Mercury will be retrograde from this Tuesday evening at 8:38 pm PST until Wednesday, March 7 at 8:45 pm PST.

Again, if you think astrology is stupid, or if your religion is not open to it, you might want to move on to another blog. That said, the planets and stars will point out a certain path, but you have the choice to follow or not. Your birthchart is something like a to-do-list for this life. Or your report card or score sheet; where you stand, what you need to work on, and where you excel (because you've earned it). Also, we take into consideration all the other planets, (the sun and moon are called planets in this discipline), what they are "dressed as" in the play, and which "stage set" they appear on. We also look at how they get along (or not) with the other "actors" (planets, stars). You will probably notice that there are infinite possibilities and the sun sign horoscopes you see are a very small piece of the whole picture.

So, I had to move to a new place on September 1, 2004. We found a great apartment only 6 or 7 blocks from the magic portal in the canyon. I took great care to advise all the utility companies and the post office about my new address and the date of the move. I knew Mercury would be retrograde but I figured things happen when they happen and it would be a good experiment.


Autumn brought the influx of college students to the Santa Barbara area. The day before I was scheduled to move, some apartment buildings on a cliff in Isla Vista, near UCSB, were judged unsafe and the students in those buildings suddenly had to move. The moving companies were in high demand and pressured by parents who came to town to their college students' rescue.


Getting my things into the moving van was no problem for the four men who did the job. My 2 sons and I went to the new place to wait for the movers. We waited in an empty 2 bedroom apartment, read the newspaper, and drew pictures of Arnold Schwarzenegger because he was on the front page. I finally decided we needed some music and drinking water so I headed for the old place. There, 2 blocks from the new apartment, was the moving van. It had run out of gas, according to the guys with the truck, and some was "on the way".

I received a phone call saying that the problem was wiring, not the gas tank. Another truck would be bringing my things, meaning unloading and loading before going the additional 2 blocks. This stretched the move to 6 hours instead of the 1 and a half estimated. No, I didn't pay any extra money.

I had my DSL and telephone service from the same company, Verizon. The telephone was working at my new place, but the DSL was again hooked up to the old. It took another day to get the DSL connected. I had called 2 weeks in advance with my service request!

The most heart-breaking catastrophe of the move was the loss of some sentimental possessions, yearbooks! I'd hired 2 guys to move the things I donated to charity out to the driveway for pick-up. One of the men could not speak English. Although I was there watching things while his "boss" gave directions, some stuff was taken outside that should not have been. (Because of my fibromyalgia pain and fatigue, I could only do so much!)

As I unpacked boxes at the new place in a zombie-like state, muscles numb but moving by sheer force and medication, books (14 boxes) were organized in piles to go into shelves. There were no yearbooks. My son's junior high school yearbook, my junior high books from '66 and '67 out of Lafayette, California and a school which no longer exists, as well as my high school yearbooks were gone; dedications, signatures, and silly photos forever gone. Some other books had disappeared (calligraphy, how to draw cartoons) and my big flowered hat box full of "fancy" hair doo-dads such as clips, combs, barrettes, ribbons, pony-tail holders, and head bands was nowhere to be found. I couldn't find my beloved black leather granny boots either! Last but not least, three drawers worth of our well-used Lego pieces were missing. My attempts to track these things down were not successful either.

My heart aches at the thought of that move and my boys don't mention it too often. If I have to move again, it probably will not be when Mercury is retrograde although that is surrendering somewhat in the challenge to meet the lessons necessary for soul growth. It is said that we are to go on our way through life without being hindered by forces and energies of planets and stars. We must strive to overcome those tendencies and obstacles. But I take the path of going with the flow of the current and thereby arriving at my destination in less time and without such a struggle.

Next I will write about retrograde motion by the planets and how some astrologically-inclined folks attempt to go through Mercury's back-ups with as little detour or confusion as possible.

Blessings to you...lulublue