by Robert Wilkinson
Yes, it's THAT time again! Mercury has begun to slow down, and will go stationary retrograde at 20 Virgo on August 20, 12:59 pm PDT, 8:59 pm Greenwich. This has important implications for all signs.
I'll be composing several articles about this upcoming retrograde period over the next several weeks. Until then, use the next 8 days to get things in place, finish up what needs finishing, decide what needs deciding, and do paperwork that needs to be done, since things tend to slow down during Mercury Retrograde.
I know there are many unfortunate things attributed to Mercury retrograde, but there are also many productive things that get done, connections that are made, and different angles of view glimpsed that make our understanding more complete and well rounded.
This time before the retrograde is good for setting things in motion that will need a delay before being picked up anew. Or for doing something that will need research, rehearsing, or reworking to whatever degree before completion.
The coming retrograde will be an extremely important one showing us practical adjustments that must be made to embrace our emerging archetype. It will also set the stage for major developments involving The Grand Irrationality, as Mercury will be in close biseptile to Pluto when it goes stationary retrograde.
As of now, the hot zones most affected by the Grand Irrationality are 20-24 Virgo, 11-15 Scorpio, 3-7 Capricorn, 24-28 Aquarius, 16-20 Aries, 7-11 Gemini, and 28 Cancer through 2 Leo. If you have a planet or significant point in these zones then your life is in dynamic motion, and the choices you make will determine your life destiny for a long time to come. I'll compose more about the current and future influences of The Grand Irrationality over the next few days.
I suppose the best thing about this coming retrograde is Venus conjunct Mars in Libra, which should smooth some things out, making them more balanced, just, or fair in ways. Given the conjunction will be quintile Pluto, it would seem that Pluto will be a major player in whatever returns or revisits from the past this retrograde period will bring us over the next few weeks. The seeds of new experiences will definitely begin to sprout!
Anyway, given that the Moon is conjunct Mercury for the next 6 hours and then moves across the stationary retrograde point about 6 hours after that, these 12 hours should give us hints about what we can expect from the coming retrograde period.
Copyright © 2010 Robert Wilkinson
Thanks for the heads'up! I can better organize my mind and leave the re-views (para mas tarde)--- One project will take-off or fade this week, I am preparing to cease smoking and hoping for a new puppy in mid-September. The world is nuts-at-best, but cream will always rise ... and so will we. I like being in tune and I like you so much, gracias!
Posted by: jan | August 11, 2010 at 12:22 PM
Thank you for your generous and genuine assistance - again!
Cheryl
Posted by: Cheryl | August 11, 2010 at 01:25 PM
ThankYou Robert Wilkinson !!!
For the heads up and all Your Great Posts !!!
All that we are is the result of what we have thought. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him. If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him.
Buddha
Blessings !!!
Posted by: Jorge Torres | August 11, 2010 at 01:38 PM
Hi Robert!
Long time no visit. It's been a busy summer, but work and school has slowed down for the remainder of the month pretty much.
Thank something, I needed a break!
Glad to read your articles. Looking forward to reading more about Mercury Retrograde as well. And I took your advice before reading it :), ordering my Fall semester school books just a few minutes ago on Amazon... instead of later in August.
Blessings to you and yours,
WarriorLady
Posted by: Warriorlady | August 11, 2010 at 08:42 PM
I have a natal retrograde mercury, conjunct Leo Sun in the 5th house as it is. (Trine Saturn/Chiron in the 12th Pisces).
I am not sure how this will play out. I have been reading your articles on many various topics the last couple weeks..While on the downside and layed up in bed. (Now am ambulatory). Had a total physical and mental breakdown on June 25-26th. That eclipse, and the major transits,It affected my natal venus, mars, jupiter in the 4th house, opposition the natal moon in capricorn, conjunct MC. Right now, mercury is on my natal pluto/conjunct uranus in Virgo. I am an Aries Rising. So, it affected me personally like.. Unable to continue working a dead end job for a time, and facing how messed up my homelife is, and making the neccesary drastic changes. Ridding of toxic behavior patterns. Clearing things out, to make room for the new.
I am and have been in the centrifutge. lol. I have a very metophoric and wicked imagination.
I like the Sabian Symbol for the Mercury Retrograde. It definitely hits home for me. A caravan of cars heading west, to the promised land.
I wanted to stop by and say thank you for being a light in the darkness.
Posted by: Nancy | August 12, 2010 at 10:14 AM
You said the next 12 hours will tell what will happen....what time was this article posted?
Posted by: Melinda | August 12, 2010 at 11:20 AM
Hi Jan - Yes, I figured that rather than wait till the last few days before it went RX I'd give everyone a heads up now. Glad you're in tune and ready to rock....
Hi Cheryl - Well, there's so much confusion about Mercury RX that I once wrote the book on it! And of course, hopefully this front end look will help us all to prepare for what should be a fairly productive retrograde period.
Hi Jorge Torres - You're most welcome. Great quote from the Buddha. May we all swim eternally in the MahaBuddha nature! While occasionally we experience pain, whether resulting from our own karmas or the karmas of another acting out painful behavior, eventually if it doesn't arise from our own true nature it will pass, and what is left is the joy of the Soul.
Hi Warriorlady - Welcome back to the Cosmic Cantina. It has been a busy summer for me as well, with some great things as well as finishing up old karmas with abusive people that cannot be perpetuated. I suspect this RX will be okay, all things considered. Blessings to you as well.
Hi Nancy - I noted in my book, "A New Look at Mercury Retrograde," that people with Mercury RX in their natal charts often see their lives move forward dramatically during these periods. It's as though you instinctively know the altered pace and it's more natural to you than to those with Mercury direct in their charts. Sorry you had a breakdown of whatever type. Maybe it was a signal for you to start taking care of yourself in ways you haven't before now. Especially with Mercury in Virgo, the sign of health corrections, this may be the perfect time to take a new look at what it will take to adjust your health from a practical standpoint. Conjunct your Uranus and Pluto, it's regeneration time to revolutionize your body! And you're most welcome. Giving what light we can is often the best we can do, especially when things are so seemingly dark in our modern world. It may be just before the dawning of a new Era, but it's still pretty dark nonetheless.
Hi Melinda - It would have been approximately from noon to midnight in the US, which would have been about 8 pm to 8 am in UK, 11 pm to 11 am in Eastern Europe, 3 am to 3 pm in India, and 4 am to 4 pm the next day in Australia. Look at these periods as approximate, and symbolic of other things mentioned.
Posted by: Robert | August 12, 2010 at 01:45 PM
oh boy, my natal Mercury is retrograde, Robert, in Cancer (sextile). my phone has been ringing like mad this week, and I hope in the next few weeks someone special or important will be on the other end of the line. Thanks! Namaste :)
Posted by: Valerie | August 12, 2010 at 05:40 PM
hey Robert I always look forward to your insights especially during mercury retrograde. It seems that mercury will be void of course to all my planets for this entire retrograde. I'm guessing it might mean that nothing will really happen in terms of mercury ruled areas? Hmm.. I guess I'll wait and see :)
Posted by: Tureen L | August 12, 2010 at 11:33 PM
Your Highness,
That Aries you mentioned is my ascendant along with a 0 degree in Leo at the end of the fourth house and my saturn at 16 in the sixth. I spent all day on 8/11 updating my past vision files since 4 years old to meet with another specialist at 2pm 8/12. After a thorough retina exam 8/12, I just may have found my path to a new surgeon who will finally give me the help I need! The last time I found help of this nature that gave me 4 years of visual bliss was in 1998 - 1999! My next appt. is 8/31 and that is the day of answers once and for all! We'll see...I hope:)
Ya know, Your Highness, sometimes Santa Lucia takes charge of that keyboard of yours...eh?:)
Grazie!
Thank you
Posted by: chickie | August 13, 2010 at 01:56 AM
God Bless you once again Robert!
It's been a long time since I first ever left a comment here, but in the light of things just past I feel to pop in again.
I hate to say this, but I feel relieved to read of so many others having a tough time of things also. It has been unbelievable!! I know that 'thoughts become things' but have been finding myself saying that I do not wish to live another day upon this Earth! But, like the good soldier of the Light that I am, I am still here. . What can't be cured must be endured! And it is only ME that can get myself through this life and not another living soul can do it for me. Bugger! But I have found that by going harder with my Stillness and Letting Go to the enth degree, things have become clearer and my inner Knowing has reached a more acceptable clarity once again.
My only prayer is that I stay continuously in the NOW, and in this space there is nothing to fear as fear does not exit here. Stop that thinking and I shall stop those crippling fears!
Thanking you once again for your life-line here at Aquarius Papers. Without your information I would surely feel I was going insane and that there was something terribly wrong with me!
God Bless everyone with strength and endurance through these amasing times so that we pop out the other side all bright shining and new!
We are Angels. We have just forgotten these things.
Posted by: Brenda Joy | August 13, 2010 at 05:28 AM
Hi, Robert, I have been reading all of your articles.
Lots of stuff to ponder and think about. I see this might affect my fourth house and my venus. I have that at 12 d and venus at 14 d. I have three planets in virgo but they are a few degrees out of the zone you mention above. I guess I am safe there? That mercury retro will go through my 2nd house though.
I was wondering though since I have my dc at 23.34 d aquarius and my saturn is at 29 d is that close enough to get an involvement from the grand irrationality and the mercury biseptile to pluto. Oh and also I have mercury at 4 d cap. And pluto is playing in my 5th house.
Phew!!! Says she.
thanks for the great article
Oh, yesterday when virgo would have been hitting that point, I spent the entire day, well about 6 hours cleaning my personal space ( I share house with other people),and i got into reorganize, rearranging and cleaning out mode. I cooked for everyone last night.
I seem to be doing that a lot lately with the time off. I enjoy entertaining at home and everyone loves my cooking so it makes me happy to see other people happy.
One thing though I had to walk away from someone who I felt was toxic and was not listening or caring about me.
I feel sad for this person. I can see how lonely and difficult things are for them but this person does not know how to connect and I just could not play their game anymore. It was stressing me out. My friends have all noticed that since I did that. I seem way better and much clearer and more balanced. I no longer talk or complain about their behavior or the last thing they did or the last ridiculous email. It is too bad for that person though. Cause I know this person has very few friends to count on and I was one of them. Unfortunately, this person was really dragging me down and my self esteem. sorry this is so long winded
thanks again for your insights
Posted by: Micheline | August 13, 2010 at 06:34 PM
Pluto is retrograde at 5 degrees 22 Virgo in my 7th house in birth chart. I believe that is the exact place it will be on Sept 12th/13th when the Mercury turns retrograde in Virgo shifts forward. Can you tell me what significance this has? I appreciate any insight you may have.
Posted by: mary | August 19, 2010 at 08:01 AM
Mercury and Jupiter: If this is common knowledge, please excuse my redundancy. The April 2010 issue of Sky and Telescope carried an article entitled Hanging in the Balance, Will the orbits of the planets go haywire? by Greg Laughlin (phew, not plagiarizing sure is hard work).
The question was will planetary orbits go “haywire” causing the end of our solar system before the sun burns out in 6 billion years. Jupiter has a gravitational effect on Mercury’s orbit, termed “the Achilles heel of the solar system”. The concern was that Mercury would “get caught in secular resonance” with Jupiter. This could cause Mercury’s orbit to cross Venus’s in 0.5 billion spelling disaster. The simulations proved that this will not happen due to Mercury’s precession rate. So all is well for another 6 billion unless Mars gets too chummy with Earth.
So as above, so below? Mercury and Jupiter? Mercury and the solar system safe by “0.43 arcsecond per year”?
Posted by: caliban | August 20, 2010 at 12:38 PM
Robert,
Thanks for insight on the natal Mercury RX in Leo. It is actually 3 degrees Leo, and my natal Sun is 6 degrees. I made a mistake on Mercury going RX at the 20th degree on my natal Uranus/Pluto. Because my natal Uranus and Pluto are at the 16th and 17th degree in Virgo. When it first went RX, I felt some relief. A tension was relieved.
I have been pondering about my South Node, in Scorpio, at the 22nd degree, with Neptune Conjunct that node, lately. It feels like there is a "fatedness" to it. My part of fortune is in Libra also.
Nancy
Posted by: NancyRuth | August 23, 2010 at 11:12 AM
I was very encouraged to find this site. I wanted to thank you for this special read. I definitely savored every little bit of it including all the comments and I have you bookmarked to check out new stuff you post.
irishpoetry
Posted by: irishpoetry | August 31, 2010 at 12:19 PM