Mercury Rx: 1 Step Back

When Mercury goes retrograde, we usually find out the not-so-fun way that there are cosmic forces more powerful than our to-do lists and man-made gadgets. Mercury Rx is a good barometer for just how attached we are to earthly representations of Mercury's supersonic sensibilities --- cell phones, google maps, ipads -- and are ability to cope when those things tell us to go F ourselves.

I see it following the 2 steps forward, 1 step back "rule" modeled on the frog in the well anecdote that for every two steps the frog took forward, he slid one stepped back. When I looked up this catchphrase on Wikipedia, I interestingly found retrograde in their explanation -- The phrase is sometimes cynically rearranged to "One step forward, two steps back..." to reflect a situation where, seemingly for every attempt to make progress in a task, an actual retrograde performance is achieved. Alright, maybe not that interesting. While Mercury retrograde certainly can make our progress more arduous or circuitous, I think it ultimately increases our intellectual flexibility and strengthens our coping skills. We are reminded that we are not God and despite our best efforts, sometimes things just don't go the way we expect them.

I'm not sure if the Frog would agree that nothing lost, is nothing gained ... but astrology encourages us to work with the energy in which we are stewing and find a way through with the wind at our backs or not. And if life were so linear and we would count on our inventions all the time, we would never be grateful for all the times they served us so well. Mercury is retrograde in Aries through the April 23rd. Expect to be re-routed and reminded that you're only human.