Oh No! Not Mercury Retrograde

We are currently in Mercury retrograde which runs from March 30 through April 23, 2011. Retrogrades occur three or four times a year and are the illusion that Mercury is traveling backward in its orbit when viewed from the earth. It is much like one race car passing another. From the faster car, it may appear that the slower car is traveling backward. We know that’s impossible; it’s just a matter of perspective.

Astrologers tell us that during retrogrades, miscommunication, misinformation, and mechanical issues abound. For this reason, they recommend major transactions or contracts not be entered into during these periods and to expect crazy things to happen with mechanical items. Sometimes they are just annoyances like lost emails; other times they can be major.

During last December’s retrograde, we listened to Marguerite Manning’s radio program, Therapy for the Soul, on BlogTalkRadio. Her program suggested we make Mercury retrograde work for us, not against us. The key message was that retrograde is a perfect time to discover any weak equipment that requires fixing or replacing. She suggested using the Law of Attraction to correct the situation and avoid a bigger problem later on. Interesting concept, I thought.

On Christmas Eve, still in retrograde, we picked up our telephone and there was no dial tone. We were expecting a number of people that evening, all of whom would have to use the building’s security system to phone us for entry. Thankful for our cell phones, we called our provider, Charter Communications. But first, we set our intention to have the representative be able to fix our phone quickly through some simple procedure. Then we raised our vibration, put on our friendly telephone voice, and dialed the number.

Charter has an automated attendant that requires the caller to respond to questions by pressing numbers on the telephone keypad. Though it seems like more, there are about ten questions before the automated attendant gives up and connects you with customer service.

We decided to try asking for a representative during the first question. Sure enough, we were connected to a service person immediately. We didn’t have to listen to “All our representatives are busy helping others ….”  We really appreciated that. She checked a couple of things and determined that we needed to set up a service call. The earliest they could get to us was (pause while we anxiously waited) today between 10 and noon. I looked at my watch. It was 9:30. Did we hear her correctly? Yes, today, Christmas Eve, between 10 and noon.

The service technician showed up at 11 AM. After some testing, he determined the need to replace a piece of equipment. He had one in his truck. By 11:30, our telephones were working again. Thank you, Universe.

Mercury retrograde is a period of time most people dread because things can go wrong. Thanks to Marguerite Manning, we now have a much different view of it. Instead of stressing when something seemingly goes wrong, we use the Law of Attraction to fix the problem. We realize it may not go exactly as we manifest, but we leave the problem to the Universe to solve, and it gets done. Then we give thanks to the Universe for bringing it to our attention and resolving it.

Originally Published in Meta Arts Magazine, April 2011