“The rule is that if you alter your attitude, you alter the whole situation.
Howard Sasportas
When it comes to Mercury Retrograde there’s an archetypal pattern that unfolds in very similar forms, if you just pay attention.
In sum, what we need to do is clear the calendar and allow room for the unexpected, but also for time to connect with your imaginal inner world.
In short, it’s time to:
- RE-view
- RE-envision
- RE-think
- RE-imagine
- RE-do
- RE-organize
- RE- vise
- RE-build
- RE- engage
- And any other RE activity that you wanted or needed to address before, but now is the time to do it.
But there’s more to Mercury and every time it’s a retrograde season, it’s good to be reminded of the gift of Mercury. I have a class on all things Mercury retrograde and you get it here. It’s worth understanding its cycle and how we can best approach this liminal journey and have an enriching experience.
Mercury Retrogrades are about a spiral development that takes us deeper into an area of our lives, depending on where Mercury is journeying through your chart and the stage of development that you find yourself exploring. Mercury can be many things: a trickster, a thief, a messenger, but never boring. Each retrograde time is a chance encounter with the doppelganger within, our inner Other that comes bearing news and insights.
So the diversions, the detours, the delays, the forget-your-keys-and-phone-at-house-as-you-dash-out are all opportunities to step sideways into the Otherworld. In Celtic Mythology, the Otherworld co-exists next to our own reality, like a parallel universe, interwoven with our world.
One of the ways we can also experience this alternate reality is when we are undergoing a deep threshold phase in our lives, or when we receive the gift of Mercury Retrograde. This is the time for unexpected encounters not just with folks and ideas, but also with different dimensions of our inner world. Especially so because Mercury is now retrograde in Pisces, the quintessential sign that teaches us about the Imaginal World.
Mercury – our guide into the Imaginal Worlds
The term ‘imaginal world’ has its roots in Islamic mysticism and it was made more popular through the work of Henri Corbin. But it’s a realm that is common, under different names, in many other sacred traditions. Often understood as a realm on the edges of our own, or interwoven with ourselves, and one which only those who are more perceptive of different subtle realities have more immediate access, the truth is that when we pay attention, we all have access to it. To put it simply, the way we ‘enter’ the imaginal world is through our IMAGINATION – the direct perception of reality(ies) through our inner eye.
The imaginal penetrates this denser world in much the same way as the fragrance of perfume penetrates an entire room, subtly enlivening and harmonizing. … The imaginal is that quality of aliveness moving through this realm, interpenetrating, cohering, filling things with the fragrance of implicit meaning whose lines do not converge in this world alone, but at a point beyond.
Cynthia Bourgeault
So when Mercury is Retrograde in a water sign, as it is now in Pisces, the invitation is for us to retreat and do some emotional-snorkeling (or deep diving for the more intrepid out there) to better understand and experience our inner realms of emotions, feelings, and imagination. This is not a time to focus too heavily on function through our left-brain capacities, but make the effort to build the bridge between the left and the right through making the connection (here’s your Mercury in action) between these different parts of ourselves.
Allow yourself time and space to bring some imaginal/imaginative activities into your routines during the next three weeks. Perhaps go for a swim instead of a run. Do intuitive painting instead of Sudoku. Do a tarot spread before your business meeting. Burn sage before doing your accounting. You get this gist.
Mercury Retrograde is our opportunity to build bridges within disparate parts of ourselves. Let it guide you to the unexpected places within yourself and in your life. Release the grip and practice some flow surrender.
Remember that Mercury has a CONNECTIVE FUNCTION in our psyche and lives. It has the ability to move through the worlds of action and psychological development. During its retrograde phase, we have the opportunity to become unstuck in the areas of our lives where we have got into a rut. Nothing like the waters of Pisces to release us from being stuck in a groove and move forward – by first moving ‘backward.’ Here’s to us swimming with ease and grace in the mercurial waters of this season.
