Hello, everyone.

Mercury Fastening his Sandal by Francois Rude. (Wikimedia Commons)

Mercury resumed retrograde motion on Sunday and already I’m seeing posts in Social Media sites along the line of, oh, no, not retrograde Mercury again!  First I want to remind everyone that Mercury is in retrograde motion fully 20% of every year.  That’s an average of one day out of five, although it goes more like 3 weeks out of every four months.  I’d say it’s time we learned to put it to work for us.

Mercury rules our thought processes, and as the messenger of the gods, Mercury was able to traverse freely everywhere, from Jupiter’s realm on Mount Olympus to Pluto’s realm in the underworld.  When Mercury is in retrograde motion, it’s like there is an uncoupling of time and space:  time still moves forward day by day but the planet appears to move backward in space.  This uncoupling symbolizes a three week period of magnificent potential – it’s like we can look through the normal barriers and see our world in surprising new ways.

So here are 10 Best Practices for Mercury retrograde.

      1.   Remember MBWA – Management by Walking Around?  Mercury retrograde is a great time to ask your employees and customers what they think, and then really listen.  Everyone has the potential to speak and listen from a more thoughtful space at this time.

      2.   Have you been racing ahead and leaving your team in the dust?  Mercury retrograde is a good time to pause and allow others to catch up.

      3.   Do you have a nagging feeling that you missed something or forgot something important?  Go back and retrace your steps on a key project and don’t continue until you’ve found what you’re looking for.

      4.   If you’ve been on a fast track, handling one thing after another without a breath, use the next three weeks for assimilation.  Let all the new information really land.  Make it your own.

      5.   If you’ve been wrestling with a seemingly unsolvable dilemma, put it on the back burner for the next three weeks.  Even money worries.  Constant attention siphons energy away from creativity.  Give your intuitive self time to work on the problem.

      6.   Speaking of creativity, give yourself some space to zone out.  Three weeks every four months should be declared mental sabbatical time.  Every couple of days, sit at your desk and do nothing.  Makes you too nervous?  OK, play an online game.

      7.   All the “re” words:  rewrite, rework, return, resubmit, research.

      8.   Mercury retrograde is perfect for performance reviews and giving feedback.  Use this time to reflect on how far your employees have come and honestly discussing mistakes.  Then leave it behind. 

      9.   There’s an ongoing debate in the business blogs about whether or not to consider the past when planning for the future.  “Only if you expect the future to be like the past” is how the nay argument goes.  Whatever you do the rest of the year, Mercury retrograde is the time to analyze past data.  You will see the information in new ways that will inform the future when the time comes.

      10.  Have you been meaning to get back in touch with clients or colleagues?  Rather than making new contacts, reconnect with people from the past.  If they’re on your mind, get in touch.  Something important can develop with Mercury retrograde.

All the normal cautions still apply for the Mercury retrograde period:  avoid signing contracts, initiating new business, and making major purchases until after May 11.  As the mind turns reflective, it’s not as incisive in outer situations.  But for three weeks, that’s OK.  There’s another kind of progress to be made now.

To explore Mercury and retrograde motion, check out these posts:

Astro4Business Basics – Mercury

Elegant Stillness

Retracing Your Steps – Retrograde Motion

What did you miss?

Welcome Back, Mercury!

Don’t forget. If you have an astrology-related business question (or a business-related astrology question) send it to me at ellen@astro4business.com. I’ll answer it in these posts, anonymously of course, and we can all learn from each other’s experiences. I look forward to it! Have a question now? Email it and let’s get started!