2008 Mercury
Retrograde Periods

Mercury is said to be in retrograde motion when, due to our relative orbits around the Sun, parallax view causes it to back up in our sky.

Mercury has rulership of communication and transportation. This covers just about everything in one way or another. When Mercury is retrograde all things having to do with communication and transportation are prone to snafu and breakdown. You will notice during Mercury retros that the incidence of traffic light malfunctions, telephone service interruptions, lost and mishandled messages, general misunderstanding of information, missed connections and other problems in travel, and every other imaginable kind of trouble in these areas rises dramatically.

Try to avoid signing legal documents and opening new businesses during these periods. If it absolutely can't be avoided then go ahead. But be aware that there will almost certainly have to be renegotiation and new beginnings at a later date and be prepared to deal with that.

The way to handle these periods is to allow extra time for everything. Try to anticipate where problems are likely to occur and plan for dealing with them. The most important thing is to keep a good attitude. These periods occur three or four times a year for three weeks at a time. We've all lived through many of them in the past. They are annoying and frustrating but they always go away. You may want to watch these periods for a couple weeks on either side, especially right after one, for the shadow to pass and the planet to pick up speed.