Some Historical Mercury Retrograde in Aries Events

by Robert Wilkinson

Many years ago I wrote "A New Look At Mercury Retrograde," the first book of its kind exploring Mercury retrograde from a variety of angles. One chapter featured historical events during different Mercury RX periods. Since "all time" supposedly exists in each moment, and what happened once could happen again (if in a different form), today's article offers up some history so we may see potential parallels between "then and now."

A little more backstory on the book "A New Look At Mercury Retrograde." In the writing, editing, and marketing of that book, I came to realize the truth of the old saw, "you can please all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time, but never all of the people all of the time." (Yes, the concept has been used for more than just "fooling people!";-))

Despite the best efforts of the publisher's "professional editor" with an axe to grind trying to make the work a mess, it still got out in a form that garnered international rave reviews. While most reviews were more than kind and some extraordinarily objective, here and there I heard complaints about what I didn't put in there, what I should have put in there, what I should not have put in there, all of which would have made the work impossibly long, cumbersome, and unpublishable.

(I only offer you this in case you ever believe you have a book or screenplay to write. Find your vision, stick to it, and be as clear and concise as you can be, since your work will receive the proverbial "thousand cuts" along the way of its evolution. In the immortal words of a Taurus whose birthday nears, "you can't please everyone so you better please yourself....")

Anyway, I wrote the book I (mostly) wanted to write, and included a lot of historical Mercury RX occurrences that I thought somehow captured the essence of a Mercury RX event. (The editor wanted me to cut about 50% - I only cut about 20% - so there are still quite a few that literally "made the cut.") I did meticulous research using library archives in Carlsbad, CA, as well as other historical references at my disposal. We all owe a huge thanks to our free public library system!

I checked events against the ephemeris as best I could, but as with all books, there are a few errors I failed to catch before publication. Oh well. If you find that Mercury was not RX, or was in a sign other than Aries when something happened on this list, then you have a keen sense of history and would make a great fact-checker! (When it's time to republish, I'm hiring someone to cross check the chapter AND everything else I had to chop from the original list.)

One reason to to this exercise in historical perspective is that Mercury is only retrograde in an element for awhile, then moves into retrograde periods in other elements. It can be 5-6 years between Mercury retrograde in Aries periods. Today, from Chapter 8, some Mercury RX in Aries events:

1859 - Ground broken for the Suez Canal.
1860 - Corkscrew patented in NYC.
1860 - Pony Express started first run.
1867 - Seward reached agreement with Russia to buy Alaska.
1906 - San Francisco earthquake (Mercury SD).
1912 - The Titanic sank off the coast of Newfoundland.
1939 - Marian Anderson sang at the Lincoln Memorial.
1945 - US troops discovered Nazi hoard of gold, currency, and art in salt mine.
1946 - Cholera, bubonic plague, small pox, meningitis epidemics in China.
1946 - United Nations set up temporary headquarters at Hunter college, NYC.
1952 - UN approved draft convention giving women equal political rights with men.
1952 - Atomic Energy Commission began new series of (nuclear) tests.
1953 - Calcutta windstorms killed 35, left 15,000 homeless, heavy crop damage.
1959 - Tibetan revolt against Chinese occupation of Tibet; Dalai Lama fled to India; 15,000 Tibetans deported to forced labor camps.
1959 - US Dep't of Defense described nuclear fallout as "greater in the US than in any other area of the world;" Linus Pauling charged nuclear detonations would cause many thousands of birth defects and cases of leukemia, bone cancer (Mercury SRX).
1959 - US President Eisenhower extended peacetime draft four more years.
1959 - Oklahoma repealed prohibition after 51 years.
1965 - Communists blocked or close the Berlin autobahn six times.
1965 - US government opposed smog control devices (on cars.)
1965 - US House of Representatives hired its first black page.
1965 - West Germany paid its final installment of WWII reparations to Israel.
1965 - US/USSR underground nuclear tests.
1965 - USSR canceled all debt owed by collective farms.
1965 - Iraqi troops and planes attacked Kurds (SD).
1965 - Radar studies showed Mercury was rotating faster than was thought (SD).
1966 - Watts riots in Los Angeles erupted again.
1966 - Gemini 8 astronauts Armstrong and Scott staged first docking of orbiting spacecraft; were forced down the next day after losing control of their craft.
1971 - 200,000 anti-war activists marched in Washington DC.
1971 - US draft law extended 2+ years.
1972 - Movie "Slaughterhouse 5" released in NYC (SRX).
1972 - National Commission on Drug Abuse recommended all criminal penalties for private use of marijuana be abolished (SRX).
1972 - USSR underground nuclear test.
1972 - Further devaluation of the US dollar.
1972 - Congress sent the ERA to the states for ratification.
1972 - The US, USSR, and 70 other nations banned chemical warfare.
1972 - General Motors recalled 130,000 1972 model cars.
1972 - First game of baseball season canceled by strike; the first strike in MLB history ended 8 days later (SD).
1978 - India launched 3 year total prohibition drive against alcohol (SRX).
1978 - Oil spill off Cape Cod (SRX).
1978 - Mary Simpson became the first female Anglican priest to preach at Westminster Abbey (SRX).
1978 - President Carter decided to ban the neutron bomb, then reconsidered, then said it's up to how the USSR behaves.
1978 - Nude bathing on beaches banned by Santa Barbara.
1978 - Amid fraud charges, Marcos won control of Philippines government in first election since he imposed martial law in 1972.
1978 - Italian PM Aldo Moro kidnapped by Red Brigade terrorists; first reported executed, later photos showed him alive (was executed in early May).
1978 - South Africa was left with no diplomatic representation anywhere in the world.
1978 - Former FBI director and high officials indicted on federal charges involving illegal FBI activity against US citizens.
1978 - USSR was forced by Georgian protests to reinstate the Georgian language officially.
1978 - US Senate voted to give up the Panama Canal.
1978 - Nuclear Regulatory Agency turned down the sale of 7.6 tons of uranium to India; President Carter overrode the decision one week later.
1978 - First-ever mix-up in awarding the Pulitizer Prize to the wrong person.
1979 - "The China Syndrome," a nuclear disaster movie, opened in NYC (Mercury was SRX) twelve days before the Three Mile Island nuclear accident (also during Mercury RX).
1979 - Camp David Peace accord ending 30 years of war between Israel and Egypt signed by Sadat and Begin.
1985 - Pentagon barred GE from obtaining new contracts pending outcome of fraud chages; first such action taken against a major defense contractor (ban lifted 3 weeks later.)
1985 - EPA ordered sewage dumping by NYC moved farther out to sea because the present site 12 miles offshore was contaminating beaches in NJ and Long Island and endangering fish and shellfish.
1985 - Japan notified US it would end all commercial whaling by March 1988.
1985 - Dioxin-contaminated city of Times Beach, MO closed down, voted out of existence.
1985 - USSR indicated willingness to suspend testing nuclear weapons (SD).
1986 - Australian scientists announced contraceptive bullet to reduce kangaroo population (SRX).
1986 - US Supreme Court approved police deceit to prevent attorneys from seeing clients.
1986 - Soviet leader Gorbachev announced indefinite continuation of nuclear test moratorium.
1991 - Iraq agreed to cease-fire ending the Persian Gulf war; 2 million Kurds fled to Iran and Turkey (SRX).
1991 - Georgia declared independence from USSR.
1991 - Worst maritime disasters in Italy's history; over a million barrels of oil spilled.
1991 - Norway called off its annual whale hunt for first time since the 16th century.
1991 - 7.4 earthquake hit Costa Rica.
1991 - 70 tornados in TX, OK, AR, KS, MO, NE, IA killed 23, tens of millions in damage (SD).
1992 - White South African voters approved referendum to end white minority rule (SRX).

As the book was published in 1997, you'll have to do your own research if you want to check out anything happening in the 1998-99 or 2004-05 Mercury RX in Aries periods. I did write an article or two on Mercury retrograde in Aries back in 2004-05 when I was still on Salon.com, so check them out in the archives if you're so inclined!

Anyway, I'm sure this is more than you ever expected to read about Mercury retrograde in Aries, so enjoy!

Copyright © 2011 Robert Wilkinson

Comments

[Jorge Torres]

ThankYou Robert Wilkinson !!!

This is Really Interesting so we can go and watch ephemeris and see how it works in relation to other planets !!!

Blessings !!!

[ed]

That 70 Tornadoes caught my eye....the tornadoes that happened yesterday n the southern US killed 43 and it's mercury retrograde again.

[Ed]

There were 241 tornadoes in three days during this mercury retrograde period.

http://www.accuweather.com/blogs/news/story/48503/historic-tornado-outbreak-3-da-1.asp

"From Thursday, April 14, 2011 to Saturday, April, 16, 2011, devastating tornadoes rampaged across communities of the southern United States. Cities and towns from Oklahoma to North Carolina were assaulted by the deadly twisters.

The tornado outbreak led to a total of 241 tornado reports in 14 states over the three-day period. This will likely rank this tornado outbreak among the largest in history."

[Valerie]

Robert, this is great stuff! i love historical trivia and i'm looking forward to the list for the next Mercury Rx! keep up the good work. i've been getting a lot done and having some interesting insights during this time. i know how to work with it and don't mind because of my natal Mercury Rx in Cancer.

Happy Easter, namaste- :)