Last week I put my car into the garage for a service. I’ve had my car for just under five years and even though it’s an old convertible, it’s reliable and I love it. I had a hunch, however, that all was not well and sadly I was proved right.
The advisory list was staggeringly long and one specific problem needed urgent attention. This was last Wednesday, 11th July and when I asked what day they’d be able to sort out my loose wheel bearings marked urgent, the answer was “some time next week now, love”.
This wasn’t good as on Friday, I was due to set off for Center Parcs, a 90 mile journey to meet my sister and her family for the weekend. When I told the mechanic, he inhaled sharply and said “no way, too risky”. Now even though I’m an astrologer, I don’t go round spouting forth astrological jargon to just anyone and especially not garage mechanics. But in the back of my mind, I’m thinking,
“I’m not only travelling on Friday 13th but Uranus turns retrograde on the same day, plus Mercury turns retrograde two days later on Sunday 15th July”.
This did not look promising for a smooth transition to Center Parcs and life was proving me right.
Retrograde planets give the illusion of moving backwards in the heavens (it’s the same perspective as if you were sitting on a stationary train watching a train go past and you feel as if you’re the one who’s moving, when you’re not) and retrograde planets are notorious for bringing added complications to life, forcing you to rethink and try again. Mercury rules transport and there I was with a car that was unsafe to drive, plus Uranus is the planet of unpredictability and change, and it looked as if I was going to have to make a sharp U-turn if I was to have the weekend I’d planned.
The first thing I decided was that I would be going to Center Parcs with my daughter for our much-needed weekend away and I needed to come up with some alternative arrangements to make this happen. My Plan B was to check out whether I could borrow my other half’s car and my Plan C was to look into hiring a car for the weekend. I started to feel more relaxed as my brain kicked into problem-solving mode. It was then I realised there was a killer Plan A, to persuade the garage to squeeze my car in to their busy schedule and have it fixed and safe to drive before Friday evening. I went straight to the top and talked to the boss who agreed to take my car in on Friday and do his best to get the work done before I needed to depart for my weekend away.
I was a little apprehensive about Friday’s events but in the end, the work was done early and I was delighted to receive a phone call at lunchtime to say my car was ready. So what can we learn from this about retrograde planets and how best to work with them? Firstly, it’s important to ditch a fatalistic mentality and secondly it’s key to have an open mind and explore all the options that are available to you. Primarily, being an astrologer, I had the added advantage of foresight, knowing that potentially there might be a problem with communication, transport or last-minute changes, which is one of the reasons why I put my car in for a service in the first place.
This story may have been about a car and a dodgy wheel bearing but in the bigger scheme of things, astrology has a key role to play. It expands our view on life and brings a deeper symbolic purpose to what on the surface may seem to be random events. The movements of the planets and luminary bodies in the heavens act as a navigational tool to help guide us in our lives on earth. This creates a meaningful universe which allows us to make better sense of our own lives, even when, and perhaps especially when, life has other plans. Most importantly, my daughter and I travelled safely to Center Parcs and spent a wonderful weekend with my sister’s family.
- Mercury is retrograde from 15th July 2012-8th August 2012
- Uranus, a slower moving planet, is retrograde from 13th July 2012-13th December 2012
[photo from flickr.com]