In Roman mythology, Mercury is the winged messenger, the god of trade, commerce, profit. In Greek mythology, his counterpart is Hermes, messenger of the gods, the guy with the winged sandals who is associated with travel, orators, thieves, poets and poetry.
So in astrology, Mercury – ruler of Gemini and Virgo – became the planet that governs communication, travel, the conscious mind. Three times a year, Mercury turns retrograde – that is, it appears to move backward through the heavens. When this happens, stuff doesn’t work quite the way it should. Travel plans go awry. Electronics act up. Computers crash.Cell phones stop working. Communications go haywire. Any contracts you sign during a Merc retro will be revisited later, for sure. Old friends and lovers may resurface. Old issues rear up. We’re being told it’s time to slow down, regroup, revise.
So Mercury is retrograde right now, in Libra. It started on 9/7 and goes until 9/29. On the 7th, our blog post went black and we lost electrical power in our neighborhood. A reminder.
Between 9/10-12, we attended the Book Heritage Festival in St. Augustine, Florida. We arrived late Thursday afternoon. Great bed and breakfast in the old town, comfortable accommodations, perfect room. Good, we thought. Mercury retro must be on hold.
We thought our talks/workshops were to be held on the Flagler College campus and decided to get a jump on the Mercury retro by walking over to the college Thursday evening and locating the appropriate rooms.
Short walk. But the campus is sprawling, it was hot, we were hungry. As we went from the administration building to the student union and on to the library,it became apparent that no one had heard about the book fair. We finally stopped in at a used bookstore and the owner directed us to Casa Monica, a hotel across the street from the college. Mystery solved. We located the room for my workshop Friday morning. If we hadn’t looked Thursday evening, it’s likely I would’ve missed the workshop.
Rob was supposed to talk at a local high school Friday afternoon. The school was so new it didn’t show up on mapquest or the Magellan. The media specialist at the school had provided him with specific directions on how to get there. So Friday we get to Casa Monica for my workshop, but Rob can’t find the directions to the high school. He makes a mad dash back to the car – half a mile away. I went in to start my workshop on storyboards as a tool for novel writing and realized I had brought the wrong storyboard! I was talking about one novel and looking at the storyboard for another one.
Meanwhile, Rob returns to Casa Monica. The directions to the high school were tucked away in a pocket of his backpack, which he had with him the whole time. We were hopeful that the Mercury retro stuff was done. Sure enough, he made it to the high school with time to spare.
What we seem to learn repeatedly from Mercury retrogrades is that it’s a period when you’re supposed to slow down, revise, review, rethink what you’re doing. But even with the best laid plans…well, ole Mercury/Hermes may be the ultimate trickster.
Trish
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Trish knows the way of the stars. She is the author of eight astrology books. In addition, for the past six years, Trish (with a little help from me) has written 13 Sydney Omarr astrology books a year – one for each sign of the zodiac, and an annual covering all the signs by the month. In her ‘spare’ time, she does private astrology and Tarot readings…and writes a novel a year.
Rob
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Rob writes half of these books – that’s not just “a little help!”
– Trish
Thank you Trish for your visit and comment on my blog……my econd language is english so it is perfect if you prefer to write your comments in english language. Your blog is very interesting, astrology has been one of my main fascinating themes, I am PISCES, so no wonder……I will follo your postages,
HELENA
Better for re-writing and editing under Mercury retro.
Well this certainly clears up a few things. All month long I've been fighting with my creative muse to the point that procrastination is a much more attractive option than actually working on my story. I have a tendency to write scattershot, and it's a challenge to pull together all of the coverage I've written. Last night I finally sat down and forced myself to work, and I finalized half of my latest chapter, Mercury Retrograde be damned.
I've posted a fourth picture which I had taken yesterday (same theme)… but this one seemed to have Rob in mind… I think I was supposed to share it with you guys, you'll know what I mean when you see it.
Great post – love the dialogue between the two of you at the end.
Hi Nevine, welcome! That post on your blog is just beautiful.
You have an amazing blog! Thank you for visiting mine and allowing me to find out about you. I've decided to follow you…
oh, dear heavens – you two are too funny!!!
and about mercury/hermes retrograding on us – no wonder it seems that my mind and my tongue have both lost their power of late – i have been suffering from lack of SOMEthing to the point of not being able to form thoughts – which is why my words unsaid blog the past few days has really been "unsaid as usual" lately without my as much of my own little poetry/verse tidbits – well, as long as it isn't dementia setting in –
and thanks for reminder to get over to amazon and "check out" my overflowing cart with several of those books in it! geee….the mind really is a terrible thing to lose, even for a retrograde!
okay, you might want to check out the pictures I have just down loaded on my
https://toumaiocean.blogspot.com/2009/09/nest-syncrhonicity-message.html
Now thats Synchronicity in the moment!!
That's the St. George Inn, on St. George Street in St. Augustine, oldest city in U.S. (except for Oraibi on the Hopi Rez) and St. George is one of the oldest streets in U.S. dating back to early 1500s.
What is also interesting is that my dad was down visiting just recently… sharing old Acadian stories while I work. One of the stories concerned the origins of a French curse word "Sacre Je"… which sounds more like "Sacre Ge" (soft G) which reminds me of my above comment.
Apparently going back a few hundred years in France, acting troops and writers had begun using curse words liberally… in particular "the lords name in vain" (being 'Jesus'of course). They were forced to 'tone it down' or do time.
Hmm maybe this has something to do with the meaning behind the curious Masonic "G".
Is that St. Geo I see up there in the corner of the picture. Hmmm, is there synchronicity here… is Mercury trying to get our attention (with all due respect, I'm serious)… he represents 'messenger' after all.
As you are aware by now, I don't believe that the'small/hidden' details (especially when it concerns 'words'… and 'pics') are simply accidents, but are part of the "language of Synchronicity" which is a'knockin.
Okay, so let's open the etymology door:
Since 'St.' is short for 'Saint' what I find is that its related to the word 'sacred' from Old Latin 'saceres', which connects to base *saq- "bind, restrict, enclose, protect,"
Hmm, protect, enclose… encircle (circus).
Then there is Geo (George)… but geo is where to go… which means Earth… hence Gaya.
So… the message– protect and enclose the earth. I don't think they mean the entire world… I think they mean to make a "Geodome"– like a very large terranium– totally enclosed eco system homes on earth.
Which by the way, is the message I have been interpreting for quite some time… since my accident of 2000!! Check out my recent thread:
https://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=9085545759&topic=8380
Ditto Cynthia's sentiments. We can all use your skills and concentration.
I wonder if my sign is being affected by mercury retrograde – things have been in turmoil lately.
I think you both are amazing and I think of you both every time I sit down to work on my book. You two actually do what you say you are going to do, and I admire that. I'm going to pick up a couple of those books next time I'd at the bookstore.
I wish I was close enough to take one of your workshops, Trish.