Rethinking Retrograde

Woman in a coat at dusk holding an umbrella with many tiny lights smiles up at a starry night with a shooting star above her and the horizon fading from the dark blue of the night sky into a lighter blue then a white and then finally a bright orange right before the earth’s dark shadow turns everything below that to a soft black.
The picture has the energy of being held in the moment.

Maybe we're a little hard on things because capitalism says if it isn't forward, it isn't progress?

But if that was true, what would the slingshot be proving?

The reality is that before we can do anything that takes energy, we have to power up.  If we want to do something that requires trying to create change with our energy, we require even more effort for that to happen - at least, that's what we've been told, and that's what we tell ourselves.

A not so quietly kept secret?  A significant element of the tension we are experiencing right now - the discomfort is growth.  Growing pains, as a society, reflected and amplified by each other as we contend with it - and how well we contend - because suddenly, we need skills to keep ourselves steady now more than ever.

I have learned that when you are going through an especially discomforting physical experience, trying to soothe, support, and comfort yourself can become a superpower.  Enter the retrograde rethink, I want to submit for your consideration.

Because it's close to us, and laps us regularly, Mercury is the retrograde we hear of most often - it interferes between us and the sun when it laps us, so it can literally impact the signals more than many things - it reflects back to us the reality of the "digital signals" all of which is: energy.

So, you know when you are on the highway, and a car passes you?

Image of a driver’s hand on the wheel from the vantage point of the passenger looking out on a a country road lined by a stone wall with a green valley and blue sky on the horizon.

Both cars are still moving forward, but the other is going faster?  So now you get the "illusion" that you're moving backwards as they move foward?  But you're all still going forward?  It's just a matter of speed and how it looks from where you sit?  Mercury retrograde! 

Nobody moves backwards, we just get in our feelings 3 times a year because Mercury laps us and we cannot stand that with our egos.

Image of the right side of a shiny muscle car with red brake lights with blurred red brake lights lining the right side of the image that could be reflection and a white tent top in the distance with a red flag and white letters on it.

Silly humans.

So what's really happening?  Mercury speeds by and disrupts patterns we are used to happening - so things can seem like they go sideways.  But Mercury is a messenger - so the question is what is Mercury saying? 

An image of the dark sky of space with many tiny star lights. A bright green glowing ball appears to throw a golden spotlight into the abyss.

Retrogrades can throw something into the spotlight. 

Mercury retrograde will take a highlighter to your life and ask you the questions, "Is this good enough?  Or could you make it better?  Regroup? Review? Remember? Reimagine? Reattach? Reconnect?"

Words with the prefix "re-" are your friend during a retrograde - and I include "rest" as one of those crucial words.

We must power up before we have our next great moment.  We must rest and regroup, re-imagine, re-work, rectify, and re-establish ourselves.  We can then move forward confidently: because we took time to rest; we did allow space to consider what we have not been seeing just yet.

This is why I say, do not fear the retrogrades! Indeed, we are going to be in and out of a few big ones in the next 6-8 months.  Things will move forward, then may appear to go backwards, but it is an illusion, my friends.

Perspective, as always, is everything.  We are moving forward - into something remarkable that we have all wanted to see.

Rest.  Regroup.  Rectify.

It is important!

Next, you may find yourself shooting through the sky - launched forward after a period of deep and internal and backwards-feeling experiences. 

In fact, they were just slingshots, powering up to launch you forward to your dreams at a speed way beyond what you could imagine without it.

Relax, rejoice, and relish this time.

I know I will.

xo,
Jackie