When Mercury is Retrograde

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 05 Jun 2002, and now archived in the Forum Library.

DeLani	05 Jun 2002
Hi all, Here's a question for you who are familiar with astrology: Do you find your readings less accurate when Mercury is retrograde? It is the planet of communication, and Mercury/Hermes is considered (by some) to be the "inventor" of Tarot, much the way Odin got the runes to give to humankind. Anyway, it seems like my readings lately have been just wrong. And I'm wondering if that could be why. Thanks, DeLani

Thirteen	05 Jun 2002
When Mercury is retrograde I have a whole lot more problems with my computer or my car or my telephone than my cards ;) But, yes, I seem to recall getting strange readings one time or another while Mercury was retrograde.

catlin	06 Jun 2002
I never paid attention to that as I was so absorbed in mending all the other trouble caused by retrograde Mercury.

mauishelle	06 Jun 2002
Merc retro is also a time for re-examination, re-work of all kinds...any verb you can put "re" in front of :) You will often find that people from your past come back up, there are old issues that need to be re-examined in your life, so you may find it helpful to have the querent concentrate on the issue and pull a couple cards first to determine that the cards and what the querent thinks the issue that is going to be read are in synch during retro periods. (Issue, the querents role and advice should give you an idea of direction). If it all seems in synch, shuffle and start from there. If not, you may want to point out that there seems to be an underlying issue in the direction the cards are leading you towards. I personally have Merc retro natally, so IMHO, I'm not as out of synch with the world during a Merc retro as those born with it direct, but there are still the issues of the confusion of the rest of the Merc direct world :D ~Shelle Oh, and the big duhhh here that I forgot before I posted (Merc retro at work LOL) was that yes, Merc retro can cause mis-communications, so the other thing is there is always the possibility you could feel a bit out of synch with your cards or someone else. However, unless Merc retro is activating your natal or progressed chart pretty directly by transit, you probably won't have huge problems. Remember that Merc goes retrograde about 3 times a year (my mind is a sieve, can't remember if it's 3 or 4 off the top of my head) so it's not actually disasterous, otherwise we'd never get anything done in the world. Keep it in mind, but don't be ruled by it... :)

catlin	07 Jun 2002
Hi maui, Thanks for your input! I am not so deep into astrology but when Merc was the last time retrograde I met 2 ppl I haven't seen for several years on the same day and posted this in the astrology section if Merc retrograde influences past actions.

The When Mercury is Retrograde thread was originally posted on 05 Jun 2002 in the Using Tarot Cards board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Using Tarot Cards, or read more archived threads.