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“Whether it’s science or magic, if it’s of fun benefit, enjoy!” ~ ed

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Welcome to the last Mercury Retrograde of 2021!

Much like full moons, I have found that so many people find it all too easy to blame their problems on the energy of Mercury Retrograde. Before we get too involved here, let’s first talk about what this planetary phenomenon is and what it is not.

It seems that most often, Mercury Retrograde is depicted as moving backward in the sky, but that movement could be considered an illusion at best as no planet moves backward. The illusion of moving backward is merely based on our perception from Earth, as we are orbiting the sun at different speeds than other planets. Mercury can never be more than 28 degrees from the sun and whenever it reaches its furthest distance, it changes its direction. How would it know when it’s 28 degrees from the sun, you ask? Leave that up to an intelligence much greater than our limited thinking minds.

But I digress.

Mercury is the planet that is associated with communication and rules over the signs Virgo and Gemini with Gemini representing Mercury’s articulate nature and Virgo, the planet’s more analytical nature. Right now, however, Mercury falls under the sign of Libra until November 5th. Libra is an air sign and depicts the energy of relationships, balance, justice, and beauty. Libra is ruled by the planet Venus (think the goddess of love and beauty, romance, and pleasure) and the sun is currently in the sign of Libra as well. I feel like it’s safe to say we have some serious energy of evaluating our relationships during this retrospective time of Mercury Retrograde.

But what if I told you that this didn’t have to be a scary thing? What if the things being revealed to you now are simply a mirror of what might be happening within you? What if this energy was a way to help you find deeper healing as opposed to a time of punishment? What if Mercury retrograde was just here to help you see the relationship you have with yourself more clearly?

If it’s true that Mercury also rules our lower mind or subconscious, then it might be safe to say that how we perceive the information we are given during any retrograde period is really a reflection of what might be lurking in our personal shadows. The late psychologist Carl Jung once said, “When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside of you as fate.” Sometimes we are “fated” to be met with certain situations, even uncomfortable ones to show us our own inner workings.

So while Mercury is in retrograde for the next few weeks, if you are struggling to feel heard, or perhaps you and your partner are not finding symmetry and balance in your dynamic—this could be a way of the universe showing you that there are areas in your life where you are not listening to yourself or there is some kind of imbalance that can be healed with some inner reflection and self-care. If you are single at this time, your mirrors will show up in your work environment, your time with friends and family, or any other relationships that hold significance for you.

Additionally, it’s important that you can take each trigger or emotional situation with a grain of salt or what Dialectal Behavioral Therapy (DBT) coined as the wise mind place. Curious to know what the wise mind is? Let me explain. DBT teaches that we all have a logic mind (the prefrontal cortex or frontal lobe of the brain), an emotion mind (amygdala or brain stem), and a wise mind (the middle part between our logic and emotion mind). Though emotions are helpful it would not necessarily serve to base every decision off our emotions. Just as the logic mind serves, but without emotion behind it wouldn’t produce a lot of feeling about the decisions that we make. Wise mind is the place in between where we can think rationally about a situation, while simultaneously embracing the feelings we have about the situation instead of running away from them.

If you find that you are still healing the part of you that has not found the balance between your logic and your emotions, you could be given a little prompt from the energy of Mercury Retrograde shining the metaphorical spotlight on your lower or emotion mind in order to help you find that balance.

Take it from me, being in my wise mind has come with practice as I learn not to take others personally. Even today I found myself getting a bit worked up about other people’s negativity that I see on social media. I found that I was feeling quite judged and shamed over an innocent comment I made about someone moving to my state of residence. I could feel myself getting triggered with everyone’s negative perceptions about my town and then I just had a moment of clarity where I realized that their perceptions had absolutely nothing to do with me and if anything they were giving me an opportunity to heal my feelings around being judged and my toxic shame.

I could have easily hopped on the wagon of judgement toward them, but somehow, I maintained my wise mind state and prayed for their happiness instead. I thanked them silently for the gift that they were giving me of showing what was still lurking in my lower mind and solidified my intention to use this perceived time of slowing down or Mercury Retrograde as an opportunity to free myself from that which unconsciously drives my behaviors.

Again, Mercury Retrograde does not have to be scary. In fact, if used wisely, it has the power to help you heal and set you free as you walk your Earth walk. Yes, it’s coming for your relationships, but most importantly it’s coming for the relationship you have with you.

Happy Healing friends.

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