Astro-Nicity by Lulublue

The first thing I did when I bought my 2009 astrological date book was look into the Mercury retrogrades of the coming new year.

Mercury will be retrograde:

January 11 through February 1

May 7 through 31

September 7 through 29

Those are the times when Mercury will be going backwards from our perspective on the Earth. Mercury is about travels. What travels from one place to another? Ideas, electricity, computer information, telephone messages, and pretty much anything which goes from here to there. Expect car problems, computer problems, appointments to get changed around or forgotten, and information to not quite reach it's intended target (this includes the neuro-pathways in your brain!) Double check things, edit what was previously written, and don't fall apart if you need to review, revise, or reschedule.

While Mercury is going over the degrees of the zodiac in which it will be retrograde, it is in the "shadow". It goes through the same area 3 times; the first (1) directly, the backward (2) or retrograde period, and the final direct (3) orbit through those same degrees until the whole cycle starts over again around the same time next year.

Shadow times will be:

December 26 through February 21

April 23 through June 15

August 18 through October 15

We want to be careful during those times, too, and slips may begin to happen or continue to work out depending upon the direction of Mercury in the cycle of his retrograde. The actual retrograde is the most strongly felt time.

Since Gemini and Virgo are 'ruled' by the planet Mercury, people with those signs prominent in their charts may experience Mercurial mishaps in a more definite way than others. Weird things happen, some explained and some not. My younger son and I have the sign Gemini on the Ascendant (it was rising on the eastern horizon when we were each born). I'm not positive it affects us more than anyone else in the family, but I have had some major mess-ups occur while Mercury is retrograde, the most notable being a move. The whole sordid story is in this blog's past posts. Look at the history if you're curious.

Also, no arrests have been made in the Tea Fire. This smells funny, to me. The investigations have been completed, but the District Attorney says that it will not make any more statements about it. I can't help the sneaking suspicion that of the 10 college kids gathered for a bonfire the night before the horrendous fire that seriously injured 2 people (and many others not so seriously) and turned over 200 homes to ash, one or more may have a family connection to some chief mucky-muck around town or Southern California. Why on earth would it take so long to release any information? Especially names? And don't forget the holiday - we don't want to ruin someone's holiday by letting the community know some family member is responsible for millions upon millions of dollars worth of damage, do we? Santa Barbara is like a small town. Names are known. Celebrities and other 'known personalities' are constantly seen and noted. They may be left alone and not bugged about autographs, but things are still noticed. This town can be a live wire concerning gossip.

If you have any questions about Mercury or astrology, please ask! Happy Holidays!