Mercury in Gemini

A Mustard-Blue Sunset in Landers, California

(photo credit, Jessie Eastland aka Robert DeMeo, August 2012)

When Mercury enters Gemini on May 15th at 8:42 in the evening (UT/+0 time), it will signal that everything else in Gemini, all the qualities associated with any Gemini object (or attribute in your natal chart) is going to become ‘amplified.’ So the volume, even the sheer noise in life and in our heads is going to get turned up a notch.

At the same time, anything in the opposing sign of Sagittarius is going to confront us, or manifest as something confrontational which we may only have to think about…or which, as some do with oppositions, we’ll try to ‘push away’ or avoid.

Again, this applies in life, in the real-time world and in your personal world and mind, as a part of your ongoing mindset.

I could go on like this, pointing out that Pisces and Virgo are the squares to Mercury’s Gemini ingress and that Aquarius and Libra are the trines and that Scorpio and Capricorn are the inconjuncts.

And all that would be true. It’s also not unique. The idea which (in an archetypally Mercurial manner) I’m trying to get across is that an object which is in one sign sets off relationships to all other signs. Mercury is entering Gemini, yes. And it will be in Gemini until the end of May, when it will mush (or trip ever so gaily, depending) on into Cancer. And yes, Mercury in Gemini is a time for business and many new ideas and getting organized and thinking things through and making choices. All of that is true. But astrology isn’t about ‘existence in isolation’ any more than your heart rate or blood pressure exists as a thing isolated an apart from your body’s temperature or some infection you may have in your wee little finger.

So while we can start by thinking about how Mercury’s entering Gemini is likely to bring out Venus, Jupiter and Black Moon Lilith attributes because they’re all going to be in Gemini for the duration of Mercury’s transit, there’s also things like the days-ago solar eclipse which merit thinking through.

 Mercury as photographed by NASA's Mariner spacecraft

But first things first: Mercury, Venus, Jupiter and Black Moon Lilith being altogether in Gemini suggests that these weeks of May are a time to get things done and for moving towards (or at least working on how to move towards) important Venus-Jupiter goals. And yet, you may have to do this in spite of what others think (that would be the Black Moon Lilith effect) because you believe in them…OR this may be a time to think through why you’re having such a problem with life (and others) in a general sense, dealing with what you may or may not have failed to take into account about them or their direction, interests, mentality …whatever… in light of how you are or aren’t being received.

The ‘informational’ or ‘mental gearing’ points which we would most associate with this process will occur as Mercury conjuncts each of these various points – and I should add here that the Sun will be joining this Gemini party late on May 20th, so the last ten days of May are surely about as Gemini as they can be.

And that can be good…or it can be challenging, as indicated by the fact that there will be a Sagittarius lunar eclipse on May 25th.

But let’s not jump ahead (that would be too Mercurial even for me, a known “long-form” text type!). Mercury doesn’t actually ‘catch up’ (conjunct) Venus until May 24th, though we will start feeling the combined Gemini Mercury-Venus vibe as early as May 18th. If you think of this Mercury-Venus in Gemini combo as the ability to see possibilities, you’re probably on the right track.

With Venus having crossed the rather vital Aldebaran-Antares axis line on May 16th and Mercury crossing that same point on May 19th, these three days ask that we emphasize the Aldebaran concept of integrity while avoiding the wholesale instinct to proselytize or demand that others see things our way which Antares (a star known for dogmatic qualities) tends to evoke.

In case you missed the blogs on these two famously stellar entities, here are the links:

Aldebaran: Royal Star of Persia

Antares: Royal Star of Persia

By the time Mercury and Venus perfect their transiting junction, they’re at 18 Gemini, an emotional degree which in airy Gemini tends to manifest as fervency, enthusiasm or excitement over some idea. That said, the enthusiasm or fascination evidenced at 18 Gemini is also thought to be problematic sometimes because it’s so focused on details and not willing enough to go along with the spirit of the moment, or the idea that life is not all about having life be what we want…but rather an experiencing of life so that we can come to an understanding of how to fit in, harmonize and contribute in a way which is meaningful to us, and others.

This is a time for learning – that we know because this Venus/Mercury conjunction is taking place within a degree of Rigel, the star all about being ‘at the foot of the teacher’ and thus embodying what we can learn, what we can teach, and yes – what we may need to learn about a subject, about ourselves, about others or about life itself before we can move on, or before we can achieve the success in whatever it is which seems so important to us at this time.

That discordancy, that gap between the longing or the ‘idea of the thing’ and the reality of whether it works or whether anyone will be willing to meet you even part way (never mind half way) is very Black Moon Lilith. Black Moon Lilith is that which others aren’t willing (or “ready”) to hear about or from us…and often enough what we don’t want to take into account about ‘them’ – which could be the big societal “them” or the relationship partner “them” or the boss or supervisor “them” or those running your country or (if you’re in power) your citizenry, which about now is probably not listening.

At least not with their tolerant and open ear.

Study for the painting 'Lady Lilith' done in 1866 by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

The underlying energetic of Lilith involves something far more potent: that part of ourselves often referred to as our 'shadow' which, in not accepting and working to understand we so often end up attracting - literally or qualitatively - from others. Typically referred to as a 'woman' because of this symbol's origination in ancient scriptures dating from a time when women were thought of as 'less than' (which is rather Lilith-like in itself, don't you think?) Lilith has everything to do with that part of our persona, generally the emotional persona, which we don't like dealing with and don't like anyone else evoking in us.

When they do, we blame them. But while their acts or actions which we find so provocative are certainly their, the reaction to that is ours. And it's that reaction which Lilith is all about: the darker side of our emotional nature which is reactive at some level or in whatever way which we find so difficult to deal with.

The metaphsyical lesson here is that life will continue to provoke us until we learn to deal not with life, but with our Self. To the degree that we don't, Lilith (in either form, as the Black Moon or as the asteroid Lilith) represents that part of us both that we reject and which we will be rejected for.

Not to put too fine a point on this, that there has also ended up being two forms of Lilith says a lot to how problematic this tendency is in human beings.

The asteroid form (which we are not talking about here) tends to be more about things we don't want to deal with in ourselves which only apply to what we don't want to admit to ourselves. The calculated form of Lilith - the Black Moon - has to do with the Moon's orbit around Earth and thus manifests with more of a 'relational' or me-and-my-world sort of quality.  
 
Black Moon Lilith sitting at 28 Gemini as all this is going on has the Black Moon in conjunction with another famously infamous fixed star, Betelgeuse. And since Betelgeuse either wants things to be easy or seeks to take the easy way out (or through the problem) while that may be our problem, we’re more than likely to think it’s everybody else’s problem.

Why? Because that’s the easy thing to do, of course!

(Yes, I know…how annoying!)

Besides all the above, I am coming to think that perhaps Betelgeuse, especially in the presence of a 'relational' or 'societal' symbol like Black Moon Lilith doesn't also represent those who have it easy...or those who think the easiest thing to do is "go with the flow" or join some 'prevailing idea.'

But then, Jupiter and Venus in Gemini as a chaser to a strong draught of Taurus solar eclipse does sort of encompass that idea. So as Mercury moves into Gemini, might we not hear more on both sides of this 'having it easy' coin?

Maybe the real answer is the difference between what comes easily to one person and not to another and how what is given to us by dint of fortune is an ease that may also blind us to some very real and very emotionally evocative part of life.  

With our having just passed through a vital solar eclipse which is so testing to our sense of ability and desire to persevere, it's likely that some of us will be tempted to just say ‘screw them’ (so to speak). Or even ‘I give up!’ now, which may come to a head as the emotional peak of the lunar eclipse rambles through. From when Mercury conjuncts Venus the gap between Mercury/Venus and Jupiter – the power of ‘blowing things up big’ (or expansion) only increases not just until the eclipse but beyond it, reaching a mental/psycho-social peak twice – once on May 26 (when Mercury conjuncts Jupiter) and again on May 29th, when Mercury conjuncts Black Moon Lilith.

As this happens, asteroid Atlantis joins the grouping as if to say if you’ll just let yourself understand and get used to how things work instead of how you WANT them to work, you can achieve everything you want to achieve…maybe even more.

But it’s not going to be easy for everybody to get there. Between the moment of the lunar eclipse (May 25th) and this Mercury-Black Moon conjunction the Moon will of course be moving on from its eclipse point (4 Sagittarius) through the balance of Sagittarius (testing our willingness to see new truths and act to improve things in the general-and-operational sense) …and then the Moon enters Capricorn.

Moon in Capricorn is always hasty. I don’t know if you’re into Lord of the Rings, but when I think Moon in Capricorn, I always hear a line from Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers where Treebeard the Ent chides one of the Hobbits (Merry) for being so hasty.

Treebeard and the Hobbits by TTThom (2007)

The Moon will enter Capricorn on May 26th at 9:30 in the evening UT/+0 time. And during the next two days, while it transits Capricorn, we will have less of a tendency to ‘hold on’ and hesitate and more of that urge to get it done.

This process will become particularly strong as the Moon conjuncts Pluto, a process which initiates late on May 26th (UT/+0 time), which ‘perfects’ or comes to its peak early in the morning on May 27th (UT/+0 time) and which will fade back into a more ‘normal’ Moon-in-Capricorn busy pace by 6-7 pm on the 27th.

For some of us, that will be the energy which gets us past a sticking point. For some of us, this period will mark a time of revelation. For all of us, considering that the height of this Pluto/Moon takes place in opposition to Vesta (the ‘cost’ of keeping our commitments, whether to others or ourselves) and that the ‘exit’ from Pluto-Moon’s intensity occurs in opposition to Ceres/Charybdis, our questions are more likely to be ‘how to do that?’ rather than the total denial of what needs doing.

And that’s good, as that is part of the unfolding process of the solar eclipse – which though it is an event which takes place at a particular time is also, and more importantly on the astrological front, a long-term transit.

We are just beginning to grow into and through the energetics of this May’s solar eclipse. We’re about seven months into incorporating shifts denoted by last November’s solar eclipse into our lives. We’re about a year into the process of grasping the shift of mental emphasis spoken to by the 0 Gemini solar eclipse of May 2011.

Solar eclipses ‘evolve’ over a period of three years. Often we don’t really understand what they’re about until almost the whole of that period has passed us by. Sure, we think we know what they’re about…we get a ‘message’ and we make a shift. But it’s what that leads us to knowing or doing or understanding which is the real and shining jewel of any eclipse. So right now we’re really just finding out – or coming to find out – what the solar eclipse of July 2010 at 19 Cancer was all about.

- link to post -

 The 2010 Solar Eclipse at 19 Cancer

This year’s eclipse builds from that place. And of course each eclipse in its turn is more or less important or vital in an active sense in our lives depending on how the position of the eclipse aspects our chart. For instance, that eclipse in my world hit my personal natal Uranus in the 4th house. The standard ‘breaking down’ period which preceded it was a time of restlessness and turmoil in my life which caused me to burst forth on my Uranian own, taking on the development of this blog, which first appeared in May of 2010, a little less than eight weeks prior to the solar eclipse.

And that’s what we always say: when you get inside that eight weeks prior to an eclipse, you begin to change. Now, with the current eclipse, I’m building on that which I’ve come to understand through three years of blogging (and for a time, not blogging). And as we’ve noted in the eclipse post, there is something to be said for this May’s eclipse (at 19 Taurus) sextiling the (19 Cancer) eclipse which is just concluding it’s work.

All that comes back to these weeks of Mercury in Gemini leading directly out of the Taurus solar eclipse as a time when though we aren’t comfortable with everything we need to think through, deal with, try to understand or figure out how to do, we still need to do it. Gemini and Taurus are signs right next to each other, so they’re of differing ‘modalities’ and element. Gemini’s mode of operation is to try and to see what happens – hence the idea so many people have of Gemini as the ‘try this, try that’ sign, which really only works if you stay on course with a single goal. Gemini is not about spreading ourselves too thin. It’s not about giving ourselves excuses for not getting anything done. Gemini is about figuring out how to get to where you want to go. And it’s opposition to Sagittarius warns us that if we focus on the results too early, or if we go out into the big world with our big ideas before they’re properly assembled, we’re likely to find some ‘back to the drawing board’ glitches. Or at least some ‘I need to tweak this’ moments.

Taurus, like its fixed sign compatriots (Leo, Scorpio and Aquarius) wants to get things right. In fact, these are signs which would tend not to want to try unless they know they have it right…even though you have to risk being wrong to confirm ‘rightness,’ as it were.

 
Both of these signs are part of the zodiac’s first quadruplicity – the first four signs. Aires (fire), Taurus (earth), Gemini (air), Cancer (water) describe the basic life learning processes which go on through life no matter how old we get. Wherever you see these signs in your chart, whenever planets or other objects are in transit through these signs, we know that area of life is in for some development. It’s time to learn, the universe says.

The solar eclipse in Taurus is a ‘destabilizing’ energy in our security and satisfaction arena. Humans being humans, we don’t like changing the comfy status quo too much, so every 19 years or so (the eclipse cycle) Mother Nature shakes us awake with primal sorts of shifts which force us to grow and adapt. We get forced to let go of that which is no longer useful, no matter how much we love it.

No matter how much we love them.

The universe is neither kind nor unkind – it simply is. We project all sorts of priorities on existence which existence simply – and quite obviously – doesn’t uphold. Our loves, our prejudices, what is important to us as a human being, as a sentient creature, is evidently not what decides how the universe is run. Or how it unfolds. When we get “too” secure we seem to run a risk of thinking of ourselves as inviolable. That’s a form of ‘resistance to change’ which life will inevitably test, as the walls we put up – like all else – are merely formats of formulated energy. And for every action, there is an opposite and equal reaction. Our attempts to control merely prompt the universal mechanism to meet our power with equal or greater power.

After all, the universe will out. The whole is mightier than the part - which may be a secret in itself to why anything which separates us from each other, whether that's selfishness, discrimination, elitism...why the simple act of accepting is the ultimate and hardest zodiacal act to achieve and the hallmark of the emotional wisdom which is the challenge and glory of Pisces.

If you think this through – and Mercury in Gemini is a perfect time to do so – the success of Gandhi’s non-resistance and the logic of the peaceful and accepting ways spoken of in Buddhism become clearer.

And once you get there, you realize that all the force and violence is at some level our desire for some lesson.

Which says…what about us?
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Mercury Retrogrades in Leo

 Mercury, Herse and Aglauros

by Marie Pierre Jean-Baptiste (1763)

 

Mercury entered Leo back in late June – June 26th, to be exact. That same day, it entered the shadow of its upcoming retrograde – which would be this Sunday, July 15th (at 2:17 in the morning UT/+0 time, just in case you’re into clock watching.)

Oh…and that date of Mercury’s entrance into Leo? That just happened to be the day between the dates on which Saturn and Venus each went direct.

This all bodes well for those doing something of portent. This bodes as perhaps rather problematic for those trying to stand on ego or I-Me-Mine oriented positions. Leo fosters that, if for the most understandable of reasons: nobody wants to think something they like, really believe in or have labored long and hard on is ridiculous, broken, unacceptable or otherwise being rejected for whatever reason!

With Mercury going retrograde at 12 Leo – a degree guaranteed to carry a bit of waffling Leo ‘can’t I just be proud of myself?’ those with 12 degrees of any sign are likely to be going through a little Adventure In Self Questioning sort of moment. That’s neither good nor bad in and of itself, though with Kallisto (the ‘bear of a time’) also at 12 Leo, it’s likely that nobody’s getting a free ride at the moment.

At least not an emotional ‘free’ ride.

 

This doesn’t mean that anything is truly ‘wrong.’ It’s just that the kudos and ‘atta boy’ (or ‘atta girl’) you’d really like to be getting is in most cases, not going to be forthcoming.

At least yet.

There are those who will finish something now, or who have been working towards something which by hook or crook or fate of finality ends up locking, stocking and barreling out of the gate about now. For them, this is a red letter day – and if something happens now which is a ‘turn of circumstance’ of any note, you will do well to note that note and consider it noteworthy!

For those who are working on some project OR who are busy following a course of action they are determined not to be distracted from Edisona (the ‘bright idea’) sheds a little light on your topic from 15 Leo – one of the zodiac’s cross-quarter degrees. The most frequent result of input which shows its informational face now is that you’ll need to double back or make a few adjustments based on what you learn. HOWEVER…! There are some folks who will realize that they’ve been kidding themselves. Or that they’ve been led amazingly astray.

This is one of the interesting things about Edisona – and about tracking orbits of asteroids in general. (Yes, I have a giant chart on same with all sorts of orbital numbers and distances.) When you start logging these things, you start noticing the ‘near-and-far’ patterns.

What do I mean by that?

Simply this...when Edisona is at it’s farthest from the Sun (its aphelion point) it’s closest neighbors are Juno and Scheherazade. Juno represents the kind of discipline we need to exert inside our Self in order to keep ourselves on track. It’s the sort of energetic which keeps us from believing in just any-old-thing. It’s the concept that we should look before we leap, the need to know who we’re dealing with and the soundness of that old slogan you never gamble with anything you cannot afford to lose.

On the other side of Edisona is Scheherazade, ‘the telling of the tale.’ In most instances, Scheherazade is harmless. But sometimes Scheherazade is the tale which gets sold because someone feels the truth will not get them were they want to go.

Edisona – representing ‘illumination’ on the conscious or mental level – asks us to take both ideas into regard. And that requires thinking things through…which is an obvious Mercurial quotient.

At Edisona’s inner orbital position (it’s perihelion) it is flanked by the perihelion points of Byblis (defense of the indefensible) and Lilith (emotional denial)…neither of which sound like such a ‘bright idea’ but which often enough, people resort to anyway.

In considering this, we should probably wonder where all these points are at the moment – vis a vis their orbital cycles, I mean. Lucky for us, looking such things up is pretty much of a breeze using the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) data bank and orbital image generators, from which all the following images come, with the date set for July 15, 2012.

First up, an image of Edisona in orbit:

  Edisona in orbit at July 15, 2012

Next, a reference check on where Edisona’s outer-reach (aphelion) neighbors are.

  Juno in orbit at July 15, 2012

 Scheherazade in orbit at July 15, 2012

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Finally we come to the images for Byblis and Lilith, the positions of which may well tell us whether we may be kidding ourselves, lying to others or in complete denial about what the truth of some situation really is.

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 Byblis in orbit at July 15, 2012

 Lilith in orbit at July 15, 2012

Of course this could be the other way around, you know…with all of these points (with the interesting exception of Edisona) pretty much near or at their aphelion (as far away from the Sun as they get) this could be an image of our trying to ‘offload’ responsibility.

That’s the problem with being human…just about the time you’re sure it’s all about them (or their fault) the truth appears to become some form of a lesson for us to learn about ourselves – that lesson being the offset to that ‘I’m so sure it’s them’ opinion.

Remember: we all fit into each other like yin and yang. We know people, we are attracted to people and circumstances because there is some form of ‘mirror image’ or ‘mirroring.’

 Mirror image of Tewkesbury Abbey

(photo credit: Pauline Eccles, first published by

geograph.org (UK) in July, 2009)

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With the former (the mirror image) we get either our twin, the easy agreement which can be twice as right or twice as wrong…or we can get the polarity – I say light, you say darkness and together we learn about the cycles of a day.

As for ‘mirroring,’ there is the ‘strictly psychological’ form of mirroring which involves echoing what you’ve just heard someone say either because you want to make sure you understand, because you are afraid of having some other point of view or because you are echoing what was said in order to elicit further comment.

For those of you who are into the astrology of asteroids, you’re probably saying ‘okay, so what about Echo?’ Which is valid.

But no, Echo is not at either end of its orbit either (I checked). Although… considering that at the moment of Mercury’s station asteroid Echo is sitting with Pelion and Child suggests either:

1.) much ado about children

2.) difficulties we have with accessing our ‘inner child’ (sorry, but that trite sort of phrase just works here)

…or,

3.) an act of childish nature which we are in the process of doing or more likely, have already done.

 Though we would all like to think that the 'Echo' in our

life is about someone else, since the whole of the horoscope

represents our Self, the 'Echo' we do not want to 'hear' (or

acknowledge that we have heard) is more often than not,

something we 'know' but do not want to know - which makes

any moment which summons the concept of Echo along with

that of Lilith (emotionally-based denial) an important one.

Echo by Alexandre Cabanel (1887)

 

And why is it that we’re going through all this tra-la about Edisona? Positioned at 15 Leo, Edisona is at one of the zodiacal ‘cross-quarter’ points. In this case the quadrant involved is the 2nd, indicating that matters at hand have to do with moving from a learning and ‘taking in’ phase into a phase all about applying what we think we already know in the process of learning more. That Mercury is ‘reversing course’ at 12 Leo would be one very good indicator that we still have ‘work to do’ on whatever project is now at hand…even if that project is going on vacation!

(You have heard the expression work hard, play hard, right? That’s what I’m referring to!)

Mercury will be retrograde from July 15th into the semi-wee hours of August 8th, when it will go direct just before dawn, UT/+0 time. During these weeks, we will all be examining what it takes to achieve our aims. Some of us will be having to face the idea that our choices just don’t work – at least not in current form! Leo being a very ‘headstrong’ sign, this is not a time when anyone tends to take critique all that well, though it would be a grave mistake to believe that all Leo bravado is built on fact, success or even sensibility to functionality. As one half of the Leo-Aquarius polarity, Leo is a lesson in creating for an ultimate purpose…and with the success of that ‘purpose’ being ours to propose, but not ultimately to fully define.

Let’s use an example here, taking ‘celebrity’ (a Leo concept) as our example. Pausing only to point out that in astrology celebrity is not the same as fame (celebrity is about the person and fame is about society’s appreciation of their accomplishments, achievements or creations)…anything which we purposefully ‘create,’ be that a child, an image or a product – the eventual ‘judgment’ on any one of those and its success is ultimately up to others, including people we personally will never meet.

That’s Aquarius. Aquarius is the mass of society. It’s ‘people’ not individuals. Leo polarizes into Aquarius by understanding that you can’t please all of the people all of the time and yet, we are each and every one of us dependent – at some level – on how others regard us. 

Those who, as the saying goes, ‘read their own press’ get so self-involved that eventually others are repelled. And that makes sense: to become self-involved excludes others.

Given all of this, Aquarius becomes the sign of reward for whatever we are and whatever we do which finds its place in what we might call the ‘greater marketplace of mankind.’

And that’s what Mercury in Leo is all about.

On the very-much-plus side here is that Mercury is going into retrograde in a perfected sextile to Venus – an indication that these weeks ahead can be a highly productive time. That Mercury is conjunct Kallisto on the date of its station says that we have either had a ‘bear of a time’ (Kallisto) or that we are having one…and that we probably need a ‘time out’ to think things through.

Mercury retrograde is an excellent time to think things through. It’s also good for making plans, for straightening things out, for having private conversations, for asking questions and for checking out all the possibilities before you settle on one as your choice in how to proceed.

If something comes to a head during the two days prior to Mercury going into retrograde (July 13-15) the indication is that something lies ahead which will change things. That ‘other shoe’ hasn’t yet dropped.

If something of note or import happens in the two days after Mercury goes retrograde (July 15-17), this is a further comment on something which has already taken place. Think it over…maybe you need to amend some position, attitude, choice or priority?

Mercury being trine Pallas at 10 Aries (and thus conjunct the trio of Child, Echo and Pelion discussed earlier) is yet another vote for recognition that we don’t know everything. That’s a totally neutral statement which at the moment may prove useful.

Maybe you need to admit you don’t know everything? Maybe even anything?

Do you need to admit that to yourself? To someone else?

Indecision is highly likely at this point and the smart money is on thinking, talking and investigating. 

Declarations and any other form of ‘betting on results’ is highly risky at this moment and the more that has to do with something you either want, want, want …or which you think you “should” do (societal obligation) the greater your chance of making a challenging, if not problematic choice.

Don’t let your ego get the best of you!

Oh yes…all these considerations, especially those involving risk or speculation should be doubled where money is concerned. Leo is the sign of athletics, competition and the stock market (as distinct from investments in anything solid) and all such matter are…well….something of a horse race at the moment.

 Spacecraft Messenger giving us a close-up

view of planet Mercury ( photo credit: NASA 2009)

Among astrologers, Leo retrogrades are infamous for instability in financial dealings. Some – undoubtedly – will be fine, but the name of the game now is likely to be volatility. Were there an eclipse, we’d worry giant time. As things are though, there’s just enough instability (especially with Uranus having just gone retrograde) to suggest things aren’t settled or predictable.

Take it as another form of that ‘other shoe’ thing.

With Mercury due to retrograde all the way back to 1 Leo, those who are willing to review and revise are likely to do well moving forward. This applies equally to products and life plans, so don’t be stingy – give yourself some latitude.

Mercury retrograde is a well-known headache when it comes to getting answers from people, sorting out final terms and finding exactly the right way to get anything done.

On the other hand, it’s also exactly the right time to figure out how to put the question so that it will in time get answered…and to have some idea of what you will do no matter what that answer is.

It’s a very good time to get informed on the parameters of any deal pending or in process.

It’s a good time to think ahead and work out how to get from here to there, pretty much across the board.

And for those on vacation? For you, it’s a good time to think about how pleasant it is not to have to think about anything. After all, there will be all those things which need accomplishing once you get home.

So! Stay in touch – at least with yourself! You’ll thank you for it in the end, I’m sure.

Anon and au revoir!

Mercury, Venus Chiron, Niobe: Aims in Search of a Focus

 Venus and Mercury (1585)

by Bartholomaus Spranger

We’re going to tackle a three day range here – from May 7th through 9th. It’s a nice enough weekend for those fond of Taurus times…the Moon will be transiting Cancer on Saturday and Sunday which will make things nicely home for those who have time, and those who are hot on fire about some project are going to be brainstorming apace, whatever else is afoot.

Taking Saturday on its own, it offers one other highlight as well: Venus and Mercury coming into conjunction at 20 Aries.

Now let’s be realistic here…Venus and Mercury have been playing tag pretty much since the first of the month. And it’s something of an interesting indication this, what with Venus being in Aries. Let’s remember after all, Venus is a symbol of what we like to get from others in return for what we do or who we are (or a return on our investment, be that of time, money or effort)…and when Venus transits Aries, we’re sort of stuck with ‘getting’ that from ourselves. Or looking to ourselves for satisfaction with what we’re doing. Or even rewarding ourselves for good (would you believe ‘decent’?) behavior. Or with putting up with inconveniences.

Or that never-popular looking Self in the mirror thing? You know – when we get real about why we’re not getting where we think we want to go?

Mercury, on the other hand, is quite all righty-roo in Aries. Mental and conceptual, Mercury can express itself a little too self-critically in Aries – or too egotistically. Mercury in Aries is often a sign of impatience, or the tendency to get frustrated overly quickly – at least in comparison with how patient we usually are. (Except if you have Mercury in Aries natally. Then that ‘comparison’ thing becomes a big fat maybe…maybe not!)

Put these two together and you can get a lot of brainstorming (as suggested above) or really harsh critique (try not to!) or clashing of titan opinions (which works well in Japanese horror flicks and not so delightfully in real life) or haste making waste and getting frustrated over that…

This would be a classic time to splurge or act on a whim. And that may work for you – or it may not. How would you know which is which? Probably by why you’re doing what you’re doing. If this is a sudden ‘bingo!’ thought – the ‘aha!’ moment where you see how to do something or fix something or fit that hole and make ‘it’ all work? That’s the Mercury-up side of this conjunction and it proves that you’re thinking.

But this would also be a classic time to try and ‘make yourself feel better’ by buying something or indulging in something or doing the ‘I deserve this!’ pout-pout thing. We all do it, so don’t beat yourself up about it – that really sulky Venus/Aries thing you just don’t need.

The point here is to understand what you’re doing and to do what you do with a bit of sense or sensibility as to boundaries and not going entirely overboard.

Remember, Chiron – the what I need to learn how to do by doing it…even though I dread the whole thought symbol – Chiron is still conjunct fixed star Fomalhaut. And Fomalhaut is the heart and soul of the karmic lesson about ‘no shady deals.’ Where we are above board, Fomalhaut promises success. So if you really need to learn how to do something and you really don’t know how to do it, provided you’re just tackling the job and have no ulterior motives for doing so, these past weeks have been good for you.

And this weekend continues being positive.

But! IF you’ve been craven or covetous, where you’ve been in an ‘I’ll show them!’ mood instead of merely dealing with your own life, where you know you have been unfair, mean or selfish…it doesn’t matter if you think you should be allowed to do so, if you know that isn’t cool, it isn’t. And for you, this would be a bit of a rocky time.

Continuing on with this Chiron theme as we move along to Sunday, Chiron actually ends its act of effusive fusion with Fomalhaut on Sunday. How are we likely to experience this? Probably as a loss of some sense that yes, we really can do this. Or that if we just follow the rules, the procedures, the Yellow Brick Road that we will eventually gain the upper hand, achieve our aims and in the end, succeed.

This does not mean that some mystical “chance” has been lost. No, you still can succeed! You’ll just have to do it without that little voice inside cheering you on – and seeing you through those really (Chiron) hard parts. As Chiron parts ways with Fomalhaut (with it being yet a while before Chiron moves out of orb), that’s when we get the other notice for this weekend – namely Niobe (pride) retrograding back into Libra.

When we say that Niobe is pride, we mean the kind which thinks ‘life has blessed me’ ….in that particularly (Greek tragedy) way which sort of almost taunts life to test your sense of blessedness. In Niobe’s case, she was boastful about her children. She thought her many beautiful children were the most beautiful and the most talented and better even than the children of the gods.

Let’s just say that such boastful pride, such luxuriating in what was especially in those days (when child mortality was so high) such a gift…that was just plain old everyday (and immortally) obnoxious. And when Leto – mom of Sun god Apollo (god of light, music, healing and enlightenment) and Artemis (aka Diana, goddess of Moon/moonlight, intuition, hunting and chastity) – when Leto heard Niobe boasting she SO wasn’t having any of it!

 Latona (the Roman Leto) and her Children, Apollo and Diana

by William Henry Rinehart (1874) (Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY)

This woman would have to be dealt with – and deal with her Leto would: Apollo and Artemis were told to take their exalted bows and arrows and to shoot down Niobe’s children, one by one.

So blind was Niobe to the error of her ways that it actually took her until most of her children fell dead around her before she realized what was happening. And with only one child left she began to beg forgiveness.

But it was too late – a last arrow had already left Artemis’ bowstring and Niobe was left with no children at all.

So Niobe is pride. But on a more specific level it is the sort of pride which tempts us to compare ourselves with others. Call it a ‘connective’ sort of pride – there’s always someone else’s something in the mix.

That part doesn’t bode so well with the Venus in Aries thing. Venus in Aries is about the struggle to believe in self, validate ourselves in our own eyes and to be satisfied with our own opportunities. So this suggests that this weekend – while good if and where we can reconcile our internal differences – can be problematic in the relation sense, particularly since Niobe retrograding back into Libra would tend to heighten the me/them tendency to compare.

On a whole other level, this can be a very discerning time. If you have to make a decision between this and that, this quartet of influences would be exactly what you might be looking to find on the celestial menu (providing you can get past your own tendency to want it all – or want things all your way!)

Since Mercury is nearing the end of a shadow cast by its March/April retrograde, there’s also a sense of moving ‘past’ some things. So expect a miscellaneous (even perhaps important!) matter to head towards ‘wrap up’ or ‘settling out’ mode – especially as we move into the week.

By early Monday, the Moon will have moved into Leo and it’ll be time to get a move on and to start seeing what bright ideas we can get moving and bring to reality. Providing you don’t lose your head or perspective, it’s a good time to move on.

Just remember – Chiron and Fomalhaut are still within shouting distance, so don’t do unto anyone else anything you would feel really peeved to have done unto you!