The Missing Blueprint

My father ultimately decided that traditional interpretations held value the week he needed a specific draft document. The draft was not where it should have been. After several phone calls, he discovered that the copies of the draft were also not where they should have been.

Eventually, he found a copy, but when he went to retrieve it, a surprised employee discovered that someone had carefully cut out and removed the very sections that my father needed. The employee called other colleagues and managed to locate the only complete copy in the city. Fortunately, my father took the copy to his office, but when he arrived, it was already five o'clock. So, he carefully wrapped the draft in a cylinder and left it on his desk before going home.

The next morning, it was gone.

Alas, the draft was now part of a massive pile of paper headed for recycling.

The Consultant's Silent Phone

Those who collect stories related to retrograde Mercury will find that many of these stories relate to the confusion that can arise in phone communication. One consultant, working from home and managing his company's affairs remotely, was conducting research during the period of June to July 1981. He became frustrated because many people he contacted, who initially showed great interest, never called back. Only at the end of the period when Mercury was retrograde did he finally discover that his phone had a problem: he could make calls, but he couldn't receive them. Besides missing out on potential opportunities, he also lost a contract for an investment project he had already committed to. This incoming call blockage had never occurred before on his phone and never happened again.

The Power Outage

Commercial transactions reflect the retrograde aspect of Mercury, as we mentioned earlier: the consultant we described above, whose phone malfunctioned, had to give a presentation for which he was forced to waste a significant amount of time on preparation, and at the moment Mercury changed direction, the power went out. Everyone went home empty-handed, and the result was zero.

The Flight Controller's Logbook

A flight controller has a logbook stamped with the dates of Mercury's retrograde periods, filled with flight delays, passenger delays (someone boarded the wrong plane and realized it just before takeoff), errors in ticket issuance, and arguments between passengers and crew.

The Retrograde Marriage Cycle

The inhibiting effect of Mercury is clearly demonstrated by the divorce story recounted by Adams. An elderly couple got married when Mercury was retrograde. The marriage was annulled before Mercury returned to its direct motion. Then Mercury became retrograde again, and the couple started seeing each other again. Three months later, during the next period of retrograde motion — they got remarried. And seven months later, when Mercury turned retrograde again, they got divorced.

The Retrograde Mercury Workbook

If you were one of the patient readers who pre-ordered the Retrograde Mercury Workbook when it was first advertised, you already know that it wasn't published as originally planned. Because I thought it would be the perfect timing to release the Retrograde Mercury Workbook precisely when Mercury was retrograde, I set the date on my computer, and on the very day Mercury changed direction, my printer broke. It took six weeks to get it repaired, and that was just the beginning of the computer's adventures. Those familiar with these almost space-age machines know that it takes effort to understand and operate them. Sometimes, they seem to be equipped with their own, unique, and completely uncooperative personalities. The original release date was optimistic (almost utopian), but just how optimistic it was only became apparent when the planet of communication changed direction.