Watch Out!
Computers crash, answering machines garble messages, e-mails are lost in cyberspace, appointments are missed, and cashiers hand out the wrong change. All this and more happens when Mercury is retrograde. Why? About three times a year Mercury, the planetary ruler of communications, counting and cogitation, apparently backtracks or reverses its path in the sky. Astrologically, all kinds of confusion and miscommunications can result. The most famous example of a Mercury retrograde mix-up is the 2000 U.S. presidential election, where there wasn’t a clear winner and pollsters had to re-count votes and turn the decision over to the Supreme Court. President Barack Obama flubbed his lines at his inauguration and had to re-do the oath of office during Mercury retrograde in January of 2009. (There must be something to this astrology stuff!)
How can this affect your wedding or marriage? First of all, there may be mix-ups on a day when you least need them! The caterer serves up 250 plates rather than 150, the limo driver loses your address, or your out-of-town guests take the wrong train. It’s best to avoid these dates for your wedding if you can. Christina Aquilera married marketing executive Jordan Bratman on November 19, 2005 with Mercury retrograde. The pop star’s stylist forgot the bridal veil, typical of Mercury retrograde.
At the very worst, Mercury retrograde could cause you to garble your wedding vows, trip on your train, or even change your mind! Occasionally, the very legality of the ceremony comes into question, as in Britney Spears’ Las Vegas marriage to Jason Allen Alexander on January 3, 2004, which was annulled less than two days later. The marriage of a gay man and a foreign woman, arranged so she could get a green card, also had Mercury retrograde. Elizabeth Hurley’s March 9, 2007 Hindu wedding to businessman Arun Nayar was celebrated in India during Mercury retrograde. A local man filed a lawsuit claiming that the traditional ceremony broke the law, as Hurley was not a practicing Hindu.
If you have Mercury retrograde in your wedding horoscope, don’t freak out! You can deal with the astrology by working harder at communicating with your spouse. Keep your appliances in repair, get your car tuned up on a regular basis, and talk, talk, talk!
Mercury retrograde can also indicate re-affirming vows, and so it’s appropriate for couples in a second ceremony or those who are re-committing to one another. It’s a classic placement for couples who have lived together before marriage, as they are now making a legal commitment to the relationship. Singers Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale were married in London on September 14, 2002 with Mercury retrograde. But they’d been together for nearly seven years and already shared a home, so the symbolism was appropriate. Despite this, there was still a mishap: the bride arrived forty-five minutes late for the ceremony!
Eva Longoria married Tony Parker in Paris on July 7, 2007, under the influence of Mercury retrograde. Their lavish affair seems to have gone off without a hitch, but they had also been living together for some time before the wedding.