The very words "Mercury Retrograde" send most people into a tailspin. Every 88 days, the planet Mercury seems to drift backwards in the solar system, wreaking 21 days of havoc. Or so it seems. Astrologer Marguerite Manning, author of Cosmic Karma, thinks we should give Mercury Retrograde just a little more attention than hiding under the covers until Mercury goes direct again. With Mercury going retrograde on January 11, 2009, how will you take advantage of the situation?

From Cosmic Karma, by Marguerite Manning Oft expectation fails, and most oft there Where most it promises. -William Shakespeare Reflecting the qualities of your Sun sign is not the difficult part of your contract with the universe. After all, just being who you are isn’t hard to do. Applying yourself is, which brings us to the twelve houses of the natal chart. First, however, a few boring...

Is it any wonder why the ancients proclaimed that our destiny was “written in the stars”? Evidently, our fate here on terra firma is a lot less predetermined than we’ve been led to believe because when we view our natal sky from this perspective it’s a lot more than just a celestial reflection of our earthly destiny. It’s a universal documentation of the agreement we made to live up to it. An agreement the ancients called a horoscope, but based on their scientific principles I prefer to call our very own “contract with the universe.”