Three times each year, for a three week time period, the planet Mercury goes retrograde. (This means from the perspective of the Earth, Mercury looks to be moving backward in the zodiac). What can we experience during Mercury retrogrades? – most often, increased frustration, interruptions and snafu's that make even simple projects seem impossible You will need more caution, more care, and a pinch more of elbow grease to get things done. Typically there are delays, interferences, miscommunications (especially for those of us with strong Virgo or Gemini in our charts (Mercury is the ruler of these two signs). It is not a good time to launch or initiate new projects. You will be pushing off, symbolically, just when the tide is going out, and it will be more of a strain to make headway with your plan – better to wait until the current is moving with you.

These are the things to look out for:

1. Signing contracts, (if you must sign, check the details);

2. Making up your mind. (You are likely to change it after the period is over, or further details may come to light that make you realize another choice was better);

3. Sending out marketing or PR materials . (You get little response for your effort, or you may encounter many last minute changes, canceled or missed appointments, or misunderstand or be misunderstood on an important matter.

4. Both soft and hard crashes of computers and hard drives during this time – I had one myself several years ago on the February Mercury retrograde. And now that many of us are spending more time on computers and as our businesses become more computer dependent, Mercury (as the ruler of communications) is affecting computer/technological types of situations. So I'll give an added twist to the usual advice: Back up! – before Mercury sends Murphy to your place.

One of the worst Mercury retrograde stories I've heard (yes, astrologers do collect these) is told by a dear friend of mine. She was in charge of organizing a weekend conference for a major Chicago charitable foundation. She had OK'd by fax the print material produced by a New York agency for the event but missed two tiny little details. When the 4000 prospective attendees got the mailing, they had all they needed – except where and when to appear! The topic of the conference? Of course – "Strategic Communication." Luckily, with fast footwork and a good sense of humor, she managed to salvage the situation. But she learned her lesson. Now she always asks, "When is Mercury going to turn around again?"

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