We've all felt them . . .

Those moments when our lives seem to be going ... backward.

It's happening everywhere, to just about everyone. For three weeks at a stretch, maybe five, communication breaks down in a thousand weird ways. Wires get crossed, messages lost. The cell phone dies in the middle of a call. A package never arrives. We sign contracts for deals that go horribly wrong. We squabble with friends or loved ones.

Most such moments are trivial in themselves—but collectively they pack a punch. The phone call we miss might have been a dream job offer. The package that never comes might contain our kid's asthma medicine. A thoughtless word can fracture a friendship.

During these times, we may feel that we just can't get on the right wavelength. We're out of sorts because we're out of synch. Trouble seems to multiply. Travel plans go terribly awry. Couples split. Accident and sickness rates soar. Projects launched on waves of enthusiasm drown in dismal failure.

You may feel this is happening only to you. But in fact it's happening to everyone, and at the same time. Lately people all over the world are discovering that these communication slumps strike with scary regularity. Three or at most four times a year, for a stretch of twenty-two days or so, life seems to be moving in the wrong direction—busy signals, misunderstandings, missed connections. We want to crawl into bed and pull the covers over our heads.

There's good news in all of this. If you know ahead of time that these periods will occur, you can avoid disaster. Even better, you can actually benefit during these times. This book will show you how.

The force driving this phenomenon is no secret. In fact, we've known about it for thousands of years. You'll be reassured to learn that it's completely natural and very predictable. And oddly enough, it's both very real—and very much an illusion.

Let me explain.

These periods of disrupted communication I've been describing tend to occur when Mercury, the speedy little planet closest to the Sun, behaves in a certain way. Normally Mercury—like all the planets—moves forward in orbit. This forward movement is called direct motion.

But there are periods during the year when Mercury performs a fascinating little dance step. To an observer on Earth, Mercury appears to stop dead in its orbital track. Then it backs up for a while ...stops again ...and slowly begins to move forward once more. The time when it stops and backs up is known as Mercury Retrograde.

The word retrograde means "moving back." All the planets in the solar system go through retrograde periods. But this cosmic cha-cha is actually only an illusion. The planets never really stop rolling forward in their orbit. Through our Earth-bound telescopes, however, they appear to do so. That's because Earth is moving in its own orbit, too. I'll say more about this in the next chapter.

As an astrologer, I trace patterns in the movements of the heavens, then look for the wisdom these patterns reveal. In this realm Mercury is the planet that rules the ways we humans communicate. Mercury Retrograde—the period of about three weeks when the planet appears to reverse its course through the heavens—is a time when communication may break down.

Mercury Retrograde, or MR, can have a powerful impact on our lives. Not long ago people asked, "What's your sign?" Now it's, "How are you handling the retrograde?" People are swapping MR survival stories in e-mail, in Internet chat rooms, over lattas at Starbucks.

I know lawyers who refuse to schedule court appearances during these periods. One Hollywood screenwriter won't bother turning on her laptop during retrograde, because, she says, she'll either "suffer terminal writer's block or churn out total garbage." An officer at a U.S. naval base refuses to stage war games during MR because he knows that a single garbled signal could kill or maim his troops.

Why are people suddenly realizing the impact of Mercury Retrograde? It's simple, really, when you think about it. Never before in the history of humanity has there been so much communication. Computers, the Web, e-mail, cell phones, FedEx, faxes, beepers, chat rooms, satellites, 24/7 news ...the world is a humming hive of contact. Today we can reach out and touch virtually anyone in the world, instantly.

The more we rely on our instant communication networks, the more vulnerable we become to the inevitable disruptions. And during MR there are disruptions aplenty. Throughout this book you'll find dozens of stories about the impact of the MR effect on our work, play, family, friends, relationships, money—every aspect of our mental, physical, and spiritual health.

Two quick stories from the pages of history make the point: The Titanic sank on April 15, 1912—during the peak of MR. The disaster may be the ultimate story of miscommunication. Officers on board ignored not one, not three, but six warnings that icebergs were in the vicinity. Another liner, the Californian, was less than 20 miles away, but its radio operator had gone off duty and so never received Titanic's SOS signals. Talk about communication breakdown!

More recently MR may have affected the course of history. A retrograde period ended on November 7, 2000—the day of the presidential election between Bush and Gore. Mercury shifted out of retrograde at about 9 P.M.—just after the TV news stations wrongly predicted that Gore would win in Florida. For more than a month afterward the breakdown in voting systems bred chaos and court battles. The election fiasco serves as a warning: Mercury is retrograde only for a little while—but MR effects can reverberate forever.

But does MR mean that we poor Earthlings, like Titanic's hapless passengers, are doomed? That for three weeks, three times a year, we have no choice but to suffer communication meltdown?

Not at all. By knowing what MR means and when it will occur, you can protect yourself—and others—from many of its effects. This book will show you how. In appendix 1 you'll find an ephemeris. It's a schedule of retrograde periods past and future. Check to see when the next will occur—it's no more than four months from now.

But seen from the right aspect, MR is not a catastrophe but a gift. Mercury's pattern shows us that, in nature, there's wisdom in slowing down every so often, taking a few steps back, and reconsidering how—and when—to move forward again. In the realm of communication, retrograde serves as a reminder to "back up our data"—to double-check to see that our messages are getting through. By discovering and embracing this planetary teaching, you can make your life happier, healthier, more fulfilling in any ways you can imagine.

A lot of people misunderstand the power of astrology. They think that the planets rule our lives; that we are helpless victims of forces beyond our control. Sadly, some people use astrology as an excuse for their failures or short-comings. "I can't help it if I screwed up! Mercury Retrograde made me do it!"

The truth is, astrology doesn't control our lives. Instead it offers a guide to the different types of energies present in the universe—the cosmic currents that shape our lives. The planets reflect aspects of our human nature. The stars don't "make" us do anything. We are ultimately responsible for choosing how to plug into, and respond to, these universal energies.

If you understand the MR effect, you can shield yourself from communication snafus. The secret is simple: Just take a step back. The re- in retrograde reminds us that MR is a good time to review, revisit, rethink—reboot!

Copyright © 2002 by Chrissie Blaze

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