Mercury Turning Direct and a Few Retrograde Stories

Mercury will return to its regular direct motion on Tuesday morning, September 29 at 6:14am PDST. It will have moved backwards from 4 deg. Libra to 21 deg. of Virgo. Right now it is already barely moving so this stationary position may be affecting us in that our minds too are slowing down and possibly repeating or going over some of what we have been thinking about. The main effect though is that we intuitively know that the ‘thinking’ process, which is emphasized during this retrograde period, is about to end so that we’ll be able to resume our usual way of dealing with life.

I’ve had the chance to hear quite a few stories about the retrograde period. Some are posted on this site. In addition I’d like to share one specific example, primarily as an example of the value of a Mercury retrograde period. Yes,  there are the usual stories of Mercury retrograde causing delays with the mail and other deliveries, computers crashing and cars breaking down. They do seem to happen at a higher rate at this time. But as I’ve often said, there is an important advantage to this time as well.

This story is from someone who had been having a seemingly insolvable physical problem for over two years. Several diagnoses were made but none of the treatments worked. It appeared that there wasn’t going to be a solution, resulting in the necessity of having to live with a great deal of pain. It was in the middle of the retrograde period that a visit to the Doctor changed everything. Suddenly the Doctor ‘changed his mind’ and came up with a different diagnosis. He wasn’t sure if he was right but he gave a medication that would prove once and for all whether or not this ’new idea’ was the correct one. If the meds worked, then he had found it. Well, the medication did work and within a few days the condition that had chronically bothered the patient, was eliminated. This is but one example of the way in which Mercury retrograde can work in our favor. A completely new idea comes in and is discovered to be the right one. The truth is that our minds can easily become stuck in the rut of the same thinking. We go over and over the same thought-forms and somehow hope that this time a different result will occur. This is why ‘they’ came up with adage that insanity is doing the same thing over and over hoping for a different result. Mercury retrograde allows us and can even force us to consider some issue in a completely different manner that suddenly will open us up to new possibilities. This is why this period is so important and helpful.

At the same time, progress may not occur in the usual way. We can feel quite blocked if we try to ‘force things’ at this time. We do best when we take what we get and remain alert to any openings, because we can’t act on what we don’t see. I think one of the most difficult things about this time period is when we think we’re done, have had enough and the cycle is still not over. We become impatient and frustrated. This, in fact, may be where many of you are right now. But what I’ve noticed quite frequently is that if we think something is over before it actually is, we lose an opportunity. Here’s why. It is often at the end of a cycle that the most important realizations come to the fore. They occur when we least expect it. It is because we’re not done at all. We just ‘think’ we are. So, what causes us to feel done?

When we are feeling done it means that our usual approach to solving a problem has been completed. We think we’ve exhausted all the possibilities. We’ve thought and thought and what’s come up has come up so we’re done. But something important has not yet occurred. It is only when we have exhausted all of our usual thoughts and patterns that something truly new can come in. What we really need is something completely new. Since many of us may resist the new thought which can be ‘too far out of the box’ for us to consider, we simply won’t allow anything new to emerge. It is when we’ve exhausted all of the usual ways of approaching an issue that we are finally ready to receive a completely new approach.

So, in this last day before Mercury goes direct, I want to suggest that you not let boredom or tiredness prevent you from being open to a completely new idea or way of thinking. If you can refrain from the ‘belief’ that you’re done, maybe something amazing can occur. And when Mercury does change its direction early Tuesday morning, be ready for a shift in your energy. It’s fun to notice the new feeling.

Always love your comments to my post, so feel free to write your own story.

The New Moon & the Inferior Conjunction between the Sun and Mercury

Within a short two day period we will have two significant transits each of which mark an ending of one cycle in preparation for something new to be born. There are differences between the ways these two will operate, but there’s a reason why many of you may be feeling like something is coming to an end, so let’s get to it.

The New Moon

At 11:44am PDST on Friday September 18 we are having the New Moon at 25 degrees of Virgo. It is in a very tight conjunction with Saturn which makes this cycle a focused and potentially very serious one. Saturn can be so exacting and demand that we approach every matter with so much realism that it feels cold, impersonal and severe. Yet, I used the word ‘demand’ for a reason. Saturn does not ask or request. We can interpret it that way if we want to, but the fact is that when Saturn is in charge, it will control the situation and demand that we show up fully, balance our accounts and if necessary pay for our mistakes. If a person has Saturn in significant aspect in their chart, they are going to be the responsible serious ones who make the sacrifices knowing that the day will come when everything balances out. They know that one must earn the reward in order to keep it. Saturn is exalted in Libra, the Scales, and so rules an impersonal justice that we may not ‘like’ but which we must handle. The coming month will have this theme as an underlying tone and since it is occurring when Mercury is retrograde it will ask us to take a look at any areas of our life where something that hasn’t been completed. In other words, it is an ending phase of a broader cycle. Endings are the phase prior to new beginnings and that’s exactly where we are cosmically.

The key principle whenever we are in an ending stage is ‘letting go.’ It’s all we can actually do, but it is human nature to try to hang on as long as we can and resist surrendering to the inevitable. The conscious and aware use of this time period then is to consciously let go of what you already know in your heart is dying or ending. This is rarely done at once, but is a process. How easy or difficult that will be depends, of course, on what it is that might be ending, bit it is important to realize that it is not a trivial process. Often we hear people saying to a ‘friend’ that they should just get over it. As if they didn’t know that. The truth is that it is helpful to remember that one is a process and that it will work its way out organically, if we let it.

Mercury Retrograde and the Inferior Conjunction

With Mercury retrograde nearing its conjunction with the Sun we are also in the middle of a cycle where we need to complete something which will take us to the emergence of the new. On Sunday September 20th at 3:05am PDST retrograde Mercury will align with the Sun. This phase of the cycle is an important one but is often difficult to see. It is like a New Moon, often called the Dark Moon because one cannot see it. The Moon is so close to the Sun that its image is washed out. We cannot see the Moon until a day or two have passed when we can see the tiny crescent in the early evening sky. It is also considered a dark period because it contains the seed of a new idea. In fact, the nature of the Inferior Conjunction is that a new ‘seed idea’ is born into us. But like a seed that is planted in the earth, we may not know its nature until enough time has passed. It will need time before it can emerge.

Ten days have passed since Mercury went retrograde and we have had to review areas of our life where decisions must be made or reviewed. We have gone over and over our options and may now have to make decisions. This is when we may do this. And when we do, something new is also born. One business owner has to decide whether he must close his doors. The decision has been in the air for months, but now the time has come when waiting is no longer an option. When the decision is made, it will begin a new cycle for him with many more decisions to be made, but the critical moment has now arrived. This is the type of thing that may be occurring for many people. Others who have been able to see the trends coming their way are prepared to act and move forward in a new direction. Depending on where this occurs is one’s chart, the shift may be big or small, but no matter how subtle, it is helpful to notice what is happening in one’s thoughts right now. What you are thinking the most about this weekend is apt to inform you of something that will be emerging in the near future.

On September 22nd Mercury retrograde will conjunct Saturn bringing more reality into any situation one is facing. After this one will know pretty clearly with what one is dealing. Planning can then begin. Yes, Mercury will still be retrograde meaning that a bit more will have to be reviewed, but the new cycle will have begun and we will feel clearer than we may be feeling now.

Mercury goes direct on September 29th which will be when things are likely to be fully clarified, but we’ll deal with that then.

I have written quite a few articles on Saturn. Why? Because it is often regarded as forcing us to deal with something we wish we could avoid. But Saturn is also the archetype of subtlety. It asks us to master something. So the question to ask right now is this. What am I being asked to master? Know that when you face whatever is happening, one’s life will improve. Perhaps slowly, for the processes of Saturn do work slowly. But inevitably and inexorably. There is a wild and crazy truism about Saturn. The more we deal with it openly and truthfully, the less we feel its oppressive side. When we deal with it head-on, somehow it goes away and life move forward again with amazing ease. Dealing with Saturn is in fact the line of least resistance and the way to bring peace into our lives. I love and hate this irony.

The Process of Progress- More on the Mercury Cycle

When we look back on decisions we’ve made, we have a tendency to forget that the idea that was the basis of that decision did not come to us fully formed. Rather, decisions and the ideas that sparked them are developed through a process. They rarely are fully developed from the beginning.

That process related to the development of ideas is replicated by how we understand Mercury’s movement in relation to the Sun. The Sun moves steadily forward around the sky, covering about a degree a day in the astrological chart, which is a map of the sky from our viewpoint here on Earth. Mercury, however, appears to speed ahead of the Sun until it slows down and reverses direction, going backward to meet and then pass the Sun. Eventually, Mercury again slows down and changes direction, back toward the Sun. This whole cycle repeats itself about every four months, with Mercury always staying within 28 degrees of the Sun.

We can begin to understand the cycle and relate it to the formation of ideas by dividing it up into its parts, and we commonly define eight stages to the cycle. They are:

1. Pre-retrograde to Stationery Retrograde station. (The Shadow)
2. Mercury retrograde Station.  (The definition. of a ‘station’: When a transiting planet, as it changes its direction, is momentarily not moving or stationary.)
3. First half of Retrograde period.
4. The Inferior Conjunction – when Mercury conjuncts the Sun while in its retrograde period.
5. Second half of retrograde period.
6. Mercury stationary direct.
7. Mercury stationary direct to the Superior conjunction – when Mercury conjuncts the Sun while moving in direct motion.
8. The Superior conjunction to the beginning of the next Shadow period.

There is an area of heightened focus within this larger cycle, however. Because of Mercury’s movement forward and backward, Mercury spends about two of the four months going over the same 21-degree area of the chart, first forward, then backward, then forward again. Those 21 degrees are focused on and represent an opportunity for review, for reflection, and for potential conscious change in the areas of our lives that those 21 degrees represent for us.

Indeed, Mercury has just entered this band upon which it will next focus. On August 17, Mercury was at 21 degrees Virgo. It will continue moving forward to six degrees Libra before it retrogrades back to 21 degrees Virgo, where it will change direction again, and go over the area between 21degrees Virgo and six degrees Libra for the third time. This will take two months; Mercury returns to six degrees Libra on October 13.

The period of the first pass through this band, from now until Mercury turns retrograde on September 6, is commonly called the “shadow” period; one would say that Mercury has just entered its “shadow.” Because Mercury will pass over the area twice more in the next two months, our current perceptions, decisions, and ideas will be reviewed and revisited in the coming weeks. Although I am personally not convinced that the image of a “shadow” is the best image to relate to this period, I will call it that for the sake of a common term. It is the first of the eight-stage Mercury cycle that we will look at.

The shadow period is a time of anxiety if we are not aware of its purpose. We tend to rush forward to complete things, or we act out and make rash reactionary decisions. Somehow, it seems as if we can sense the upcoming retrograde and realize unconsciously that things may have to be looked at more closely, or again. Our reaction then, with an anxious mind, is to try to shortcut the process and jump ahead by making the decision, change, or statement we are thinking about. We don’t want to go through the process since we feel we know what needs to be done, or what the correct answer is.

But if we are conscious of this period and what it represents, we can let go of the anxiety. There is no need to rush to complete things because we know that whatever we are thinking about now will likely have to be revisited in the coming couple of months. It’s just part of the process of progress. And we can guard against rash reactionary outbursts and actions as well by being careful. We understand that we may have to eat our words later as things are revisited.

What area of our lives is up for review will depend on our own personal astrological chart, but it is also visible on a societal level by looking at the astrological signs Mercury is focusing in on and where the other planets are in relation to that band of 21 degrees. The most obvious “ripped from the headlines” example of this at the moment is the debate surrounding health care reform that the country is currently engaged in. As anyone can readily see, this debate will undergo a lot of review, revision, and change in the coming months as the country moves (or doesn’t move) in the direction of more affordable and available  health care. The themes and style of the debate relate perfectly to Virgo and Libra matters, such as equality, health, fairness, criticism, balance, service, indecision, giving too much credit to your opponent, collaboration, compromise, giving too much attention to detail, and what is practical.

This particular cycle also involves Saturn, which is also in late Virgo right now, as Mercury conjuncts it three times from August 17 to October 7. This by itself might give additional focus to our ideas, help us think logically and look at details, and it may do so by making us focus on the reality of the situation. But things are changed considerably when taking into account that Uranus and Saturn are opposing each other and Mars is squaring both of them. So, Mercury’s conjunctions with Saturn may act as a trigger to unleash some of the explosive energy, passion, and even anger involved in that formation. We’ll keep an eye on these things as we continue to look at Mercury in upcoming articles.

Mercury – Messenger of the Gods

Most people, even those not interested in the study of astrology, have some awareness of Mercury retrograde. Awareness does not equal understanding, however. Indeed, Mercury retrograde is generally misunderstood only as a time when things go wrong, when we shouldn’t travel, when we should decide anything or when our computer or car breaks down. It has become a scapegoat, something to blame when things don’t go right. Of course, in reality this is an overly simplistic and therefore incomplete understanding. Mercury retrograde is best viewed as part of a broader Mercury cycle. There are eight stages to that cycle and each one of them (including the time Mercury is retrograde) represents an important stage in the development of ideas and other Mercury-related matters in our lives. We’ll look at each of the eight stages in upcoming articles, but initially, let’s take a closer look at Mercury itself.

Even though Mercury rules two modern astrological signs, and therefore is the chart ruler of about one-sixth of the planet’s population, it is easy for astrologers (and those interested in astrology) to overlook the significance of Mercury in a person’s chart. Perhaps it’s because Mercury is in the shadow of the Sun, literally and figuratively. Because Mercury and the Sun are never very far apart from each other, they are often located in the same sign, and Mercury may suffer from a lack of attention for that reason. In the sky, Mercury is the hardest inner planet to see with the naked eye, as it’s often so close to the Sun that it can only be seen either right before sunrise or after sunset, depending on where it is in its cycle. Or perhaps rather it is because astrologers are often more intrigued by the effects of what they consider the deeper, more intense, more transformative, and more emotionally and spiritually-charged outer planets. In contrast, Mercury is often regarded as shallow, simple, and straightforward. 

But Mercury should neither be overlooked nor taken lightly. Few things are more fundamental in a person’s life than the areas Mercury influences – how they think and communicate. It is as basic to our existence as breathing, which it of course also rules. Mercury provides the language needed to define our perceptions, so that we can understand ourselves and our world. Mercury can transform us through self-knowledge and understanding, and where it is placed in our chart tells us about our ability to make sense of our perceptions, to make sense of our world, and to communicate that both to ourselves and to others. In short, Mercury rules understanding on all levels, and to understand how Mercury influences us can unlock our ability to understand not just the other planets in our charts, but everything else.

In mythology, Mercury (Hermes) was a “messenger god,” and he is often portrayed communicating the proclamations and orders of Zeus, his father. It is he, for example, who is credited with giving the ultimatum of Zeus to Prometheus. Hermes mediated between worlds, bridging easily the world of the gods, the world of mortals, and the underworld. In our modern lives, we can also look at Mercury as a bridge. How an idea comes into our consciousness is a mysterious and amazing process, and Mercury is the bridge along which ideas, or the seeds of ideas, travel from the unconscious to the conscious mind. We commonly think of “having” ideas, but we don’t often delve into the origin of those ideas, how they came about. For example, think for a moment about how you decided to get married, or not, change careers, move to a new city or state, and you will realize that the idea was connected to an internal process, and not entirely a conscious one, at least not initially.

Moreover, this fundamental influence regarding the manner in which we think and communicate is unique to us. By way of example, imagine a group of people at a wedding. Now imagine what some of the individuals are thinking about as they wait for the ceremony to begin. One person is admiring the flowers, and likes how they are arranged. One person is thinking about their failed marriage. One person is eyeing the crowd for someone to flirt with later. One person is thinking about the things they need to do at work. One person is just listening to the humming in their head. One person is whispering loudly to someone across the aisle, unaware that everyone in the room can hear her. And so on. This example, although a bit superficial, highlights that people experiencing the same event can perceive it, or react to it, very differently. This is due to Mercury, as it rules our perceptions. By becoming aware of how Mercury acts in us, we can begin the process of awareness in all other aspects of our lives. Mercury is easy to watch in action for it is a quick moving planet with a reliable eight-stage cycle over each 4-month period in relation to the Sun. Look for more discussion of Mercury in action over the coming weeks as we watch Mercury through its upcoming retrograde cycle in Virgo/Libra.