I want to talk a little more about Mercury Retrograde since we are currently in this transiting Rx phase through Capricorn and i still see so many people misunderstanding what these Rx phases are really about. If you have been following my work you know that i preach how Mercury Rx is nothing to fear or hide from and in fact this phase is very important and in desperate need of receiving more respect, especially from professional astrologers. In this post though, i want to bring something to your attention that you might not have realized, in hopes to burst your retrograde perception bubble of the doom. Does everything really go haywire when transit Mercury is moving backwards? This phase happens for about three weeks, around three times a year, every single year. That's a lot of time for the mental energy flow to be moving in reverse motion. Could it be true that over 2 1/2 months out of every year we live in mental chaos needing to hide from the world so the universe doesn't fuck with us? C'mon, first of all, the universe doesn't play games; secondly, people thinking that Mercury Rx means the mind isn't functioning properly only acting as a "trickster" is just down right insulting to the many people born with Mercury Rx.
And yes, What about Mercury Rx in the birth chart?
Does this mean these people are mentally screwed for life? Again, Cmon, get real. Remember, you can't isolate any one aspect in the birth chart. To know how someone is functioning mentally, you have to perceive the entire chart as a whole. The signs, houses and aspects from Mercury in the birth chart, including the rulers of those signs and houses will say much more about a person's mind regardless if Mercury is moving direct or retrograde. I would say a person that has a hard aspect from Mercury to Neptune would have a much harder time staying in a healthy mental flow than someone that just has a Mercury Rx with no challenging aspects. It all depends on those aspects, not the motion.
People born with Mercury Rx had to have that placement in order to properly fulfill their unique purpose in life, whatever that may be. It's not a mistake or a negative mishap holding them back in life. They could not have the proper perspective on their life without this position. The same goes for people born with Mercury direct - they needed this position in order to fulfill their unique purpose in life. People born with Mercury Rx is actually a gift. They can see outside the box; they have depth perception and make some of the best writers - they have a very strong active mind. Once they learn how to do something on their own, they usually excel at it far past what a Mercury direct person could accomplish. Any real problems with being born Mercury Rx will most likely come in early life as the child is being flooded with mental conditioning from the outside world that is contradictory to their own thoughts and way of looking at life. So it just takes a little time to get in their own mental flow, after they learn to trust themselves, learning on their own rather than getting all screwed up by the perceptions of others. Unfortunately, based on those early experiences, the person starts to believe something is wrong with themselves. What a shame. Again, being born with Mercury Rx or Direct means nothing on its own: the entire chart has to be factored in and the aspects from Mercury are the most telling! But if we are only going to judge based on Mercury Rx or Direct, than I would go so far as to say that people born with Mercury Rx are the brilliant ones of the world and the Mercury direct folks are just, idk, "ordinary", or "average". ha. But if you really want to know the truth, look at signs, houses and aspects, regardless of motion!
Don't feel bad if you were born with an average mind. (Mercury direct) You too might get a chance at experiencing the long term effects of Mercury retrograde, by progression!
I say this because people born with Mercury Rx will have it progress direct at some point in their life, for the rest of their life. Any extra challenges that it caused will most likely be worked out in early life. When Mercury progresses direct, it indicates they no longer have to deal with some of those early complications the Rx condition might have brought, and they are at this point fully in the flow of their perceptions. Whereas, people born with Mercury direct will most likely have it progressed Retrograde at some point in life, usually later where the progressed Mercury Rx phase lasts for years, if not rest of entire life! That's right, you might be in a long term progressed phase of Mercury Retrograde! That's kind of funny if you think about it, especially for all those people that talk shit about Mercury Rx in transit. Truth is, we all have the influence of both direct and retro motion of Mercury in our life, at some point, and we would all be dumb fucks without it.
If you have Mercury progressed retro, than this stage of your life you are finally being able to open up your perceptions past the garbage mentality and conditioning of the mainstream world. Congratulations, you might becoming mentally brilliant in your old age. But than again, i guess we should check the aspects off your Mercury before we say that for sure ;-)
If you don't follow or know much about your progressed chart, you missing out, big time. Astrology is complex stuff, and i guarantee you your progressed chart is reflecting your current life experiences more so than your natal chart, at this point. You will always have these natal influences to some degree and is what you might fall back on when acting and feeling unconsciously but the progressed chart shows how your life experiences have changed you in certain ways, changing the flavor of your life. These progressions work on the long term and are also very sensitive to transits as well.
So there you go. Is your Progressed Mercury moving direct or retrograde?
Yep, you might be dealing with the energy of Mercury Rx every single day of your life for years, even if you were't born with it! Oh no!! lol. It's all going to be OK, once you start to understand what retrograde phases mean, you won't have to hide or dread the transit Mercury Rx phases anymore. As i said before, the only time that you need to pay special attention is when Mercury is in station and changing directions which only lasts a couple days. Any other little mishaps you experience during a Mercury Rx transit phase most likely would have happened regardless of Mercury's direction. And if something unusual did happen that gets your attention in Rx phase, perhaps it was the universe helping you see something that you were over -looking before. Perhaps it's a gift in the long run - If you only had the eyes to see...
For added perspective, you can even place progressed chart in a bi-wheel with your natal chart to see just how far each of your energies have progressed at this point in your life. (below)
Rik
