Mercury Retrograde by Pythia Peay

by Pythia Peay

This literate new understanding of one of the most intriguing and widely talked about concepts in astrology shows how Mercury retrograde can help rather than hinder us. In the same way that people who are not interested in astrology know what their "sun sign" is, Mercury retrograde -the thrice yearly cycle when the planet Mercury appears to run backward in its orbit-has migrated out of the astrological ghetto to become an expression in everyday life. According to the astrological interpretation, this is a time when everything associated with the Greek god Mercury-contracts, travel, communication, and commerce-seems to run backward with the planet. The Internet crashes. Cars break down. Words can wound or are misunderstood. It is considered an especially poor time to make large new purchases or enter into new agreements. In Mercury Retrograde, spiritual journalist Pythia Peay unveils the period's deeper meanings. By working with the slower pace of Mercury retrograde, rather than going against it, we can allow ourselves to step outside the narrow framework of our ordinary lives. Rather than push forward, it is a time to retreat, if possible, from the usual harried, hurried way of doing things. In a book that includes a Mercury ephemeris and an astrological glossary, Peay traces the history of this powerful concept and illustrates its mythological underpinnings. She offers a practical, incisive analysis of how Mercury retrograde can be a tool for growth and insight into our fast-paced contemporary existence.

Paperback

First published June 17, 2004

About the author

My writer's name might be Pythia, but upon my birth in 1951 to my two greatest generation dreamer-parents, Altoona-born Joe Carroll, and Sheila, a beautiful, black-haired, blue-eyed girl from Buenos Aires, I was christened with the unlikely name of Pellman Sharon Carroll—a name that bound me to my father's fate. My first name was after my father's foster father who'd raised him during the Depression, Pellman Glover, and Sharon was after the Valley of Sharon in Israel, where family lore had it I'd been conceived (and therein lies the tale that spun my new memoir). My parents raised me and my three siblings on a bucolic farm outside of Kansas City, where my aviator father had taken a job with TWA; at 19 I dropped out of college and moved to San Francisco to live the communal hippy dream; after moving in 1981 with my husband and three sons to Santa Fe and living in my first house, I began to write as a freelance journalist—probably my greatest claim to fame is my interview with George R.R. Martin in his pre-Game-of-Throne, struggling author days! Not long after, my family moved to the Washington, DC area, where I got divorced, then focused on my work as a "depth journalist" writing about psychological and spiritual perspectives on political and social issues. Today my sons are grown, and as a reward for raising three boys, Fate graced me with three lovely daughter-in-law and a lovely granddaughter, Eslyn, so that I can now proudly add "grandmother" to my bio. Besides blogging for The Huffington Post and Psychology Today, I'm also the author of two new books: AMERICAN ICARUS, an intimate memoir of my difficult, alcoholic, aviator-father,our relationship, and his redemptive, Hospice-guided death, and AMERICA ON THE COUCH, a collection of interviews with 37 psychologists on the American psyche, including violence, addiction, the environment, capitalism, politics, and the soul of America.

Reviews

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

For the intermediate level astrologer; the one who knows a bit, and is willing to think hard about some more complex concepts. Particularly interesting were the charts and explications. A good sound way of looking at the dread Mercury retro transit times, and some very interesting perceptions of those born with Mercury retro natally.

[Caroline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Following the Odyssey by Homer, Peay provides a very easy to read account of the finer nuances of a Mercury retrograde transit and how best to use this time.

[Douglas Lord · Rating 1 out of 5]

Peay (Soul Sisters: The Five Sacred Qualities of a Woman's Soul) offers a serious, almost scholarly examination of the astrological event "said to throw schedules off kilter, derail the best-laid plans, cast ... doubt in personal relationships" and mire us in "confusion and anxiety"--i.e., Mercury retrograde, when the planet appears to be backwards in the sky. Peay urges readers to become introspective and contemplative during these unstable periods, which occur about three times a year for three weeks. Retrograde's purpose, however, is a bit unclear; does it force us to find "pleasure in the old, familiar, and timeless rather than the new and untried," or does it shift "us off our well-beaten paths ... onto life's unexplored byways"? Not recommended.

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