Mercury enters Aries

This blog is being posted on March 8th and is about something which will happen March 9th – namely Mercury entering Aries at 5:48 in the afternoon (UT/+0)

So why post a day early?

No, it's not just about the time difference. 5:48pm is quite late enough in the day that Mercury will enter Aries on the 9th no matter where you are.

(Well...except if you're like in New Zealand or Fiji. For you it'll be March 10th by the time Mercury gets its planetary bustle into Aries.)

So why post this on the 8th? Because immediately before Mercury gets to 0 Aries, it will be at 29 Pisces – an astrological descriptor of intensity and emotional evocation even without any other descriptors, of which there are several!

And what are they? Well...how about Uranus? That'll rattle your dice, eh? And also calculated Lilith (aka Black Moon Lilith)? Talk about your cold shoulders!

Plus there's Scheat, the fixed star any self-respecting Roman would have given a thumbs down to in the Coliseum.

(Okay…so maybe not. It’s hard feeding stars to the lions, I get that. But it's a nice concept…)

Of these three, Uranus is the most abstract, tending to be about the moment when things change. All throughout its transit of Pisces, Uranus has been about provocative levels and types of feeling or the provocation of emotionality and it’s not about to change now!

Less abstract and certainly less personal, the calculated form of Lilith is all about things we value which society doesn’t like (or wouldn’t like about us if it knew!) and/or things about “our world” which we don’t particularly want to know anything about. This isn’t just about something we don’t want to be involved in – this is whatever it is in your world which you habitually, even quasi-ritually make it your business to keep off your personal radar.

Another dislikable quality about Black Moon Lilith is that it tends to represent not only what we would like to ignore in our world – but what the world seems apparently determined to ignore about us.

This ability to treat us as less than valuable (even viable…even visible!) which tends to manifest when Black Moon Lilith is around is it has rather in common with Scheat, a fixed star which represents the ability to have your ideas (even when they’re right-on true!) rejected and even ridiculed.

It doesn’t exactly sound like a bowl of tutti-fruity, right?

And it’s worth being warned about this Lilith-Scheat thing, as it’s going to be with us for the next ten days or so – it perfects on March 19th, which would probably be not the best day to announce you’ve discovered the cure for the common cold!

I mean…you could announce it fine. Just don’t expect to get anything more than a bunch of disbelief hurled your way in return.

And a few sneezes, of course.

With all this energy piled up at in the last degree of Pisces, Mercury’s passing over this point as it presses forward to exit Pisces and enter Aries may indicate a coagulation of opinions, values – and like as not, at least a deal of acceptance-versus-rejection issues. Since Pisces (among other things) evokes, asks and tests all we think is worthwhile, that sets the stage for Mercury entering Aries.

And hence, the age old question: what do you want to be when you grow up?

Okay, so maybe a little sooner than that. Or even instead of growing up!

Mercury in Aries has a reputation for haste. For doing things quickly – either with great precision and mastery, or in a totally off-base manner which leaves out at least one really important factor.

Mercury in Aries can also be incredibly self-focused… which may or may not contribute to the above! Apart from that, the focus on the Self is really useful during Mercury in Aries if what you are trying to focus on is how to do something well. 

Unfortunately, this is also a passage which just seems to bring out the selfishness in many – and the overly dramatized in a few!

The determination there is really what this passage is all about – if, during Mercury’s stay in Aries you manage to remember to do things because they need to be done…or because the world (and thus your world) will be a better place for the doing it, then Mercury in Aries is an asset.

But if you’re going after the It’s All About Me award…? You may get it, yes. But you won’t win anyone’s love, respect or long term affection.

Aries as a sign has a reputation for burning hot on any given subject for a brief time. Then it fizzles out. Aries is the rocket, not the marathoner. Aries does the daring deed, but please don’t bore it with tedium.

 A depiction of Dorando Pietri at the end of the

1908 London Olympic Games Marathon

And yet…under Mercury in Aries, if you know why you need to undertake some incredibly intricate, overwhelming, job, you will like as not be able to conquer it. Aries is, after all, the sign of the warrior and Mercury does come equipped with a helmet of invisibility (except when he lends it to Perseus once every thousand years or so for slaying gorgons!)

Something to bear in mind however, is that Mercury in Aries can also be a time when we’re more easily frustrated than at other times. We want to go, go, GO!….and not everyone is with us.

Why not?

Well…let’s just put it this way: you’re feeling like the warrior-in-charge and so are they! So things can get to be something of a one-upmanship issue now…and going forward.

How much forward?

Far be it for me to hedge around here, but Mercury is going to be in Aries for a good, long sorta time.

And the minute I say that, if you’re half way into astrology you’re going to say ‘uh-oh…that means there’s a Mercury retrograde coming up!’ And you would be RIGHT!

Mercury will go retrograde just before the end of March, crossing into the shadow of that retrograde on March 16th, as it happens. From there until the station (which will occur on March 30th), you may feel even more pressured – don’t let life stress you out! Some things will arise during these days and go from solid problem to puddle like an ice cube on a tin sheet in the middle of highest summer.

But those things which don’t….?

Here’s the rule: if you know Mercury retrograde is a’coming and something just isn’t falling into place, don’t push it! It may resolve in during the station (March 28 – April 1st)…and things associated with stations often do indicate real ‘turning points’ in life.

But if you don’t get the yea or nay – or receive that information or answer you’re looking for by March 30th (maybe April 1st), figure on not resolving the matter or getting the final word on the final word until Mercury goes direct again in late April.

And during all this time, Mercury remains in Aries, first sign of the zodiac.

Being first, Aries is what you might call a very ‘basic’ sign. It’s about being. It asks what we’re being and how we’re being and what we want to do with our being-ness. As Mercury transits Aries it would be a natural thing to make plans, or do something to better yourself in some way.

It’s a very singular, very essential, very experimental sort of sign. Aries is willing, but easily discouraged – except where real need is involved, particularly the needs of a loved one.

Associated with the head, eyes, muscles and blood, Aries actually has a ‘sympatico’ sort of thing with Mercury, which is about thought, choice (of actions) and communication – which astrologically includes ‘communicating’ yourself from one place to another!

The combination can indicate the odd headache – real or psychological. And since Mercury is entering Aries in direct opposition to Typhon, Nemesis and Black Hole M87…gee, if you’re going to have a problem, feel entitled to have it now!

Black Holes always refer to ‘alternative realities’ which from Aries to Libra can easily be what you thought was ‘going to be’ which turned out entirely differently. With Nemesis and Typhon in attendance, the implication is that you knew better (Nemesis is the all time “I told you so!” figure) and that something uber-ultra basic is what was basically throwing you off your game.

Since Nemesis and Typhon are both in retrograde, there is also the chance that you’re going to be spending this next while thinking things over or making up for something which went off the rails some time ago.

Considering that the South Node is conjunct Betelgeuse in Mercury-ruled Gemini as Mercury itself enters Aries, there’s a strong desire for everything to be ‘just fine.’ But considering everything else…as much as you might like all to be peaches, sweet peas and rose petals, it probably isn’t.

But that is something you could work for…you know, while Mercury transits Aries?