Mercury dances with Neptune: Enchantment? Flummery? Enchanting Flummery?

 Fog-laser effects

photograph by Gregory Maxwell

For those who don't know what 'flummery' is, you're not alone. I never knew the word (or the thing) existed until I got into watching the TV adaptations of Rex Stout's 'Nero Wolfe' series. An engagingly brilliant if grumpy, headstrong type, honcho detective Nero Wolfe was all about his food - ever was a case allowed to interfere with meal time.

Flummery being a form of pudding, one assumes Nero ate it now and again. But apart from that, seeing that the word 'flummery' is also used to describe something as utter nonsense, Nero's use of same brought the word into my vocabulary. And now into yours.

But what's this got to do with anything astrological? Plenty! Tomorrow at 12:06 (+0/UT - adjust to your local time) transiting Neptune perfects an air sign trine to transiting Mercury. So it should be an interesting day, afternoon or evening (depending on where you are). Or it might be one full of...flummery.

This starts with Mercury, our symbol of thinking, thoughts/ideas and all we go through to choose one over another and implement same. In being at 26 Libra, we know the Mercurial subject is 'about others' - thinking about them, something you need to discuss with them, someone you need to get in touch with, some 'type' of person you need to find or find out about...

...At 26 Libra, this Mercurial moment takes on a quality of superbly sensitive adeptness. We 'get' what needs doing or saying. Our antenna become aligned so that insight on the situation is suddenly gained. This may be just in our mind...or it may be as we are actually interacting with someone. Either way, this looks to be - at least on the surface - a rather positive moment.

With that said however, there is the other end of this trine - the Neptune/Chiron/Athena side.

 Planet Neptune: a mysterious ice giant

of great and far-reaching power

photo credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech  

Mercury's position, so close to the Sun, describes it as a process 'central' to our existence, our will to live, our operational 'center' (the Sun). Neptune is at the total and opposite extreme. Standing as the last true planet in the icy reaches of our solar system, Neptune is that 'jumping off place' in space and in life.

So all things Neptunian involve how we deal with 'the unknown.' Where we feel secure (say, when we're watching a movie and suspending our sense of reality in order to get into the movie) most of us feel very safe. Where we enter into a romantic relationship, we have great hopes but at the same time we know all could yet not be exactly as we think it is. Ah, love...!

Then there are those places where we choose not to know. Or we expect not to know everything - such as in the case of spiritualism. Having faith is all about allowing yourself not to know. And that one idea is truly the best one we can bear in mind when we deal with anything Neptune. Where Neptune is involved, we are not going to know.

Chiron, on the other hand, is about mastery of Self. Our 'rowdy' instincts, whatever they may be, must be set aside when dealing with all things Chirotic so that we can focus with clarity and bring our best (and often most "noble") attributes to bear in some cause.

The Education of Achilles

(Chiron being the centaur teacher)

by Eugene Ferdinand Victor Delacroix (late 1800's)

The 'purpose' of Chiron is to learn; as Chiron the centaur was taught by Apollo, god of light (or enlightenment), so Chiron was required to not merely pass his knowledge on, but to use it in his own life and understand that what could happen if he didn't.

Probably the best example of this is seen in Apollo (as god of medicine) having taught the medical arts to Chiron, from whence comes the common astrological nickname for Chiron: 'The Wounded Healer.' As one of the passionate, passion-driven centaurs, Chiron becoming educated about what could happen to wounds was a caution against doing something which could get him wounded and thus compromised...or dead. Yet that's exactly what happened - Chiron's 'lower instincts' (the animal/horse part) got the better of him, he got into a brawl and was mortally wounded.

In the chart, Chiron is a point most of us avoid like the plague (to use the obvious line!). But the real point is more to the idea of owning our own 'ills' and dealing from that point. Through Chirotic situations we are asked to recognize our own failings and vulnerabilities - and to perhaps even grow through recognition of them. At the same time we are being asked to act for the best - generally in an area of life which seems very "foreign" to us (as Apollo's godly life and ability was foreign to Chiron, a very earthy and earthly being).

Combined with Neptune, this brings us think about the possible versus the trepidation. Can we? Should we? Do we really have to? Oh, don't we wish...! If only....! Why can't life....

The third image on this trining Aquarian side of the equation is Athena, goddess of wisdom. Not knowing...that's Jupiter....wisdom - the quality of knowing how to apply knowledge, when to apply it, and as happens many times, when not to apply it.

  Detail of a statue of Athena, Greek goddess of wisdom

Sprung from the brow of 'father' Jupiter, Athena is pure concept and conceptualization. She is idea-as-resource; understanding as decision-maker. So metaphysically, Athena is a point which is incredibly fair, but non- emotional. She's a lesson in how what is 'just' doesn't always feel good, and how that's a function of facts untainted by emotional bias.

So we add Athena to Chiron and Neptune and arrive at....at what? Well, no matter where we go on this 26 Aquarian Neptune-Athena-Chiron side of the trine, there's a duality. 'Is it true, or is it not true?'. And there is always to consider (speaking of Athena and Mercury!) that any time we see Neptune connected to Mercury there is the possibility of 'the lie.' It may be a simple misunderstanding. It may involve people hearing what they want to hear (denial). Or just some unrealistic (entertaining or romantic or carefree) moment.

Then again, it may involve someone's out-and-out effort to deceive or lead someone else astray. And with Neptune and Chiron in retrograde, the effect is not on them, but on us. Athena in direct motion is the input from outside. Mercury in direct motion is our part in a process or situation. But the two retrograde symbols - Chiron and Neptune - plainly say the realism or lack thereof - that's operating inside us. Each one of us.

Neptune is said to be like a fog. Fog looks real. And it is real. But we cannot catch and hold it in our hand.

So maybe it's not a moment to do anything too serious? 

Maybe.

And yet in this configuration, particularly with Athena, Neptune and Chiron sitting at 26 Aquarius (a degree about either insight into unsteadiness or unsteady insights) ...this may be when we realize what some problem is really about. What comes from that?

That depends. And seeing that this is a transiting moment in time, it should depend on what develops from here. Going into these hours on either side of the moment of transit exactitude, things will be what they will be. It's our job to learn from them without depending on this being the 'last word' on anything in particular.

Some good things will seem ideal. Some bad things will seem dastardly. The issue is not the 'thing' itself; it's our willingness to recognize what it is (Athena + Mercury) and understand whatever our reaction to that is (Neptune + Mercury). But where we go from here? That depends on how well we know ourselves (Athena + Chiron) and others (Libra/Aquarius)...and how well we are able to accept the truth of and manage our more base/basic instincts (Chiron + Neptune).

Whatever this moment is, it's Chirotic and thus educational. It's about learning how to manage our own affairs in a world which contains other people (Mercury in Libra trine Neptune in Aquarius) and how we don't really have any choice in that (Chiron in Aquarius)... the world is what it is.

 Planet Earth as seen by Apollo 17

source: NASA

 So we realize, we recognize, we learn something new (hopefully)...and from there, we move on. Considering the Full Moon (at 29 Aries) doesn't occur until the 23rd, and that Mercury will oppose that impending Full Moon position as it reached 29 Libra on the 19th or 20th (depending on where you are)...

...there is surely more to come on whatever subject(s) is/are now at hand. Now is a moment to be honest - most of all with yourself. Just don't expect everybody to act as well. Or to understand their reasons, needs and rationales even when/if they are on the up-and-up.

Let go while keeping on. Be realistic while allowing for possibility. Don't bet the farm and don't give up the ghost. Laugh, cry, wonder and love as you must, but don't fall over the cliff of your own extremes.

It's a moment....which like all others, shall indeed soon pass.

Mercury in Libra: The Extent of our Grasp

 The constellation Libra (source: AlltheSky.com)

Among the many things that Libra represents is that place where our efforts end and other people begin to judge, react and respond, whether that be positively or negatively.

In that - and very much in keeping with the image of Libra as the sign of the scales - is the idea that what 'they' think is as important as what we think. And - conversely - that what we think is as important as what/how they think, yes...absolutely. No matter what culture we are born into or live by, astrology defines a theoretical equality in matters of exchange and conversation, making all interactions (no matter their nature) something of a negotiation. Or barter.

Bartering for sheep in China

(source: AMorgan/Flicker)

As of October 3rd, it's Mercury which is moving into Libra, bringing all that Mercurial contemplation and 'variations on the possible theme' into the realm of conversation, contemplation and - because Libra is a public sign - worldly initiation.

Of course there is a plus and minus here...while Mercury is in one of the zodiac's first six 'private/personal' signs (Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo or Virgo) there's this quietly 'closed' sort of quality to our thoughts. What we think never has to leave our mouth. It can, but there's a whole lotta thinking going on which never goes beyond our internal cycle of thinking about things and learning more about what we think.

But once Mercury enters Libra, it is in for a goodly period of public and worldly doings. That means we learn more and better through interactions. That means we learn how to interact more effectively - and that what we really need to learn is going to be found through at least listening to (if not reading or talking with) people or sources beyond our own skin.  

Entering Libra with Kalypso and TNO Typhon behind in Virgo - and Atropos just ahead at 5 Libra.

Kalypso (Calypso) as a detail from an 18th century painting

AND with Mercury in opposition to Byblis and Eos in Aries....

PLUS Scheat, Uranus, Jupiter and Hebe in opposition but in feeling-my-feelings Pisces rather than knowing-myself Aries

Given all this, maybe the first thing to remember when diagnosing this crowd of influential signposts is that any celestial body entering Libra is going to meet up with M87, the famous super-massive Black Hole which sits just inside the boundary of Libran influences.

Since Black Holes always indicate 'alternative realities,' this tells us right away that part of the very act of shifting from the 'personal' to the 'public' is because  our situational encounter with 'others; provides us with some 'alternative' to our own thinking. Or that we need to think in terms of the 'I/thou' dynamic during whatever period specific planets (and therefore aspects of our lives) are indicated to be in a 'public sign' mode - as signaled by their being in any of the zodiac's 'worldly' signs (Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius or Pisces).

Mercury is a symbol mentality and thought. Or lack thereof. Or the actions/activities involved in following through on a thought or idea. In the Mercurial sign of Gemini we choose, plan, prioritize, correlate, organize and think things through. In Mercury-ruled Virgo we improve, recognize ramifications and consequences, consider functionality and implementation and in general, concentrate on function and functionality.

Mercury as photographed by the Mariner spacecraft (source: NASA)

In Libra, Mercury meets up with where 'my' thought ends and your thought begins. Thus Libra in Mercury fosters conversations, negotiations, arguments and debates, agreements, gossiping and the general sorting out of the mental level of relating. Libra in Mercury is not necessarily lovey-dovey though it can be very poetic (poetry being the expression of the romantic thought).

Under Mercury in Libra, we work things out, we establish a basis for understanding and/or communicating, we get our point across and we tell others what we think.

Meanwhile, they're telling us what they think, speaking their mind and expressing whatever their priorities are.

With Mercury entering Libra in opposition to 'old-school'  Byblis and over-focused Eos, we can bet there's going to be a lot of standing one's ground - at least to begin with. Another way to see this would concern the 'status quo' (whatever that may be on any given subject) and whether that is defended or considered totally trash-worthy. We could also bet on a bit of name-calling (rock throwing, mud slinging...that stuff) on every side. Alas... but humans will be human.

This is not made any less potent by Uranus/Scheat - a call to change things and a cry by forces exterior to any problem, declaration or situation about how 'very wrong it is.' To quote a wonderful (not to mention useful) song from the old Marx Brothers movie Horse Feathers:

Whatever you're for, I'm against it

If you've commenced it, I'm against it...

 Movie poster for Paramount Pictures'

"Horse Feathers" starring the Marx Brothers

 

Yes, there's a lot of that going around - in general, I mean. And what with Uranus/Scheat (plus Jupiter/Hebe) having been playing around at the end of Pisces and beginning of Aries all year, everybody's been up in arms about changes other people need to make (Uranus) and that it's criminal (or at least a cryin' shame) (Scheat) that anyone should go around being so dim as to not get what 'right' really is.

 

With this has come a liberal helping of Jupiter/Hebe - the 'I'm the good guy - I want to do right! I'm trying to help everyone! But does anyone listen to me? Noooo...and they're going to be sorry they didn't!' sort of stuff.

 

Life has been full of this, morning, noon and night. We get it at home, at work, from the family, from our government...our government (whichever one is yours) is getting this from other governments....

...It's been a very long year. Amazing how long one solar cycle can get to be, y'know? The universe delves out these cycles in regulation sizes which hardly vary but a breath of an ootch of a nonce and some feel like they go by in no time...some seem to last for(dreary)ever!

The up side here is that with Mercury having moved from Virgo (where all the discussion was on 'workability' and enough functional details to put Rip Van Winkle to sleep) into Libra, where negotiations are far more the rule of the day.

Actor Joseph Jefferson playing Rip van Winkle

- photograph by Napoleon Sarony (1869)

Oh - and manners. Libra tends to be a mannerly sign, so there's less mud slinging likely. Virgo is known for cleanliness yes - but the Virgo dynamic also often wallows in the muck which then has to get cleaned up! 

This positive/negative of signs as they are (Virgo as clean and dirty or Libra as arguments and peacemaking) is totally typical. And totally to be accepted. People who think a glass is to be filled and never emptied will soon find themselves out of room to pour!

With Kalypso and TNO Typhon just behind Mercury in Virgo here we have arguments about who loves who and who's fault what is now behind us. Well, hopefully. There is some chance you will still feel like you're being chased by questions of being at fault and whether you care about things which (after all) should be common sense and things everyone holds dear, important, as correct...and all the rest of such.

You may agree or not - that's not the point. What is the point now is how any discussion now goes on. We have left the earthy world of Virgo for the more abstract and theoretical Land of Libra. So while feelings are still important, they are to be discussed, not acted out!

 

And that's worth noting - as is the presence of Atropos in this configuration. Standing at 5 Libra as Mercury enter the public arena, Atropos stands for an 'end' point. And given 5 Libra is a balance between understanding and lack of comprehension, this argues (yes, I used that word!) for a need to identify what is fact against what is assumption - what is rumor against what is actual.

Astrological metaphysics work in the short, medium and long run. So this 'image' of Mercury entering Libra is strong as the planet enters Libra and tapers off from there, with the caveat that Atropos is telling us that at five days, five weeks and/or five months there will be a resurgence of either the situation or the dynamic of the moment. Hopefully we will learn how to deal once and employ such solutions with ever increasing deftness, but one never knows.

Like I say, humans are so human.

 

 

Earth, today's only human home, 

as photographed from the Moon (source: NASA)

That Mercury is making this entrance into Libra only a few days shy of Venus' station/retrograde, with Atropos in this picture also suggests some decisions, statements or recognitions that certain things 'have to end.'

The realization is now. The tangle with the doing and all which goes with that? That's the Venus station-and-retrograde part, which obviously we will get to in just a few days.

In the meantime, enjoy your Mercury in Libra moment. Maybe it's time to patch things up with someone? Maybe it's time to have a meaningful conversation which gives you insight on where you want to go next? Maybe it's just a fine time to have some fun with friends.

Whatever it is, the awareness of what you're doing is yours, as is your awareness that what you choose do defines what you're not doing - and what therefore remains to be done.

It's always a toss up...that darn cake we so want to have and eat too? It's not in the kitchen - it's in our head, and the truth is, we can't be everywhere at once and can't be everything to everyone. There is much we can grab in life, and many things we can hold on to. Some are worth it, some are not. Some we should let go and at some point, we need to recognize there are things we may admire, but which exceed our grasp either mentally, or for lack of interest or time.

Which all comes back to being happy with who we are and choosing to go on from there!

 'So Happy Smiling Cat' by Yumi Kimura of Yokahama

Japan (Nov 29, 2009) as posted to Flicker

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