Thriving in Mercury Retrograde

Celebrating the Divine Feminine power of Mercury in Retrograde

Two words can bring fear and dread to all those who are energy aware: Mercury Retrograde. And while this astrological cycle is well known for how it wreaks havoc on communication, disrupts travel plans and wrecks computers everywhere, what is not appreciated as much is the gentler, giving side of retrograde.

Creating an opportunity to look within for answers, appreciate the hidden gifts and slow your roll, to make your way safely thru it are just a few of the positive sides presented to you during this regular occurrence.

In this episode of Modern Life and Spirit podcast, we help you learn to find the opportunities in Mercury Retrograde - and dare say it, even look forward to this time.

In this episode of Modern Life and Spirit podcast, we discuss:

*What Mercury retrograde is, and how it energetically influences things (3:08)

*Astrology & How free will plays a part (4:54)

*Going with the flow and finding the natural (energy) current (6:00)

*The astrological and energetic influences Mercury affects (6:38)

*What it means when a planet goes “retrograde” (7:25)

*How marking the retrogrades on your calendar can help you be more prepared (10:22)

*Understanding the Divine Feminine in a (normally) masculine planet (12:00)

*The 4 keys to unlocking the positive side of retrograde

(hint: it’s all based in your perspective) (13:40)

*Finding the fun even during the challenges of retrograde (18:20)

*How to cope when you still have to do the things you know are going to be made more difficult? (21:58)

Upcoming Mercury Retrograde dates:

2021 -

May 29, 2021 - June 22, 2021

September 27, 2021 - October 18, 2021

2022 -

January 14, 2022 - February 3, 2022

May 10, 2022 - June 2, 2022

September 9, 2022 - October 2, 2022

December 29, 2022 - January 18, 2022

2023 -

(see above - In Mercury retrograde Jan 1 - Jan 18, 2023)

April 21, 2023 - May 14, 2023

August 23, 2023 - September 15, 2023

December 13, 2023 - January 1, 2023

2024 -

(see above - In Mercury retrograde January 1)

April 1, 2024 - April 25, 2024

August 4, 2024 - August 28, 2024

November 25, 2024 - December 15, 2024

You can find additional dates here.

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Hey - before you go, share some good energy and let us know if you enjoy the show by giving us a review on Apple podcast!

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Modern Life and Spirit_EP30_Thriving in Mercury Retrograde_n...

Mon, 5/24 4:32PM • 24:47

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

retrograde, mercury, energy, mercury retrograde, planet, influence, period, wooten, yin, podcast, canceled, move, feminine, world, healing, astrology, divine feminine, happen, power, insights

SPEAKERS

Narrator, Christina Wooten, Robert Wooten

Narrator 00:04

Welcome to the Modern Life and Spirit podcast, where we explore spiritual topics relevant to today's world. Your hosts, certified psychic medium, Christina Wooten and Reiki Master Teacher, Robert Wooten, break down how to work with Spirit to create more positive growth in your life. Consider this podcast your go to spiritual resource for navigating the modern world.

Christina Wooten 00:28

Hey, they're kindred spirits. Welcome to our podcast sacred space where we talk about the integration point between daily life and living in a spiritual way. It is a beautiful day here in Arizona, everything is blooming, the cactus is blooming these gorgeous flowers. So everything just feels really bright right now, just vibrant. So we're sending you just a little bit of extra vibrant energy today for wherever you are out in the world know that it's coming to you. So if you're new to our podcast, my name is Christina Wooten. I am a professional psychic medium with my own practice for 14 years now. My podcast partner is Robert Wooten, and he's an energy healer and Reiki Master Teacher.

Robert Wooten 01:14

Well hello there.

Christina Wooten 01:15

You can find us or just learn more about our mission and background at SedonaMedium.com. But today is all about taking your power back from those two words that strike fear into the heart of energy aware people: Mercury retrograde. Prepare thyself - Mercury Retrograde. So it really is interesting because it does take on this feeling of dread. Because we often talk about the challenges of this astrological influence, rather than all the beauty and the magic that it brings with it too. I'm a really big believer that mindset is just a huge influence in how we experience things. So today is all about learning to embrace Mercury Retrograde to give you some new information. So you can just take that mindset of negativity with Mercury retrograde, take your power back, and start to really actually appreciate these periods for the peace and the rest that it can provide.

Robert Wooten 02:25

I know a lot of people in our industry have heard of Mercury retrograde, but there might be people who are not familiar with it, what are we talking about here?

Christina Wooten 02:34

I know there's so many people who aren't, so if that's new age Greek to you, that's fine. We're going to walk you through the whole process today. So don't worry, whether you know it or not consciously, we experience Mercury Retrograde three to four times a year for about three weeks at a time. And then there's what's called a shadow period. So the shadow period takes place two weeks before the retrograde actually begins in two weeks after the retrograde. And what a shadow period is, it's if you think about it, like the moon, you've got the waxing moon, so we have energy that's starting to come in. It's not fully there yet. So that's what we experienced in the shadow periods. It's beginning to amplify in the first two weeks before it goes into full retrograde and then it begins to wane ever so slowly. Over the last two weeks after the official retrogrades you still have some of these extra influences. And in the midst of this period, you're probably wondering "Why my email is not working? Why there are so many darn miscommunications? Why there are things being canceled? Why is my plane delayed and then the rental car isn't available, and then there's no gas?" And everything just feels harder or more frustrating. So even if you aren't aware of what is happening, I think that you're aware that something is in the air, something weird is afoot and you're going, "Oh my gosh, what happened? Everything was fine last week, what has occurred?" Mercury Retrograde is an astrology term. So to understand it, astrology is the study of how energetic influences of the planets impact our daily lives. So there's a lot of our natural world that goes on behind the scenes, and astrology is a really strong influence. Now, the good news is as all influences, it does not negate the power of how you choose to experience things. It's just an influence. It's a flavor that's there. And much like a recipe if you have one flavor, you can sometimes add something in and counteract the effects. So we have to think about that with freewill. We're not victims to Mercury Retrograde it's happening for us. So why do we choose this?

Robert Wooten 04:56

It took me a while to come to this where I used to question, "Well how does the alignment of the planets affect what I'm doing?" And it's really not about the alignment of the planets, they are an indicator, their positioning is an indicator of an energy that's in play when you see that indicator.

Christina Wooten 05:15

Absolutely, yeah. I mean, there's some times in my daily life where I'm going, Oh, my gosh, what is happening? So I love Astro Future, it's an app on my phone. And what will happen is, that I'm having some sort of weird day, or just, let's say, I'm noticing a theme today. And I might just go, "What interesting little transit is occurring today? "So it can We can also use some of these astrological influences to not fight the natural current and find more of that flow state, that aspirational flow state, and actually get deeper, get more momentum into certain areas of our life really easily. So it's like taking an energetic current and finding ease in that progress, you can go much further when you're in the current rather than fighting against it. So in astrology, Mercury is the planet of communication. It governs transportation, travel, intellect, and memory. It also governs organizing systems and has a HEAVY (in all caps) influence on technology. And also Mercury really likes to move fast. It's a very forward momentum. Quick. I want to move quick. So we think about the mind and the energy of thought and air, it moves fast, right? So as a whole Mercury influences how we think about things, and how we communicate, and how quickly and organized we can bring all that together and express it out into the world. So it has some pretty critical components. So when that planet goes retrograde, retrograde is a period where from Earth's perspective, it appears like the planet is moving backwards in its orbit. It really isn't. It's actually an optical illusion from our perspective. But the result is the influence of the planet on Earth's magnetic and energetic field alters a little bit. So whatever that planet governs in a retrograde, the energy that normally flows to just help keep everything in balance and strengthen that influence is not very strong. So in the case of Mercury, we see that the energy that helps to balance and strengthen communication, how we think gives us forward progress, transportation and travel opportunities, and technology is withdrawn. I like to think of it this way. So imagine a top spinning. When Mercury is not in retrograde, it's like a spinning top. So that top is just spinning, spinning, spinning, there's a lot of energy, it's moving strongly, quickly, powerfully. But after that top has been spinning for a while, it starts to wobble and wobble a lot and lose a lot of momentum. And that wobble is the energy of mercury retrograde. So that's how it kind of impacts suddenly that strong energy gets a little wonky.

Robert Wooten 08:30

Alright, so energetically that makes sense. So what kinds of things do we expect to see as retrograde is starting to happen?

Christina Wooten 08:37

Well, this is the time where things want to move slower, sometimes really slow, like sloth levels slow. So things will slow down, or they can be hiccups and challenges that really drag things out where momentum is interrupted. It does make room for intentionality, travel plans can change unexpectedly, or just become way more of a headache. So having your flight canceled and lots of big changes around that are things that are difficult to overcome. That can really happened in a retrograde if you're traveling in that time, where legal contracts are making big decisions that require a lot of coordination and communication are not recommended, but we'll talk about that later. This is also the time when you send the email to the wrong person accidentally or you mix up an appointment time, or maybe plans you're really looking forward to get cancelled and your printer breaks and your puppy gets sick. And then your computer starts an update 10 minutes before a major presentation and you get behind a traffic jam the ads like two hours to your commute. And sometimes all of that happens in one day.

Robert Wooten 09:51

I think we've lived through a day like that a time or two.

Christina Wooten 09:53

I've lived thru a month like that before, I don't know about you guys. My pro tip for all my kindred spirits out there is to mark the astrological retrogrades on your calendar so that you can plan in advance for more harmony, you can give yourself more time and do things that are more in alignment with that cycle. So at a minimum, mark Mercury retrogrades on your calendar, because those are usually the ones that just have such a strong impact, especially in technology in some of these areas that can cause a lot of frustration alink the dates for this year in the next couple of years, actually in the shownotes for Episode 30. So you can find that at SedonaMedium. com/podcast, if that's something that you would want to do. I highly recommend it, I do it for every year. We haven't really sold mercury retrogrades, I think, to this point, to people. So like, let's take a sidestep and look at all the hidden gifts in the opportunities here. because everything's working for us it's a gift, it's a benefit, we just have to learn how to flow with it. And I think retrogrades can be a time where we really have a chance to get out of expectation and be more in the moment. So that can be a gift too. But retrogrades always are bringing balance. So it's like the Yin or the Divine Feminine soft receptive energy of that planet influencing us. So bring in think about it instead of like a yin and yang symbol. The planet itself when it's in its normal position is the masculine Yang energy. When it goes into retrograde, it's creating this beautiful receptive open aspect of that form of the energy which would be yen and the divine feminine. So that really starts when the mindset shifts right here because seeing mercury as this Yin, this divine feminine expression of the planet, rather than this dark like menacing, energetic hellscape can be, I think, really helpful because the feminine energies are nurturing and spacious, incredibly creative and dreamy. It really seeks or pulls a lot of inspiration. It's the focus is very inward. It's about finding connection rather than separateness and singularity because the feminine just wants to melt into oneness. The masculine wants to express so it's experiencing itself through expression in the feminine is, you know, more open to all this possibility which brings to unity and oneness. So there's so much beauty in the feminine energy. So if we can bring that together and understanding Mercury in that way, wow. Because the feminine energies always will bring us to a space of healing and enhanced intuition because we're moving inward naturally. So the good news is using this particular current and flow during this time, you can increase your intuitive abilities, you can increase your capacity for healing and reorienting. So I'm going to just tell you more about what this Yin state of Mercury is all about. And there's four key things that you really need to know. So number one Mercury in retrograde wants a break from having to perform all the time, wants a break. So from having to give all of this energy from having to be in the spotlight from this pressure of performance. So think of it like that person who's, you know, exhausted and worn out and they just go I quit and slam down their badge and walk out like what what's happened there. So in this expression, Mercury wants to be anonymous. It wants to be that celebrity at the grocery store that no one even notices is there wants to experience these little wanderings, little rambling luxuries it wants to not have a destination. So number two, mercury in retrograde wants to relax and receive. The focus is on putting your energy into enjoying the journey, rather than being destination oriented. So, smell the roses, let things come to you. Let insights come to you about how you can rebalance things, or how you can be more abundant for example, it can be a great time to ask these types of questions that you want to know more about and be sure that you're headed in the right direction checking in with yourself if you're not. The good news is that this period can give you this extra support to really get back on track or decide to change something that really isn't working well for you and sometimes that stuff is going to come a lot more to the surface in Mercury Retrograde, especially if there's something that you haven't communicated, that you've repressed that needs to come forward in order for things to move forward. And you'll find that as much as you had something build up and build up and build up over a couple of years in that Mercury Retrograde period is definitely the time where it can come out, like it or not. But that information coming forward can really give you a catalyst for healing, it can allow you to move more into the light with your authentic self and authentic truth. And that always gives us so much more energy. So it's a beautiful gift. Number three, is Mercury in retrograde wants to be in these dreamy and inspired states. So I don't know if you guys like Pinterest. I love Pinterest, I have gotten so many of my vegan recipes, from Pinterest, I mean, gluten free stuff, I love it so much. It's just like fun, fun, fun. So you can get on your Pinterest board, for example, and just have fun, like playing with options. So think about Gosh, I'd like to change up my room, what colors would that look like? What kind of decor might it be, or maybe I want to change landscaping as we'll talk about, that's a great thing to do. And Mercury Retrograde. So you can make plans like that, just getting excited about oh, we could do this. And this could happen. Staying in this space is really beautiful. So anything you can do to dream to tap into that inspired creative space. It's wonderful to look at all those possibilities. And number four is that Mercury in retrograde in this state, helps us to not let things build up, to reevaluate, to release all that stuff that is not working, which is so much better. We want to handle things earlier rather than be so down that road going What was I thinking? So we can actually consider a Mercury in retrograde kind of like an exit point. So it's an opportunity for this release to happen, the door is open, to let go of what really isn't helping you to move forward in your life, whether that is circumstances, especially mindsets, because Mercury is all about intellect and mind, and relationships. So it wants you to get grounded, to really have to sit with things and see in your heart Are you happy, which is one reason that why travel is really hard, why plans cancel, why they change, why things don't work in a practical way is to keep you grounded, keep you sitting and having that space to sit in the things that need to come to the surface. So it's a time for re evaluation, and for a bit of a check in. And ultimately it's a blessing because it gives us this ability to not go too far down the road, if we're listening and tuning in inside. So I wanted to give some examples of all the fun things that you can do with Mercury in retrograde because we hear about some of the things that aren't optimal in retrograde like planning, travel, signing contracts, legal documents, real estate, that's not ideal in this particular period. However, there are some great things that you can do. So piggybacking on Mercury really wanting us to get grounded, and to connect and you know, again, moving into that more unity state with the feminine. It's a perfect time to design to start a garden or plant flowers, hang up bird feeders, especially hummingbird feeders, because it's an invitation of joy to do that. It's the perfect time to check back in with your vision board and check in with them. Are you living the life that you love? And what do you need to do more of for balance? If you're pushing too hard in one direction? What do you need to create space for a room for? Are you honoring what's actually on your vision board, definitely take really good care of your body? So good diet, good exercise, make sure you get a lot of sleep, really want to take care of your system because you're in a process of healing and releasing and so we want to be very nurturing to the body. It's a perfect time to get creative and artistic and express yourself especially if it's in a really flowing or abstract way. Having fun with that art or creating poetry so it can be Word Art as well. If you're into scrapbooking - my mom you guys and my aunt, they love scrapbooking they probably done some amazing things - That's not my zone of genius, I'll say but it is a great time to scrapbook or organize your photos or look back on special memories and times it just this is so fitting for that energy. It's a perfect time for deeper inner work. So putting your energy into healing so you can do journaling and cleansing emotional energy that may have built up. But it's also an excellent time for making that long awaited self care time. So you know that time where you go, "I'll do this eventually, or I'd love to get a massage someday," making that time - making that massage appointment having that energy healing session - it's perfect to plan that during a retrograde. It's also a great time to just be romantic, to watch the sunsets, to make it a point to sit outside and watch the stars. Again, we're thinking about what the Divine Feminine it's very expansive. So anytime we're looking out in these, you know, expansive areas, when we're out in the stars, and you know, feeling small, it's beautiful for that. And since your trip got canceled in you are going to be sitting at home anyway, you'll have plenty of time, plenty of time. It's a great time to cozy up with a good book to lounge in the backyard hammock and to create your meditation space. Or if you have a space and you just want to juice it up or, you know, clean dust crystals off. Great time to do that as well. Because again, we're moving a little bit slower here, we're just going to accept that things are moving a little bit slower rather than resisting. You can engage in a hobby or something that just brings you a lot of pleasure. And another thing is you can look up the moon cycles and just mark the full moons or new moons on the year calendar. That can be something that's really nice for this period as well, just aligning with that lunar feminine energy. So in reality, sometimes we can't make life fit into a perfect box. I know this is news to all of you out here. But things converge for a contract that needs to be signed, or a trip that has to be taken just falls into that retrograde timeframe. But just be prepared to do it in a different way if you must, to move a little bit slower. So use that power of the retrograde to just help you move slower and be more intentional in bring your heightened intuition into the choices you do need to make and the items you need to review. So this is a great time that really encourages going with your gut and following your heart and checking in with yourself of how does this feel asking those types of questions as you go along with the the practical aspects. So if you're working on a contract or employment, that sort of thing. So next time you feel that dread, or that done that feeling in the pit of your stomach, when someone mentions Mercury Retrograde is coming, take a minute to just shift that mindset just from now on to celebrate the feminine the Yin power of Mercury and see what wisdom and insights are there for you to unpack. The more that we can embrace this energy of the yen and not dishonor that energy at the end, the better we're all going to be as we energetically move into more of a divine feminine Age of Aquarius power place. And I just want to say as we close, I'm so grateful to be able to do this and to share this with you and for the insights that come to me as we sit down and are thinking about what we're going to talk about, I just, I always get so much from it. And thanks for you for being a part of our podcast family to being on the other end. I just feel so connected with you on an energetic perspective and sending you lots of appreciation today. And I love the positive comments and all the notes that we've received. And we are working really hard to keep bringing you just new and inspiring ways to connect with the spirit world and I'm grateful so we'd love the opportunity to work with you personally or share insights that your spirit guides or loved ones who've crossed over have for you or to discover your life purpose with a soul reading so you can learn more about those specific offerings at SedonaMedium.com, and would love to connect with you in a deeper way. Until next time, many blessings.

24:19

The Modern Life and Spirit podcast is for informational purposes only. The information provided is not intended to provide medical, psychological, legal or financial advice. Information provided is not to diagnose or treat any medical or psychological illness. To read the full disclaimer, see SedonaMedium.com