Rethinking Mercury Retrograde

Evolutionary Astrologer Tom Jacobs shares thoughts on approaching Mercury retrograde periods with conscious intentions and in an empowered way.

These periods happen 3 times each year for around 3 weeks each time.

It's easy to slip into negative thinking when things break, our minds are working suboptimally, and plans change frequently. This mp3 will help you see these times differently and make the most of the challenges that can arise.

Transcript

Hey,

This is your pal Tom Jacobs,

And I want to do a message for you today called Rethinking Mercury Retrograde.

Of course,

Mercury retrograde,

It happens three times a year.

It's very,

You know,

It affects a lot of people.

It's one of these things that has spilled into the mainstream even,

And people don't know anything about astrology.

Quite often they've heard of Mercury retrograde.

Sometimes Saturn returns too,

Increasingly,

Increasingly over time.

But I want to encourage you to have an empowered view by disentangling and unwinding and releasing some disempowering concepts about Mercury retrograde.

So what we typically hear is that you shouldn't sign contracts,

Things are going to break,

You shouldn't buy new things.

And what I want to really focus on is understanding.

So understanding what the time is for,

What the time is about.

It's a rest period in certain ways for the linear logical mind.

And what ends up happening is,

When things don't work,

Obviously we replace them,

But when schedules don't work and people cancel and we can't find our keys or whatever,

There's an opportunity to see in between what our minds normally do.

I think of it as the linear logical minds,

The egoic selves,

Expectations,

The productivity mandate that typically is in play.

But think about it,

You can't push forward all the time.

So there's kind of like this cosmic built-in,

So to speak,

Sort of rest period.

So things don't work the way they should work according to your normal rhythm,

According to what your brain says.

It's not working,

It should be like this.

And you get frustrated because you're not productive,

Because you feel held back because things aren't working or you don't understand something.

But of course,

You're not the problem,

It's the other people who are acting like you don't understand.

Anyway,

So there's a lot of miscommunication and whatever.

So the thing to realize is this rest period is necessary.

Now,

Maybe you don't actually rest,

But maybe you can take your foot off the gas of the productivity mandate in your life and allow yourself to see behind your normal motivations,

Your minds,

Your egoic selves,

Normal motivations.

As a spiritual teacher,

I never use ego as a four-letter word.

That's my joke.

I don't think anyone thinks it's funny.

I never use ego as a bad word.

But in general,

It's important to align it with something bigger than its own gratification purposes.

Mercury retrograde,

Which happens three times a year for approximately three weeks each time,

Is an amazing opportunity to see what that ego wants to do,

That sense of self.

I have these things to do.

Here's my schedule.

Here's my timeline.

And the mind,

The linear logical self of any human,

Until the person grows out of it or surrenders beyond it,

That mind will believe it should be able to control things.

So part of this message for you today in general about Mercury retrogrades is you are actually working in harmony with a greater whole,

With the cosmos,

With the universe.

And what if you can't control everything?

What if you're not supposed to be able to?

What if you're working with other people who also need a rest period?

You're involved in this nexus,

In this web of involvement with other people who are also confused or can't find their keys or are changing schedules.

So the real thing is to take as a lesson to be able to see what you're trying to accomplish and why.

This thing isn't working.

Okay.

It's probably temporary,

Like an internet outage or something's wrong with the phone,

It needs an update or something like that.

Why won't this work?

Well,

Because it's not working.

So take advantage of that moment of frustration to see into what you're trying to accomplish,

Dot,

Dot,

Dot,

And why this is the major thing.

Not just what you're trying to accomplish,

Because that's pretty straightforward,

But why.

Why are you doing this?

What,

In other words,

Is motivating you to cling to the notion that you should be able to control things,

That you should always be able to understand things or always be able to remember every detail?

I mean,

Part of me wants to say,

Who do you think you are,

Human?

But anyway,

The progress mandate of the linear logical mind needs a break,

Needs a rest.

Okay.

So more specifically,

Should I sign contracts during Mercury retrograde question mark?

Should I replace something that breaks?

Somebody just said to me yesterday,

She replaced a battery in her car,

But she was weighing and she was like,

Well,

But I need the car to start.

So should I start a new job during Mercury retrograde?

Part of the thing is,

If it needs to be fixed,

It needs to be fixed.

But you should expect things might not work the way you expect,

The way your brain typically expects regarding this perception that you should be able to control things.

And when I say that you can't control things,

I'm not trying to make fun of you or criticize you.

I'm making light of a good portion of the human species who has this egoic mind taking over.

We're all in the same position,

But some of us meet the moment differently.

So I'd love for you to feel empowered when Mercury retrograde comes around three times a year,

Which it will.

It's not like,

Maybe it's going to rain.

No,

It's going to happen three times a year for approximately three weeks every time.

So the empowered approach is,

Let me allow what's trying to happen to happen.

Should I buy this thing?

Let me weigh the options and realize maybe I might need to rethink it later.

Maybe I need to return it later.

Should I sign that contract?

Well,

I should expect during Mercury retrograde,

I'm likely to miss details.

Should I take that job?

Again,

My mind might miss details or it might turn out differently than expected because other people's minds are missing details also.

So we're all in this energetic space together,

Where especially if we surround ourselves with people who believe they should be able to control things,

As our minds typically believe,

We're all in this space together.

So things are going to turn out differently than you expect,

And your frustration can be inspiration to look at how your mind works and what you're trying to accomplish,

And again,

Why you're trying to accomplish it.

Because the impulse to control things and not allow things to unfold the way they're trying to unfold,

Like the kind of control impulse,

It's from a place of fear.

So what's your motivation?

What is motivating you to try to accomplish all these things?

If you were motivated by the love of the doing of the things,

You'd be engaged in a way that wouldn't try to control things,

But you would be grounded and present,

And you would work on managing things.

I always think about management as the antidote,

Like intentional management as the antidote to fears of losing control.

Like,

I'm afraid this might happen.

I'm afraid that might happen.

Okay.

Okay,

So take a moment,

Ground,

Connect to the earth,

Hug a tree,

Literally,

Get your feet in the dirt,

Get your hands in the dirt,

Take a breath,

And focus,

Be more present.

There's some,

I always mess it up,

So I'm kind of hesitant to even say it,

But there's some Leonard Cohen quote,

Something like,

The cracks are how the light gets in.

And I think that might actually be the quote.

Anyway,

Don't worry about correcting me,

Because I'll always get it wrong,

But thanks anyway.

Yeah,

The frustration reveals that you can't control things.

So I did all this stuff,

And I had to replace the car battery,

And I went to the store,

And I had to go out to the other store,

Because then I had to go to the third store,

And I had to do this thing,

And then I was supposed to have it under warranty,

But it wasn't,

And then I went home,

And then I got the car battery replaced,

And then a month later,

I had to replace it again,

Or something.

So that is frustrating,

Because we perceive we waste time.

But again,

What is time worth?

What are you trying to get done,

And why?

Okay,

So that is meant to help you kind of think about these kind of particular circumstances in a certain way.

But let's go back to the other broader angle,

Because I wanted to work through some,

Well,

I guess superstitions,

Like some myths about Mercury Retrograde,

Like you shouldn't sign up,

You shouldn't do this,

You shouldn't buy something new.

Quite prominent in teachings about it,

Rethink things,

Reevaluate why you're doing things.

Go back and let your memory banks reveal what's unresolved,

So you can rethink about something,

Right,

And re-experience something.

Sometimes during Mercury Retrograde,

A thing from the past revisits you,

And that can be,

Sometimes it's a good time for this.

Sometimes it's a good time for you to resolve your relationship with it.

So I've had people,

For example,

Have a job opportunity come up during Mercury Retrograde,

And they say,

Should I take it?

And they say,

Well,

I interviewed here four or five years ago,

And it wasn't a good fit.

And so then you think,

Okay,

Well,

Let's revisit,

Let's rethink this,

Let's review this.

Is there the same management?

Do you have the same skillset?

Has your resume changed?

Is it the same job?

Is it the same department?

So you look at the details,

Because sometimes going back to something that did work or almost worked,

Or maybe didn't work but could work,

Maybe that's a good idea.

Should there be an automatic kibosh on everything during Mercury Retrograde?

I don't think so.

But when people ask me,

Should I do this?

I say,

Expect things to not work the way you originally planned,

And be willing to be flexible.

And again,

The cracks are how the light gets in.

So look at why you're doing this,

What it means to you,

What motivates you,

What's the motivation behind it?

We spend Western people with a strong egoic sense,

The linear logical mind,

The left brain being in charge of our lives,

We spend the vast majority of our lives,

As I said,

Believing we can control things,

But doing things,

And forcing things,

Creating things,

Causing things to happen,

Making stuff happen.

And during these Mercury Retrograde times,

Maybe we can't sustain that.

And that frustration,

As I said,

Reveals an inner truth,

A deeper thing.

But also maybe we realize maybe time and money aren't worth what I thought they were worth.

Because right now,

I kind of don't care.

What a hassle.

Okay,

Save your energy,

Don't do it.

Rest.

But we spend our lives driven by our linear logical minds,

Many of us.

And the linear logical mind likes to appoint itself dictator for life.

So why isn't this internet working,

Et cetera?

I have things to do.

I have emails to obsess over,

Or at least stare at,

Hoping they come in,

Stare at my inbox.

So it'll be too easy to say,

Be patient.

I think when I hear stuff like that,

I don't like it.

But allow yourself to understand the parts of you complaining,

And whining and moaning,

And expressing frustration and anger.

Listen to those parts of you to find out what you're doing and why.

Why are you doing this?

What is that time worth?

Like the car battery thing.

I went to the third place and then the thing,

And it wasn't under warranty after all,

I had to pay the money at it.

Okay,

So you're frustrated.

Okay.

What is that time worth to you?

What is money worth to you?

If you can approach it in this way,

You can let things unfold the way they need to unfold.

And again,

You're part of a web of interconnectivity with other people.

So let's say that you say,

I'm going to chill out.

I'm going to step back and I'm going to allow things to happen the way they're trying to happen.

And I'm going to observe my patterns.

I'm going to learn about my expectations.

I'm going to take advantage of what that guy on YouTube said,

Or guy on Insight Timer.

By the way,

I'm also doing audio on Insight Timer now.

You can check that out.

Look up Tom Jacobs there.

And other people were in the same position.

So their confusion has them not getting back to you.

Okay.

Like to say,

It's too simplistic to say be patient,

But allow that other people are also having the same experience and not being clear about why they're doing what they're doing,

Being frustrated about having to run around in circles or pay extra things or whatever.

Someone told me once,

Some astrologer told me once,

If something breaks during Mercury retrograde,

It was ready to break.

And again,

That gets to if we can allow things to be what they are.

It was going to break anyway.

Yeah.

Okay,

Good.

So I hope this has been helpful.

Again,

My name is Tom Jacobs,

And I'm an evolutionary astrologer at a medium and a channel and an energy worker.

Remember this happens three times a year and give the universe a benefit of the doubt.

Give yourself the benefit of the doubt and give others the benefit of the doubt.

Take care.