Yes, Folks, Mercury is retrograde ...

... and as Sebastian noted, it scrambled up yesterday's WordPlay a bit. Oh, well. We got it straightened out afterwards, for the most part, so if you're tuning in or downloading, you shouldn't notice anything too bizarre.

Hope everyone out there in blogland will take care travelling, keep your firewalls working, double check facts and figures, review sources, proofread anything you write not once but twice, and otherwise be watchful when in Mercury's realm for the next few weeks. The planet is in the sign of Scorpio, so it's impact will be greatest for those who have Sun or Mercury in that sign, Taurus, Leo, or Aquarius. Travel and communication should be easier after November 18th, when Mercury once again goes direct.

Now you know.

(For an account of previous encounters I've had with Lord Mercury, and a look at astrology in general, see this earlier post.)

(Image of Mercury from the Jet Propulsion Lab site, where it has this caption: "This photomosaic of the planet Mercury was assembled from individual high-resolution images taken by Mariner 10 shortly before closest approach in 1974. The sun is shining from the right, and the terminator is at about 100 degrees west longitude. Crater Kuiper, named after astronomer Gerard P. Kuiper, can be seen just below the center of the planet's illuminated side. The landscape is dominated by large craters and basins with extensive plains between craters.")