It is rather apt that I introduced Tales of Mercury Retrograde to my website during the retrograde cycle in May 2009.

Do you have a memorable Mercury Retro experience you'd like to share with us - I'd love to add it to the many interesting stories that follow. Just email your story to me and be part of our ongoing awareness of the up and downsides of working with its energy and how we can turn the negatives into positives.

Personal stories

Kathryn's story which follows inspired me to start the ball rolling. Thank you Kathryn!

How’s this for Mercury Retrograde . . . For ‘some unknown reason’ my phone line goes blank Monday night and my computer obviously crashes. Tuesday night after phoning Faults and Christchurch Chorus Call Centre for the Technicians I’m told I’m back with a working phone… But after everyone ‘trying’ to phone me, I can phone out; I have acquired my poor neighbour’s phone number - one of this neighbour’s mates tried to phone and got me – said I’d better be careful as neighbour’s wife gone away for week and will probably get me on the phone instead of her husband!! After another six phone calls to Telecom Faults I’m told I’m back on line again today, being Thursday – only to find out I’ve been allocated another person’s phone number!! Once again I’m talking to Telecom, saying "this is ridiculous - I’m having an identity crisis here – who am I this time???" As of 5.30pm tonight I’m back with my original phone number and computer email/internet working!! Good old Mercury Retrograde hey….

From my Email box:

From Caroline:
I have a new job starting on the 4th April. They have a contract there waiting for me to sign on Monday. I can’t tell them I can’t sign because of Mercury in Retrograde they will think I am nuts! It has taken me months and months to find a job so I don’t want to jeopardise this job! Any ideas?

Me:
Take the job. The joy of working with astrology is just that - knowing the planetary cycles you are able to work *with* them, take advantage of the helpful cycles and take care with challenging ones; not have the planets rule you. Mercury turning retrograde is not telling you to turn down the job, just that you need to be careful when signing documents/contracts - read the small print; ensure that you and your future employer are both on the same page so to speak, that what you understand to be the case is in fact what you're being offered. Be wary of 'mixed messages'.

There is a saying that I quote often: The wise man rules his stars, the fool obeys them.

All the best, I hope your new job is all that you'd like it to be.

Caroline . . . two weeks later . . .
Just giving you an update. Have started my new job and all is going well and I really enjoy it. I have worked at a Club (run by a committee) before - so some things I can relate to really well – so maybe Mercury has helped me with this.

I have to laugh about the contract thing. The lady who was leaving didn’t mail it to me but just kept it at the club for when I started. Luckily she did this because I secured the job just before Mercury went retrograde and if I had signed it then I wouldn’t have had the chance to discover and discuss the unpaid “lunch breaks” that were not mentioned in the contract. I have since sorted that out but it could have been quite tricky if I had already signed the contract! So you were right!

From Nicky:
My Mercury retrograde story is about trying to set up a mortgage in a hurry to purchase a caravan in a short time frame. What should have been simple in this day and age of electronic transfer (we are an hour and a half from the nearest big centre and I was at work) became more convoluted as I made several phone calls and finally when I did get in three days later to sign it all up, the guy on the phone had put me wrong on three counts and the women (there were two of them over two days) at the bank saved me thousands of dollars putting it to rights. I had to come to town two days in a row - which we never do - because of slow processing. Even when I was in the bank, in the very same building the timing was slow, i.e. pertinent people going to lunch and having meetings just when I had to see them.

We are now the proud and slightly daunted owners of a 'doer- upper' Airstream caravan.

Me:
Great to hear your Mercury retrograde story! I was smiling today when I heard a very enticing advertisement on the radio urging listeners to contact the advertiser but giving absolutely no details whatsoever as to how or where to contact them - a typical Mercury retro story, love it :-)

From TGM:
I'm most likely going to have to launch my newly "Re-designed" website during the retrograde which can't be controlled from my end. Programmer needs to collect his money...lol. The site had already existed but I needed to change platforms and have it redesigned, and now it looks as though it's going to be launched by the end of September early October...retrograde period...HELP.
Should I worry?
Thanks

Me:
In a perfect world it would be nice to think that we can do what we want to do when the planets are all in perfect alignment with our plans!

But of course there are times when they appear to be working against us. At these times awareness is the key. Awareness of the messages the planets are sending us and awareness of how best to work with their energies. Mercury retrograde highlights periods when there is potential for misunderstandings, communications being delayed, files and documents being lost or mislaid, etc, etc.

What you can do when Mercury is retrograde is to read the fine print in any documents, ensure that any directions or instructions you give are understood – put everything in writing so that you can check and recheck that both you and the person working for you are on the same wavelength. Hope this helps.

Best wishes
Carol

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Utilising Mercury retrograde to your advantage – being aware is being half-way there!

Many years ago when I was first involved in editing the Journal of the Seasons (published by the Astrological Society of New Zealand Inc) I began to be aware that there were certain times when preparations for the journal seemed to go particularly well; time seemed to slow down and miraculously in my ordinarily busy schedule, I seemed to have the space to get stuck into the production of the journal. These periods corresponded with the times when Mercury turned retrograde.

It wasn’t long before I realised that it would be rather a smart move if I planned my journals around these retrograde periods, and more recently as editor of the New Zealand Journal of Astrology (published by the Astrology Foundation Inc) I continue with this routine to this day.

But I don’t press my luck with Mercury – I check and double-check instructions with the printers (lots of tales could be told about misdirected files and machinery breakdowns during these times!) and I make sure that I wait until he is well and truly Direct before posting and distributing the journals!
Carol Squires

Stories from the newspapers:

Mercury rules commerce - so not a good time to open a business for the first time. And be on the look out for misleading advertisements - not necessarily intentionally misleading, but misleading from the point of view of giving incorrect contact phone numbers or address for instance. I remember one particular series of advertisements for a huge festival being held on the North Shore in Auckland - it gave the dates loud and clear but no-one knew where to go. The advertisements didn’t say where the festival was being held! To add to the confusion, there were absolutely no contact details given either - the local paper was consequently inundated with irate members of the public wanting this information.


From my editorial in The AFI Journal, Issue #29, 2005

I'm sure we all have our favourite Mercury retrograde stories. But this one with a topical Christmas theme made me smile. The local North Shore Times newspaper reported on a much anticipated annual Santa Parade held on 4th December (the day Mercury turned direct) — the only hitch was that Santa failed to show. Turns out he'd forgotten to circle his calendar!


From my editorial in The AFI Journal, Issue #27, 2005

If ever there was a well-publicised event showing the frustrating effects of Mercury Retrograde, it would be hard to top the recent marriage of Prince Charles and his life-time love Camilla Parker-Bowles. Beset by frustrations from the start, these included a change of venue due to a mix-up over marriage licences and — more importantly — the ceremony taking place a whole day later than planned due to Prince Charles' attendance at the funeral of Pope John Paul II on Friday, 8 April. That there was a solar eclipse to boot no doubt intensified the effect of the retrograde Mercury.
Mercury's tricks don't stop there — in the following Monday's New Zealand Herald the wedding date is given as 10 April. The civil ceremony took place at 12.30 pm, Saturday 9 April at Windsor Guildhall.

Carol Squires