February 28, 2006 :
March promises to be an interesting month. It starts off with Mercury, planet of communications going retrograde in Pisces from the 2nd to the 24th the day after Ash Wednesday and the beginning of the Christian Lent period. Collectively whether Christian or not, the energy will be an inner spiritual time for renewal and elevation.
Retrograde Mercury has a bad rap. I can remember in the early days of my astrological studies, the idea of Mercury going backwards brought up some serious fear thoughts. Until I met Isabel Hickey who laughed at the idea that Mercury’s retrograde period was a bad thing. In fact one year “Issie” decided to hold an astrological conference at Boston University during a Mercury retrograde just to prove to her students that you could do something productive during during that
period. The conference went off without a hitch. Issie had invited the most popular astrologers to come and lecture, with promises to reimburse them for travel plus give them their regular fee after the conference. She also decided not to charge, but passed the hat after each session. Not only did she collect enough monies to pay her speakers, but also to pay for the space with a considerable amount left over. I can remember staying over at her place the day after the weekend event and her laughing about how things worked out. She was also tickled later that day when her good friend Tom Jackson came over to announce that he’d hit the number after playing the number for the last amount they collected. He took us out to dinner to celebrate his winnings.
OK, that said. Still astrologers and others seem to dislike the Mercury Retrograde period, even though there are four such periods every year. That was “Issie’s” case in point...”why are you going to fear something that always comes multiple times a year?” “why not learn to flow with the energies and get the best out of them?” So here are some of the positives and potential negatives about this upcoming Mercury Retrograde period, and as Issie always reminded, “the choice is yours”.
POSITIVE USE OF MERCURY RETROGRADE
1.First of all, Mercury doesn’t go backwards, but it slows down in its orbit and gives the appearance of going backwards from our
vantage point on earth.
2.This is an excellent time to take care of unfinished business, i.e. finish projects, put important paperwork in order, make phone calls to people from your past, rearrange your closets, throw out unused or broken things and clear out clutter, making room for something new or better to take their place.
3.If you need to apologize to someone, this is a great time to do it, either in person or writing a letter, or picking up the phone.
4.Spiritually speaking it’s also a good time to rededicate yourself to your spiritual practice, to make a vow to meditate or pray on a regular basis, or to add replace old prayers with new ones.
5.This is also a good time to let go of old habits and replace them with new and better ones. A great time to use this 22 day period to refrain from eating sugar and to replace that snicker’s bar with a juicy orange or sweet pear.
6.Also a good time to witness how your thoughts and words effect others. Slow down and take a deep breath before opening your mouth to speak. Listen fully to the other person before you respond and always speak words that are uplifting, loving and healing.
7.If traveling, do all the things you should be doing anyway. Make sure you have proper tags on your luggage, take another look at your tickets and hotel reservations making sure everything is in its proper place. Expect to experience de ja vous, or the feeling that you’ve visited this place before, even if it’s the first time. Be creative in dealing with any delays and deliberately exercise patience when interacting with people who are serving you (see no. six above) Incidentally, I traveled on the retrograde Mercury period last August with my children. Knowing what time it was cosmically we got past arguments and confusion by staying centered and being patient with others. The train was delayed on the way home...we opted to go
to dinner and explore the mall, while others were having mega episodes of anger and frustration. Because we were understanding and cooperative with the train master, (wasn’t his fault) he bent over backwards to get us a room and told us how to get reimbursed when we got back to NYC. Kindness and patience begets kindness
and patience.
Let’s face it, it’s only 22 days you can make up your mind right now that you’re going to experience this cosmic cycle in positive ways. Be the Divine Alchemist, the Goddess, Magi, Priestess, Priest, and be the Light in someone else’s life as you walk your talk and show that you're elevating above physical circumstances...
Love & Light, Ayesha
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