Mercury Retrograde: Reclaiming your story
The way we pay attention to the world around us shapes our world. Our attention, what we focus on, is a lens that filters both how and what we see, what we are able to receive from the world and give back to it.
In our natal charts, Mercury is tasked with perception. We always hear that Mercury is about communication, but that’s a surface definition that doesn’t explain what that actually means in our day-to-day lives. Mercury, in cahoots with our Moon, sorts the information we receive, both from our inner and outer worlds. In other words, he translates and gives meaning. This works in both directions. Inner to outer and outer to inner. He is the storyteller; the stories we tell ourselves and others about who we are and what we expect from reality spring from Mercury’s interpretation. We only hear what we are able to tune into.
We are the hero of our own story. It is told through our eyes. Yet, ironically, so many of our stories about ourselves and our lives are legacy stories, meaning they come from stories we were told both about ourselves and the world when we were very young, and we took them as truths. It’s just the way things are, or we are. Here’s an example: from a time very early in my life, I was told how intelligent I was, and there were all sorts of tales that have become a part of my personal myth that backed it up. As a result, I have never questioned that part of myself. It became a factual part of my identity. Yet, there are other stories I was also told, not just from my family but also from my peers. I was the geek girl who wasn’t like other girls, and I was born at the edge of a generation where fewer women attended college, and many of those who did were there for what was referred to as an MRS degree. I grew up in the conservative Midwest, where people still said things like, “Men don’t make passes at girls who wear glasses.” The implication was in order to be liked, I had to make myself smaller. And as late as the movie Mean Girls with Lindsay Lohan, this was still implied: let the guy you like think he is smarter than you. It took me years to move past this emotionally, and it felt like I could either be myself or I could be loved. As Richard Bach said in his book Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah, “Argue for your limitations, and sure enough, they’re yours.”
If we don’t wish to see/hear something consciously or unconsciously, we won’t be aware of it. It’s impossible. We can only hear and see what we are attuned to. For example, If we believe we are unlovable, we are like a radio tower that can’t receive love’s signals because we won’t be able to hear them. No matter what someone says to us we still won’t believe it. Our perception distorts the picture and our experience of life. Change your perception, and you change your world. It sounds simple, doesn't it?
Yet, though we yearn for change, we cling to our opinions, which sure feel like facts to us, and they only allow us to move in a very narrow field of possibility. Even if we tell ourselves it is about other people’s ideas and opinions, we are, in essence, caught in a trap of our own making. We can only experience the stories we believe we are allowed to have. The ones we think are possible for us.
The stories we are attached to act as a sort of defense mechanism. They create the guardrails in our lives. To actively be open to taking down a guardrail leaves us vulnerable, standing on a place that feels like shaky ground. It takes practice to find balance in this place.
Mercury retrograde is an opportunity to reclaim our story.
Those of you who follow my blog know that one of the many ways I use astrology is as a guide to consciously move through life essentially in concert with life rather than seeing life as separate from my own experience. For all of the inconveniences and breakdowns that often occur during a Mercury retrograde, it is always an invitation to view things more deeply. To reexamine the unconscious expectations we hold (Mercury is the one archetype that was given the ability to move between worlds and was known as the guide of souls.) that are shaping our lives. Mercury retrograde periods might cause a few complications in our daily lives, seriously, he is known as the trickster for a reason, overall, I view them, as I do any transit, as an opportunity for reflection and self-development.
Used well retrogrades are times of reflection, reclamation, and revelation.
The core of the word communication is commune - to bring together. Our Mercury brings our worlds together through the stories we embody as we move through life. This particular Mercury retrograde is in Sagittarius, a fire sign. The fire signs, Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius, are the signs that contain the energy of inspiration and vision. They offer an opportunity to reimagine what is possible.
Here is one practice you could use during this period to begin the process of reclaiming your story:
Byron Katie has a series of “4 liberating questions” at the core of her work that she developed after a life-changing insight. They are a process of self-inquiry, which she now calls “The Work.” It involves asking four simple questions about each belief that causes us pain:
- Is it true?
- Can you absolutely know that it’s true?
- How do you react when you believe that thought?
- Who would you be without the thought?
After answering these questions, respondents are asked to come up with a “turnaround,” a sentence expressing the opposite of what one believes. So, for instance, “He doesn’t understand me,” could become, “I don’t understand him,” or, “I don’t understand myself.”
While Mercury isn’t officially retrograde until next Monday, November 25, he is already in his shadow period, where he is slowing down and getting ready to shift direction. During this retrograde period, it's good for us to slow down as well. Between now and December 15, when Mercury stations and goes direct, use the energy on your own behalf. Reconsider what is possible. Listen, both to yourself and others, more deeply. Don’t jump to conclusions. Mercury retrogrades are infamous for miscommunication.
During this retrograde, let yourself be pulled toward inner exploration, see yourself as a traveler (Mercury is the patron of travelers), and allow yourself to discover yourself anew, with Mercury acting as guardian of your inner sojourn during this retrograde season.
