If you believe in Mercury retrograde, then be more mindful and patient these next three weeks (Oct. 4-25, 2014) as Earth goes into Mercury Retrograde again. This is actually the third (and last) one this year. Mercury retrograde happened last Feb. 26-28 and June 7-July 1 of this year. This time we have 3 full weeks of it.

Exactly what is Mercury Retrograde?

Those who believe in it also believe that just like our moon exerts gravitational pull on us due to our body’s water content, the revolution of the planets around the solar system also have a pull on us. Specifically, Mercury is believed to affect us because it rules our mind, intelligence, memory, different ways of communication, decisionmaking, among others. During these 3 weeks, Mercury will be positioned farthest from the sun and Earth goes into a catch-up mode. Meanwhile, its distance affects and dulls our thinking and can lead to wrong decisions or overall slowness in many things. On a more macro level, it can affect electronics and computers, telephones, transportation and travel.

How to survive Mercury Retrograde?

Nature always tries to come into a balance. Because of that, I always believe there are 2 sides to everything. So while some of you may be getting a bit antsy about the next 3 weeks, let’s look at this not just from a “survival” mode but really, from how we can harness Mercury Retrograde and channel it into more positive things moving forward.

Here are some ways we can approach what life may throw us during these 3 weeks:

* Things could be slower during this time – Okay, that contract may not be getting out in time. The proposal you sent in months ago still has not been finalized. Your team’s deliverables are taking forever. At the same time, you can use this as a time to slow down, attend to stuff at home and at work that were simply put on a lower priority, maybe finally get that executive check-up. It’s also a time for reassessing things and finishing those projects that took a back seat prior to Mercury retrogade because other projects suddenly took up all your time.

* Imbalances in relationships can become more prominent – Disagreements may heighten between partners, work colleagues, siblings, friends. But this is also a time to learn more understanding and patience. We also have a chance to view things from other perspectives

* This is a time for new insights about relationships that didn’t work, projects that failed, unfair situations, or dreams that just haven’t taken off – Because everything will seem to slow down, there is actually more time to look at the future in slow-motion. The magnetic energies allow us to reflect on old desires and feelings as well as conflicted relationships. And guess what, sometimes, people from our past get to reconnect with us during this time! Look forward to that!

For us to get through these 3 weeks, it is a great time to practice mindfulness and greater sensitivity to events around us. Robert Wilkinson, an expert in Mercury retrograde, wrote in his Aquarius Papers:

For all of us, during the next several weeks the future that’s already rolling forward will slow a little so we can get a new look at crucial elements of the process we cannot afford to ignore. We will all have opportunities to take a new look and find a new way to apply our emotional realizations we’ve had since Summer 2013.

This period offers us excellent chances to rework how we interpret our desires, our sense of relatedness, and what we like and what we don’t. It’s a great time to get a different view of how we attract what we need to thrive, and how our emotions and ideals relate to each other, and how these do or don’t fulfill what our subconscious minds desire. All of us will have a new understanding of what matters to us by late October, and will find peace in contemplating old struggles now in our rear view mirror.

This will be another important retrograde, where the past will be reviewed to see what we can and cannot bring with us into the future in late October. It will help us rehearse or do the research we need to get ready to spring forward in mid-November, clear about what we know, what we need to know, who we need to get closer to, and who we need to say goodbye to.

 Let’s not focus too much on Mercury retrograde being a time of anxiety. If we can use these 3 weeks for greater introspection and with a new set of eyes and spirit, the future will come with greater clarity.