Mercury Retrograde

A writing ramble as Mercury appears to be moving backward ... 

The damp and soggy weather imprints the forest and as I walk between the tiny room/homes the paths are pooling. No longer frozen and frosty the paths are damp; I change from the cozy fleece slippers back to my waterproof lace up boots. No Raven calls today, they too must be nestled in their rooks. Walking out into the orchard I call out to the chickens. No response. No movement. Each of our three hens has her own personal place of refuge during the day: Rygel has her Huckleberry Hide-out under the Grandfather Douglas Fir; Butterscotch loves Blackberry arches straight from the coop's ramp; Pepper circles around and down into the lower yard. At night they all claim a spot on the dowel inside their coop.

In our fashion Pete and I are seeking our personal places of Winter refuge, with only the briefest of verbal explanation, we take up daytime residency alone, alternately in the Quonset for hours at a time; while the other is covered in quilts with a good book or the latest entertaining movie or past episodes of TV serials. When the dishes pile up from eating and drinking food and drinks of comfort one of us will haul the bin of remnant covered plates, pans, pots, mugs and food covered silverware out the Quonset across the forest and into the Hale where hot water and sudsy dish soap wait.

The times and methods for communication change; daily cycles and longer periods of communication patterns exist consciously or unconsciously. Now that I have hauled, walked and done the bin of dirty dishes. I set about the gathering and transmission of my thoughts about using this current Mercury Retrograde (which began yesterday, 1/4/2015 and will last approximately three weeks through 1/25/16).

Some basic Mercury

From my bookshelf I refer to Intuitive Astrology by Elizabeth Rose Campbell and find this:

" Mercury: The instinct to communicate. Mercury is your desire to capture and transmit information: It's the messenger, the tape recorder, the camera, the database builder of your life story. Within your inner family, Mercury is the storyteller; within your village. Mercury might be your friendly librarian, aware of your interests, setting aside particular books for you to read. Mercury works through your eyes; your ears, the bottom of your feet; your fingertips; and very much your throat, your tongue, your lips--your ability to speak. Mercury is the synapse between the brain and the tongue." Campbell ends the paragraph with two questions, "How will you translate your reality? What words will you use?"

What does Mercury Retrograde mean?  Click on the links below for two answers.

One scientific answer. 
One astrological answer. 


How do I use Mercury Retrograde Well?

Donna Cunningham offered this example of how to use Mercury Retrograde well, "As an author, I am actually quite a fan of Mercury Retrograde, as I make a practice of editing the book I am currently working on during the retrograde period." 

 My personal opportunity for using this Mercury Retrograde well came via an email yesterday. Last fall I prepared and submitted a grant to a local college here in Washington State. The purpose for that grant is "... to address the professional development needs of individual artists, such as purchasing supplies and materials, harvesting resources, portfolio development, apprenticeships, workshop fees, training in marketing, teaching a workshop, etc..." The email I received was a 'rejection letter'. My first. It was the first grant I have applied for, and it was my first rejection letter for any kind of writing in many years. The email was short, offered a positive critique, and included feedback that I can really use!

How can I use that feedback?

Satori's Daily Forecast: January 5, 2016 suggested (in part) this action for today:

"... Pay attention to the awareness of what is missing, but use that impulse to target a new plan… not a temper tantrum or a blast of angry words. This mood is a marvelous shit-detector. Look for the shit and shovel it out of the way. Work to reveal a bright new path!

Elizabeth Rose Campbell concludes her basic description of Mercury with this paragraph, "Mercury is the intelligent eye, the intelligent ear, focused upon something in particular. Mercury is also communicative touch, communicative cadences--through voice, song, or dancing feet, dancing out a story. Mercury is the messenger." 

The proposal I submitted in the grant was a multi-media storytelling project with a large scope. It was perhaps the largest combined vision of Mercury I had yet to imagine. It does include nods and incantation to attract the intelligent eye, the intelligent ear and a focus upon the stories that are often caught on the other side of a sand bar after a high tide. You know, the sort of story that separates you from the pack, or pod like a beached whale or a water serpent who will sacrifice her tail to survive.

I have a wet and soggy January to target a new plan; editing and gleaning the parts that I know are well-nourished; and where there are missing parts I have an opportunity to literally grow a new tail, or edit the tale that has already begun. "People found your poetry compelling," read part of the message. The challenge for the board who read the grant proposals and chose winners was how I proposed to market my stories (recorded onto CDs) and reach 'my market.'

One last bit of gathering information over the past couple of weeks has come from our local library, where not just books but DVDs and movies can be borrowed. Over and over again (which is my habit ... repetition) I have listened, watched and absorbed the creative process of a film. This time is BEGIN AGAIN.

The 2014 film brings a story written by a Dublin director about the contemporary world of New York-based record industry, and the business of marketing stars. Brilliantly famous stars (Keira Nightly of Pirates of the Caribbean, Austin's Pride and Prejudice etc. teams up with Mark Ruffalo "The Hulk" from Marvel Comics) lit this film which addressed, for me, the optional versions of MARKET and MARKETING. The cast is peopled strokes of many colors, ages, musical-bents and levels of success and self-esteem. I listened and watched the people involved in writing, producing, acting and singing in this film to prime my Mercury, and my Mars (Instinct to Act). The tone of the movie, the feel of it was hopeful and may be I view them through rose-colored lenses; a perfect antidote for the grey of Rain Shadow Salish Winters. The character "Greta" collaborates with a down on his luck record producer. A vibrant, talented band of musicians create an album by the seats of their pants; and record each song in a different part of New York City. The Marketing bit flips the story from that place on the other side of the sand bar. (In Hawaiian that place on the other side of the sand bar is Muliwai.*) I love the film's ending, my Mercury genes pulse happily; and the possibility for spreading the love in my fashion loves the message. While the hens find their zones of comfort during the wet and cold winter, the Mercury retrograde gives me time to answer Elizabeth Rose Campbell's questions about Mercury.

"How will you translate your reality? (Or, "How do I want to 'market' my art.) What words will you use?" (And, Are there contemporary Mercury/Mars approaches I have yet to capture and transit?)




* The working title of the project I proposed is Mo'o Muliwai which in Hawaiian means "stories from the other-side of the sandbar" ... or 'stories from the water's edge.'