Mercury Enters Aquarius at a Cancer Full Moon

Full Moon photo credit: Deepung, Oct 2009

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When Mercury enters Aquarius at 1:09 a.m. on January 5th, Venus  - which got to Aquarius first - is sitting just ahead at 1 Aquarius with asteroid Icarus hinting at something ‘hasty,’ whether that’s some sort of ‘Venus result’ (the Venus ship coming in) which happens faster than expected - or something that you or someone else ‘jumps’ at (in haste) because it looks so good.

Is it ‘so good’? Maybe. That’s not the issue here; Venus-Icarus is where the ‘desired result’ (the Venus quality) meets up with haste. But for all we know that can mean a hasty response to something which happens. Or which has happened. It could be a ‘quick grab’ at something which has already passed you by, as 1 Aquarius has a reputation for positioning us between the ‘reality’ of something at hand and the possibility of something different or better which isn’t assured.

Into all this comes Mercury, which in Aquarius is known to represent great insight, utter resistance to hearing something, mighty hesitations and the issuing of snap judgments - all with equal aplomb. While Mercury transits Aquarius we can expect to hear plenty about how things work ... and how they don’t work - this isn’t the kind of transit where we expect luxurious niceness. Yes, Aquarius is known for incredible displays of various kinds of prowess - among which could be an adopting of formal manners to impress any high(or low)brow in history.

Then again, Aquarius is anarchistic. And for all it’s support of all which is ‘current’ or pertaining to currency - Mercury in Aquarius is often an outspoken time when things shocking and things funny and things ridiculous or ridiculously sublime fall out of various mouths (even the same mouth, now and again) and a time when present and past clash or raise public discussions which thought they sound like debates about values are really about the future and how to move into that future, which assuredly some will now turn their noses up at in resistance.

For a sign all about making progress, Aquarius also manifests a lot of stick-in-the-mud-isms - and a fair amount of debate (read: argument) all about who “knows” what and who is ‘right’ or who has (or ‘should’ have) rights, the right-of-way or some other priority.

Like most Mercury transits, the moment-to-moment qualities of Mercury in Aquarius aren’t likely to be obvious; transits of Mercury tend to refer at some level more to our perception of life’s pace. Yet within that, seeing as this is Aquarius we’re talking about ... and since Aquarius is a sign which has two very different modes (the Saturn version and the Uranian version) Mercury’s rather long transit of Aquarius is going to be something of a celebration of - as well as something of a lesson in things like the need to stabilize and coordinate ... as well as the need to improve functionality. 

And to succeed, all of this must occur on an globally enfolding basis. Or to put it another way, the more global the appeal, the greater the reward (that’s a basic Aquarian rule). 

Plus there is that thing about Aquarian friendship. Aquarius is the hallmark sign of friendship - which in its being the derivative fifth sign from Libra (the sign of relating to others on the basis of ideas) makes rather good sense. 

As for that ‘rather long’ comment, that’s about Mercury’s appointed next round of going retrograde.

The station-retrograde date is January 21st (UT/+0) and the going direct date will be February 11th - and since the entirety of this retrograde will be occurring with Mercury in Aquarius it’s to be expected that a lot of social and societal functions will be affected. For you that may mean something simple, like a series of changing appointments, play dates for the kids or some project which either shows up needing attention, bringing about the ‘over-occupied’ quality so common with Mercury retrograde. Or maybe you’ll have one of those times when you’re waiting for some answer or piece of some puzzle you dearly need before pressing on with some cause. With Mercury being all about thought and communications (or the ‘communicating’ of something from one place to another or one stage to another) and Aquarius having a distinct affinity for both electronics and all things systemic, transactional and globally functional all things good and bad pertaining to computers, power (either as personal power or that in a power grid) and economics or economies will also likely come up for discussion. 

Why? Well, that would be the question - and in the metaphysical sense, the answer as that which Mercury retrograde focuses on, beyond being an issue, challenge, effort or nuanced experience of its own is also a good cause for thought as any number of ‘why’s and alternatives float through our minds. 

And it’s likely there will be plenty to think about. Just the fact that Mercury moves into its ‘big picture’ mode on the same day as a Full Moon rather guarantees life isn’t likely to be dull. Maybe not everything is going swimmingly, but it isn’t dull. Full Moon days are always a time when feelings rise to the fore whether we’re deliciously happy, irritatingly frustrated, irresistibly fervent, romantically wistful or just plain moody ... all of which is a bit more likely this month as the Full Moon will be at 14 Cancer, a degree known for sensitivity, if also a deal of ability and good luck which may get tested now, as this Full Moon and Mercury ingress comes with a side order of grand square (read: moments which may be challenging but ultimately useful - or merely usefully challenging).

For the sake of being exact here, given that Mercury reaches Aquarius some three hours before the Full Moon, the above isn’t exact for Mercury’s ingress - the Moon would have been at 12 Cancer instead of 14, endowing the whole of this January-February Mercury in Aquarius (plus retrograde) with an inward quality not particularly connected to anything else.

It’s an idea ... a lingering notion with the distinct ability to dig up nested dissatisfaction. And though those dissatisfaction are ultimately about us and choices long made into personal habits (and in some cases, life choices), given the Aquarian ability to get us so irritated with ourselves that we act out against others it’s virtually assured there will be some off-the-wall stuff being thrown around. (Particularly verbally or through alternate forms or formats of communication).

The grand square itself is (as is usual when it comes to grand squares) a challenge which either has us bouncing from one thing to another - and yet another - or a situation which pits one set of interests against another. There are some people with native bents which deal with this kind of ‘separation’ naturally; the reporter who digs through a story and interviews people with a simultaneous need to understand someone even while they retain objectivity would be a good example of that sort of personality. But most of us do find ourselves tugged in several directions at once at grand square moments ... and with this one being presented in cardinal signs, there’s a lot of energy which goes into getting things done - or which perhaps would be going into getting something done except for...

Full Moon at 14 Cancer (glyph chart)

January 5, 2015 - 4:51:41 a.m. (GMT/+0) - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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Full Moon at 14 Cancer (text chart)

January 5, 2015 - 4:51:41 a.m. (GMT+0) - Aries Wheel (Location Not Specific)

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... except for any of a number of things. For one, Vega-Eos cuddled up to the Sun and Pluto with Pluto headed towards an April 17th station atop Vega (Eos having moved on by then) represents the dawning (Eos) of some sort of realization(s) which in time will produce a ‘letting go’ of various projects, efforts, structures and convictions which whether valid or not in their own right are neither in sync with (Moon-Sirius) current needs nor insightful long-term goals.

Then there’s the fact that what we want to do may not be the same thing as what we should do (or how we should act or what we should opt for).

For some, this Full Moon will be but a wrinkle of the moment - a ripple on their personal pond. For others, in particular those not in the ‘habit’ of success or the successful employment/usage of abilities, what to do (or what to do about something) may become a source of conflicts which are as much about frustration and an increasing sense of conviction which rejects whatever has been put forward as noble, respected or respectable as being some sort of fraud.

Or even worse, a deliberate lie. Truth matters under Aquarius as this is the sign under which thought, concept and notion gets raised to the level of solution, and false solutions are by definition, untrue definitions. Despite this, there is a quirkiness associated with Mercury in Aquarius which makes some people think that they can parse the truth or use part of a truth - and a few who will embody Mercury in Aquarius as a righteously domineering conviction that they are ‘all that’ and thus endowed to decide everything.

Under Mercury in Aquarius, such brashness sometimes carries the day. But before you decide to rule your world by decree, it may be worth remembering two things. One: that however we think or feel about things as Mercury reaches Aquarius (and the Full Moon) occurs isn’t going to last all that long. Plus or minus, there is going to be a change. In entering Aquarius, Mercury is joining Venus and Mars ... which is a LOT of Aquarian energy.

But give it a week - things will change yet again as Mars exits Aquarius (for Pisces) on January 12th (UT/+0). Until then, the Aquarian notion of focus is going to be all about us - which is to say, how well or not well integrated we are within our Self (part one), how well we have developed our abilities (part two), how well that works for everyone (part three) - and therefore how lastingly it all works for each of us as individuals.

Under Aquarius, the question often becomes whether to think first of the individual as opposed to thinking first of the collective, the group, the society, the universality of life and all it takes to stay alive. This may not be Mercury’s most graceful entry of all time into a sign as against a Cancer Full Moon any Aquarius influence (not to mention a lot of Aquarian influence) is simultaneously all about responsibility and yet riddled with irresponsibility from stem to stern. If and where humanity’s human qualities win, we’ll care about life. If an where theory and intellectual statistics rule the day, we’ll care about the group, the society, the whatnot to the exclusion of human need.

It’s a little bit like an old philosophical argument about heaven and earth. To spend all of one’s time thinking of heaven is to know little of earthly human life ... and yet to live entirely in and for things of the flesh-bound life is to limit the endlessness of boundless possibility while lies beyond what we know and can touch.

To this Aquarius says we should be 'willing,' as universality can never be possessed, merely accessed - and if we fail to avail ourselves of that, the inevitability of time will certainly come upon us and fold us into its manifest being, whether we are ready to become part of it ... or not. 
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