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About That Time Mercury Retrograde Nearly Destroyed The World

Mercury retrograde is still in effect. By this point, odds are reasonably good that you’ve experienced some version of what usually happens at a time like this. Your package didn’t arrive, you locked your keys in the car, you submitted something to your boss that was in desperate need of proofreading, or something like that.

Let me tell you about a Mercury retrograde that almost resulted in the end of civilization.

On November 9th, 1979 (the day Mercury turned retrograde in Sagittarius), all of the displays at the North American Aerospace Defense (NORAD) headquarters lit up with clear signs that a full-scale nuclear attack from the Soviet Union was inbound. This was not a simple matter of mistaking a flock of geese for a missile. This wasn’t a spot of peanut butter on someone’s monitor because they ate at their desk. This was showing all the unmistakable signs of a massive surprise nuclear attack. Fighter interceptor planes were launched. The US air defense system was put on full alert. They warmed up the engines on the President’s airborne command post.

Of course, shortly after that civilization was destroyed and the few survivors were forced to live a Mad Max-like existence in the rubble.

Wait… that didn’t happen?

You see, what actually happened is that on that day when Mercury had first turned retrograde, a simple mistake was made. A technician at NORAD mistakenly inserted a training tape one of their computers (yes, large computer systems often used tape back in the 70s). Specifically, that tape covered a training scenario in which the United States was subject to a sudden large-scale nuclear attack.

Whoops.

So please remember this: Mercury retrograde doesn’t end until July 12th. There are still plenty of opportunities for you to get the wrong directions or screw up assembling that bookshelf or drop your phone in the toilet. Just keep in mind that if and when something like that happens to you? It could be a whole lot worse.