That Which Trumps Mercury Retrograde

Too bad the word trump is so overused nowadays, because it’s a useful word. In the Tarot card system there are two levels, the minor arcana symbolizing the ins and outs of worldly concerns and the major arcana symbolizing the soul’s sojourn here on earth. The major arcana is also known as the trump cards, and the soul’s journey always trumps worldly distresses and hiccups such as Mercury retrograde.

I told my friend I had to get over to my storage unit to pull out and go through a box of old tapes of talks by my teacher, Roger Weir. She said that’s the perfect thing to do during Mercury Retrograde. Apparently, this planetary condition doesn’t just come around to throw obstacles in your path and annoy you. It’s a time to do a recursive assay of past endeavors.

So, despite the 17° wind chill, I threw on my very warm leather bomber jacket and headed out to the storage unit. My jacket was so bulky and with the necessary thick gloves, I felt like an astronaut with compromised fine motor skills. I remembered the key code at the gate to the storage facility, got through, and managed to get the big outer door open. But the heavy rock that is usually there to keep the door from slamming shut was gone. However, the wind blew so hard it kept the door open. Initially. Until it blew it shut. No problem. I was inside the hallway of storage units with the light on. I’d deal with the door later. I unlocked the padlock to my unit, hung the lock over the sliding latch, and lifted the roll-up metal door.

That’s when things began to get a little fuzzy. I found the boxes I needed and began to move them from my unit down the hall toward the outer door. What made me think to check? It’s a bit of a blur now. I guess I wanted to make sure I didn’t get locked out without the outer key and with my purse inside my unit that was wide open. Where was that storage unit key ring? I didn’t remember putting it anywhere. I rolled the door to my unit down to see if the keyring was hanging from the padlock, but the padlock was gone from where I did remember hanging it on the sliding latch. Clearly it had fallen off when I rolled up the door, something that has not happened in the past. I looked around and found it in an open box, logically just below where I’d hung it on the slider. Its little key was still inside the lock, but where was the rest of the keyring—the larger main door key and the red spongy tab to the key ring? And for that matter the ring itself—you know the kind that you have to slide a fingernail in to wedge open? I shuffled through that open box and found the big key to the main door. But how did they both come off the spiral ring? Well I’ve got the necessary parts, I thought. It’s too cold to concern myself with anything else right now. I secured the two loose keys in a closed pocket in my bomber jacket and proceeded.

The four boxes I planned to take were now waiting inside at the outer door and all keys were accounted for. I slung my purse over my shoulder, closed and locked the unit, and managed to slide the boxes out the door and get them into my car without any doors slamming on me—that wind was still fierce. As I drove away I thought, I guess that was one of those Mercury Retrograde experiences that people complain about. But there was another level of reality that totally trumped the planetary system. When I think of all the things that could have gone wrong during this little excursion but didn’t, I know that turning toward and surrendering to Divine harmony truly helps me navigate past obstacles and energies that would undermine my forward progress. That God’s principle is one of ease and grace; that it is for me not against me, and when my heart keeps its eye on that prize, keys don’t get lost, doors don’t slam on me, gates open, and my work gets done with delight and congruency.

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