Purveyors of change everywhere should feel a cosmic genius boost over the next few weeks due to an unusually long-term conjunction between Mercury and Uranus. The planet that rules thinking and communication doing a mind-meld thing with the planet that rules all spaces beyond the fringe of “normalcy,” and both in the sign that thrives on independence, doubles down on ingeniousness and radical movement to create the potential for paradigm shifting states of being. Ordinarily, a conjunction involving the generally swift moving transiting Mercury lasts only a couple of days. This is quite different, however, and well worth paying attention to whatever comes up from the “out of nowhere” regions.
Retrograde Mercury moved into close conjunction with Uranus when it backed into Aries on April 20th, and between April 24th and May 13th – approximately three weeks – they will never be more than two degrees apart between 24-26° Aries. The reason for this is that Mercury is stationing (from retrograde to direct motion) while conjuncting Uranus. “Mercury rules the way we process data and turn it into information,” says Jim Sher. “It also tells us our style of communication. When it is in aspect to Uranus,” he says, “the mind turns towards a different kind of thinking and we might consider new ideas, even revolutionary ones. Uranus disturbs our ‘peace of mind,’ but is that ‘peace’ simply the result of thinking about things the same way over and over again? Are we open to considering new ideas? This is a very good time to do so.”
Additionally, while Mercury lingers in the conjunction to Uranus in Aries, both planets are also in a long-term trine with retrograde Saturn in Sagittarius during approximately the same time frame. Mercury exactly trines Saturn on April 24th and the slower moving Uranus does so on May 18th. Although trines are generally not as powerful as conjunctions and require more effort to harness their fluid energy (it’s more of a lazing on the beach kind of feeling, nice and easy), the influence of responsible, methodical Saturn in harmonious trine with the jumpy Mercury/Uranus pair may offer just the right dose of stability and process orientation, without the fear (mostly of the unknown) factor that is often triggered by more tense alignments with Saturn.
The new lunar cycle that commences with the Moon conjunct Sun in Taurus on April 26th is emblazoned with the retrograde Mercury/Uranus conjunction in trine to Saturn in fire signs, turning this gentle, earthy New Moon into a productive, manifestation-oriented cycle with great innovative potential. As a reminder however, in addition to Mercury, there are three other planets also retrograde – Jupiter in Libra, Saturn in Sagittarius and Pluto in Capricorn – so while the industrious Taurus New Moon energy is great for sustaining projects already underway, it may be more challenging to actually commence something at this time. Anything previously launched may come under review for adjustments, which can be best viewed with an eye for refinement and bringing the exquisite Taurean sense of beauty into any solution. Also, with the Mercury/Uranus planetary pair correlating to a heightened state of excitability, it may be challenging to hold space to receive brilliant ideas rather than allowing ourselves to be swept away in waves of non-constructive rebellious reactivity. The archetypally calm Taurus Sun and Moon united in the eye-of-the-storm may inspire us to to stay centered and focused on what deserves our valuable attention over the coming month.
Venus was in Aries from February 3rd through April 2nd before retrograding into Pisces, which correlated to a movement to renew and reconnect with our universal Being nature. Now direct and moving more quickly, the planet of love and art returns to the fire sign of adventure on April 28th to commence a fresh turn through the zodiac from a new level, having shed the weight of inertia built up from the previous cycle. Venus will be in Aries through June 6th, but the real adventure begins on May 18th when it reaches the end of the “shadow territory” at 13° Aries, the point at which it turned retrograde. Then we may begin to see more clearly if we learned the lesson of Venus retrograde through Aries where focus on self first allows us to connect with who we truly are. Did we determine our most important inner values and needs, and sufficiently question our priorities to the point of being unwilling to compromise them? Did we at least see how much we were swayed by others’ views of how we should be or what we should value? Courageously honoring our own needs first would be a great way to honor Venus’ return to Aries and stake a claim for independence from conditioning that does not serve our higher self.
Keeping the openness to new thought alive, Mercury’s first exact conjunction with Uranus occurs on April 28th, with a second occurring on May 9th when Mercury is direct. “Oftentimes in such a transit one’s conventional thinking may be seen as limited and unable to process life events in the customary way,” says Sher. “We could become defensive and refuse to entertain new thoughts or react to them as attacks rather than as opportunities to consider a new way of thinking, but that might not be helpful. When Mercury is aligned with Uranus for three weeks,” he says, “it is almost like a much slower aspect between transiting Uranus conjunct Mercury in a natal or other fixed base chart. We would be advised to become open to input from life, people, or books we read and not to automatically react negatively to an idea simply because it’s different or strange.” This is rule-breaker energy at its peak and tempting as it may be to rebel against all the limiting codes of behavior others and society impose on us, it may be an interesting exercise indeed to begin looking at all the rules and conditions we impose on ourselves via a highly conditioned mind that limits the very essence of our being by keeping us locked in deeply rutted patterns. We may find that manufactured fears masquerading as “reasonable” reactions to the unknown are hindering growth and the potential to experience our own “starness.”
While this unusually long Mercury/Uranus conjunction is important in itself, what’s more important, according to Sher, is that “it is the harbinger of the final pass of the Jupiter in Libra opposition to Uranus coming in the late summer at around 27° Aries/Libra.” This is a very significant transit, active since late last year that has been marked by tremendous disruption of the status quo and, says Sher, “indicates important new opportunities to expand our minds, our vision and even the purpose of our life.” Stay tuned to this blog for more about this transit in the coming months.
Here’s the data (using Pacific Time and planetary positions rounded to the nearest whole degree, unless otherwise noted):
April 24 – Mercury trine Saturn at 28° Aries/Sagittarius at 1:15 a.m.
April 26 – Moon conjunct Sun (New Moon) at 6° Taurus at 5:16 a.m.
April 28 – Venus at 0° Aries at 6:13 a.m.
April 28 – Mercury conjunct Uranus at 25° Aries at 7:50 a.m.
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