to upset! I hate the retrograde.
I’m sorry Gala, I know this isn’t a very happy post! I will make up for it on Thursday :)
MJ xx
Oh Gala … no! My birthday is smack in the middle of the next one … May 24! Maybe I will aim to live in a treehouse by myself with books, cupcakes, teddy bears and love heart post it notes that week …
Thank goodness – an astro how-to without all the mumbo jumbo! Thanks Heaps, Gala.
Now I’m going back to my hole until Feb 1st – My delicate Piscean nature can’t deal with all the crazy Gemini’s running around.
I normally don’t believe in this astrology business, but GEEZ. Last night was the CRAZIEST combination of unfinished old business I’ve ever experienced. And it wasn’t just me— it was happening all over! Thanks for the heads up :).
Just wanted to say thank you so much for this article – I kept it in mind as I was preparing to print off my thesis last Friday ready to submit, and so consequently made numerous back-up plans which I then had to rely on as the email server went down and my usb stick wouldn’t work. Fortunately, because of your article, I was expecting it and didn’t panic. All went smoothly and the thesis is now in.
So, thank you Gala, for helping me to take the steps I needed to so as not to succumb to blind panic.
Amy
xx
Bonkers! After reading this article, me and the significant other have been getting into arguments, non-stop! It’s quite tiring and it makes me sad! But, on a lighter note, it has given me the courage to reconnect with old friends. I think it will be nice. Mercury Retrogade works in mysterious ways!
gah! I want it to end!
Weird.. i’ve never heard of this before but as i read it everything that’s seemed weird lately seemed to fall into place – roll on feb 2nd!
thanks gala for getting rid of some of my confusion :)
xoxo
All I can say once again is Fck mercury retrograde!...
My life is already backwards like that on a daily basis without the retrograde…and the retrograde itself just adds more to it! I cannot mention how many things have already f’d up since this most recent occurrence!
WOW! So up until 1/10/09 I was in happy bliss. Everything was going absolutely fantastic. When I woke up on 1/11/09 though, everything went wrong. My boyfriend dumped me on 1/11/09, my car was towed a week later and cost me $550 to get out. They towed it for expired tags while being parked in a public lot. I had already made an appt. with the DMV to get it taken care of. And today, out of the blue, my cell phone’s battery “shorted.” Has never happened before and they blamed it on a surge.
All of last week I was unable to communicate with anyone.
I cannot wait until this week is over. All I wanna do is hide under a rock for the next 7 days. I’m seriously terrified of stepping out of the house.
You are all in my thoughts as we tremble together…
Crikey!
Wow. So I’m not the only one who’s having a terrible time with this Retrograde. I’m a writer in the middle of the submission process to publishers. Since 1/11/09, my agent has gotten sick, I have gotten sick, all the publishers have said no, even though some of the editors really liked my novel, and there have been endless delays, disappointments, and frustrations with the writing/publishing process. I can’t wait until 2/8/09 when the storm is over!
I survived the mercury retrogade! I backed up my pc cuz at one point it wont turn on! :| I almost had to bring it to the service centre to fix it. Then I also just move to new place. A step out of my relationship to living with other flatmates. Which means I have my independence back and able to concentrate on my sewing. Today on the last day of mercury retrograde I was supposed to pick up my fabrics. But I felt awkward and sorrow and glum. So I used up my afternoon to sleep and woke up had a shower then walk to supermarket to get sum junk food after I realise I was just being my old muck self of sulking and not doing anything. I spent time at the asia gallery in kilbirnie, wellington, saw some new stocks and bought some remnants and log online searching for horoscopes to read, im a horoscope junkie and looking for an older post from galadarling, that has a link to a horoscope site that i like, it has a 2009 overall horoscope. so hit me up a link gala! im trying to find it! thanks gala for advising us on what to do for the mercury retrogade. I’m a gemini so you know.. how it affects gemini bests*being sarcastic) lol
it’s over! it’s over!!!
Haha, wow, so I’ve been feeling kind of foggy lately, but it really hit me yesterday when I was in my therapist’s office. She was talking to me, and I was nodding my head, but I wasn’t really absorbing a single word she said, and I noticed that and tried to concentrate, but couldn’t. It feels like my head is full of cotton balls or candy floss or some other equally fluffy material. I’m so out of it. Damn you, Mercury! :P
oh my god, I’m so glad this post exists.
Is it true that the Zodiacs have changed? I’ve been a Taurus (May 8th) and totally identified with the sign and I’ve never had many of the qualities of an Aries. It’s a little strange to just up and change the system now!
Arg. Mercury you could not have gone AWOL at a worse time >____< I have exams this whole month.