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Retrogrades

Retrograde means that a planet APPEARS to go backwards from our geocentric point of view here on Earth.

No planet actually ever reverses its course. It's sort of an optical illusion rooted in the fact that all planets revolve around the Sun in different tracks, so some take more time and some take less. So relative to Earth, they periodically appear to "run backwards."

Mercury is guilty of this around three to four times per year. Most astrology sites seem to talk about this as a "three week period" but a glimpse at The Farmer's Almanac suggests it's typically slightly longer than three weeks.

Some sites really talk trash about retrogrades, especially Mercury retrograde. It's common for them to say you shouldn't buy anything new, especially electronics, you should expect miscommunication and so forth.

Some go so far as to say these dire "thou shalt live in FEAR" edicts also cover the "shadow period" at both ends. This would be the degrees it will retrograde back through and cover again once it goes direct.

These are not people giving good life advice in good faith. These are people who have some other agenda or desperately need therapy and aren't getting it.

Anytime any planet goes retrograde or goes direct, things ruled by it tend to be bumpy for a few DAYS. Usually at least THREE.

I do NOT recommend you put your life on hold for something like a quarter or a third of the YEAR every single year because some quack on the Internet likes terrifying people and getting paid for it.

Sometimes shit happens. Your computer DIES and you need a new one immediately because you can't make modern life work without it.

If that happens under Mercury retrograde, odds are good you will soon replace it or upgrade it or otherwise change it AGAIN in the near future, maybe several times even.

This isn't necessarily a big problem. Modern electronics generally fall under Uranus, so that sector moves at lightening speed. Like the song says "Your laptop's a month old? Throw that junk away."[1]

One of my GIS professors said something like "Don't make yourself crazy. Buy the best tech you can afford when you need it and accept that it's going to soon be out of date. When it breaks or whatever, again get the best tech you can afford."

He was a surveyor by trade and threw one of his expensive tech toys across the room to demonstrate that it's pretty hardy, then admitted that once backfired and he cracked the screen with that stunt. But MOST of the time, it survives.

Anyway, having said that, if your tech is getting buggy and you check the calendar and see Mercury is retrograde, Mercury retrograde is an AWESOME time to do your RESEARCH. If it isn't outright DEAD, take that time to research your options and either pick a date after Mercury goes direct or a MILESTONE -- "When the blah widget stops working, I'm DONE!" -- and replace it then, confident this is as good a decision you can make for a moving target and etc.[2]

Mercury retrograde is also a good time to literally or figuratively clean out your closets or do spring cleaning, organize your files, go BACK to something (a project, a job you used to have, your old boss, etc.), and generally be QUIETLY intellectual and introspective. Reread old favorite books etc.

Please do not listen to nutcases telling you a good use of astrology is to freak the fuck out because BLAH is happening in the sky.

Freak the fuck out when that BLAH happening in the sky is "Solar storms so bad it will FRY your tech!" or "Meteors so large they threaten a global extinction event like what supposedly wiped out dinosaurs!"

Otherwise, feel free to say "Hmm, I can shop this weekend or next weekend for a new widget and astrology suggests one of those two weekends will likely be better." But not "Oh, my God! I need to jump through hoops and do something stupid like BORROW a computer until these EVIL ASTROLOGICAL INFLUENCES have passed or things will be terrible!"

No, stupid. If you're life is TERRIBLE, it's because you believe such bullshit and CHOOSE to torture yourself and make your life unnecessarily hard.

Footnote 
[1] You need to make decisions based on real world best practices and stop treating astrology like the boogie man. IF you do the right thing in the short term, sometimes that leads to you needing an upgrade and having the money because your business grew or whatever.

The prediction that more change is likely should be viewed as neutrally as possible and not a dire warning that anything you buy under Mercury retrograde will be a lemon and will soon break.

Sometimes there are no good answers today. Make the best decision you can and then hope that conditions in the real world change around you, opening up new opportunities, or your circumstances change because you chose wisely.

[2] Or pick a financial milestone, like "After my next paycheck." or "When I get my tax refund."

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