Mercury the planet ruling communication, business, technology, transport, writing, teaching, commerce, reason, liars, cheats and thieves is stationing to turn retrograde in the constellation of Scorpio on the 21st of October 2013.

The general rule with a Mercury Retrograde, regardless of which constellation it stations retrograde in is to slow down, stop, and review what is happening in your life. This cycle brings challenges, but it also brings some wonderful gifts, transformation and deep healing. 

There are some important standard no-no's to keep in mind during any Mercury retrograde; for instance, do not sign contracts; if this cannot be avoided, go through it with a fine tooth comb, and again! Important points can be missed or omitted when Mercury is retrograding and can cause loss when a contract is signed in haste, or as a knee-jerk reaction. The other thing is you may change your mind (another retrograde mercury theme) and a binding contract may very well not give you that luxury if you sign during this period, especially if you are signing with a bank for finance or an insurance company. There is a positive with contract signing however, and that is if you are renewing a contract, only because retrograde Mercury loves reviewing, reassessing and renewing.

It is said that during a retrograde, Mercury favours liars, conmen, thieves and cheats, which is generally why you want to avoid committing to anything big and expensive or  making an agreement with some you don't know very well. Actioning something under a Mercury retrograde can have you fooled, so it is also best not to launch a new business or begin anything new during this cycle, unless it is something you are revisiting and have reviewed. Try yout best also to avoid buying anything expensive, especially motor cars, electronics; in fact, anything with moving parts during this period because it could end up disappointing you. If you can't avoid buying it, then keep your sales slip and guarantee certificate! On a positive note though, retrograde Mercury can deliver some awesome bargains, so it's an excellent time to look for that fabulous deal on a car, house or laptop. Just remember to check ALL the small print, and if possible delay signing on the dotted line until after the retrograde and its shadow period. The retrograde ends on the 10th of November and the shadow ends around the 16th. If you can't delay until the 16th, try at least until the 10th.

Mercury also rules commerce and travel. If you are traveling anywhere, especially flying, double check your flight itinerary as delays and cancellations are to be expected. In fact, confirm all meetings and arrangements before leaving to attend to make sure it is still on. Mark your luggage clearly and make sure you have all necessary travel documents up to date and in order. If you are traveling by car, check tyres, water, oil, shock absorbers, brakes etc. and take regular stops to rest along the way. Accidents feature highly during this phase. 

Technology is also affected by a Mercury retrograde, so be extra aware of how you word e-mails and text messages as they can be misinterpreted, and you may find that e-mails and text messages go missing. Internet connection problems and system crashes are another prominent feature; basically anything technologically driven is under stress during a Mercury retrograde. I have already had to contend with frustrating bad internet connections due to bad weather and lightning storms!

Mercury is mutable in nature, meaning it has two sides of which only one can be seen at a  time, and when it turns retrograde you are dealing with the "dark side" of Mercury to a large degree. During this cycle you can rest assured that people, including yourself, will expose their true colours for good or bad, so be observant and don't react until you are sure of what you are dealing with. Mercury rules our ability to think, talk, our memory, and our ability to reason, thus during this phase Mercury will challenge us, lie to us, cheat us, and rob us of our power if we allow it to con us into believing, thinking, and over-analyzing things that are actually not there, or simply untrue. It will also reveal to you how you do this to yourself - the Mercury retrograde is just the catalyst exposing this to you. This is why this period is such a powerful time for healing. That is one of the shadow ways in which Mercury works through us. Be mindful of all communication at this time because things are not clear, the mind is foggy, what is said is misunderstood or mis-communicated which can lead to sticky and reactive situations. Don't make any hasty decisions either, rather retreat and rethink it, or research your options before deciding and acting.

The other side of Mercury is the side which helps you grow, so initially it tricks you into believing something about yourself that you are not, but through meditation, self-reflection, reasoning with yourself and working with yourself through an orderly, practical process you see the trickster that Mercury is and the growth opportunity it is presenting. The Mercury retrograde actually teaches valuable lessons, ones which supports us in growing when we see how easy it is for us to be tricked into believing things that are non-sense. This is when we are able to see how the mercurial energy lies, cheats and thieves every aspect of society on a daily basis into believing in an illusion.    

Mercury has a field day with the majority of society. Thus, we need to learn to work with Mercury (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde) This is done by seeing through the lie and into the game, and say thank you to Mercury for his ingenuity in leading you to believe something you are not. Then you have learnt the lesson, which is how you master the energy of Mercury. Therefore be aware of what is communicated to you and what you are communicating, what you are thinking and how this influences your actions and decisions. Allow the light-side of Mercury to help you grow beyond the illusion of the false beliefs and attitudes (lies) you have been tricked into accepting as truth, and use the power of your new-found truth to communicate your power on a whole new level and in a whole new way.

Another gift the Mercury retrograde brings is that it is a very good time for breaking bad habits; including the bad habit of holding onto past resentment. Because Scorpio's natural position on the astrological wheel is the 8th house, this retrograde, aided by Saturn conjuncting it (holding hands) is to address lack of forgiveness, deep pain and resentment around personal loss - death, the loss of an inheritance, loss of resources and/or lack of support from a spouse's resources, or that of an insurance or banking institution. The tax man could also come knocking. This position of Mercury in Scorpio's natural home (8th house) will also require of people to transform issues in these areas and by "going back" to last year around this time therefore, this is the time to sort out unfinished business from that period. Knowing where Scorpio is positioned in your personal natal chart will add greater depth and insight to your personal experience of this retrograde, and the gifts and/or challenges it brings you. A Mercury Retrograde is never always all bad, and a lot of good can come from it. Thus we are feeling the push to address more of our internalized, invisible and mismanaged insecurities, fears and deeply buried resentments. 

Mercury is also working very cleverly at exposing hidden agendas and secrets. This is fuelled by Saturn now transiting through Scorpio too. When a planet turns retrograde, and during it's shadow periods, part of its mission is to expose dysfunctions. See it as a gift to see the true colours of those around you, as well as your own destructive and hurtful motives driven by your inner wounds. Doing this takes courage and displays emotional intelligence and can result in the much needed forgiveness you require toward yourself and toward and/or from others.

This Mercury Retrograde in Scorpio is, as I said, conjunct the transiting Saturn in Scorpio, and is serving us by asking us to be still and address our deep seated fears and resentments from the past, and may perhaps be related to your father, grandfather or any authority figures in general, as well as deep wounds that have resulted in us skirting issues of forgiveness. This is also a very sensitive area because your pain, resentment and lack of forgiveness may very well be driven by sexual issues - molestation, rape, shame due to promiscuity, or simply "making a mistake" which has left you feeling bad and dirty. This is an opportunity to transform and heal sexual issues. I know many find forgiveness the most difficult thing to do, however, we have to find that point within ourselves that is able to transform old hurt, dump it and rise above it so that we can move forward with our lives. At the end of the day, the only person it is holding back and continuously hurting is you.

Saturn, the greater malefic, is also the Lord of Time and Lord of Karma, and demands that we take the time to apply the discipline and implement the boundaries and structures required to work into our karma/fears in an orderly fashion and persevere patiently so as to transform, rise above it and manifest the equal but opposite of that which we perceive and experience as negative; which is the reward for our hard work. If you remember, in late November to early December 2012, there was a powerful Stellium in Scorpio with Mercury, Venus and Saturn all holding hands in Scorpio; an event that last occurred 2737 years ago. Thus, the healing that took place then is now offering you another window to shift residual energies. So this is a HUGE gift! This will be supported by the Sun entering Scorpio on the 23rd and shining his light on situations.

Up until 23 December 2014 we have the opportunity to successfully complete the greatest and most important transformation of our life time. Saturn in Scorpio is helping us "die" to the old and be "reborn" into a complete and utterly new paradigm of consciousness and life experience. We now have to address the authentic parts of ourselves that "died" in the past, resurrect them, and transform that old energy into something new and reclaim our power, as well as address the parts of ourselves that fear the "death" process. We cannot transform our lives without being willing to dig deep and address the wounded, obsessive, smouldering, paranoid, resentful, unforgiving aspects of our psyche that deceive us into believing we're not good enough, or that cause us to project onto other our fears fuelled by these shadow attributes. If we insist on suppressing our emotions it will explode into something very nasty, vindictive and hurtful and destroy the good, as well as the negative, but that is not the way it needs to be done.

Therefore, during the Mercury retrograde take the time out to draw your energy inward and rest, review, re-asses, research, revise, re-visit, deeply analyze and recognize what you need to do in order to bring your emotional body into a state of optimum health and well-being.

As we head toward the next major turning point in December 2020, we absolutely have to have mastered our emotions, because lack of emotional intelligence and maturity is what has created the world as we know it. The dysfunctions being exposed revolve around what I have already described, as well as depression brought on by lack of forgiveness and deeply buried wounds we are afraid to address. Forgiveness begins with the self, then we can move on to forgiving others, thus we are addressing the parts of self that deeply buried the things we wish we could forget, but have not yet forgiven.

As a result there will be no more room to beat around the bush or skirt around these old wounds. The bottom line is: work through them and transform or continue spinning the same old sorry story day in and day out. We have been told by the Masters for decades that this time will come. Now, it IS literally all up to us to use our free will as we so often proclaim to be doing, and get up and over the obstacles. The rewards are beyond our comprehension. We  crossed the threshold into the new paradigm in December 2012 and it does not accommodate any kind of victim consciousness. We are being given what we have intended for, now it is our turn to keep our end of the deal and do what needs to be done to surrender to the inevitable changes and LIVE from a point of emotional and spiritual intelligence and maturity. 

It is no secret that should we choose to shirk our responsibility to take full responsibility for ourselves and our lives, and instead hide under a rock, things will become unbearable. Everything that challenges us now is a whole new ball game, because where it takes us we have never been before, thus there is no room for excuses, and wasting energy on fearfully expecting the past to repeat itself and reacting defensively will leave us feeling like a dog chasing its tail. Making solid and authentic commitments is now also on the cards, and we will soon see why. We are now well on our way to getting to the core of what haunts and taunts us, and transforming this will bring new life to every aspect of our chosen reality. We are being given the opportunity to experience first-hand the potential that lies within our raw positive power. We have experienced the negative side of this raw power, now we are called forward to transform the negative into its equal and positive opposite.

Welcome this time of change, breathe into it and take regular refreshing swims or long soothing baths. Get together with people you deeply trust and let yourself release what needs to come out in the safety of this trusting company. Use meditation and intention setting as you work closely with your Guardian Angel and other Guides to reach your healing goals, and trust that you have what it takes to take full advantage of this powerful healing opportunity and totally reinvent yourself and your life.

May this retrograde bring deep blessings of release and forgiveness.

Much love,

Michelle Manders

Palace of Peace

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