Practical Astrology in October-November 2007 - What is Mercury Retrograde in Libra Good For?

by Robert Wilkinson

As I told you in the related article "What is Mercury Retrograde in Scorpio Good For?" there are always many things that we can do in a Mercury Retrograde period that will turn out favorably. Now that Mercury has gone back into Libra, I thought I should offer you a few insights about what this time is good for.

To recap the negatives, it's probably better not to sign contracts, make purchases of electronics or major moves or decisions. Knowing that things may not be as they appear, it's a good time to be flexible, adaptive, and do research and rehearsal for things to come while taking a new look at things past. Hang out with the energies, take a new look or two, play with possibilities, and let the whole thing mature for a while until you get clear about a plan of action.

Things that are generally favored during Mercury retrogrades are traveling, reflection, reviews, and returns from the past. As I've written before:

It's also a great time for reconnecting with old friends, finding people and things thought lost, It's a great time to explore possibilities, as long as no definitive decisions are made, since they are usually modified or reversed later on.

It's a good time for doing things left undone, or neglected, from previous times. It's good for resuming something from the past, as long as you remember that it may not look like it used to, or requires a different approach than before. It's also good for doing things that fill in gaps in understanding or activity, or for doing things that seem to go in one direction but lead you to entirely new information and understanding.

It's a good time for resuming things begun in previous retrograde periods, or for picking up threads that had to be set aside while other things developed. It usually indicates a time when you need to be able to build in a time lag with whatever you're doing, since retrogrades often show that there are things yet to develop that will ultimately fill in whatever is missing in the present.

In my book, "A New Look At Mercury Retrograde," I included a chapter on Mercury retrograde in the signs. Obviously what sign Mercury retrogrades through makes a huge amount of difference in what is appropriate during that period.

Since it is retrograde in Libra, in this article I'll offer you some possible manifestations of what we may expect, regardless of what Sun sign we are or which house(s) it moves through in our individual chart. This article outlines what to expect concerning which house it transits in your chart. That said, here's a bit about Mercury retrograde in Libra from the book.

In Libra, Mercury's energies slow down to rethink in an aesthetic mode. Here the mind weighs everyting, reduces the extremes, and see ideas from the side that naturally opposes, counters, or balances the information or premise. This position can name the timeless example, or communicates the transfigured vision, that helps to adjust others' visions, perspective, standards.

Often the perspective changes about old relational experiences. This is a friendly and agreeable communication style that fills in others' gaps and communicates a different aesthetic. This position is able to rationally communicate some reconstructed ideal, or give others a new ideal.

Mercury in Libra is in its own 2nd sign: There is a constant weighing or alternatives to try to establish stability, and a striving to see the beautiful essence and naturalness of anything. Mercury in its own 5th sign holds that balance is the natural expression of judging and comparing multiple points of view. Here graceful initiatives refine any form by judging its naturalness. Mercury retrograde in Libra is the mind refining its observations before expressing itself. Knowledge comes through dancing with the oscillation and finding the balance; knowledge also comes from observing the difference between what is central and what is peripheral.

The last week of this retrograde period has Mercury in Libra, so it should be a good time to rethink relational issues, ideals, icons, and the balance and proportion you give to various ideas and activities. Rethink the ideal, reconstruct what you need to, take a look back at old relationship dynamics and reclaim the best of the forms while letting go of superficialities and excess theoretical thinking or idealizing.

It should be a good time to find a new image to follow, or a new way of expressing yourself with grace, style, and elegance. Due to it being in an Air sign, you can bet that interactions will be up, but so will odd views, magical thinking, and avoidance of the ugly realities of situations.

Which brings us full circle to something I said in the second paragraph: Hang out with the energies and information, pay attention to details while remembering that a lot of it won't make sense for several weeks or months, and don't believe everything you're told. It will be a great time to review recent practical adjustments, and rethink your desires and shared resources or value systems.

Don't get stuck in ungrounded theoretical states, open to the new that you've already glimpsed before now, take time to reflect on what you know and the new you've been exposed to, and find a new ideal, new relationships, or new ways of being with people you've known for awhile. Reconnect with inner and outer beautiful images and ideas, and stabilize your thinking and view from a place of fairness, equipoise, balance, and perfect equilibrium.

More on the influence of the October-November 2007 Mercury retrograde in Scorpio and Libra can be found in the linked article covering its overall meaning. There are more insights at Mercury Retrograde Astrology in October-November 2007 Pt. 2 - What It Means For Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces.

To repeat an earlier link, How Mercury Retrograde Affects Us In The Different Houses will help you understand its influences based in what house in your chart it is retrograde.

© Copyright 2007 Robert Wilkinson

Comments

[Lori]

Hi Robert,

Speaking of Libra ... my ex of some 22 years was a Libra. (9-29-42, 3:22 pm, Chicago IL and myself 9/21/57 11:19 am Coalinga CA). Speaking of Libra I have started the last big release. After this project is done, there will be no more of the past to release. When I look in that storage space any more, it's just a bunch of dusty junk that needs to go.

When I had to move from a 2200 sq' house in the woods to a 650 sq' apt in the city in July 2005, since I took alot of the stuff with me - (long story short, he moved in with his mother and did not want most of it) I had to put things in storage. I no longer have attachment to this stuff ... I have sold as much of it on Craigs List as I could. So today the project began to release the storage space of 10 x 20' and save $137 a month in the process. Some things may also go to Good Will.

The money would be better going into savins each month and not a storage space. It's served it's purpose.

It will take a little time,step by step. 1st I have to go through and decide what I do want to keep (maybe 1/4 of the stuff or less) and when that is done, I will have 1-800 Got Junk (who will haul anything for a fee!) haul away the rest and give my one month notice. I started the process of deciding what to keep first, today. I got my work out for the day physically. : ) This is all very freeing for me. It's something I need to do because I've emotionally moved on.

It is a very positive thing.

Anyway - it's all a good thing, a positive thing. By the time I finish this project a physical step at a time (it's going to take a little bit of time) there will be nothing physical left to release from the past.

The more old clutter I clear, the more room there is for the new which will be so much better!

I also have a job interview tomorrow : )

Blessings,
Lori

[Robert]

Hi Lori - Sounds like a good Mercury RX in Scorpio project to me! Creating emptiness is great Feng Shui. Best of luck attaining a position perfect for you, regardless of how the journey looks.

[Lori]

Hi Robert,

Thinking of my process of releasing the past ... and keeping the door open for the new ...

I am whom I am due to the sum total of all my experiences and wouldn't have it any other way. The soul views as experience - not good, bad, up, down, etc - but just growth and experience. The human ego and the soul view differently as reaction vs response.

This release of the storage space experience is going to take some time to physically complete, it's going to take some time, thought and effort - but it will be done and will be freeing. It's started. My last big physical release of the past. I've moved on emotionally from the past 26 years.

I have to decide what I want to keep and then the rest will go quickly. My Apt is small as is my storage closet on the deck. I'm good at utilizing space though. (Reminds me of HGTV's show "This Small Space"). Both the ex (awhile back) and even my Dad last June both commented on how well I have used every inch of this apt in storage in one way or another.

I too love Feng Shui and it's multi facets and schools of thought, I'm a big fan of Feng Shui ... I think that with my project plastic stackable crates will help in the storage closet. I have to use the space well (to keep what I choose to keep, about 1/4 of the stuff). I have no garage.

When I lived in the Mtns 11 years, I Feng Shui'ed the entire house. A 2200 sq' moss rock stone house up in the forest. People used to walk in and comment on how wonderful the energy felt.

The truth is, on the spiritual level ... the most important person one comes to meet in this life, is one's own self, one's own spirit that is infinite, the real self ... and from within springs all else. Each of us, through our experiences have come to this life to meet self and grow through that.

This is why - in general over time - I've never been one to buy into others words of doom and gloom ... it's the inner consciousness changing that creates real and lasting result - myself included. Maybe it helps to have been a natural spirital clairvoyant medium since early child hood ... I learned long ago to listen to spirit within.

"The light through me but not me". I don't know it all and I'm not always right ... but I've learned since childhood ... that my spiritual teachers in spirit ... most usually are. So I listen, live, trust and learn.

All I can do is to surrender to all that is, let go and remain open and receptive ... knowing ... as spirit has shown me so many times ... that ... though I am willing to do my part as guided ... that I am always taken care of.

I had a vision within last night as I went to bed ... a long banquet table laden with food and many sitting at the table with chairs. That abundance is there for all. There is room for everyone, self included.

Blessings,
Lori

[Richard]

Hi Robert. Sorry to hear I am not the only one undergoing irrationality on a regular basis and in really powerful ways. Glad you are safe. Wifey Chris is looking forward big time to her time with you on the 12th Nov. Your reading for me has been - amazingly accurate. Sales finally started at the looney bin art place like you said. But it is still time to leave. Mr. Psycho unloaded on me for about 5 min. for just calling another co-worker on the phone rather than using email - I was driving and needed an answer, he didn't care. I go for fingerprints for the contract job tomorrow, starts next week. 40% more pay, 3-6 months length. Looking for a way to transition back to this field, have an opp to join a volunteer program with a major non-profit that just opens big big doors with the movers & shakers in my field. You said grace, and that is the only way I see it happening - lots of obstacles in this dimension to stop it. So I am doing one thing you emphasized and meditating to reach my focus. I had a psych test years ago that said I was highest motivated by music and art. So I sit listening to classical music in the morning and looking at my art books. Wow! Wish I would have talked to you four decades ago. Starting to have clearer and more organized days even in the midst of this insanity. But I know my heart cannot take any more of this mentally ill person. Going to do my evening music and art session.

Richard

[Robert]

Hi Richard - Yes, it's a good thing that we could set you in motion so you are now steering your boat rather than tossed by irrational factors beyond your control. Good that you're putting distance between you and crazymaking. I have no doubt you'll cobble together something satisfactory where you can cultivate several of your talents. Very good that you're meditating. Today's post should help.

[Helen]

Hi Robert,

Well, I start a new job on November 5, 2007, hopefully bringing end to a lot of stuff that had been holding me down for the past two years. Now, I know that conventional astrology wisdom says never accept a job or go on a job interview during a Mercury RX. But what are you doing to do? A person has bills to pay. So, the job may not last forever. So What? It is just another building block.

In my personal reading, you spoke that this Mercury rx would be very good for me. It has. I went back to blogging and gotten a lot of hits.

So, this Mercury RX hasn't been all that bad.

Peace,

Helen

[Robert]

Hi Helen - Congrats on the new job! Conventional astrology wisdom is usually not very wise but is very conventional. There are many great things that occur during and result from Mercury RX, so enjoy the roundabout process that will take you places you don't presently anticipate. It may not turn out as expected, but so what? Could lead you back into something perfect!