Mercury Retrograde in Libra in September-October 2008, Part 2 - Understanding Larger Signals and Finding New Ways to Begin Anew

by Robert Wilkinson

This retrograde Mercury begins in a separating conjunction with Mars trine Neptune. The very favorable trine to Neptune culminates Sept 28-29, showing a time of linking the logical mind to the collective consciousness in harmonious incremental adjustments. This is the next natural step in reinforcing very similar energies stabilized in late May and early July 2008 when Mercury in Gemini was also trine Neptune.

Besides these very harmonious energies favoring interactions and communications on every level, Mercury also quincunxes Uranus the very end of Sept and beginning of October, showing adjustments based in seeing which way the winds of destiny are blowing and finding ritual forms of connecting with the sources of life.

Mercury then quintiles Pluto favoring cutting to the chase and seeing through forms into the essence of people and things, helping us retire from old dramas, become more mellow, and/or balance things from the past. This aspect brings us specializations, gifts, and unique circumstances in the life departments ruled by Gemini, Virgo, and the spiritual functioning of Scorpio and Aries.

Mercury then retrogrades back to a square to Jupiter, helping us get a sense of how to communicate from an entirely different angle of view. It's a good time for re-thinking the right means to fulfill our vision while getting the understanding we need from others. Don't get distracted by secondary things, keep the higher potentials in focus, and learn how to see things through others' eyes in order to find a better communication.

Venus in Scorpio the entire period ruling Mercury in Libra shows this will be an intense retrograde period, if productive, specialized, and shoving us all toward forks in the road when it moves through the Scorpio zone of the Grand Irrationality the last 3 days of September, when 4 points will be active. Again, you can find out more by consulting the Spiritual Astrology article linked in part 1 of this series.

As noted in part 1, Saturn is also the Virgo zone of the Grand Irrationality throughout the RX period. Due to the RX, it may take us a while to see the results of the choices precipitated by Saturn at this larger "fork in the road of destiny," as well as the deep insights promised by Mercury quintile Pluto. The Saturn part of this process will be working itself out from February through early August 2009, while the gifts and unique circumstances shown by the quintile will be further precipitated when Mercury again quintiles Pluto in late October.

Mercury toward the end of its RX period is in early Libra, said to be a span of "Expectation" in the Emotional-Cultural level of "Transfiguration." While Mercury is in Libra many will find they are receiving a LOT of mental impressions, all of which require judgment, balance, and a sense of equilibrium. Expect a profusion of ideas, communications, insights and evaluations that will take many twists and turns before becoming clear visions of how to decide and what to do.

Mercury goes stationary direct on 8 Libra at 1:06 pm PDT October 15, October 16 in the Middle East and points east of there. When Mercury approaches its stationary direct point, it makes a semisquare to Venus, sesquisquare to Neptune, and binovile to Pluto.

Mercury in octile series aspects with Venus square Neptune at that time shows the busting of old illusions and wrongly focused values and desires. Just be clear about what role you're playing, practice radical detachment, allow your desires to be more socialized, and find ways to communicate clearly so others can understand any problem in terms of its personal significance to them.

Significant related factors in this period include Venus trine Uranus and Mars quintile Jupiter just before the SD point, and Sun trine Neptune, Venus quintile Saturn, and Mars in the Scorpio zone of the Grand Irrationality during the SD period. The Sun will make very clear what the RX was about, while the Moon in Aries and Gemini during mid-October interacting with Mars, Saturn, Neptune, and Pluto in the Grand Irrationality shows that to be a major point of decision and choice.

During that time 5 points of the 7-pointed Star, or Great Septile, will be highly active during specific points in the day when the angles cross these planets. There will even be points during the day when a sixth or even 7th point will activate the pattern due to the movement of the Ascendant and/or Midheaven, so heads up, since this is a very important time! Again, you can find more by referring to the article Spiritual Astrology in September-October 2008 Pt. 2 - The Grand Irrationality and When It Will Be Set Into Motion.

Also of importance during this retrograde is that Mercury disposits the Saturn and so directly influences our Capricorn and Aquarius houses and planets. Of especial note is that at the Inferior Conjunction it is square Jupiter, giving us new perspectives on our place of greatest service to our world, challenging us to keep the momentum in our own hands and practice some refined form of self dramatization. Be direct, sensitive, caring, and see it all as an energetic ritual dance.

Remembering that nothing turns out as expected during a Mercury retrograde, and that things take strange twists and turns and there are curious returns of people, ideas, and experiences in new forms that resemble old forms, open to useful but overlooked angles of viewing things, learn and teach through a sense of perspective of how past and present relate in unusual ways, and be alert to roundabout or indirect communications that show things going on below the surface.

All in all, given the aspects between Mercury and the other planets, there will be a lot of activity helping us adjust to more ideal states through eliminating outmoded values and ways of relating to others. We'll have plenty of opportunities to get clearer about our understanding of a larger vision related to many things, people, and experiences, where we can integrate, harmonize and broaden our aspirations we're in training to manifest during this Saturn in Virgo era.

Mercury going stationary direct at 8 Libra on October 15-16 shows that through January 10, 2009, we will have opportunities for a rebeginning based in hope that warms us at the very core of our being. Those months we can find Providence and the presence of unseen sustaining "spiritual agencies" in every worthwhile effort that we apply ourselves to. Many will "return to center," and find promise for the future and a spiritual power that will fuel the core of the rebeginning.

This degree is said to be in the span of "Expectation," in the scene of "Transfiguration" on the social-cultural level. We can surmise that many of our expectations will be transfigured over the Winter, and that will lead to major emotional, social, and cultural changes in our future well into 2009.

Dr. Jones comments the keyword is GUARDIANSHIP, and that this is a degree of "the burning desire or capacity for passion which establishes man's loyalty to each object of his self-projection," and "is an exceptional gift for enlisting both men and the natural forces of life in the service of self and its dominating vision."

So at the end of this retrograde period, we'll wind up with new loyalties, hopes, and relationships in line with our vision and way of expressing ourselves. It marks a time of renewed ideals, being called to a new way of life that may not have yet appeared, but is on the way. We should have a much more stabilized intuition, as well as an ability to understand things from others' points of view and a more balanced way of relating to both our vision and any other vision we encounter.

So it seems that this is the next step in the ongoing Mercury retrograde periods in Air signs, where we get new ideas, relationships, understanding, and specialized skills and insights. This initiates a new period of pursuing things thought left behind, and a new way of adjusting to blend the old with the new.

Especially with Saturn now moving forward deep into Virgo being an off-again, on-again presence in the Grand Irrationality as it's triggered by the inner planet transits, you can expect major destiny-producing changes that make little or no sense over the next few weeks. Even now we're moving from one last look back into a very strange new reality. We're all moving into a new education, the need for forms of discerning action is sky high, as is the need for appreciation and gratitude as we prepare to enter into unknown zones of Invisible planet activity.

Mercury Retrograde Astrology - How Mercury Retrograde Works and How It's Related To Past and Future Retrogrades

Mercury Retrograde in Libra in September-October 2008, Part 1 - Integrating Our Intuitions Releasing Our Genius Adjusting Our Possibilities

Copyright © 2008 Robert Wilkinson

Comments

[Nancy]

Robert---
Aug 23, 2007 ... Astronomers have found an enormous hole in the Universe, nearly a billion light-years across, empty of both normal matter such as stars, ...
www.nrao.edu/pr/2007/coldspot/ The Galactic Center perhaps??
Namaste! Nancy

[william]

you are very amazing Robert, grateful to you...

[Robert]

Hi Nancy - Yes, the GC is a cluster of black holes at the center of the galaxy. I touched on this in May 2006 in the article Galactic Center Conjunctions by Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto - the Newest Influences What's Coming in 2012 as well as numerous other articles concerning conjunctions to the GC.

Hi William - Thank you for your kind words. Aum and blessings.

[lea]

can't wait for this retrograde to end. My life has become so complicated the past couple of weeks, i am about to fall apart!!!!!

[Robert]

Hi lea - Well, when things fall apart at least we get a clearer picture of what's impermanent, what can be repaired, and what we really care about. And of course, there are complications resulting from our actions or inactions, then there are the larger complications arising from our relationships and life on Earth in the 21st century.