Mercury's Station and the Retrograde to Follow

 A statue of Mercury perched on the Commerce Bank Building in Bilbao

(photo in public domain)

Mercury’s going retrograde on November 6th at 11:05 in the evening UT/+0 time makes its moment of going into retrograde early evening on the east coast and mid-afternoon on the west coast.

November 6th is, of course, Election Day USA.

So what does it mean for Mercury to be on station and going retrograde on the date of an election?

I’ve done a substantial amount of research on release dates for movies and the subsequent box office take. And when it comes to movies, planetary stations indicate marked effects. All things being equal (Mercury operates not alone in this solar system, after all) the most general thing to report is much ballyhoo and strong initial attendance.

Considering this Mercury station is taking place in Sagittarius, that could indicate all sorts of people coming out to vote, which is a good thing! But also considering this station is in Sagittarius (a sign which with Mercury can indicate overstepping, overstating and sloppiness) this could be a sign of problems or challenges at the polls…added to which there is always the idea that Sag is the sign of legalities.

(Hanging chads, anyone?)

The dates associated with this incoming Mercury retrograde were etched in blogful digital ink a handful of blogs ago (yes, ‘handfuls of blogs’ is a measurement). In case you missed that, here’s the chart:

But that isn’t all the juice. First of all, Mercury is going retrograde at 4 Sagittarius – a degree which besides being square my personal Sun (I protest!) is one of those deceptive degrees which are just fine so long as we aren’t challenged. But when we are – oooh, baby, does that fur fly or what?

(Just for the record, I know protesting won’t do me much good.)

The good news – especially with this degree getting so potently activated on Election Day USA – is that 4 Sagittarius is known in lore as a mental and no physical degree. Much shouting, snarling, yelling may be heard. Opinions – some visceral – may well get voiced. And yes, those short pithy words so favored by the annoyed are likely to be heard.

But even more than that, what this Mercury ‘turn’ on this date at this degree would seem to indicate is a realization, a recognition of what others think and what the world is ‘doing’ (or what it approves of) in spite of what we as individuals may think.

You may love that…you may hate that…and that’s totally your choice, opinion, option and all the rest. But if you want to make the best of this retrograde period…and the time which comes after this retrograde period, you’ll at least heed that which you’re being shown.

That’s all very Sagittarian. Sagittarius can certainly manifest as belligerence and trying to insist on your perspective, belief or point of view. But the purpose of Sagittarius (and the related 9th house) are to highlight that which you have to take into account and deal with if you are going to reach your (10th house/Midheaven) goals.

In everyday life Sagittarius is the testing ground. It’s where we gather samples and statistics. It’s where we take the poll and learn what the majority is for or against. This is the sign about trial runs and seeing if that flag, that idea, that Spruce Goose will fly.

The front section of the Huges H-4 Hercules (popularly known as the 'Spruce Goose') as it sits on exhibition in Long Beach, California with an old vehicle in the foreground helping give a perspective on the airplane's mammoth size.

(photo credit: Triddle)

Sometimes it does fly but you still decide that’s not what you want to invest in. Sometimes you figure out that there are still a few bugs to be ironed out of the process. Sometimes you realize you’re going about the right thing in the wrong way – or the wrong thing in the right way.

Sagittarius is the theory of ‘things foreign’ because it’s the first of the last four signs of the zodiac (the global quadruplicity) and thus about where our world intersects with the world…as conceived of in the Sagittarius polarity of our personal Gemini mentality.

Fortunately for us, this is not the fact, this is the theory. Sagittarius is a fire sign. And Mercury is always the ‘idea’ the ‘mental’ aspect of the doing, the operation, the method, the schedule, the duration of the act-or-effort. So whatever happens now, we have (theoretically) the whole of this Mercury retrograde – until November 26th – to think things through.

Then we need to act with whatever we learn now, or whatever we’ve learned just recently…or whatever we learn during retrograde….in moving forward from there.

That Juno is conjunct Hidalgo with both in exact opposition to Jupiter from 14 Sagittarius to 14 Gemini underscores everything and anything which has to do with ‘minding how you go about things’ – with a particular emphasis on not going overboard.

Or dealing with where you may have already gone overboard. Or where you were thinking to go overboard in the days and weeks which are coming up.

Mercury’s going station/retrograde in square to Chiron and Fomalhaut (in early Pisces) also makes this a time when we don’t want to think about vulnerabilities…but when we should.

Mercury’s retrograding back into Scorpio on November 14th (at 7:43 a.m. UT/+0) indicates an ‘intensifying’ of focus. Whatever is up for consideration now is likely to strike a note of intensity. Or maybe it simply deserves your full attention. With Venus opposing Eris on the 15th (from Libra to Aries), the combined influence may provoke an ‘enough, already!’ reactions as people either opt for fun or rebel against responsibility.

Which yes, are sometimes one and the same thing!

November 17th comes with a Mercury-conjunct-North Node (at 26 Scorpio) need to consider the ramifications of attitudes, actions, choices – and all that. So don’t cut yourself short! Seeing that Mercury backs into 25 Scorpio and there meets up with Sun-conjunct-Tantalus…WITH the 17th being the date that Mars enters Capricorn, temptations abound, and you may have an opportunity to do something dramatic.

An inner channel in Nanedi Valles on Mars

(photo credit: NASA, Jim Secosky)

Before you do it, ask yourself one question: at what cost?

That ramifications (read: karma) may well be affected here is marked by Moon conjunct Pluto. And since when in Capricorn the Moon is also know to be maybe a bit too assertive for its own good, looking before leaping seems a singularly good idea.

That November 18th has the Sun conjunct North Node conjunct Tantalus at 26 Scorpio with an opposition from Algol-conjunct South Node in Taurus…well, let’s just say it’s easier to want what we want than to be fair (with ourselves and others – the Taurus/Scorpio challenge) about the difference between ‘like’ and ‘need.’

As November 19th rolls around, Mercury’s opposing Sedna signals trying moments and choices which originate in some ‘inbred’ instinct and which feel ‘importantly comfortable’… but which maybe we should let go of anyway.

And that’s about it until the Sun moves into Sagittarius, an event which will happen late on November 21st, UT/+0 time. Just before this happens you'll feel an ambient shift, as if energy is moving or gathering. Is something going to happen?

It may: the Sun moving through 29 Scorpio (prior to shifting into Sagittarius) can feel intense... mysterious... even creepy. The combination of Sun-against-Mercury will get you to think, but don't get too distracted. With Mercury still in retrograde, its unlikely that anything which does happen is lasting...and whatever information turns up isn't the last word on the subject.

Then the Sun enters Sagittarius, which you may feel as the need to catch up with yourself, or maybe your schedule. New things are popping up and your challenge is to shift into a mode to deal with or take advantage of opportunities.

Just choose carefully. With Mercury moving into its station on November 24th, having room (at least mental room) to deal with the important thing.

Mercury goes direct on November 26th. The degree of this station is 18 Scorpio – a degree noted for a sort of isolated form of thinking which is prone to jealousy and/or judgment of others. But since, when we think it through, both sides of that coin (jealousy and judgment) are really about the Self feeling vulnerable or invalid at some level, that sense of the ‘other’ isn’t “about” them – it’s about how we wish we had more priority with others. Or how unhappy we are with ourselves that we haven’t done something. Or given something that best shot.

Just just to make this all seem a bit fairy tale-like (or maybe akin to an Aesop’s fable) on the day that Mercury goes direct (November 26th), the Sun (with Tantalus) will be positioned at 4 Sagittarius.

 The slave Aesop serving Two Priests by Francis Barlow (1687)

You know…the degree Mercury went retrograde at to begin with?

For whoever wins the election, this will like as not be about when they settle into what they need to get done – the hard work which happens after any election settles out and all the associated people move on, get named or thanked…all that. For whoever loses the election, this will like as not be when they begin ‘throwing off’ the enormity of the effort passed in getting on with their life.

For the rest of us, this is when hopefully what we really (Tantalus) crave will (Sagittarius as a fire sign) inspire us to (Sagittarius as a process) work through the glitches, letting go of what doesn’t work in getting on with what we really need to do in order to reach our (Midheaven) goals.
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