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Thursday, August 28, 2014

Mercury in Libra


A field of ripening barley in Palouse, USA
(photo credit: Victor Szalvay, June 2006)

There’s a strong human tendency to make things simply personal...or not personal...according to personal preference.

Surely you’ve noticed?

Yes, any number of us will make the good ‘ours’ and simply reject whatever we don’t like, disowning it lock, stock and responsibility - even when we’re plainly in the mix. So strong is this habit that even when we think about metaphysics, again we tend to divide our charts: the Aries “I Am” of life we stand for and take hold of.

But when it gets to Libra, so often we opt for blanket ‘thou’s, projecting and separating ourselves from things in our own chart.

In other words, in our own life - and we’re not talking about the live being lived in your town, city or state, we’re talking about every moment of that life which has us breathing or holding our breath.

It’s our chart. Libra is in every chart and is a precept in every life. So why do we project? We want a good life, surely. But how can we live a good life if we’re not willing to admit that the life we’re living (inclusive of who we attract, how others feel about us and how our work or efforts are received) how to live that  good life while abdicating the power we hold in our hands (and minds) to empower said life?

There’s a difference between not knowing and not liking, after all. Both can be equally valid in a well-balanced Libra-like world, which is why the difference between Libra’s positives and negatives can both be typified by one simple metaphysical statement: what we put out comes back to us.  

Sometimes we don’t recognize it...and sometimes we don’t want to recognize it.

Pointing at ‘them’ is relatively easy. Dealing with our Self, particularly when that Self is in the middle of wanting (yearning, longing, etc.) to feel better about the life that Self is living...that’s hard. 

Sometimes it’s purely annoying.

And still, after all the projecting is done, there we still are with whatever problems, refusals to see (think, hear, etc.) we came in with...which is a whole other issue. After all, those among us who don’t want to deal with their issues are surely not going to be a cheerfully jazzed to know that they not only still have to deal with things, but that their ‘problem child’ is looking at them from the mirror.

No one likes that. (But it is terribly Libra.) Yes, Libra is about everything we encounter in life because it’s our life. Such things inform us. They test us to see if we really know what we think we know. The Libra Principle becomes active in our life, so that we will learn what works...and what doesn’t work...which isn’t ‘about’ them, but rather about our experience of them or something in our wide-ranging world...or their experience of us or what we do.

By those reactions and responses we learn more about our Self - what parts of it work or don’t work and why.

Dealing with all those ideas, from the ‘what’ to the ‘what happens’ (complete to everything between), that’s Libran too.

It’s to think about. And lucky for us, Mercury (symbol of thought, communication and mentality) is about to enter Libra.

So once Mercury enters Libra on September 2nd at 5:39 in the morning (UT/+0) time, feel free to think up, folks. Think hardy, think thoroughly, give things some thought or think nothing of it - whatever be your personal choice.

You know, a personal choice you’ll make which will then affect others who will let you know if your idea works in their Libra framework and thus in their equally individual Self-driven world? As Mercury enters Libra we are symbolically being told that our communications, our thinking, our experience and estimation of today and tomorrow (and all they may contain) will be moving from a personal orientation to a more worldly one....how what we do, what we are doing will become more visible to others and more apt to be commented on or responded to.

We are also coming to a moment when our thoughts may well change as Mercury moves through Libra’s earliest degrees, that being the position of giant black hole M87. Being that Mercury moves very quickly (its ‘fleet-footed’ orbit around the Sun takes a mere 87.9 days) this contact will be felt rather immediately, raising alternate views (and viewpoint) from September 2nd through 6th, when Mercury exits M87’s orb of influence.


Some of us will be inspired by thoughts and events which occur during these days. Some of us will recognize how we may have been too short-sighted about something - or how we didn’t know, see or listen to something which may at first blink not have been our taste...but which is in reality seriously important to our aims short term and long.

That Mercury is coming into Libra aspect-free and  on its own speaks to a free-wheeling quality in thought and conversation which though perhaps not overly obvious is there to enjoy...and to employ. However, please be advised: the farther into September we get, the less options we’re likely to have as things seem to acquire a life and momentum of their own. Still, many will be likely to be ‘in their head’ or ‘lost in thought’ or simply preoccupied (mildly or otherwise) for at least some part of this transit. For them, Libra’s interactive quality will reflect in consideration of how to exist with others, among others, in this world or at some other level which has to do with ‘getting along’ in life, though Mercury in Libra by itself isn’t the kind of indicator we would think of as defining times good, bad or indifferent.

What this transit says is that our thoughts will be about others. Or situations others are connected to, or that we (or they) may need to discuss with someone - and because Mercury will be going retrograde come October 4th (September 14th being the date Mercury crosses into its retrograde shadow) the latter part of September is likely to be filled with our feeling pressured and frustrated as we try to get something done with life (and people in that life) resisting, not getting things done as they focus on how annoyed they are with others or whatever is getting in their way or being otherwise entirely unsatisfying.

(Yes, its that projection thing again. We’re not happy, so it or they must be to blame, right?)

(No, not right - but as an example of human nature in function, often accurate.)

More to the point, as Mercury moves into the shadow of its upcoming retrograde Jupiter is just reaching 13 Leo, setting up a sextile. And since Mercury retrogrades (inclusive of their pre-and-post retrograde shadow periods) are periods which will have us catching up with ourselves and sorting things out (or tending to re/organizing of various mental or mentally-governed [Mercury] factors)...to have Mercury sextiling Jupiter as we trip the light-footed fantastic into Mercury’s pre-retrograde zone?

Well...that would seem to be a positive sort of note.

Mind you, just as sextiles offer opportunities, sextiles require work. And after we accept that much, then we add the concept that retrogrades require going through whatever it is we need to go through to get us into position with our Self to take life on come retrograde’s end, when (oh, incidentally...) things - or at least our perspective or thinking about things - takes a turn.

In Libra, this is all going to be about, in conjunction with, and concerning things we experience at the level of interaction - which is to say, they affect our thoughts about who we are (and aren’t) and what we’re doing or why we’re doing it and how that affects our place in the world, just as it’s affecting everyone else in the world at the very same time.

We will all be thinking. And given the Libra effect, we may be more focused on the Other than our Self, but why we would do that would be part of the Mercury in Libra process. Why we care, why we don’t care, why we pay any mind or don’t mind ignoring others if or when they don’t suit what we want to think about our Self...that would be part of the Libran process.

And wherever Libra falls in our natal chart, that tells us what we will experience through that Libra process and how we will pursue our Libran experiences...all wrapped in Mercurial questions, answers, ideas and choices, many of which will prove either harder to make or harder to have work once Venus (ruler of Libra) moves into Virgo on September 5th (UT/+0 time).

Once Mercury enters its shadow (which it will do as Mars enters Sagittarius, heralding new efforts, new actions and new discoveries of every type as a result of actions taken) it will be just over a week until Pluto goes direct. During that time, will something trigger a change in our [Mercury] thinking - and if so, will that guide or control us?

One more thing to toss in the mental stock pot here: Mercury enters Libra on September 2nd, Ixion goes direct on September 3rd, Pholus goes direct on September 4th and Venus ends this cavalcade of shifting on September 5th with its own move from Leo into Virgo.

Yes, Ixion and Pholus went into retrograde together last March...and now they're going direct together in early September.

Is this a hint?


From the Mercurial perspective, this would seem to be a recipe for situations which bring out some of our less caring aspects - and end up disliking the results.

Maybe in knowing that we can resist the lesser aspects of this passage? We can use this time to think about others and how to share our space, our ideas, our needs, desires and aims. We can use this time to improve our ability to relate to others and thus our relationships with others...and maybe more importantly (at least to us), their relationship to us.

But will we?
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