by Robert Wilkinson
In part 3 we explore more about this phenomenon that occurs 3 weeks at a time 3 times a year. At the end of this article I have a table so you can find which house(s) this December 2009-January 2010 Mercury RX period falls in relative to your Sun or rising sign. Then you can find out how this transit affects you personally by consulting my article How Does Mercury Retrograde Affect Us In The Different Houses?
Like all Mercury retrograde periods, these three weeks offer a chance to reorganize in the areas of our life ruled by Mercury. These are the houses of your chart ruled by Gemini or Virgo, any planets in these signs in your chart, and the house occupied by your natal, progressed, or solar return Mercury.
All retrogrades show us that sometimes it is more important to be inwardly oriented than outer-directed. These are times when our previous activities "echo back" information about what we've already experienced during a planetary direct motion phase.
When the inner planets are retrograde, our personal life is most subject to review, reflection, re-doing or getting a new angle on those affairs. When the outer planets are retrograde, we get the same process of review but it impacts our place in the larger scheme of things, whether social, cultural, or transpersonal-global.
When retrograde, Mercury, the "Guide of Souls," challenges us to cultivate our personal understanding of our "fellowship with the Eternal," explore our deeper issues and useful but overlooked details in what's being discussed or asserted, take an unusual view, and allow ourselves to be led by the future implications of what's happening. It’s a time when we truly get a new look at many things and come to a different understanding of how the various affairs of our inner and outer life are coordinated, or need to be.
We can get different perspectives and insights into prior events, messages, and signals, and can fill in important gaps in our understanding. Sometimes it may seem like it's one step forward, two to the side, one step back, one to the other side, then two steps forward, but often we find that we are offered entirely new and crucial perspectives and knowledge that can help us when it's time to move forward again after the retrograde is past.
In parts 1 and 2 we explored specific qualities of the present Mercury retrograde period, including aspects, stationary retrograde and direct degree symbols, and other important factors. The period before Mercury goes retrograde is important in getting your paperwork and other life areas in shape.
Please take this period to re-trace ground covered in recent weeks, get new information and interpretations of old ideas and perceptions, and find new points of view, since these are great things to do while Mercury is retrograde. We are now in a three week retrograde period to deal with things we've put off, or take care of things from the past. This December 2009-January 2010 Mercury retrograde will give us new understanding about the events of the past four months.
Once Mercury is retrograde, we often experience that communications and other Mercury ruled areas are slower than usual. It's time to re-do, review, rehearse, research, and take a new look at many things that evolved to a threshold during the period before Mercury goes stationary retrograde.
We can again reconsider, reinterpret, and rework Capricorn issues and activities, seeing their significance from new angles of understanding. Looking back, we got Cancer insights during the Summer 2007 Mercury RX, and Scorpio insights during the Autumn 2007 Mercury RX.
We got Aquarius insights during the early 2008 Mercury RX, and insights about our Gemini areas during the Summer 2008 Mercury RX in Gemini. We completed a natural Air trine of Mercury RX energies when it went through Libra in Sept-Oct 2008, offering new insights about relationships, judgments, balance, fairness, and ways we are or are not being an equal with others in our world.
It moved through Aquarius in early 2009, offering insights about our friendships, goals, ambitions, ideals, group work, larger vision of how we can contribute to our world, how our love and enthusiasms are exteriorizing, and the greatest good for the greatest number.
When it went back into Capricorn January 2009, we got insights about our public self image, how we self-organized to make our lives more effective, and how willing we were to embrace different ways to use discipline and our power to take responsibility effectively.
In May, we got new ways of communicating, researching, understanding, and getting insights into how we can or should discover blessings that can reward our faith and purity of heart. When it retrograded back through Taurus, we'll get to review values and how we use what we have, or need, so that our new self-images that are emerging will be sustained.
In September, we got new perspectives in relationships and how equal we are or are not, finding new ideals that prepared us for important Saturn in Libra experiences beginning late October. When it slipped back into Virgo, we got a review on how we needed to adjust to make our lives more effective, or got a new look at work and/or health issues.
In the four months since then, we've been educated in a greater emotional, social, or cultural effectiveness. By seeing the ideals that we were willing to live and protect, we learned how to do what must be done in practical, workable ways. This continued a renewed Earth influence that pervades Mercury retrograde periods through December 2010.
Now we get new perspectives on why we had to surrender in certain ways in 2009, and will find unique interactive circumstances that will fit our gifts, or gifts to fit our circumstances. Adjustments will help us achieve closure while giving our curiosity something to chew on in the way of ideas to be externalized with others from February through June 2010.
By learning about these recurring Mercury retrograde periods, we can understand how to deal with them productively, as well as the months afterwards, which they also indirectly influence. Since this December 2009 Mercury goes stationary at 22 Capricorn and retrogrades back to 6 Capricorn, you can learn a lot about this coming period by reading all you can about Mercury retrograde in Capricorn.
You can get more information how this important time of Mercury retrograde (which happens three times a year every year!) affects you personally by getting a copy of my book "A New Look At Mercury Retrograde" and reading the section on Mercury retrograde in the houses. However, you can also get some very useful ideas of how it works by consulting the article that I linked to in the first paragraph of this article titled "How Does Mercury Retrograde Work in the Houses." The ideas I offer there work, whether you're referencing the natal or Solar charts.
To that end, the houses in astrology show us the specific areas of our worldly affairs where we experience a given planetary influence. If you know your natal chart, then read the corresponding house in the article. However, whether you do or don't know your chart, you can find out Mercury's approximate position in your solar houses (created by your Sun sign position) by consulting this table:
For birthdays between:
Dec 12 to 27, read Mercury retrograde in the 1st house.
Dec 27 to Jan 11, 12th and 1st houses.
Jan 11 to 25, 12th house.
Jan 25 to Feb 10, 11th and 12th houses.
Feb 10 to 22, 11th house.
Feb 22 to Mar 11, 10th and 11th houses.
Mar 11 to 25, 10th house.
Mar 25 to Apr 10, 9th and 10th houses.
Apr 10 to 25, 9th house.
Apr 25 to May 11, 8th and 9th houses.
May 11 to 26, 8th house.
May 26 to Jun 12, 7th and 8th houses.
Jun 12 to 26, 7th house.
Jun 26 to Jul 13, 6th and 7th houses.
Jul 13 to 27, 6th house.
Jul 27 to Aug 13, 5th and 6th houses.
Aug 13 to 28, 5th house.
Aug 28 to Sep 13, 4th and 5th houses.
Sep 13 to 27, 4th house.
Sep 27 to Oct 14, 3rd and 4th houses.
Oct 14 to 28, 3rd house.
Oct 28 to Nov 13, 2nd and 3rd houses.
Nov 13 to 27, 2nd house.
Nov 27 to Dec 12, 1st and 2nd houses.
This table is approximate, and if your birthday falls near the edge of two possible positions you may need to read both to know which applies to your Sun sign. Of course, one should always have a correct natal chart calculated professionally in order to know where the planets are situated, as this helps clarify your exact cyclic pattern.
Copyright © 2009 Robert Wilkinson
love it robert :-)
hope all in a great flow
Posted by: michele | December 29, 2009 at 07:01 PM