It’s almost worth it when the tech and comms go wrong and, low and behold, you look it up you find Mercury is in retrograde. It’s nice to have something to blame when it’s out of your control right?
Behind that blame is something else though. A tearing of the fabric of our so-called reality where we are expected to act and behave like perpetually charged up machines that are somehow defective if we’re not performing. Which is why I no longer say Mercury is in retrograde – I say Odin is on retreat.
Mercury is a wanderer among wanderers.
One of the things I love about the northern gods is their fallibility. They are mortal for one thing. They make mistakes. Odin is always dashing off on some adventure. He is a wisdom-seeker – which also means he knows he doesn’t know everything. He is not omniscient – but he is doing his best. Sometimes people ask me why Odin is associated with Mercury rather than Jupiter. The sheer speed of Mercury would be a good enough answer – but then it’s also the planet that looks like it’s going backwards (i.e. in retrograde motion) the most frequently of all the planets in our solar system. Mercury is a wanderer among wanderers. The only celestial body less reliable is the Moon – Manni has a wolf chasing him to keep him on course no less!
Mercury in retrograde sounds inauspiscious, doomy, a bit worrisome. Odin on retreat now – that sounds intentional. He has left the building, he is literally incommunicado. He gives Frigga a swift nod (she shares his throne by the way, Odin is no power-crazed dictator) and says ‘watch the kids will you, I need a break’.
Odin governs expression, voice, ideas, stories, innovation, creation, thought and memory. The sky-god king of the story-world through which consciousness comes to know itself. No wonder he needs a break.
Which brings me back to that moment where the tech goes wrong and the comms fail. Do you need a break? Come on, if the governing monarch of the northern pantheon can be self-aware enough to demand no less than 3 retreats a year there’s really no excuse.
Through 2024
- Odin is on retreat in Ansuz then Thurisaz: August 5–28, 2024. Ansuz is Odin’s own rune so going back into Thurisaz could be a really challenging time as head and heart collide. Odin’s message: if the heart gets left behind the head won’t get far. What emotions lie beneath conflict? What needs to be brought to the surface and voiced?
- Odin is on retreat in Isa and Nauthiz: November 25–December 15, 2024. Isa is the rune of Ice and the retreat back towards Nauthiz represents instability when stability is desired. Odin’s message: Don’t build your hopes on insecure foundations. Where are you letting the illusion of security blind you to risks that need to be faced? Where are you creating habits based on your desires rather than your needs?
P.S. I call all the planets ‘Chariots’ i.e. Mercury is Odin’s Chariot. The Sun and Moon were definitely viewed as Chariots in the northern tradition – but for the rest of the planets, well it’s my best educated guess.
