'Hello sir! How are you? Today the train is late by 45 minutes', please come and sit here' Mallikharjun asked Giri. He continued, 'Why are you looking worried, any problem?' Giri replied: 'Yes, Mallikharjun, my son is not doing well in his studies' He is now in his 10th class and I doubt he may not pass this year'.

Let us think. Why One student's performance is improving and the other student's slowly degrading? The reason is the planet Mercury, which is the key to mind, lord of 3rd, and 6th houses, which is Gemini and Virgo. 3rd house is for communication, thinking ability, personal ideas, logical thinking, Intellectuality, etc. And 6th house is for Service, health, practical work, methodologies, patience, clothing and dressing, food and taste of the food one likes.

According to 'Sayana', mercury is exalted in Aquarius that is 11th house.

• If there are any adverse aspects to mercury there is an educational brake (Fail /discontinue) in his study period.
• Retrograde Mercury in birth chart makes the child unable to speak in childhood (after 3 or 5 years, he may speak based on the condition of the mercury)
• Mercury becomes adverse with Saturn which results in hearing problems sometimes heavily impaired also.
• If mercury is in 12th house and having adverse aspect, trouble in early education is indicated, They can't achieve any thing in education with out brake.
• If mercury is weak they cannot spell out what they are really thinking.
• Lack of decision taking, shyness to talk in public, digestion problems.
• Selfishness, liars, nervous weakness, poor dressing.
• Abusing, mental blockade, etc by adverse mercury.
• If mercury is well placed and having good aspects it makes journalists, editors, CA, Chemist, Mathematicians, Ambassadors, Cine dialog

The house, sign, aspects to mercury, aspects of mercury will influence the above issues.

In this article, we are not talking about retrograde effects of mercury in transit. This topic regards retrograde mercury in natal and progression charts.

Retrograde Motion: Actually no planet will have retrograde motion. It is just an apparent phenomenon which happens when seen from earth; the planets appear to go back (except sun and moon). The stages are 1. Forward to stationary 2. Stationary to retrograde, 3. Retrograde to stationary 4. Stationary to forwarding. Mercury will retrograde thrice in a year, approximately 20 to 26 days total period. The stationary period is only few hours. The approximate motion of mercury is 2 ' degrees per day.

Mercury in quadruplicates:

1. Mercury in Fiery signs (Aries, Leo and Sagittarius): Leadership qualities, Intellectual, Self-confidence.
   (Negative side): Egocentric mental attitudes.
2. Mercury in Earthy signs (Taurus, Virgo and Capricorn): Practical oriented.
   (Negative side): excessive materialistic outlook.
3. Mercury in Airy signs (Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius): Good communication skills, Theoretical knowledge.
   (Negative side): Selfish, Impractical.
4. Mercury in Watery signs (Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces): Emotional, Fluctuated thinking and decisions. Some times they may have tendency to daydreaming and wool gathering.

Mercury in Triplicates:

1. Mercury in Cardinal (chara) signs (Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn): The individual is able to decide issues quickly and effectively. Some times the decisions may be impulsive.
2. Mercury in Fixed (stira) signs (Taurus, Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius): Slow and deliberate in making decisions. Once decision taken by them, they will not change it. Fixed attitudes.
3. Mercury in Mutable (dwiswabhava) signs (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces): Flexible in making decisions, and the decisions are based on past experience.

Case I: Adverse Mercury in natal chart and retrograde in progressions: Education Delays - In this chart, Mercury is lord of 3rd and 6th house (Gemini and Virgo) in 12th house (Pisces). A square (90 degrees) aspect with Moon, which is 4th lord in 9th house Sagittarius. Square aspect between moon and mercury is square between 3rd, 6th lord to 4th lord, as per position of these two planets square between 9th to 12th houses. There is communication problems, shyness, digestion problems. He can not express clearly what he was really thinking. There are breaks/discontinues in higher education. These problems are modified by the aspects: a sextile between mercury and Saturn, A trine between moon and Uranus, Jupiter and Saturn are in own places.

The mercury goes into retrograde 13th day from his birth date, i.e. 13 years of age (progressions one day one year method) studying in 8th class he became dull in education. Before that he was getting below 10th rank. He passed with excellent scoring in 7th class common examination at mandal level. But in 10th class he got just a pass division. After he could not continue without brakes in studies. Once Mercury became direct, and since there is grace of Jupiter (Guru) he acquired two P.Gs.

Case II: Retrograde and Adverse Mercury: Delay in Speech - In this chart, Mercury is 7th and 10th lord in 6th house and receiving square aspects by mars and Jupiter, the signs are fixed signs. Mars is the 5th and 12th lord in 3rd house, Jupiter 1st lord in 9th house. He could not speak for the last 2 ' years and he will start speaking when Mercury comes into direct motion i.e. from 22.05.2003. He will speak as usually when mercury crosses the natal point i.e. 11 degrees 39 minutes in Taurus. Today, the child could not pronounce some of the words clearly.

Stationary period: mulling over of important decisions and gestation of new ideas. If Mercury makes any good aspects to any other planets during its stationary period, it is helpful to the individual in his future developments and it is the self-examination state.

Retrograde in Natal: Individuals are slow and deliberate in thinking process. Slow Grasping/ learning. Individual will get confused in making decisions.

Direct motion: Individual will have confident planning in all new activities. Business activities will also improve.

How to overcome the retrograde Mercury problems:

1. Individuals should not depend on guess answers where negative marking is there in the examination.
2. Read the question twice carefully before answering.
3. Do not sign any agreements/papers with out thorough examination.
4. Hard work and continuous reading will improve marks to the students.
5. Prayers to lord Vishnu and chanting Vishnu sahasra namas (1000 names of Vishnu) daily will improve the condition of the child in his/her studies.
6. Visiting temple of Sarada Devi or Durga Devi or Saraswati Devi on the day of Moola star (Star Moola comes once in a month) is auspicious.
7. Chanting lord Hayagreeva stotram / mantra is also good.