What is Mercury Retrograde, and why do I care? Why do YOU care? Because LOOK! LOOK around! Not around YOU, silly! Around THIS SITE. Do you see the wonky sidebar? No? That’s because HALF OF IT IS IN THE FOOTER, which is, in turn, as you can see, trying its darndest to be IN THE SIDEBAR. *Update: No, you’re not going crazy, Gorgeous. It’s fixed now. So, just use your IMAGINATION…. Love.

I spent a good couple of hours freaking out about this. I mean, I consider myself quite html-code savvy. After all, I’ve been blogging for almost 3 years now (3 YEARS!). To not be able to fix my SIDEBAR was almost embarrassing, definitely frustrating. Of course, Josh-O and I were yelling at each other, as we always do when the smallest thing goes wrong with my site…. Finally, we calmed down and both started trying to fix this thing, and NOPE. Nothing worked.

TURNS OUT, it’s the BlogHer ad at the top of the sidebar. See it? It LOOKS great. (Try clicking on it, just to see if it works…. Heh, I might as well make a couple pennies out of this! CLICK IT!). Yes, it looks great. But, it’s messing with my CODE! It’s okay, though. I’m alright. Josh-O is alright. We’re alright. I still love BlogHer ads. A lot. They’re purty, and interesting, and they bring so many of us bloggers together. Besides, it’s not REALLY their fault. It’s…, it’s…, it’s….

MERCURY RETROGRADE (in Aquarius/Capricorn)!
January 11th-January 31st, 2009

Mercury Retrograde happens three times a year. And, basically, it’s a phenomenon in which Mercury appears (from the vantage point of Earth) to be moving backwards — hence the “retrograde.” But, it’s not actually moving backwards. Earth and Mercury are moving in tandem around the Sun, so it only LOOKS LIKE it’s moving backwards — to us, that is. Pretty cool, huh?

Anyway, Mercury Retrograde wreaks HAVOC on technology. All of a sudden, your SIDEBAR GOES WONKY, or your car won’t start, or your TV conks out, your internet is down, down, down. BACK UP YOUR FILES, Gorgeouses, BACK UP YOUR FILES (and your templates)!

Spiritually, these three weeks of Mercury Retrograde are supposed to teach us to SLOW DOWN and reflect. Without technology, you see, we’re supposed to be able to do that. To slow down.

Here’s what Astrologer PAR EXCELLENCE, Robert Ohotto (who is, by the way, quite oHOTTo…) says:

…What does Mercury Retrograde symbolize as a process within each of us? How does it point our ego toward our soul’s timing? As a function of consciousness, Mercury represents our thinking and communicative processes, the ways we access and use information, make decisions, pay attention to details, and express ourselves. Perhaps most importantly, Mercury also symbolizes the way we consciously perceive reality.

Much of this gets reexamined during a Mercury Retrograde cycle according to the astrological sign’s themes in which it’s retrograde. We are asked to retreat within and reevaluate what serves our life with regards to this Mercurial function of consciousness, and what needs to be upgraded, refined, and/or let go of in the ways that we think about things. If we resist this, then we invoke the “Trickster” side of Mercury contained in Mercury’s function. You all know this too well: miscommunications, missed flights, accidents, computer and other tech breakdowns…need I go on?! All of these are designed to help you realize you’re not in control and that a deeper design is trying to emerge into your consciousness.

I am not in control, clearly. Must retreat and reevaluate…. Like, reevaluate, as Ms. Ali Martell did yesterday, my list of “pretend celebrity boyfriends.” Ali and I have always had different taste in men — starting way back when we worked together at Scholastic Canada. She likes the pretty boys, and I like the more, erm, burly boys…. Check it:

1. CLIVE OWEN (as always…)

2. EWAN McGREGOR (a NEW one. I fell in love with him after The Island, which, I’m convinced, is a vegan manifesto….)

3. STEVE CARELL (nothing like a guy who can make me cry laughing. Between The Office and Get Smart…? OMG, LOVE!)

4. WILL FERRELL (okay, I’ve talked about him before. I don’t actually think he’s Clive-Owen HOTT. But, I LOVE him. And, I love being his girlfriend. Here he is — in a pic from last week — telling me to call him. Do you love it?!?)

5. BRAD PITT (should, by no means, be last here…, but, he does have that Angelina Jolie person around all the time, so…. But, man, is he aging well! Beautiful-er than ever….)

Okay, I know there are more, but I’m dunzo for today. This Mercury Retrograde is making my head spin…backwards but not really.

Who do YOU love?

LOVE!!!!
xo Haley-O

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