Jupiter’s Transit of Capricorn: What it means for you…

4th quarter 2021 dates for Mercury Retrograde (more calendar dates below for extended planning)
Mercury in Retrograde has become a bit of a buzzword in pop culture and it is considered the “Murphy’s Law” of Astrology, for example, “what can go wrong, will go wrong“. But it is not all negative, there are certainly some positives that come from this cycle.

In Astrology, Mercury governs these areas of earthly life; communication, transportation and travel, electrical objects and decision making. Mercury is not considered an emotional planet but rather, has highly objective and cognitive applications, along with curiosity and adaptability. Mercury wants us to form networks, create dialogues and maintain a lively mental interest in life.

Mercury, in scientific terms, is the closest planet to the Sun within our solar system and takes 88 earth days to orbit the Sun once. Mercury is named after a Roman God (Hermes in Greek mythology), who was considered a fast moving messenger, ruler of good fortune, maker of mischief, versatile, playful, glib.

Three, sometimes four, times per year, the planet Mercury, appears to be moving backwards in the astrological skies. This happens for approximately 3 weeks at a time. ‘Appears’ is the key word here, because technically speaking, no planet actually moves backwards. But in terms of what we view here on Earth, Mercury Retrograde gives the illusion of becoming stationary, based on the relative speed and orbit of the Earth and Mercury, around the Sun. The planets usually move East to West across the sky, however, when a planet goes into a retrograde motion, it will appear to reverse direction and move West to East. This is because Earth is passing Mercury at this time, making it appear like Mercury is stationary or going backwards. A good example is passing a slow moving car on the highway. When you pass the car, it appears to move backwards, but actually you are both still moving forward.
In Astrological terms, it is believed that when a planet is retrograde, the planet doesn’t behave in its normal function, in this case, the planet Mercury is standing still and asking to be looked at and taken notice of in the areas described above.

So what impact does Mercury Retrograde have on us? What are the challenges?
Communication blockages, the inability to ‘hear’ or ‘listen’ or the feeling like you are not being ‘heard’ or ‘listened’ too.
Communication can become frenetic, important pieces of the communication chain can be missed and the most simple of tasks becomes difficult to explain.
Misunderstandings, especially the written word, abound. Verbal and non-verbal cues are viewed differently. This is particularly relevant in this day and age of email, social media and texting.
Confusion and flawed understanding, critical pieces of information are missed or overlooked.
Perception is altered or filtered.
Low grade frustration and the feeling like you are pushing against a brick wall.
Unforeseen changes. This is a very common phenomena during Merc Rx.
Any equipment that relies on energy, like electrical or IT equipment will be vulnerable during this time, especially the kind of equipment that involves communication, like computers, internet, phones, etc.
There will more than likely be mechanical and electronic glitches and malfunctions.
Decision making is challenged during this time because it is not a time for moving forward, rather a time for reflection, thus delays, cancellations and missed appointments will happen, especially in relation to important decisions, which will actually be beneficial in the long run.
Items may get lost or you may feel foggy or disorganised.
This is a time when being careless with money, our personal information like thoughts and feelings, or paperwork can be costly or compromised.
You may feel like you are continually cross-checking or double-checking to get to the truth or to the answer.
Travel can be compromised with postponements, lost tickets, missed connections or train, bus or aircraft networks breaking down.