Well, it's about that time, as Merury will be starting its retrograde period on September 3rd.

The details are:

• Review Period starts at 7 32 on 9/3
• Retrograde at 22 50 on 9/24
• Direct at 7 32 on 10/15
• Review period ends at 22 50 on 10/30

OK - this time again as in 2000 it affects the election in November but since the retrograde ends on October 15th and the review period ends on the 30th it will not be as "drastic" as 2000 - i.e., no hanging chads!

I can imagine the ads and rhetoric being very, very repetive until the 30th, and it will be the last 5 days that will make the difference...

As for each of you, look at the planets aspected and the house(s) the retrograde is in.

Just a quick reminder that the retro has been going on for a week now...!

No need to remind me... Last week my printer did and then the next day my computer did. I wish I were kidding.

It has been over for nearly a week now - and I am still feeling its "effects" - thank god that the review period will end on the 30th - oh yes, the campaigns will get very interesting then...

Hiya Dave & Carrie,

Well, this should be interesting... I finally received my retroactive disability pay on the 6th, and the past few weeks have been a whirlwind of shopping for me...

It was only a few days before Mercury turned direct that I realized practically ALL of my big-ticket items were purchased while the planet was retrograde.

I'm so far very pleased with my purchases, however, and I've recently had the thought that - considering I'd planned each item down to its brand, measurements & accessories, long before the Merc retro began - perhaps I was meant to ACT during this retro...? Let's hope so! Most of my purchases were actually on sale when I went to buy them, so there was added motivation!

In retrospect, I've got this tendency, observed in myself since I was young, to do the exact opposite as advised!

Keep your fingers crossed, folks!

Tara

Really? I felt the effects let up almost immediately. I was feeling really down for the few weeks that it was going on... Then, out of nowhere I suddenly felt better, and it was in that day or so prior to Merc going direct (the full moon in Aries probably helped). Plus, my social calendar filled up that weekend after being empty for a couple of weeks (Merc retro-ed through my 11th house). I have realized a lot about my friendships... Not sure that I like all of the realizations though.

Tara,

I am glad that you thought them out in advance - that was the key! Hopefully nothing will happen with them!

Carrie - I am glad for you that things turned around for you - losing's one computer system is bad enough!

As for me, I am still dealing with stuff that happened during the retro - and catching up...

L

Hey Dave,

Definitely hoping that was the key! I've had each one of my purchases on a list for months, even had an idea which store sold them for less, and which ones went on sale most often. When it came to buying them, it happened in such a non-retro way that I didn't even notice:

I'd walk into the store, find the item, note that it was the exact one on my list, and walk it to the register. Tres simple.

(And for most of my purchases, was surprised to find it on sale!)

And, when I hooked up my phone and internet connection, I walked into the office, walked home, and was using both by dinnertime!

Spookily cool.

Now, I'm sorry to hear you're still dealing with some "stuff,"... which house got hit in the retro storm?

Tara

Hi Everyone,

This sure was one totally stunning Mercury Retrograde. Like you Dave, I felt it still lingering a little a few days afterwards too in the sense with how slow things seemed to be moving. I had even thought that maybe this Mercury Rx had come early because things were getting crazy even before 9/24. But I think Carrie hit the nail on the head when she mentioned the Full Moons. This one and the 2 before it have been bringing on such crazy, jaw dropping incidents.

But anyway - Tara, I think because you did all that research on your purchases long before the Rx you were more than prepared to do your actual shopping during the Rx. And if it felt like things were going smooth and easy, then I think you can rest assured that nothing you bought will end up biting you in the behind later.

For me this Rx has been quite a shocking time. Of course, if you consider that Mercury turned Rx right smack dab on my Uranus, you could see why. I ended up losing one of my jobs on the 1st, when Mercury was opposed my 6th house Chiron. The one I lost was one I didn't want anyway and probably when I come to think of it, didn't need either, so it's all good, I guess. The one I did get to keep allows me to work from the comforts of my own home (Mercury went Rx in my 12th on Uranus that rules my 4th house) so I guess you could say Mercury wasn't screwing around on this Rx. How did the RX treat the rest of you?

Kelly and Tara,

Normally because I am aware of them, I can prepare ahead of time, and with weird thing was that it was in my 11th house also (Carrie and I have virtually rhe same ascendants and midheavens) that it has not been about friends (although it hit my Neptune - AHA! - and it was things like missing a doctor's appointment because I thought it was on Tuesday rather than Monday) - and having to get it rescheduled and also getting some other things related resolved...

Kelly is right - it is because you planned everything out and even had a good idea of what the costs would be that you did well and I agree with her - that you won't be "returning" things. I did purchase one major thing - a high definition converter and it took me some time to find the web site to register the product and it showed some Mercury Rx behavior in terms of not working 100% one night - fortunately all I had to do was to turn the channel!

Hi Guys,

Dave, I think you mean Tracey, as I haven't been on this thread yet (I don't think at least). Here's one way to keep it straight (maybe)... she goes by Venus because she's got a lot of Libra influences (Asc and Sun for 2), and I go by Veneo because I have my Venus in Leo (it was a nickname Troy coined for me).

I will weigh in with what I was thinking though...

Since Tara had appealed the denial of her 1st claim, and getting this money was retroactive and should have happened long ago... she was getting money she was owed and due, so everything worked out just fine and I have no doubt that there will be no problems with the items she bought during the retro period.

I think this way a lot when I am doing things during a retro period that I am revisiting from before and didn't finish. They usually work out just fine.

Kelly,

You are right! It probably wasn't the first time - but hopefully the last!

It still lingers on a bit - it will be over Thursday - late!

I had a Revenge of the Mercury Retro this week...

So, I'm pretty sure that I applied for a mail-in ballot during Mercury Retro. What a TERRIBLE idea that was!

3 weeks went by... I never received the ballot. So I thought: "Hey, maybe I can go early vote anyway since I haven't voted already." When I got to the mall, the lady said that anyone who had a mail in ballot has to vote on the mail in ballot (but how can I vote on a ballot I DON'T HAVE?!!). Luckily I was just there for 5 minutes. The line was ridiculous and looked like it'd probably take about an hour or two to get through.

I came back home, and I looked at the county clerk's website for the phone number to find out what to do. So I called that and was put on hold for 20 minutes. It felt like that episode of friends where Phoebe was put on hold for the entire episode. 0_o

Anyway, when I finally talked to the lady, she said that yes, a ballot had been mailed to me on the 16th. Funny how I don't have it. However, more than a few pieces of mail have been "lost" since I've been in this apartment, so who KNOWS where it went? In any case, she said that I'd have to come down to the county clerk's office to pick up a new one, and that the line was "really long." The county clerk's office is only open Monday through Friday from 8 am to 5 pm. I work from 7:30 to 4:00. YAY. >_<

Luckily...

I have a cool boss who let me go from work early to get downtown to get my mail-in ballot AGAIN and vote! It turns out she wants me to come into work a whole hour early (with transit time) on Monday as it is due to having a training down at Main, so it really just evens out in the end.

I still had to wait an hour and a half to vote, but it was worth it. It would have annoyed the crap out of me if I hadn't voted this year.

Carrie,

I feel for you! As you might gather, I had more than a few things happen as well...

My voting story - I knew I wanted to vote early because the polling place is to far to walk and to get there by bus was not an alternative because of the scheduling of the route, so I went to the county board on Tuesday - and only had to wait 40 minutes - not too bad - but I was able to actually vote there and there were no problems... (I hope!).