Mercury Retrograde in Aries
By Ruby

March 22nd – April 15th

The first Mercury Retrograde for 2018 starts on March 22nd at 4 degrees in the sign of Aries. Mercury in Aries brings in a fiery mental energy, as Aries is a Cardinal and Fire Sign. We tend to feel more impatient and impulsive during this time, and we can jump without thinking about our consequences first, which can get us into some trouble very quickly, or cause some unexpected problems, as it has become notorious for missed connections, miscommunications, malfunctioning electronics, travel snafus, fender benders, and more.

When Mercury is Retrograde our thinking is thrown off, as well as our perspective. So mistakes, misunderstandings, and problems involving communication are likely. It’s not a good time to sign contracts, make new agreements, buy something new, or begin new projects. It’s an excellent time to research, revisit, plan, and prepare for something later. Remember Mercury likes to take us back literally when it’s in Retrograde, so back to old friends and lovers, and even behaviors and lessons, to learn something we didn’t the first go around.

Since Mercury is in what’s considered to be the most impatient sign of the Zodiac, Aries! This particular Mercury in Retrograde is difficult when it comes to having any kind of patience! I can’t stress this enough. People have already been experiencing the impulsivity, frustrations, and aggression out there over the last three weeks while we have been under the “Shadow Period” as it’s called to the actual Retrograde cycle!

Please be extra careful during this cycle, and watch for other people and how they react and drive, they aren’t thinking clearly under this influence. Aries energy can be prone to accidents and injuries because of the impulsive energy so we may see some accidents occurring around the world, especially involving situations where we didn’t take care of details beforehand. To think we started off this Mercury in Retrograde cycle with an 800-Ton Walkway Bridge falling in Florida because it was built in less than 9 hours! That’s just way to fast during this time, as someone forgot an important detail.

We also need to watch our tempers!
It’s way to easy to get bent all out of shape and frustrated, and enter ego-battles or arguments during this time, without even realizing how we got there! This cycle brings out more aggressive behavior due to feeling confused, and it can serve as an outlet for folks to release their pent-up emotional baggage. Stay focused on your goals and what you want to conquer during this three-week-long period, and put your attention on something positive so you can direct that extra energy into something you need or want. It also is a time to watch your mouth! Remember, Mercury rules our minds, and Aries is ruled by the planet Mars, ya know the GOD OF WAR! We can wage little battles that can turn quickly into bigger issues if we aren’t careful about what and how we say things. Just remember that losing a battle is sometimes the only way to win the war. Keep your language short and sweet on this wonderful day.

With all of that being said, I want you to know you are not doomed to fail if you make important changes or moves during Mercury in Retrograde, but it can cause more issues that you will have to go back over and get extremely detailed about which can be time-consuming. Making changes doesn’t seem to be as successful settled for the future during a Retrograde period. And it can be more difficult to make a plan stick. During a Retrograde period, it’s just more tough to get decisions made from others and even if a decision is made, it is subject to change, either just after Mercury turns direct motion or much later.

Often I find that when we have to redo things during Mercury’s backward cycle, we also get rewarded with something that we didn’t realize we could even have, for all our hard work and frustration there seems to be a pay off more often than not! I was born during a Mercury in Retrograde phase and this happens to me often, where I have to redo something I swore I was done with and even though it is extremely frustrating the rewards I can’t deny are awesome, as long as I am patient enough.

Mercury in Retrograde periods aren’t the best times for communication or clarity, because our thoughts are scattered and we tend to forget what we are talking about, but we might think we know for sure what we are seeing or saying so we can be very convincing,  but it’s a time to question everything because things just aren’t what they appear to be during this cycle. Starting anything that involves communication like a new website, turning in important papers, or making business agreements, for example, can be a big fail. It’s a confusing time to launch anything new, even if it’s not related to communication period.

The world doesn’t choose to live by Astrology influences, unfortunately, so often you will see lots of website overhauls and new systems being put in businesses, and road construction everywhere! Even though this is a challenging time to do so, it seems to work out that folks feel like making changes under the Retrograde time, so you just have no choice but to roll with it. But perhaps the changes that are made now will have been gone over again and again due to the Retrograde cycle and that helps them get it right, who knows, but look for lots of interesting new changes this time around especially as the sign of Aries is all about initiating change and starting new beginnings. Avoid it if you can, I promise you will end up going back over it soon after and having to redo something, and maybe even again and again. The environment will be quite fluid and changeable, no matter what you are told or what you think.

But all we can do is roll with this cycle folks and be patient as possible with each other, that is the most important part of this whole cycle over the next six weeks actually, is to work hard at being PATIENT! Then you can avoid major issues or breakdowns.

~Ruby