Oh no! Mercury is in Retrograde!

My friend, Martie, is always the first to sound the dire warning, “Oh no! Mercury is in retrograde.” She announces it with such emphasis that you believe her prediction and heed her advice. This phenomenon is one of the few that affects everyone in a fairly uniform way, and its effects are always obvious. Once you begin to pay attention to how events in your life change during these phases, you will soon see how important it is to take note of them.

I won’t go into detail about what Mercury is actually doing. You can look it up online if you’re interested. I’ll simply report that The Huffington Post confirms it: “The planetary cosmos has an evil plot to make your life go crazy from August 30 to September 22. It’s called Mercury Retrograde.”

The critical advice from all the best sources boils down to these ten points:

1. Don’t Make Agreements. It’s a horrible time for negotiating contracts or making decisions.

2. Don’t Accept or Start a Job. If you do, you may regret it.

3. Don’t Try to Close the Sale. Closing a deal is often based on taking advantage of great timing. Unfortunately, you’re timing couldn’t be worse when Mercury is retrograde.

4. Don’t Initiate New Projects.

5. Scheduling Meetings. Avoid (or minimize) scheduling meetings and events during Mercury retrograde, because you’re more likely to experience confusion, mistakes and cancellations.

6. Avoid Traveling A Lot. If you can’t put certain trips on hold, just be aware that you can expect an unusual amount of last-minute flight cancellations, meeting postponements and long transportation delays.

7. Don’t Purchase Computers or Begin Installations. This is when you’ll discover that you bought the “computer from hell.”

8. Don’t Repair Your Auto unless you absolutely have to.

9. Don’t Buy Things.

10. Don’t Select a Roommate or Move in With One.

So if you believe the planetary situation, you’ll basically lay low between August 30 and September 22. It may be a good time for recharging your batteries, taking care of your soul, contemplating all that is good in life, spending some time listening to God, otaking some deep breaths and gathering your strength.

That’s what I plan to do.