I don’t know about y’all, but this Mercury Retrograde has kicked my butt. Everything Mercury rules has taken a hit, some small, some huge, but all of it, including tripping over a cat and hitting the floor, has humbled me a bit. I took no extreme damage from the fall, but my mobility was very limited for a week in the middle of the retrograde. That forced me to stop and really think about what a retrograde can do for a person, because a retro isn’t bad, just requires you to explore things a little differently. So that’s what I did, and I found the gift of this Mercury Retrograde.
During this period I had to have a friend over to do some work on my computer system, the printer mostly. I also had to learn a new software program, classic Mercury stuff. The person I would usually ask to do hardware work for me was not available, so I asked another friend. That friend took two days to get it done. Not his fault, he was learning as he went. At one point along the way he remarked that my usual computer dude could do this project in about 15 minutes, making it look easy. It was a true statement, and it led me down the trail of what does anyone make look easy. The friend who made the statement makes several things look easy, but what came immediately to mind was his musical ability. He plays a multitude of instruments, but his primary is the guitar. He is probably the best guitarist I’ve ever had the privilege to know. I’ve watched and listened to him play many times. He plays, talks, smokes a cigarette, has drink, all at the same time, making what he is doing look so easy. Yet, I have known this young man since he was a zygote, and I have seen and heard the hours of practice, the bleeding fingers, the guitars sailing through the air, the tears and frustration. Yes, he makes it look easy, now. I thought of what I make look easy and two things came to mind instantly, and a friend pointed out another. She told me I make research look easy, and I thought, yep, ask me a question and I can rattle off lists of references, ways to find answers, where to look and where to go and whom to ask, and most importantly, how to ask the right question. I have even had students, both magickal and academic, ask me how I know these things. Hours and hours and hours of looking things up; days on end in dusty archives only to realize that I had asked the wrong question. Yep, I make it look easy, now.
Mercury has a lot of influence over intellectual abilities, and that includes so many things. Mercury goes direct on Sunday, so, as we move into the final moments of this retrograde, ask yourself, what do I make look easy? How many mistakes did I make so I could make it look easy? You might be surprised at what you find. We have the discipline to do all that hard work because we have a passion for whatever it is we are learning to do. And brace yourself, because the stern disciplinarian Saturn goes retrograde in Capricorn on Tuesday. Maybe you can use that energy to find your passion again, and your ability to stick to a project.
Oh, and that new computer program I had to learn, did it in a couple of days because I can do research easily, now.