The shadow of Mercury retrograde begins on August 1st. Whatever issues apply to you during the Mercury retrograde period will set themselves up starting then.   This is a good period to wrap things up that are being started or launched because as all astrologers I know of will tell you, – don’t start anything new during a Mercury retrograde.  It will be fraught with delays, misunderstandings, or contracts gone wrong.   See your astrologer if you DO have something huge pending during this period.  They’ll give you a precise reading based on your chart as it seems to me sometimes Mercury retrograde energy can be leveraged to advantage.

For me, my quilting dilemmas are coming to the forefront.  I am painfully aware that the star table topper quilt that I really got into during a retrograde on the premise of old business (I had bought the material a year before and cut it out during the shadow) is still one year later 95% done.  It stares at me with the spirit of the Trickster planet silently saying “I dare you to get this finished.”   I have entered this as one of my procrastination issues for repatterning in the Aligned for Mercury Retrograde repatterning session.   It sounds trite, but the frequency pattern of this quilt, something is always only 95% done,  I am sure is transposed to many other projects and situations in my life.  So I am keen to transform this pattern. I will get back to you.

On the other hand I am called to enthusiastically finish “The Twelve days of Christmas”  quilt that got started AFTER the last  Mercury retrograde.  In my mind it is done.  In reality it needs approximately 1.5 days for me to finish the embroidery on it and sew the blocks together.  Would love to have it in the hands of our favorite long arm quilter Jennifer   BEFORE Mercury goes retrograde.   This definitely feels like a good activity to do during a shadow period. BUT wait! Should I send it to the long arm quilter during a retrograde?  Conventional astrology wisdom says ‘not a good idea’.  Then again, I hoping it can’t hurt because, Jennifer has a 2-3 month waiting list for custom quilting.   One more intention to add to the AMR session to create coherence for being in synch with Mercury retrograde energy. 

In between, I have oodles of tiny quilt projects that can be done in an afternoon, many already half started.  During the shadow, I intend to get these projects better organized, so that when a few free hours presents itself, I can easily pick up one and finish it. 
What is your take on Mercury retrograde and what are you doing to take advantage of this astrological frequency pattern?  Comments welcomed!

Carolyn