My Strange Relationship with the Planet Mercury

Mercury and I are not on speaking terms, I’m going to tell you everything I know.

When I began working at the Waldorf school I frequently found myself surrounded by many adults wearing the same color – then I learned they DID all get the memo that morning.  Steiner prescribed that teachers should wear certain colors on certain days to balance the planetary energy of that day.  Interesting, I thought.  I’ll play along.  And so I too began wearing the prescribed colors: Purple on Mondays, Red on Tuesdays, Yellow on Wednesdays, Orange on Thursdays and Green on Fridays.  Saturday is blue and Sunday is white.

The next thing I noticed was that people reacted to me in extreme ways on Wednesdays.  I suppose this has always been the case but I hadn’t realized these reactions were always happening on Wednesdays until I connected the negative experiences with the color yellow.  I had an encounter with a parent, then a few weeks later a co-worker and then a teacher.  I started to notice this reaction always happened on a Wednesday.  I meditated and decided to look into the energy of Wednesday.  Well, I learned Wednesday is governed by Mercury.  Hmmm, what is going on with Mercury in my astrological birth chart I wondered?  Well, I took a quick look and sure enough I have some challenging aspects with Mercury.  So on Wednesdays I made sure to wear yellow.  By the way, my friends are all laughing right now because I’ve always hated the color yellow.  Really, I even forbade my friends and family from buying anything yellow for my baby showers and I avoid it at all costs.  I used to say lemons should be blue.

So here I am wearing yellow every Wednesday.  Next, I blocked my calendar, no meetings on Wednesdays anymore.  I watched my words carefully, they seemed to be perceived as particularly sharp by those around me – on Wednesdays.

I then learned that because of Mercury’s positive influence over communication, important leadership meetings were frequently held on Wednesdays at the Waldorf school.  Fortunately I was not required to attend most of those meetings.

Then  I noticed something interesting.  When Mercury was retrograde everyone around me started to freak out.  Communications would be challenged, travel arrangements would go south and electronics would go haywire.  Except not for me.  I was great during Mercury retrograde.  Wednesdays would become as easy as any other day for me – during Mercury retrograde.  Hmmm.  Back to my birth chart.  Sure enough, I was born during Mercury retrograde.  Now why would I choose that?  Why would I choose to be born during Mercury retrograde?  It certainly wasn’t for any beneficial aspect – Mercury is in a conflicted aspect in my chart.

So I turned to my astrology community for an answer.  Down one research rabbit hole after another I finally found the wisdom I was seeking.  People born during Mercury retrograde are not affected by Mercury retrograde periods during their lifetime because in this life they have chosen not to harness the benefits of Mercury. They have chosen to exist in a constant state of, what other people experience during Mercury retrograde.  By doing this we become adept at not relying on Mercury and therefore are un-affected when Mercury is in a weakened influential state.  In fact we are more in alignment with our true selves during Mercury retrograde because it is weakened, as it was at our birth.

Souls usually choose this when they have caused some problem in a past life through their words or communication.  With my direct and maybe even blunt communication style I can only imagine what drama I may have caused with my words in a past life. Disliking the color yellow makes so much more sense now.  All those difficult Wednesday conference calls in my past business life (we had a standing call on Wednesdays with one of our vendors that never seemed to go well), it all seemed so avoidable now.

In my last incarnation, as Helen, I was murdered and the infamy of the event spurned the birth of the tabloid industry in America.  Maybe that is why I fell out of favor with Mercury.  Or maybe there was a different situation or life experience that I am not yet aware of that necessitated my separation from Mercury.  I may never know.

What I do know for sure. Yellow does help balance the Mercurian energy.  I need to bite my tongue on Wednesdays and I love Mercury retrograde.  I also know that living and working without the benefits of Mercury makes me different, more developed in some ways – less reliant on that energy to succeed in communicating.  Although some of my friends and family might find my self proclaimed success arguable. I know I’m working harder than the average Mercury influenced person.

Look mom, I’m swimming without a life vest, riding a bike without training wheels.  I’m blogging with Mercury retrograde in my astrological birth chart – look at me!