Newsflash: Mercury Goes Direct

3.25.06


Yes, it's true… after three and a half weeks of retrograde insanity, Mercury will be shifting into forward motion today (Sat Mar 25).

I have sheer compassion for how exciting y'all must be about this—lord knows, I am—but don't rush right out and sign away the farm today or tomorrow. This kind of especially-harried, Pluto-weighted Merc-retro thing needs a bit of time to work itself back to normal.

Plus, we're still mid-eclipse-period, not the most stable time to conduct serious communications… though we've still got to do what we've got to do. I, for one, am focused squarely on communicating with myself, paring down the wording to perfect precision on what I want from life, for now at least. That's taking enough of my attentions.

The fact is, within hours of Wed Mar 29's solar eclipse in Aries, we also get the added bonus of Pluto stationing retrograde. Normally, I wouldn't get too wrapped up with this—after all, Pluto spends more than a third of the year retrograde. Yet, the station happening at the same time as an eclipse and Pluto's recent squares to both Mercury (two within a week of each other!) and the Mar 14 lunar eclipse is enough to have me on high alert.

Though Mercury retrograde will be over by next week, there could be a final bombshell anxiously in wait to be lobbed at us. No need to fear the reaper, people. Think of this as a shove from a lovingly pushy parent-figure. How else to conquer, for instance, a fear of public speaking, if not by being forced to speak in front of people? Let the embarrassment rise to the surface—even the worst humiliation is a valuable experience.

I'm as ready as the next guy to assume the snafus have all been ironed out. Hell, I've now been through four visits from the cable company, and four new cable boxes (Apparently, according to both techs who came out, the equipment they're making these days is pretty crappy.) I've lost my free HBO, then gotten it back, then lost it again. I'm eager to appeal to the customer service call center for my complimentary month of cable service, since I clearly deserve it. But I'm going to wait another few days before making that call… to make sure the fourth box is the charm, and no more transmission surprises or ghosts-in-the-machines are lurking around the corner.

For fool-proof confirmation that no traces of the recent month's peculiar projection-filled interactions are left in the business at hand, wait until Apr 13—when Mercury makes its final square to Pluto, within one-quarter of a degree of its original retrograde-station spot.

And once Mercury moves into Aries on Apr 16, you won't even remember what I've been talking about. You'll be too busy blurting out whatever comes to you.