Mercury... and Other Stations

The CN Tower in Toronto being struck by lightning

(photo credit: Raul Heinrich, July 2008)

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Mercury’s station-direct allowance begins next Monday, February 7th (at about mid-afternoon, UT/+0) time. And I’ll just go out on a limb here ... as I type and you read that, you’re sighing in relief, thinking ‘and not a moment too soon!’

Am I right?

Sure I am. Mercury retrograde is never over fast enough - for any of us!

Or rather, it’s never over fast enough to suit us, though on a metaphysical level we will trust to the idea that ‘all things happen for a reason’ ... (you know, that basic sort of ‘unbeknownst to us, the universe is unfolding as it should’ thing) ... which, never mind whether this period is over fast enough to suit us guarantees that whether we like it or not, Mercury is over at the point when that which needs to be accomplish to suit us occurs.

Got that difference?

So the degree that Mercury is doing its turn-about (whether or not its fair play) is 1 Aquarius, which by virtue of numerical position hints that this February 9-13 (give or take a day on either end) is going to manifest at a personal level, fully loaded (like a potato) with every capacity to provide new opportunities ... a sincerely odd time ... and/or some sort of personal insight which may or may not be connected to an opportunity to become part of something embodying some basic ability to use or utilize ‘current’ potential(s).

Basics play a part here. But being that this is coming from the Aquarian arena, this station references situations, trends and choices which operate at a pluralistic, not individual level - so when we say ‘basics,’ we’re not talking specifically about anything having to do with one of us. No, we’re talking more about things which may affect one of us because it is happening to ALL of us. Though we (understandably) think of Aquarius as our individualism, what Aquarius really speaks to is how any ‘whole’ - a couple, a class, a group, a company, a culture, a nation, a religion or society - is made up of individuals, all of whom are looking to find a place in this world where they fit in, where they are accepted (even appreciated) and where who and what they are matters. (Maybe it isn’t always agreed with, but it matters!) So when Mercury (or any other astrological object) takes a station or does anything else in Aquarius, we should expect those energetics to be about Aquarian things ... or to emerge from some Aquarian ‘arena’ public, social, societal, economic, systemic, mass 'anything' (market, transit, movement, etcetera) ... theoretically as to how when we fracture, depart from or otherwise try to turn the Aquarian Principle into factions solely at-or-for our own pleasure (or in the name of aims which aren’t truly universal) we set off systemic (Aquarian) effects which ultimately turn into some detriment of, or to the entire Whole, including our Self.

Mercury Direct (glyph chart)

February 11, 2015 - 14:58 (UT+0) - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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Mercury Direct (text chart)

February 11, 2015 - 14:58 (UT+0) - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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But before we get there ... (that is to say, to the wholly Mercury part of the story) ... in the wake of Sedna’s February 6th turn to direct (which under Mercury retrograde hasn’t been any picnic), first we will deal with the metaphysical manifestations of to other objects moving through their stations.

And those objects are...?

The first is asteroid Apollo, which in going direct at 25 Gemini is also in a more-or-less public mode, if generally more in a mode where (Apollo) truths are presented (or simply appear) through societal or social vehicles (the news, media conversations, contacts with friends or coworkers, etc.). As to the nature of these (Apollo) truths, though specifics will depend on where Apollo is a.) in your chart natally, b.) in your current solar and lunar charts and where it’s c.) currently transiting your natal chart (i.e., through what house), with all of that as a given 25 Gemini will lend a ‘rhythmic’ and ‘dancing’ quality which is far more about the (Gemini) intellect and our ability to think things through (‘dancing through something in our mind’) rather than any kind of physical dance.

And thus the ‘movement’ or ‘motion’ implied occurs through the mental state. Will we come up with new ideas? Will we be inspired? Will we simply ‘dance’ and try to avoid some sort of conflict, challenge or inevitability which we may think is about ‘them’ but which is really about something we need to think through or which we haven’t through through all that well yet? Will the fact that 25 Gemini often supports the quirky, unusual and clever even as it detracts from chances of business success spur us to victories as we recognize that we are really competing against our own sense of self-determination? Will we pay our dues and do due diligence to contain our ‘moves’ and not over-extend ourselves and strain our abilities?

Will we find we are out of step either with others or with our Self?

Apollo goes direct on Sunday, February 8th - which is the same day that Medusa goes retrograde. Does this mean that during these next few days ahead (call it February 6 through 10th) we may find ourselves being prompted by something in such a way that we perceive some ‘fearful’ truth?

And if so, is this something we just are ‘afraid’ of facing about ourselves or life or our life in particular ... or is this some truly fearful truth which we have for whatever reason not faced or not dealt with which reflects on us - or life at large?

- link to post -

Medusa: Through Our Mental Mirror, Darkly

In going retrograde at 12 Libra, Medusa raises a different dichotomy - that of vulnerability (of concept, mentality or operational ability) and the danger of abilities, efforts or relationships coming to mean or be nothing - or at least nothing that you thought they were going to be. Some astrologers see this degree as wholly problematic while others see it as a very challenging essence which given Medusa as the astrological ‘lens’ suggests something ‘fearful’ or something we are ‘frightened’ to know (or know that we actually have to deal with or be responsible about). Given that the Sabian symbol for 12 Libra is “Children Blowing Soap Bubbles’ this energetic will tend to function through-or-as areas of life where we either have the leeway to play and be creative ... or maybe ‘inventive’ would be the better term.

Are we merely playing - or are we now having to face the difference (the ‘Apollo truth’) between that ‘perfect world’ we all have in our mind and the reality we need to live with and in?

12 Libra is said to call for moderation - modesty, one author calls it. Medusa on the other hand calls for a willingness to cope with that we cannot stand to see - in ourselves (or Self), most of all ... which could work well with moderation, and then again maybe not.

And maybe that’s the point - the truth we need to see whether we’re scared to know it or not.

As both these asteroids take their stations on Sunday the 8th, station effects won’t be officially over until the 10th (maybe even the 11th if Medusa or Apollo is focal in any given chart) ... which means they definitely overlap not just with the standard station effects we would ascribe to Mercury’s station-direct station, but also with eclipse effects.

(Oh yes ... that.)

Being real here about all this, whether we're talking Mercury's station or Medusa and Apollo they are qualities unto themselves as well as representative of issues, forces, encounters, confrontations and those sorts of challenging inspirations which function in the moment but also end up leading you on to something bigger.

And let's face it ... when we talk 'bigger' in the astrological bucket of ongoing evolution desired and otherwise of the most intricate and personal type, eclipses are 'it' - and though lunar eclipses may light or quench your fires and desires, its the solar eclipse hitting your chart ... or just passing over our lovely Planet Earth which heralds the alteration of life itself - which is sometimes yours.

So that which gets us into that sort of spot with our Self and with our most mortal and preciously driven life is no small matter to sneeze at. Or ignore.

And that's what eclipse effects are: two months of nothing being particularly simple. Two months of a continuing (and sometimes continuous) ‘breaking down’ not just of situations and relationships, but our innermost resistance to recognizing what things really are and what isn't working. Or why it isn't working. Often we know what the problem is - that's what we're so unavoidably affixed to.

Or fixated on.

And yes, sometimes both. 

Often we have some inkling of what we need to be doing instead, though for better and worse this part often tends to not manifest (at least as we see things) until we’re cuddled up to the eclipse itself ... at which point we realize how very much bigger Life is than we are.

That this March’s solar eclipse (a total solar eclipse, no less - amp up that eclipse wattage!) is going to be in Pisces - which automatically speaks to universal and/or inescapable emotionalism and feelings of uncertainty going into and through the eclipse period - even as we try (oh so very hard) to defend our position against some ‘Self concern’ which may expose or exacerbate real vulnerabilities - as well as those which may be only imagined. Furthermore, that this March eclipse is happening at the very last degree of the entire zodiac (29 Pisces) is a bit of an echo with regards to Medusa’ station at 12 Libra as 12 Libra’s esoteric aim speaks to a global bounty achievable through that which Libra does as well as any sign: the promotion of equal universal regard for all things, all creatures, all people, all cultures - a regard which may not be real (now or ever), but which is universally desirable.

As for Mercury’s station, because that occurs at 1 Aquarius, we can expect some out-of-sign sextile qualities to infuse our coming week - by which I mean anything which combines a bit of give with an opportunity which we may or may not want to avail ourselves of. We can understand what might be gained, yet there’s something about what we’re contemplating which leaves something akin to a bad Mercurial taste in our brain (which is just barely better than ring-around-the-brain-tub) ... although something in the back of our think tank is telling us that it might not be as bad as we think, that maybe all we’re objecting to is something new. Or change itself.

Or ... you know ... that we didn’t think of it first - which by the by is a prideful position of ego which is hugely antithetical to the incoming eclipse, which is a whole other kettle of metaphysical fish to contemplate.

In going on station in conjunction with Eos, Amor and Eurydike, there are questions with regards to relationships or ‘ability to relate’ which are likely to challenge us - or at least our thinking, whether that has to do with the relationship itself or simply the (Eurydike) ‘cost’ or ‘price’ of ‘who does what,’ who is going to do what, or who has done one thing or another.

Whatever is going on - or going on in our Mercury minds with regards to same, that Eos is exactly conjunct Mercury at 1 Aquarius is a direct reference to a physical dawn (sunrise), the ‘dawn’ of some effort - or (probably the most likely here) something which begins to dawn on us - as in, it occurs in or to our Mercury mind.

Again however, this station is unlikely to be solely about us as that’s not so very Aquarian. Yes, we may be doing some tall-and-private thinking on various subjects, but those subjects are unlikely to concern things we would do all by ourselves unless what we’re planning is a ‘splitting off’ of something or a getting away from those we’ve been formerly associated with - none of which says anything about whether such choices are right or good or proper, of course.

But we are likely to try something now, whether that’s an attempt to move forward, hold our ground or take on some sort of serious effort, as that would reflect Mercury’s station being in sextile to Saturn. Given how t-square matters are always depicted in zodiacal order, this on begins with Juno at 6 Leo, an influence which is all about the need to (Juno) manage that rather snarky personality sword which has (6 Leo) pride as one edge and insecurity as the other - all of which we are then going to expose to whatever our Saturn/Sagittarius (desire to achieve or gain ground) goal is (singular or plural goals, obviously) ... and given how Saturn is already sitting at 4 Sagittarius (the degree it will go retrograde at as of March 14th) whatever we choose to do (or not do) now is going to take some time to develop, resolve - or even show up consequences of.

Furthermore, with Saturn sitting at the apex of a t-square in this moment, it’s a touch unlikely to expect universal cooperation and(or) approval.

That will come ... but chances are good it’ll have to wait a while. During that time life will have us working through our reluctance - whatever they may be - on subjects concerning whatever we’re ‘limited’ by until such point as we do our work and others do their work ... and which point we’ll all get on the same Saturn page with each other as to who is responsible for what, and how we are all going to arrive at a place where we’re able to move past our egos and fears (and ego fears, yes) to where we become capable and willing (yes, willing) to recognize, own -and through embodiment, act in the name of as a  universally constructive influence bent on empowering each and every one of us to be the individuals we are, and were created to be.

And that point? Well, it’s probably somewhere beyond March 3rd, that being when Mercury will be exiting the shadow of its 2015 Aquarius retrograde ... though with Saturn involved solutions, resolutions and achieving the structurally (im)possible could take a bit longer.

In short, we don’t know what’s going to happen yet - and no, nothing in life is ever simple.

Still, maybe that’s what makes life so interesting ... which may be the thing to think about as we finish up Mercury’s retrograde and move ahead in a more ‘direct’ manner.
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Mercury Direct: In the Thrall of our Thoughts

 Mercury's 2011 Aries retrograde pattern...plus a few items

(and indications of blogs) yet to come!

Telling people that Mercury is going direct always gets a big ‘whoo-hoo!’ Especially for those born with Mercury direct in their chart, it feels like getting out of school early with no homework on a warm early summer day with money in your pocket and nobody telling you what to do.

Whoo-hoo! Mercury’s going direct! And since it’s going direct at 10:05am (UT/+0) its even April 23rd pretty much everywhere. We all go direct together!

Whoo-hoo times two!

EXCEPT….

(Oh, don’t tell me you didn’t know this was coming! Is there ever NOTHING we need to deal with? Cammon! This is Earth! This is reality! Wake up and smell the responsibility!)

Look…this really isn’t SO hard. It’s easy to make it hard, but it’s really not so difficult to make this station/direct period really positive and productive.

And just so we have the disclaimers out of the way, here they are:

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Any planetary station is a ‘turning point.’ I won’t go into all the science here, but there is science behind this fact (discovered some 5,000 years after astrologers figured it out but what the hey…) and events which occur during the couple of days just before AND just after any station should be taken seriously.

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Events prior to the station have yet to play out…events after the actual station are the playing out of something which has already happened.

If you are waiting for information our some decision, it generally will happen on or a couple of days after Mercury’s station…as soon as the planet picks up ‘relative’ speed again. (In actuality, no planet ever slows down – retrogrades are about relative solar system positions of other planets vis-à-vis Earth.)

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As for where exactly Mercury is going direct, that would be at 12 Aries, a degree known for an egocentric sort of energy which cares a lot about ‘me and mine’ with some difficulty when it comes to balancing out ‘my aims’ with those of others. The confusion which results here can incite rebellion or attitudes which sound a whole heck of a lot like a kid having a tantrum.

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For many, this energy is SO strong they end up  drive themselves right over a cliff trying to prove they’re right, they’re right, it’s so all about that idea in their head!

And with Saturn in opposition here…can we say PUT THAT IN BIG AND BOLD? 

(By Jove, I think I just did!)

Mercury is going direct at 12 Aries. As it does that, Saturn is at 12 Libra, a degree known very much for trumpeting the good in the idea but not having the conviction to follow through on anything.

In abstract, Mercury in Aries opposition Saturn in Libra should be about a moment of considering how well what we choose (or have chosen) to do is working out. Are we getting the reception we had hoped for? The Saturn side of this is sort of the ‘applause meter’ – our gauging how well the actuality of reality is against what we had hoped life would be at this point.

And given that this is Saturn we are talking about, there’s always room for improvement (oh please – really? Do we HAVE to?) …AND this is also a good time to make those course corrections. Or when you can have that profitable ‘aha moment’ and set to work improving on whatever needs improving on so that by the time Mercury exits the shadow of its retrograde come May 10/11, you’re in much better shape – at least mentally.

Why not entirely? Well, some things take time. If you’re rebuilding a car or editing the Great American Novel, that may take longer than a few weeks, right? For you, by that May date you’ll be ‘in your groove’ and have an idea of how long things will take and what you need to do first, next and finally.

For others, you will – providing you put in the (Saturn) effort – be at least in the process and on your way to getting where you want or need to go. Results (as they say) are individual of course – those we would see in individual charts and most any astrologer will tell you that one of dangers of prophesizing any date based on effort is that there are WAY too many clients in this world who will figure out how to drop the ball.

Funny, isn’t it…? It’s far easier to predict release dates for hit movies or who’s going to win an election than it is to tell someone when they’re going to get a job because that sort of comment implies they’re going to make the effort where the others are based on efforts obviously already being made.

Anyway…this Mercury/Saturn opposition is a typical sort of ‘decision point.’ But because Saturn is in a public/worldly sign (not to mention because Saturn is Saturn) this can be a really motivational time. Like as not you’ll hear all sorts of decisions getting made – you may even make one yourself! It’s also a likely moment for exhortations – people trying to get you to go along with what they believe right.

And therein lies the decision and the seeds of possible confrontation…even rebellion.

In other words, it’s all the same “I/me + you” energy equation, but there are several general ‘formats’ in which this energy can play out. You can reflect on where you’re going and change that…or refuse to change that. You can do so as a matter of personal drive or you could do so in response to positives or negatives being dealt, handed (suggested, sold, etc.) to you by others. Or by life!

There’s one more symbol on the day here…Medea entering Cancer at 1:49am (UT/+0). And what’s that rule…? Things which happen prior to the actual station have yet to play out. So here we have Medea going into Cancer, sign of homeland, family, house (construction, real estate, etc.), tradition, culture, ingrained habits, childhood…

…all in advance of Mercury actually going direct.

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 Medea by Evelyn De Morgan (1855-1919)

For one, this sounds like news soon to come. And considering this is Medea, it might be news which is problematic (such as the abuse of children) or news which prompts that over-focus we just talked about with Mercury’s degree of station…or something which halts plans we had been formulating in its proverbial tracks.

Why? Call this reason 'the Medea Factor.' Medea’s is a story of a sorceress and madness and self-defeating, self-undermining love – a love which will drive one to doing the unthinkable.

Focused on Cancer, Medea spells a passionate devotion to all things emotionally defined as “mine”…and maybe to the point of self-destruction.

Okay, not maybe…rather assuredly!

And combined with Mercury’s degree of station and it’s tendency to focus on ‘my idea of right’ and Saturn’s “relatively” weak placement at 12 Libra?

Can you say ‘uh-oh’?

Und yet, yet, yet, yet….there is that eventuality of life. When we look at the relative size, placement and importance of the three players in this drama, though we tend to think of Mercury as the star here (both because Mercury is symbolic of thinking and because it’s the one going direct!) …the end-of-the-line truth here is Saturn.

So let’s review: this year’s Saturn cycle started with its station/retrograde at 17 Libra, a degree which is both theoretical, logical, gentle (at times) and quarrelsome. There is a quality of the ridiculous here (which we sure have seen a lot of!) and an implied necessity to work on our emotional position with an eye to reconciling what we may think so brilliant with a world which may or may not be so accepting of our sense of ‘rightness.’

Saturn’s station/retrograde of January 26 was the beginning of all the turmoil and violent events currently going on in our world. From economic and political uproars in the United States to uprisings and a demand for greater freedom in the Middle East and across North Africa to Japan’s nuclear problems, everything falls under Saturn – mostly in its role as ruler of Capricorn (commerce/commerical structures, governance/national structures, rulers, functional/responsible limits)….but also in the sense that with Saturn transiting Libra, now the good and bad of all such things are going to be brought to us to deal with. 

Saturn goes direct in June, another time we can count on as being full of upheaval as the June/July period includes two solar eclipses and one lunar eclipse – amidst which Saturn goes direct.

Can you say ‘handwriting on the wall’? That’s part of what this Mercury direct is about. But don’t think of it as just global or ‘big picture’ ….it’s also about the details and the nuances of life. Mercury always is!

The bottom line here is to be aware. The urge to be self-protective and maybe ‘think the worst’ or simply want what you want so, so much is obvious.

The better part of valor – and your future – is, however, wrapped up in your ability to take the bigger picture into account. Saturn is a ‘cold’ symbol (and a pretty cold place to be – brrrr!) …the point with Saturn is that in the end, facts and reality rules. You can’t escape that reality, no matter how much you want to. In fact the more that you do escape (or try to escape), the worse of a mess you will get into.

And yet, here we are faced with the problem that we can’t just ‘throw out the baby with the bath water.’ There will be wholesale calls for sweeping change – Uranus is here running with Amphitrite, Venus and Black Moon Lilith telling us that those who have the least to lose are urging that the masses just ‘get used to it.’

Mars at 16 Aries forming a bridge between Mercury at 12 Aries and Jupiter/Eris at 20/21 Eris tells us there is harshness in the mix now. There will be those who ‘draw the line in the sand’ and they’re likely to be highly emphatic about it. If they take a truly universal view, they may prevail. Those who are shortsighted or simply seeing things from their own point of view however, are likely to encounter some serious backlash(ing). Maybe not immediately, but soon enough.

Neptune is in Pisces. And not only is Neptune in Pisces but at this moment, Chiron is conjunct fixed star Fomalhaut, a star which promises success ONLY when one’s dream is not corrupted.

Corrupted by what?

By our own emotional longings.

That means facts and Saturnine realities rules. Neptune is not about my dream, its about our humanness…and how we all dream. The important word here is all…which means we cannot negate others. They are as entitled to be them as we each are entitled to be who we are, different though we may be.

An x-ray photograph of Saturn with a grid overlaid to show where

the planet is. And you thought Saturn was a regular, solid planet?

Think again! As one description put it, by the time you were

standing on Saturn's surface you'd be under it.

photo credit: JPL/NASA 

The challenge is figuring out what will work for all of us…even though that may well mean we each – universally - have to give up a few things.

Or maybe even our dream that we can have life our way, or go on thinking we actually know and/or are entitled to say what’s ‘right.’