Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone! I hope all will have a lovely time at a good meals with friends and family, reflecting on all the goodness that 2011 has brought us so far! It might have been a bumpy road for many, however I personally found this year to be much less drama filled than the last one, and that’s always good news for a Taurus!

In addition to it being a natural time to reflect and contemplate on the year past, and all the harvests that have come, this year it’s an especially good time for reflection and relaxation because Mercury just began it’s Retrograde course of motion early this morning at 2:20 am EST! The fleet footed Messenger God will be moving backwards from 21 to 4 degrees Sagittarius, ending Retrograde on December 13th, just in time for the holidays.

I personally am thinking of this Retrograde more in terms of the Relaxation and Repair aspect of Merc Retros. Although Merc Retros get a bad rap for trying to start something new during this time, they are excellent times to reflect, go with the flow, review, repair, relax, and basically take some time for yourself and your well being. If there was any time to take a T.O. from holiday madness it would be between now and Dec 13th! Go to the sauna at your gym, take some time to reflect in your journal, or taking a restorative yoga class! This way, you’ll be all set to get back into the full swing of the holidays once Merc moves forward on the 13th!

Also, since this Retrograde is in the sign of Sagittarius, which is all about finding continual intellectual, spiritual, and emotional growth, it highlights the importance of “down time” in order to be able to continually grow. There is that old saying about “one step forwards, two steps backwards.” Often it is only after going “two steps backwards” one is able to have greater periods of sustained moving forwards!

This year has been very abundant in many ways, and I am very grateful for this. However, I for one, started off this Thanksgiving Mercury Retrograde by sleeping in til noon. It was quite delightful and very restorative. I hope your Thanksgiving and the days ahead are filled with happy reflections of accomplishments made so far, and relaxation and restoration in abundance!