Have you noticed that a lot crazy things have been happening with technology and travel in the last few weeks? Facebook and Instagram went down last Monday, Southwest Airlines cancelled lots of flights this weekend, and I don’t know about you but I’ve had my fair share of personal technology and communication challenges. There’s a very good reason for this. Mercury is in Retrograde.

You may have heard people talking about this and wondered, ‘what is it?’ That’s a fair question. It has to do with the way planets travel around the sun. Mercury has a smaller orbit than Earth does, so it travels faster than we do, and when we coincide it appears for a short time, usually about three weeks, that Mercury is traveling backwards.

Of course the planet is not actually orbiting backwards, it’s an illusion, but during this time Astrologers remind us to slow down, reflect on life, review recent decisions and renew ourselves. It’s a great time for self-care and self-reflection and there’s still time to take advantage of it as Mercury will not go direct until Oct. 19.

Mercury is a planet that represents communication, travel and technology. With this retrograde energy, it’s also a good time to avoid making big decisions in these areas. Many astrologers encourage us to avoid signing contracts during this time. They also recommend allowing extra time for travel. As you may have seen, this would have been very helpful for many Southwest Airlines travelers over the past weekend.

Social media users also felt the effects the retrograde as Facebook and instagram were offline for several hours last Monday. It’s starting to add up isn’t it?

These are common occurrences during a Mercury Retrograde period. We usually have a few each year, and thankfully this is the final one of 2021.

In 2022, Mercury's first period of retrograde will begin on Jan. 14 and conclude on Feb. 3, according to Astrology Zone. We will experience the next period of retrograde beginning May 10 and ending on June 2. A third retrograde begins on Sept. 9 and continues through Oct. 2. To end 2022, we’ll see the final Mercury retrograde starting Dec. 29 and ending Jan. 18, 2023.

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