In 2008, the retrograde periods for Mercury: January 28th - February 19th: Aquarius, May 26 - June 19th: Gemini , September 24th - October 15th : Libra.

I've thought for some time it would be fun to keep a little running log of what happens during a retrograde.....and I'm finally doing it during a retro! So here goes. See how the trend makes sense when you see it played out.

11/12/07 - Mercury retrogrades are 3 week periods during the year when we go back and look at things we've done. Events of the past come back to be looked at........we search for something and while we might not find that, we do find things that we've been hunting for for at least months, perhaps years. It's a time when appointments are forgotten, or something comes up to have to cancel. It's a time to confirm, confirm, confirm. it's a time to leave early for those apointments you do keep because invariably it takes longer to get there. Mercury is communication, and during a retrograde, communication can be garbled. .......so, can a retro get messed up and the original calculations be off? Mercury was suppose to have been retrograding from Oct 12th to Nov 1st.....but it came and passed, and as I mused about what to put in this section, I didn't think I had anything to write. Was it just me? Did I just have a incident free retro?. ....and then, obstensibly, after the retro things began to happen: 1) the writers' strike started in LA, causing chaos in the tv industry 2) the ship hit the Bay Bridge in San Francisco, in a 'mixup of communication' and spilled 58,000 gallons of oil (combining Neptune and Mercury going direct at approximately the same time. Neptune rules oil) 3) the stage hands went on strike in New York 4) Personally, I was spurred to get a twin bed for the 'guest bedroom' (read: catchall room) and in the process of cleaning it out to receive it, I found a box which contained photos of my late son that I had been searching for for at least 3 years...that's a retro thing. ....one pursuit leads to the discovery of other things. 5) Appointments have been missed or forgotten, and had to be rescheduled.....not back then when it was suppose to happen but now, a week hence. So, could a retrograde be 'retrograded'? Could the original source that we all take this information from, have a glitch in it, and the time frame was off??? It might be. I've lived through enough Mercury retrogrades in my life (I even married in one before I knew of it....and the energy stalled until a retro some 17 years later when the divorce came thru) that I know the signs when we're in a retrograde, and the documented time frame wasn't it. Neptune had been retrograding and went direct at approximately the same time as Mercury....so might the hazy-foggy energy of Neptune, have created a glitch? We may never know. 11/18/07 - ok, we're still in retrograde. Too many retro type things occurring. I was checking on one of my client's websites, and clicked on a link, and it went nowhere. It's been up there for a year or more, and neither she, nor I, nor anyone visiting, I suppose, had noticed it. Those are the type of things that come up on a retrograde. Last week, a friend set her alarm, to be at work at 6 am...but neglected to trip the switch. She woke up at 6, rushed to get to the job. A fellow employee was suppose to be there at 4, and she just arrived at the same time, oversleeping, and another employee never did show up....also oversleeping....that's a retro thing!

6/12/07 - Get ready, this ain't agonna be a good retro. It hasn't even begun yet and we're feeling the effects already. On top of it, Uranus, the higher octave of Mercury, goes retro on the 23rd.....it would be wise to shut down your computer and wait til Merc goes direct at least, if not Uranus. Mercury retrogrades always mess up computers. Already every time I shut down my computer and boot it up again the mail program loses it's settings and I have to play around with it until it miraculously works again for no particular reason! ...The space station is having problems and the computers are down! Take your computers and run for your lives! :) 6/19/07 - Well, already, the new Directv I had installed lost it's signal as the dish was listing due to the fact it wasn't stabilized right. Now, I can't get into Itunes to download an audio book! I uploaded new pages to a client's site, and they didn't appear for a couple of days. Ooooooh, Mercury, the jester, is just sitting in the heavens laughing like crazy! ....later: Using Photoshop, resizing photo and saving for new website, kept saving at 0K! Would not recognize it! I think it's time to go to Hawaii til the 10th of July!! 6/20/07 - It was reported this a.m. that United AirLines was down because of a computer glitch. They halted all departures systemwide!....and Uranus hasn't even followed Mercury's retro...that's Saturday the 23rd.....albeit Uranus is stationary about ready to shift, and that a potent power point, at that moment of stop before it goes 'the other direction', altho of course planets don't go backwards, it's the perceptions of the orbits of the planets in relation to us. 7/11/07 - Well, after that initial entrance, good ol' Mercury calmed down. My computer survived without a crash...altho I heard other people's computers did....and it basically came to a quiet completion. Being in Cancer, it was time to go back to family roots, or maybe dream of loves lost. Eva Longoria got married to Tony Parker on 7.7.07....It may have been an energy charged date because of the 7's, but it was Mercury retrograde....things started on a rerograde are altered or redone on another retro. Interesting tho, she had to be married in a civil ceremony a day or two before the church wedding...perhaps she 'corrected' it in the same retro. Doesn't mean the marriages held during that day, and their were multitudes of them it seems, will automatically divorce.....but there will be an 'adjustment' in some other retro down the line. In my case, I was married in one (before I knew about this phenomenon) and it was 17 years later that I got divorced. In fact, I had gone to a paralegal and she had filed the papers in early July....and around a month later, when I was expecting the final papers, they were returned. New forms were required after July 1st...so by the time it was redone and refiled.....I noted, "Ah! this is set up to be final in the retrograde coming up, and it was. By that time I hoped for it on my birthday, but it was one day later....close enough! Happy Birthday to me!

3/1/07 - Well, I guess the last Mercury retrograde wasn't memorable, as I see I don't have anything here....maybe that's the retro feature....I'm catching up in this retro period! It didn't seem like much happened on the world wide scene, but it was a bear of a retro for me! I couldn't wait for it to be over! This one seems to be better....for me, anyway. Jet Blue wouldn't think so, because it had a major melt down with passengers stranded on the planes for hours....HOURS! And then the stock market fell 450 points the other day, due in part, to some sort of computer glitch.....computers? glitch? Read Mercury retrograde. Also came within a day or so of Saturn opposing Neptune; Neptune dissolving the structure of the stock market. Personally, Farmers Insurance sent out two mass emailings; something about duplicate payments or something - that must have caused a nightmare! I have gotten so blase about these things that I just send them to the company and ask if it's a spam or not....but obviously a lot of people probably believed it! I had refused to upgrade to a new scanner when I got my computer a couple of years ago, so it was using System 9, and started working at its will not mine. But I refused to give in to built-in obsolesence......til this retro! Good bye, HP, welcome Epson! Can't believe my first scanner was $1000; the second was $400 and now this one is better and under $100! My son went on a job interview in the middle of the retro. He hasn't heard back yet, over a week later...not a good time to venture forth into new vistas. Better to wait til Merc goes direct after the 7th!

8/4/06 - This weekend, former Oakland Raider coach and tv broadcaster, John Madden ( April 10, 1936, 5:25 am CST, Austin, Minnesota), is being inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame. In an interview he related the following story: On January 9, 1977, the day of the Super Bowl that the Raiders eventually won, Madden got out to the team bus, and was all charged up. There were people around, including someone dressed up as a pirate, with whom he was a bit irritated. Being an Aries as Aries wont, he jumped on the bus and said "let's go" and the bus took off from the hotel to the stadium.....15 minutes early. They got there, and Madden realized he left some of the players behind. He didn't know what to do and after anguishing about it for a bit, finally told his ass't coach what happened and how were they going to get the players? The coach said that they were already at the stadium.... they thought they were late, and the irritating pirate had driven them to the game! Madden was so happy he went to find them, but they thought he was going to be mad, so they kept ditching him - even jumped up on the toilets in the stalls in the bathroom so he wouldn't know they were there! Finally, he caught up with them and told them what happened - he wasn't mad and it was his fault........That story was just such a mercury retrograde story that I looked up the date. Sure enough, Mercury was retrograding that day! A Classic story for a retrograde! 8/1/06 - Well, this retro is over, and I find that, when I didn't have this page, the news front was rife with examples, but now that I have it, there are very few....and of course, I started it on a retrograde, so that means at some point I will end it on a retrograde....which was almost this time; but we'll try it once more. One embarrassing thing that happened, was that my family and I watched "The Hot Chick" with Rob Schneider, and we couldn't place who the female leads was, the part of "Jessica". So during the retro, I go home, open up IMDB.com, go to "The Hot Chick" page and find that it's Rachel McAdams. So I go to email my daughter, and when the 'mail to:' comes up I type DA for Dawn, and voila! it's suppose to fill in the right address. It also brings up every other email address I have with DA in it....so, I click on it (I thought) and put "The Hot Chick" in the subject line, and then, fortunately, say "Jessica in the film is Rachel McAdams" and give the IMDB.com page.....................a half hour later I get an automated response from koDAk technical support acknowledging my email!!!!! Somehow I had clicked in the wrong spot and it had changed it to Kodak!!!!! I can just imagine what they thought when they read it!!! If it hadn't been a retrograde I probably would have caught it. People who are independent contractors and rely on patients or clients for their income, like massage therapists, counselors, etc., always have a lot of cancellations during a retro. It's a good time for them to confirm and double confirm for those who simply forget. And it doesn't mean you shouldn't travel on a retrograde, but it will go a lot easier if you don't. If you do, confirm, confirm, confirm, double confirm, all along the way. 7/19/06 - The power went out in Queens, New York, and no one knows why yet. Ah, the joys of Mercury retrograde! Somehow, my computer has been in relative 'glue' mode, not moving as fast in this retrograde, and of course, I had to update some software, and one is never sure whether it's being redone in the retro which is good, or that it's technically something new.....which would establish it in the retro and would have to be redone again later! It's best to stall until the retro is over if possible..... Why is it that Nasa always sends something up into space during a retrograde? It's infallible. Almost everything they do, Mercury is retrograding. And they have to delay it a few times before it can be shot off into space. It would be interesting to know whether there is some sort of scientific mathematical algorithim or something that makes this time best for blasting off....or.....as someone conjectured, maybe it started during the Mercury named series of space flight!! On July 18, the control tower went down in the Los Angeles area, and planes were delayed for hours to key states in the western part of the U.S. The sewing machine I bought a few months back, for quilting and such, worked fine out of the box, and into the retrograde now the straight stitch tension is too tight and of course, in the 'old' days one could just adjust it, but this has enough computer stuff in it to mess it up! We've got about 10 days left. Confirm your appointments, and confirm them again. Leave early to make sure there's enough time for freeway accidents ahead, or repairs of the street......the street departments of cities love to repair the streets during a retrograde!

2/23//06 - Well, it isn't even March 2nd yet, and already Mercury retro is making its presence known. I'm starting to go looking for things and find other items that I haven't seen for months. The computer is acting up. I started up System 9 on my Mac and tried to do something else as well and it bombed - remember when the little bomb used to come up? Not it 'quits unexpectedly"! and in the process the email program got messed up. I spent a couple of hours getting it back on track......what is this new retro period going to be like? I shudden to complate it! 3/11/06 - Remember, while Mercury retrogrades it's not a good time to get your taxes done and mailed in....it's likely it'll be returned for some error. Work up your figures, and go over them, but wait til after the 25th to double check them for the final time and get them in.....doesn't mean something won't bounce back, but it's less likely to do so when Merc is going direct. My son did his taxes and found he owed $550....not a happy camper, I assure you. I said "just let it be til after the 25th; some new information may come your way". Sure enough, a friend reminded me that he can take out an IRA and off set the balance owed. The space program is getting ready to do something again. Why do they always do it in a retro period? More often than not, they do. A doctor in Oakland, California was jailed on the suspicion of being intoxicated when he was said to be abusive to hospital personnel when he didn't want to wait for sterilized equipment to come from another hospital, as I recall the info. Meanwhile, the patient had to wait for his neurosurgery for a few hours - now that's a Mercury retro I wouldn't want to endure! Mercury retrograding is a time frame where it's good to leave early for appointments, and double check everything to confirm. A friend went to India for a conference on March 3rd.....I told her to double and triple check and reconfirm every airplane flight, hotel reservation, appointment. It'll be interesting to see how her trip went. You can travel on a retrograde, but it won't be as easy. I recently did a website for a friend of mine, and it was just hell trying to get it online during this retrograde period. She isn't into astrology so I knew saying "Mercury is retrograding, let's wait til the 25th" wasn't going to fly. We got it up there, but the Universe wouldn't let me do i til I bought a new Pro Timer and Yummy FTP for uploading, so I'd finally get all my programs into the 21st Century and working on OSX....then everything just fell into place! 3/17/06 - It was reported that two men tried to rob a credit union in Benicia, Califoria. They went in with masks and guns and had the staff lie on the floor.....and demanded ALL their money. They neglected to note on the store front window that it is a 'cashless' office and wound up leaving without a cent. Note to bankrobbers: Read the signs on the windows before attempting robbery!...now that could be looked at as a Mercury retro thing - mixup in communications! 3/26/06 - As the retro drew to an end, last week there was a suspicious package at the White House while at the same time, BART (Bay Are Rapid Transit) in the San Francisco area had something similar, which had some of the news networks switching back and forth. It caused evacuations and bus bridges (at least in SF) and put people out and late for work. Typical Mercury retro. During a Mercury retro period it's always good to leave earlier for appointments.....because that's usually when the city street maintenance is done! Well, another retro is complete. My intent during this retro was to find a picture that's been missing for a couple of years. I found a lot of stuff while I searched, which is usually the case....you start to look for something and things from the past pop up....but the picture is still elusive. Next retro it's back to looking!

Mercury started retrograding on November 13th, 2005. I like the retrograde when I find things that had been missing, but I don't like it when computers run amuk (my printer decided to print an inch and then 'lose contact' with the computer, things like that). I inadvertently opened a spam email from "EBay" and had to change all my passwords.....on Paypal....on ITunes.....it was endless. 11/24 - The news reports that the XBoxes that were released in this retro period, are crashing and having problems. Microsoft says its isolated and they are in the process of fixing it. Don't buy electronic products during a retro period.....problems are bound to happen.

Mercury started retrograding on July 22,2005. What have you returned or finally got around to doing? That's part of a retrograde. I called a handyman to fix the back gate, whose ad I had tucked away more than a year ago. 8/15/05 - Well, it was a pretty quiet Mercury period on the global front, but there seemed to be a lot going on on a personal basis. My computer was giving me fits. Computers just don't like Merc retro periods. Right now, in the a.m. on 8/15, I'm not going to work on my IMovie til tomorrow, when Mercury starts forward. During the retro I was trying to put cross dissolve icons between photos on my slide show movie, and instead of the normal icon, it was putting in little rectangles instead. Did that for a few days....then 'miraculously' fixed itself yesterday. Right now, when I add a subtitle to a pix, it takes up about 5 seconds, and is suppose to leave me about 7 seconds....but it's only leaving 2 1/2 seconds afterwards......Tomorrow it will work fine. Good ol' Mercury! I guess it's given me time to do some other things. 8/4/05 - Mercury retrogrades, and then John Bolton is installed as ambassador to the UN. What's started in a retro period is undone or redone in a subsequent retro period. The space shuttle has to be worked on in order to come back from space. And personally, so far it's been a so-so retro. I finally figured out how to make IMovies on the Mac with my own menu for the dvd, not a template - with the help of people on Apple Discussion...that had been hanging fire for quite awhile, making me quite frustrated. I found some stuff I hadn't seen for awhile......but right now my astrology program won't work - I try to get transit reports, and it just spins.....tomorrow it will probably be just fine. Yesterday, I had an appointment set up for my son to occur while I was at my own appt from 10-12. He was suppose at his appt at 10:30. Only it didn't happen.. The other person had him down for 11:30. Really irked me, but it's my own fault when it's Mercury retro and I don't take the time to double or triple check an appt. 7/26/05 -Have you noticed that when the space agency sends a shuttle off into space - it's always on a retrograde? Most have been scheduled for such a date; this time it was scheduled earlier and then rescheduled for today; with everone's fingers crossed that they caught all the problems but not quite sure they did. Oh great! I'd 'love' to be an astronaut going up on that flight!. Let's hope they get back safely. I wonder what it is about Mercury being retrograde that draws the powers that be to send up a shuttle or other space craft?

April 18th - well, the retrograde is over for this time. I found tho, that one should not buy from EBay during that time frame. Neptune was doing a number on me as well, so I wasn't thinking really clearly, but I won two items, one of which didn't work and well, both of them didn't work. I had sought software and found that while I had version 3 and I got a 6 upgrade, the upgrade only worked on versions 4 or 5. I would have thought owning a previous version should be enough. The seller graciously agreed to take it back. Then I 'won' a version 5, but it won't work on the IMac. One can assume that getting things on a place such as Ebay, that you are fixing the mistake from a previous retrograde.....but sometimes the Universe doesn't look at it that way, and things get messed up. Better to wait til Mercury goes direct once again. April 4th - With the passing of John Paul II, the wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles has been postponed for a day. Since they were destined to wed in a retrograde, it does help them to reschedule it.....altho waiting til after the 12th would have been better. Poor Camilla! She just can't win for losing! April 1st - I should know better. I 'won' an item on Ebay last week and it arrived today. It was an upgrade of software....and when I went to install the disk, it only applied to previous versions of 4 & 5....and I had 3. So, what to do? I have the original version, so in one context I could have been redoing it by getting the uprade, but on the other hand, it's just better to wait until the retrograde is over! March 28th - At tax time, Mercury retrograde isn't a good time to start your return, but it is a good time to check it over. I had done my entry-info a month or more ago, and decided today was the day to get it printed up and mailed in. Just thought I'd run thru it one last time....somehow, the interest I paid on my mortgage, got included as interest that was paid to me!!! Good ol' retro for pointing it out to me!...If you have to start your return now, it's best to complete it and put it away for a few days, and then do a last check...or even another...before you send it in. Retros can fix themselves in the same period. March 22nd - "American Idol" had to redo a show because the telephone numbers were given out incorrectly at the end of Tuesday's show. The last 3 entrants had two different numbers under their name - one for the telephone number with the last 4 numbers as IDOL, and done again with the actual numbers. Doing graphics, I can well understand how that happened! Because the contestants are shuffled around in order each week, it looks like under each name they changed the numbers. And since it was the last 3, one could conjecture that all was going well, and then the person got distracted and the other numbers weren't changed. Aha! Better to keep the numbers the same and change the name of the person...speaking from someone who has learned the hard way. On the elimination show the audience had signs that said "don't fire the graphics guy". We should just say "Hey! Mercury's retrograding. Stuff happens!!" My favorite Mercury retro story from 15+ years ago, was a friend of mine and I were thinking about publishing a little newspaper for the community. He called up and said "we need to get together and talk" ok. "See you in 10 minutes". ok - I went to his house and he went to mine!!

All the planets go retrograde some time in the year, except for the moon, of course,and the sun, which aren't planets!!! The outer planets take up to six months each year to go retrograde. Of course, the planets don't turn backwards in the sky. A retrograde has been likened to the analogy of two trains traveling side by side on parallel tracks. When one accelerates and starts moving faster, then the other one appears to be going backwards, but in reality is at the same speed, going forward. Planetary orbits aren't cylindrical, so at times they appear to be going at different speeds according to the orbits of other planets.

copyright 2005 Pamela Leigh Powers, all rights reserved.