by Robert Wilkinson
Each Mercury Retrograde period is unique, yet related to other Mercury RX periods, usually because the signs are harmonized with those of past Mercury retrogrades. This one moves backwards from the Fire sign of Aries back into the Water sign of Pisces. What does this mean for all of us?
This Mercury retrograde started on March 12, 0:49 am PDT, 3:49 am EDT, 7:49 am Greenwich. This retrograde moves from 7 Aries back to 24 Pisces, with the Inferior conjunction of Mercury and the Sun occurring at 2 Aries at 12:22 pm PDT, 8:22 pm Greenwich March 21.
We finished a sequence of Mercury retrograde periods in 2010 where the retrograde span was entirely in Earth signs. December 2010 Mercury moved from Earthy Capricorn back to Fiery Sagittarius. The one in March-April 2011 was entirely in Aries, a Fire sign. The one in August returned to the pattern of last December, in that Mercury RX began in the Earth sign of Virgo and retrograded back into the Fire sign of Leo.
In November-December 2011 Mercury was again retrograde entirely in the Fire sign of Sagittarius. As noted earlier, this one begins in the Fire sign of Aries, then retrogrades back into the Water sign of Pisces.
As this one retrogrades in Aries and Pisces, we'll get to research, re-think, rehearse and get a new look at a new self-image, a new way of being our natural self-expression, and then a new look at old motives, old sorrows, and old ways of seeing things as a completed whole, letting go and getting closure so we can resume the new life set into motion between mid-March and mid-June 2011. This begins a time of learning how to function on multiple levels of life simultaneously, and finding fulfilling roles in a dualistic structure.
This gives us a check-in as we stand on a new threshold of self-awareness and way of coordinating our life affairs since the new beginnings of March through May 2011 and the "liberating ordeals" of August that showed us a new "freedom from social rigidity."
This Mercury retrograde begins at 6 Aries, and moves back to 24 Pisces over the next 3 weeks. That retraces ground we experienced February 26 through March 11 when Mercury first transited that span. Also remember that since it entered Aries on March 2, Mercury and Mars have been in Mutual Reception, making them a very powerful combination for most of March. As these two were triseptile during the stationary period, it shows we will be confronting some heavy “forks in the road of destiny” wherever we have early Aries and early Virgo in our charts over the next several weeks.
Where Mercury goes retrograde indicates a threshold from which we take a look back, or get a newer understanding from multiple points of contrasting views. The degree for 7 Aries is "A man successfully expressing himself in two realms.” Rudhyar says this symbolizes "Conscious duality by which (we) first differentiate (ourselves) from (others), “Versatility in work,” and “Self-expansion.”
We are told in the Astrological Mandala that this symbolizes "the first realization of the dual nature of man and of the possibilities it implies,” where we find an ability “to operate at two levels” or perhaps even more. He speaks of the dualisms of “Sky and Earth,” “the divine and human,” and “spirit and matter.” He states “the vision and the emotions are focused within sharply defined boundaries, but within these boundaries they express themselves at two levels.”
Here “we see at work (our) capacity for living two separate lives – and finding fulfillment and happiness in both.” He says it falls in the span of "Realization,” and it’s the 2nd degree of the emotional-cultural level of the scene of Desire in the Act of Differentiation. So we'll use our Mercury function to see how to differentiate on the basis of our desires, either as a result of a realization or to come to one.
According to Dr. Jones, creator of the Sabian Symbols, the keyword is PROFICIENCY. He states this is a degree of “the creative division of labor within the self” that enables us to distinguish higher and lower orders of intelligence and function, enabling us to participate in “many interpenetrating realms of reality.”
He goes on to say that with this degree we can find a capacity “for a complete control of events by shifting…. focus of emphasis whenever it proves convenient or expedient.” He continues that this degree, when positive, is "unlimited versatility and a special gift for divorcing the things of issue from whatever lacks immediate pertinence.”
Due to the Mercury retrograde being in the same sign as last year’s multiple conjunctions with Jupiter (and especially the first Mercury conjunct Jupiter at 12 Aries) we will be able to see what has transpired since then with an eye to what had to end (thanks to the powerful 2011 Gemini and Sagittarius Eclipses) so that something else could move forward. As with all Mercury retrogrades, we can use this time to take a look back at whatever in the past has recently begun, and re-shape our mind, perceptions, and expectations through seeing an old truth through different eyes, or a higher view through a new lens. These reviews and new points of view will be activated in major ways when the Sun again enter Aries and tracks the path of this Mercury retrograde as well as the points of last year’s multiple Jupiter conjunctions in Aries.
Though it's still a few weeks away, where Mercury goes direct indicates the platform from which Mercury goes forth from early April through mid-July 2012 when it again goes retrograde, at that time in mid-Leo. So let's take a look at where we'll wind up about 3 weeks from now. The degree where Mercury will go direct is "An inhabited island.”
I'll elaborate on this degree closer to the time Mercury goes direct. For now, some themes connected to this degree are finding our interconnectedness with others as we happily build a new world or life for ourselves, and organizing our world according to our special interests. We will find ourselves able to function independently of that which is unfriendly, and will be able to find resources we need despite the occasional barrenness of the environment.
So by early April we’ll begin a period of cultivating potentials, and can achieve what we will through “creative opportunism or inventiveness.” From then through mid-July we’ll find a new adaptability and creativity, a sureness in self-expression, and ways to centralize higher power.
So we enter a time of review, reflection, rehearsal, and new insights about what’s ended, what needs ending, and how to express a new self-image on multiple levels of life or function that will leave us at a platform of understanding a wider interrelatedness as we creatively reorganize our lives. Many will find information or mental impressions showing new paths to easier functioning on multiple levels or multiple expressions simultaneously wherever early Aries falls in the chart. These can also work out through the house(s) with Gemini and Virgo on the cusp.
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. By the time this RX period is done, we'll know what's been opened and/or shut down and why so that we can find new relatedness, new compassion, new understanding of deeper or unclear issues around what’s ended, and new views of the ability to function in multiple realms simultaneously in the future.
Of note is that this Mercury retrograde period begins with Mercury conjunct Uranus. The first conjunction was at 4 Aries on March 5. Now that it’s retrograde, it will again conjunct Uranus at 5 Aries on March 18-19. It will again conjunct Uranus at 7 Aries on April 22-23.
Thus this whole period will be influenced by our power to synthesize the parts into a whole picture, and given the degrees these conjunctions fall in, we’ll begin by being freed from old responsibilities, we’ll get a new innovative understanding of how life relates to mind in terms of our freedom to “turn on a dime” and move in new directions as we receive new understanding of a bigger picture, and then put it all together in late April when Mercury conjuncts Uranus for the third time on the exact degree that Mercury went stationary retrograde. Revolutionary ideas will fill the air over the next few weeks, so open to the eternally new in the Eternal NOW!
Besides the conjunction to Uranus, notable aspects Mercury makes during this RX period feature a novile, semisquare, septile and sextile to Venus, a triseptile to Mars, a novile, semisquare, and septile to Jupiter, and a triseptile and quincunx Saturn. Remember that Mercury already made most of these aspects in the recent past, so we'll get a review of the lessons associated with these over the next 3 weeks so that we can show skill in these once Mercury goes direct.
The major non-Mercury aspects are very few, but extraordinary! For a very favorable and practical stabilizing energy here at the front end of the retrograde period, we have the Grand Earth Trine of Venus conjunct Jupiter with both trine Mars and Pluto, with Mars also trine Pluto. I’ve explained the effects of this Grand Earth Trine in numerous other recent articles, so please check out the archives if you want to know more.
Other aspects of note are the Sun conjunct Uranus at 5 Aries and square Pluto at 10, Mars quincunx Uranus, Venus and Jupiter quintile Neptune and Chiron, Venus septile Mars, and during the time Mercury is sextile Venus at the end of March, they make an off-set Yod to Saturn, no small thing! This will definitely complete the Venus lessons that have presented themselves since it last went stationary direct at 28 Libra in mid-November 2010.
It’s off-set because when Mercury quincunxes Saturn, Venus is triseptile Saturn, and a few days later at the end of the RX period, when Venus quincunxes Saturn, Mercury is triseptile. Thus these will re-trigger the Saturn triseptile Uranus in play for many recent months, and put the hot zones of critical choices and decisions that will affect destiny at 26-30 Libra, 17-21 Sagittarius, 9-13 Aquarius, 1-5 Aries, 22-26 Taurus, 13-17 Cancer, and 4-8 Virgo. If you have a planet or point in any of these zones, expect to confront major decisions that will affect your future the end of March.
Mercury in Aries is ruled by Mars. As Mars is in Virgo, a sign ruled by Mercury, as noted earlier this makes them in Mutual Reception, a very powerful relationship that dominates all the other energies of the chart except those that have Venus in Taurus as the final dispositor (also discussed in the linked article). I’ve also written about these factors recently in other articles, and to remind you, Venus conjunct Jupiter is very favorable in itself. When we add the Grand Earth Trine and both Venus and Jupiter quintile Neptune, this will be a highly favorable and specialized period when we will see many blessings and complete forms of mastery that will free us for higher responsibilities.
This will continue once Mercury slips back into Pisces, as then Jupiter will be its ruler. Even though the Grand Earth Trine will be long past, Jupiter in Taurus is also very strong with or without Venus. So overall, both Mars and Jupiter will be very important influences during this Mercury retrograde time. And to note, Mercury will be septile Jupiter during the period Mercury goes stationary direct and shortly after. That will mark an extremely important point where some very heavy decisions are made. Those with planets or points around 22-25 Pisces, 13-16 Taurus, 5-8 Cancer, 26-29 Leo, 17-20 Libra, 9-12 Sagittarius, and 1-4 Aquarius will be most affected at that time.
Over the next 3 weeks Mercury moves back from the first half of Aries back to the last half of Pisces, retracing the emotional, social, and cultural level of Differentiation back to the actional level, and then moves into the individual-mental level of Perpetuation back to the emotional, social, and cultural level of Perpetuation. In early April when it goes direct it will again re-trace these spans throughout April. Retrogrades give us opportunities to look back and claim things from the past we may not have seen before.
Mercury retrograde is good for reworking, rehearsing, rethinking, researching, or finding a different approach to whatever is not well understood. It's also great for busting lies and misconceptions, though if you have the misfortune of dealing with someone operating from a delusion, they still may not get what's right in front of their face. In that case, let them go and apply your energies to more worthy relationships and endeavors.
On a final note for today, during any Mercury retrograde period there are always strange twists and turns and returns. However, if it's not a return of something you should have taken care of before then, remember that whatever happens it probably won't turn out the way it seems at the time.
More Mercury retrograde articles to come in the near future. Other parts in this series will discuss the nature of how it affects individual birthdays, the coming Inferior Conjunction, its coming stationary direct degree influences, and what Mercury Retrograde in Pisces is specifically good for.
Other articles explaining Mercury Retrograde:
The Guide of Souls in March-April 2012 – Mercury Slowing Down Preparing to go Retrograde at 7 Aries
Astrology and Mercury Retrograde March-April-2012 in Aries and Pisces – What is Mercury Retrograde?
A New Look At Mercury Retrograde in Aries in March 2012 – What Is It Good For?
Copyright © 2012 Robert Wilkinson
Robert, I experienced what you are describing in the way of consciousness shift...you are amazing! Trying to absorb it all, and delighted that we get to review and then begin to integrate it all in the next several weeks. I believe what people are describing as "Ascension" in 2012 is exactly this shift in awareness.
Posted by: Jo Garceau | March 14, 2012 at 12:50 PM