Launching 2023 with a Double Retrograde

 

Mars is retrograde from October 30 to January 12; Mercury, from December 29 to January 18.

If during the holidays, your flight was cancelled and your luggage went missing, you know what it’s like to be caught inside of a double retrograde. Between December 29 and January 12, both Mars and Mercury—the Warrior and the Thinker—appear to be going backward in the sky. This visual metaphor tells us all we need to know. It’s just not the time to push ahead.

Forward motion is easily stalled, scrambled, even dangerous. Body and mind are in the wily hands of two Tricksters. One is a clumsy Warrior, the other a distracted Thinker. Together, they can make mayhem, small and large. Just in the past 24 hours …

• As I write this, on day two of what should be a working day for the US House of Representatives, this body is effectively paralyzed. It can’t swear in new members, fill committees, set rules or introduce legislation. For the first time in 100 years, the majority party for the House couldn’t elect a Speaker on the first ballot. So far it’s been six. Kevin McCarthy’s long-held dream of winning this title is at best stalled, at worst crumbling. The numbers don’t add up, no one is negotiating, so vote after vote is taken with no resolution. Mars and Mercury retrograde.
• Then there’s the actor who plays a Marvel superhero, Jeremy Renner. He was trying to clear a path through the snow-bound roads around his house, when his snowcat began to roll without him in the driver’s seat. While trying to climb back in, Renner suffered traumatic injuries. Blocked snowbound roads, of course, are another sign of the energetic times.
• Never in NFL history has a game been cancelled like this. Injured players have been carried off the field before, but never have fans and players watched someone’s heart stop. In universal sympathy, the hearts of other players on the field, and everyone in the stadium, stopped too, watching Buffalo Bills defensive back Damar Hamlin fall, after a rare blunt force trauma to the heart—which happened at just the wrong spot in just the wrong pause of his heartbeat—sending him into cardiac arrest.

Mars retrograde weeks are especially difficult for athletes. You’d think, with so much money on the line, sponsors of high stakes sporting events would consult their ephemerides and at the least, let the Olympics, Super Bowls, and World Cups go to other cities. During these backward periods, those who stand at the top of their sports for years can suddenly tumble, suffering a bad day or a devastating accident. Retrograde games are often riddled with upsets, injuries, or scandals.

So what does this mean for you? Don’t be surprised if you suddenly trip over invisible obstacles, bring a hammer down on your thumb, or find yourself wandering around, forgetting why you entered a room, opened this particular drawer, or picked up your phone.

But more importantly, it suggests you develop a slo-mo vision of launching yourself into 2023. There you are–with a smile on your face, heading towards something desirable, but for the first few weeks of this year, you’re going in slow motion. You’re avoiding overly ambitious plans, anxious pushing, or high-stakes drama. Rather, you’re choosing to harmonize with the heavenly signs. You’re looking ahead, perhaps, to the January 21 new moon–which is a better time to officially start your year.

It’s a deep and persistent myth that astrology controls or predicts what will happen. Despite constant evidence that this just isn’t true. During the double retrograde—most travelers actually got to their destinations and back home safely. Most NFL players were fully uninjured. And likely few of us have accidentally cut off a finger.  The celestial symbols signal how the energy is flowing–what happens after that is a product of the times and our free will.

Astrology does something better than predict events. It helps us get into the right groove. It signals how to harmonize with the energetic weather. Why should we do that? Because then life becomes increasingly effortless. We find ourselves more naturally engaged in auspicious activities.  Who doesn’t want that?!

Retrogrades aren’t just about delay. They help us to rest, rethink, repair, and prepare. Following this formula for the next couple weeks will save you time in the long run. I hope you enjoy shifting into this unique double retro gear.

 

I hope you’ll also follow me on IG and Facebook this year, where I keep track of the daily moon signs for you.  Want to go even deeper? Now is the perfect time to enroll in my monthly moon workshop–which has been running continuously for over 20 years.  If you have an inner witch, living in the forest of your psyche, who’s been craving a more magical experience–I want you to know that I designed this workshop for her!