What Was I Thinking Planning a Trip During Mercury Retrograde?

I’m really excited for our 10 day Canada/New England cruise next month, but I’m also a little apprehensive. I thought I’d done all my diligence:

1. Made sure to find a cruise that offered us the most bang for our buck
2. Found a sailing that hit all the major celebration dates we have during September (Wayne’s birthday, my birthday, our anniversary –all within a week and a half of each other)
3. Picked a cruise with ports that appealed to the both of us

But I forgot to consult one crucial thing: an astrological planet guide.

Now, I know for the most part most people reading this are pretty open-minded. However, some are less than inclined to believe astrology influences our lives at all, and they certainly don’t think you should plan your life by it.

For 38 years I would’ve agreed that there’s no sense in heading an astrology chart for planning Life moves. (Even ones as small as taking a vacation.)

However, then I lived through my Black Cloud years, which, I later learned, was really more of a Black Planet: Saturn. (If you’ve lived through one, and likely you have, you might know what I mean. If you had a period in your life where literally everything went wrong for months, as if you had a black cloud following you and raining on you all the time, it was likely during a Saturn transit.)

But it was learning about Mercury Retrograde cycles from my husband several years back that made me really start to think, “You know, the planets really may have more influence on us than I give them credit for.”

Today Mercury turns retrograde and stays there until September 12. What does that mean and why does it concern me?

This snip from Astrology on the Web about Mercury Retrograde sums it best:

At 20:00 UT (Universal Time) Friday, August 20th, 2010, Mercury the wise communicator—and universal trickster—turns retrograde at 19°01′ Virgo, in the sign of the Virgin, sending communications, travel, appointments, mail and the www into a general snarlup!

I added the emphasis on “communications” and “travel.”

Wayne and I can expect delays, cancellations, and other travel mishaps this trip. Along with miscommunication and misunderstood signals.

Great. We don’t need help with problems on trips. We create enough of them without help from Mercury retrograde, thank you very much. (A few examples include being attacked by skunks, bats, and being lost from each other for hours when one of us jogged right for a moment while the other had their back turned and didn’t know where the other went.)

Oh yeah, there will be some chaos for sure this trip. If I live through it I’m sure I’ll write about it!

Courtney Mroch

Courtney Mroch is a globe-trotting restless spirit who’s both possessed by wanderlust and the spirit of adventure, and obsessed with true crime, horror, the paranormal, and weird days. Perhaps it has something to do with her genes? She is related to occult royalty, after all. Marie Laveau, the famous Voodoo practitioner of New Orleans, is one of her ancestors. (Yes, really! As explained here.) That could also explain her infatuation with skeletons.

Speaking of mystical, to learn how Courtney channeled her battle with cancer to conjure up this site, check out HJ’s Origin Story.