Mercury goes into retrograde motion tomorrow, and is slated to be that way through January 18, 2023. My plan is to hunker down for the duration, keeping my head low and staying as quiet and low-key as possible in the hopes that the rascals of Mercurial motion pass by without much trouble or hassle. This is when meditation and a baseline of calm works to keep the rollercoaster ahead in somewhat manageable form. It’s also the time to be more accepting and forgiving of fall-outs, flip-outs, and wig-outs; my usual MO is to avoid all those outs anyway, but even the best of us can fall prey to such acting-outs at these perilous times.
Though the title of this post is all hellfire-and-brimstone/doom-and-gloom, I’ve actually learned to take these periods of uncertainty and tumult as times of learning and practicing flexibility. The tree that can never bend often ends up breaking. For far too many years, my Virgo nature wanted rigid structure and organization. It still does, and I’ve learned to appreciate that to an extent. I’ve also come to understand the importance of going with the flow and not being so tied to unreasonable constraints and order. Sometimes even reasonable boundaries need to be broken or eased. The older I get, the more amenable I am to these sorts of changes. Both meditation and therapy have helped in my acceptance and reconciliation of the largely imperfect nature of life. When Mercury slides into retrograde, and plans and routines get whacked and bumped out of alignment, I try to take it with a laugh and chuckle rather than an angry outburst or diatribe against some other entity that’s bothering me. Displaced aggression is never a good look on anyone.
For the next few weeks, let’s go a little easier on ourselves, be more forgiving and ready to laugh at our foibles, and enter the New Year with a lightness of heart that allows for minor disruptions to glance off our egos like drops of Mercury…
