Keeping An Eye On The Sky Is Important In Trip Planning–Especially During Mercury Retrograde!
My phone dinged for the second time that morning, I wearily glanced down, hoping against hope it wasn’t another update from the airline. Wrong.
Gate Change. Again.
This time it was a completely different terminal. I gathered up my stuff and headed toward the tunnel housing the Skylink at DFW. An older gentleman ambled along beside me, “Do you know how this thing works?” he asked haltingly. “I do.” I gestured for him to follow me assuring him I would show him how the darn thing worked. “Heading to Atlanta?” I asked. He nodded. “Second gate change of the day.”
Unfortunately for both of us, it wouldn’t be the last. And thus began one of the most confounded and confundled trips of my life. Why? Because I dared to travel during Mercury Rx. Here’s why taking a trip during the trickster’s backward rotation, might give you similar results.
What Is Mercury Retrograde(Mercury Rx?)
Mercury Retrograde is the time when the planet of Mercury appears to be moving backward in the sky/its orbit/rotation. Mercury is the planet ruler of the signs of Gemini and Virgo and it is all about communication. Therefore, anything in the communication sector is fair game for the wing-footed trickster of Mercury.
Misunderstandings, misreadings of situations, and miscommunication via portals like e-mails, the internet, and other technology could abound.
I like to think of Mercury as the character “Puck” from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and we as the actors in the play, as he sits back wreaking lighthearted havoc and chuckling “Lord, What Fools These Mortals Be” as we take it all so seriously. So let’s take a look at a few of the games this trickster likes to play and how they could affect your travel plans (in a big way.)
1. Missed Connections
Detours, direction changes, and all sorts of mechanical mayhem can occur during Mercury Retrograde. Things that can result in last-minute or multiple gate changes (as I experienced) missed flight connections, someone giving you wrong directions, and so many other small mishaps that can have big results.
Map instructions can get garbled and even transportation schedules like trains or buses can get confused. It’s like a game of universal telephone, one person whispering something to the next and by the time it reaches the final destination, the message has completely changed! Talk about Mercurial mayhem!
2. Miscommunications
Understanding accents or foreign languages can be hard enough on a good day, but when the trickster Mercury gets his grimy little hands on the situation, well that’s a whole other story. Whether it is a misinterpretation, an obscure text message from a friend or partner, or an unintended offense, Mercury sure gets busy sending mixed communication signals during this time.
It can make navigating foreign lands and languages all the more difficult, or even navigating the daily mundane conversations with a friend or coworker. Suddenly someone is offended, a message gets lost in translation or you just can’t seem to make heads or tails of what someone is trying to tell you. Not a good look.
3. Technology Glitches
Have you ever noticed the entire airline flight schedule is completely dependent on technology? Probably not, right? At least not until that technology completely glitches out. Remember the American Airlines technology meltdown where hundreds of people were stuck in the airport without flights? That my friends, is Mercury Rx in action.
Ok, usually the planetary prankster of Mercury doesn’t pull tricks on that big of a scale, but he does like to stick his snooty little nose in places it doesn’t belong. Places like in the baggage claim, or your ticketing, seating, or gate location. It could be your tablet doesn’t work for your planned in-flight movie, you miss an important e-mail about your hotel stay or so many things that make the best-laid plans suddenly go very technologically awry.
Prepare If Possible
If it’s possible, you may want to stay out of Mercury Retrograde’s way entirely, not that those things can’t affect your normal day-to-day but why amp them up on an international scale?
Yet we all know that sometimes travel just can’t be avoided and we may have to brave the depths of Mercurial laced travel. If that’s the case, just be prepared! Double-check bookings, gates, and flight info. Hold off on big, intense conversations with friends, partners, or coworkers. Have backup plans for technology glitches.
Plan, prepare, and plan again.
Don’t worry, a little Mercurial mischief is no reason to block your travel completely, the best way to beat the trickster at his own game is to not take it so seriously!
Laugh it off, go to plan B, and enjoy your trip!
P.S...
(Don’t forget when planning your next trip, to check out The Top 5 Astrological Travel Destinations to keep your travel astrologically aligned!)