Mercury in Shadow

  Canada's Lake Peyto and its surrounding mountains in the shifting shadows of an

approaching storm, which will come...and in good time, also pass.

(photo credit: Tony Hisgett, July 2006)

Mercury entered Pisces a couple of days ago. And as of February 8th, Mercury will also enter the shadow of its upcoming retrograde.

That retrograde is going to start in the “teen degrees” and back down into the “personal / action” degrees. Although…considering (a Mercury word!) how Mercury is a symbol of thought and mentality and communication and ideas…that ‘action’ part of Mercury in Pisces could be how you feel about taking some action. Or some action you’ve taken. Or even how you feel about some action someone else has taken.

The point of retrograde shadows is that what happens under the shadow of the retrograde…(which in this case would be February 8th through April – yes, I said APRIL 6th)…it’s something akin to an ‘umbrella.’

The common lore on Mercury retrograde tells us that there will be many things which will resolve or end or come to some sort of natural conclusion between Mercury’s entering its retrograde shadow (on February 8th) and when it actually takes its station to go retrograde on February 23rd.

It’s also a common astrological / astrologer’s observation that there seems to be a lot of ‘pressure’ felt during the run-up to the station/retrograde point. Given that Mercury is in Pisces, that ‘pressure’ is likely to be felt as emotionality. Or unsettled feelings. And our inability to live with such unsettled feelings (or some ‘instinct’ that something is afoot or wrong or problematic, etc.) can drive us to make hasty actions or decisions prior to Mercury going retrograde.

Learning to tolerate pressure and indecision and ‘not knowing’ is part of the Mercurial process. In other words, learning to know that not knowing is not the end of the world is part of owning and operating our own mentality in a mature, intelligent and productive manner…which in this case is going to be about emotional tolerance and tolerance of emotionality or people’s feelings, be they yours or those of someone else.

Huzzahs to those who can do it, right? It isn’t that easy. But being human isn’t easy either…and isn’t that the point?

Two other notes here: Things which are in progress but which do not naturally come to their conclusion prior to Mercury’s station/retrograde are classically best left until Mercury goes direct (which will be in March). However…this is something you do have to judge at some level for yourself, as Mercury’s shadow / retrograde / direct-but-still-in-shadow loop is often a part one, part two, part three thing – with all three parts being sections of the same thing.

I’ll give you an example which came up in real time when a reader wrote me about their eye exam. They had made the eye exam appointment and gotten the exam during Mercury’s shadow-approach to the station / retrograde point. But what about ordering their glasses? This person eventually decided to wait until Mercury came out of retrograde to order their new glasses for fear the lenses might not be correct. But if the whole of the Mercury ‘loop’ was about getting new glasses, I would (and did) advise to merely make sure your optician stands behind their work and proceed, since to my thinking, having the exam during the shadow and having to wait through the retrograde period for your glasses to get made was an (excuse the expression!) fitting example of Mercury’s retrograde cycle.

We each have to do what we have to do and as an astrologer, I do know no two charts are alike. I’ve had clients who are twin brothers born four minutes apart and their charts are markedly different. And yes, their lives are different too.

So the best rule I can suggest to you about this next couple of weeks of Mercury in Shadow is ‘don’t push.’ If something comes to fruition prior to retrograde, fine. If not, THINK it through, while trying to separate your feelings (and how you feel about those feelings or having to feel those feelings) from the cooler, more logical facts.

More on Mercury’s transit as we go along.
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