Quicksilver in reverse

I believe in astrology. Don't knock it till you try it! Yes, I hold several scientifically-oriented degrees. No, I'm not a kumbaya-my-lord-singing fruitcake who lives in the back of a VW bus with unshaven underarms and endless supplies of granola. No, I don't call rooms with cushioned walls home. I started out skeptical enough, but it's called empirical data. A properly-open mind, when faced with such data in sufficient amounts, can't ignore the signs for very long.

So I watch closely when our planet Mercury, the messenger, starts to look back over his shoulder and walk backwards. More often than not, it means that some schiz is about to go awry, typically involving communication and/or technology. Anything from relationships to the internet (two points that time has brought insanely closer together over the past 10-15 years, but I digress).

I'm less worried about the phenomenon itself than I am about its effect on OTHER people. See, nobody sees this coming, so it hits them like a Hummer H2. Nobody cares, either, which is to their peril. As for me? I hang out, head down, mouth shut lest I say something less than 100% intelligent, and I double-check everything. And I make the most of the time.

It's no secret that the official word for this phenomenon, "retrograde", starts with "re-". Practically every activity that is appropriate for this time begins with the same letters. You know, "re-group", "re-view", "revise", "re-think", "re-hash"...you get the idea. And sometimes, a lightening strike hits me, giving me an awesome-upon-awesome idea, or at least making me see a previously-formed idea in a new light.

So, what'll it be this time? An epiphany of sorts? An idea that looks good on paper but flops a few years down the road? A rare moment of pure clarity because finally the stars see things the way I do? Heh, who knows. So far not much yet, although I have revised and rethought a whole lot of things. I'm sufficiently knotted up in some Aunt Annie's (gluten-free) pretzel by now. Hopefully everything will straighten itself out. Either that or I get some other awesome-upon-awesome idea that'll show me the shining light. In the meantime, is there a such thing as gluten-free granola?