Astrology and Mercury Retrograde July-August 2012 in Leo - What Is Mercury Retrograde?

by Robert Wilkinson

Mercury goes retrograde at 13 Leo on July 14, 7:16 pm PDT, 10:16 pm EDT, 3:16 am Greenwich July 15. Over the next few days we'll examine the meaning of this phenomenon and how we can make best use of these recurring periods.

In 2012, Mercury will go retrograde 3 times, unlike 2011 when we had a 4th Mercury retrograde period, making it an unusual year. When Mercury is retrograde, it seems to throw people and situations into a whirlwind of over, under, sideways and down. But does it really? Just what is Mercury retrograde? In the next few weeks we'll discover many things about how Mercury Retrograde in Aries affects us.

Mercury retrograde is one of the most misunderstood parts of astrology. Many have heard about it, but don't know what it really is. I've given an introduction about the general meaning of the phenomenon known as Mercury Retrograde in the article, Mercury Retrograde - A New Look at the Guide of Souls. It was written to assist readers to pierce through many of the superstitions and suppositions concerning this repeating phenomenon, and how it works in our lives.

There's too much to recap here, so if you're not familiar with the technical elements and basic meanings of this Mercurial phenomenon happening 3 times a year, please read that article so you can understand better what this coming period is about, and how best to approach its challenges and potentialities.

I'll be composing more about what the coming retrograde period is about in future articles. For now, I'll just mention that we'll get new insights about our experiences in self-reinvention and how the Grand Irrationality has thrown us into our Dharma through critical choices regarding our liberation from the ghosts of our past since Summer 2011. We’ll get a new look at what we learned between July 2005-06, and find peace in having overcome storms and trials these past 7 years.

We'll get new insights into our hearts, our creativity, our spontaneity, our children, and our ability to find enjoyment in a natural enthusiasm wherever early Leo falls in our charts. By the end of the process we’ll know why we had to be “quarantined” from certain people and situations, and hopefully can find a new form of self-expression that feeds our hearts and our natural ways of being within a community. This will be in play by early August.

Since Mercury leads both the Sun and Venus, but will wind up between them at the end of this retrograde period, when this period is over we will have insights, reflections, and new understanding about things we will capture and/or value by the time Venus crosses the Leo span of degrees activated at this retrograde period. So in some ways we won’t achieve completion and appreciation around what we’re about to go through until the second and third weeks of September.

Some of what we’ll understand through review, reflection, and roundabout signals won’t really be understood on a macro level until Jupiter moves through early Leo beginning Summer 2014. For now, during this period we’ll review Leo things in our lives, so keep an eye to the house where this retrograde falls since that's where returns, reviews, new insights, and new understanding of past things will be found. More on that to come in another article.

In Leo, we find ourselves in a sign of natural expression, creativity, playfulness, spontaneity, and wholehearted enjoyment of life. Here we get to review recent Leo experiences and developments in our lives, and will have a chance to re-examine some things that will show us how to value and what to value in September.

Mercury retrograde can bring the return of old memories, old connections, old ways of doing our Being, and old friends and ideas. In Leo it could memories of past ways we expressed ourselves, old ways we used to have fun, memories of our childhood or our children’s childhood, as well as old Mercurial people and methods of creative self-expression, play, or things we used to enjoy.

Sometimes a retrograde indicates a period of returns and/or rediscoveries; other times it's a period of looking back to change some things so that we can "get it right" when Mercury again goes direct. In any case, we can understand the challenges and opportunities by looking at the sign(s) and house(s) where the retrograde is happening.

As noted in the article before this one, this Mercury retrograde will feature some very harmonious and productive aspects, as well as a major septile driven configuration (the Grand Irrationality!) during the second half of the retrograde period. Even the Inferior Conjunction is triseptile Neptune, though it’s also quincunx Pluto. Both of these aspects are extremely powerful, and I’ll develop those themes in depth in future articles. No doubt the last half of this RX period will feature important choices, changes, and developments in our destinies, affecting what will quicken in early August!

Throughout the retrograde period, we'll get many insights, returns, and renewals. Some hints of these have already begun to manifest in my life. Mercury retrograde is always good for looking back to see what we didn't in earlier times. However, also remember that there also may be delays, misunderstandings can occur and/or be resolved, and that much may come in roundabout or even apparently contradictory ways.

So the coming weeks will give us a new look at recent Leonine developments, as well as herald important developments that will show up beginning early August. Again, since this retrograde is in early Leo, take a look back at events and truths offered when Saturn was in that degree span around 6-7 years ago. Of note, this is also where Mars spent a good deal of its retrograde period in January through April 2010, so there should be plenty of insights related to that Mars retrograde period as well.

We can also get flashes of insight into future conditions, since Jupiter will enter Leo in July 2014, and occupy the Leo degree span of this retrograde from mid-July through mid-September 2014. Of note is that Jupiter will go direct at 13 Leo in April 2015, picking up where this one goes retrograde. Definite connections will be found then with what this period is about.

So Saturn gave us its early Leo lessons from mid-July 2005 through mid-July 2006. These were activated and expressed when Mars was in early Leo first in June 2006, and again in May 2008, and then during the time it was direct, then retrograde, then direct again in this span of degrees mid-October through mid-November 2009, and then late January 2010 through early May 2010.

During that Mars retrograde in Leo, we danced with, remember, reworked, and played with new methods of early Leo forms of self-expression. These will be elements in our review over the next few weeks, and the seed ideas for new expansions when Jupiter moves through this sector of the zodiac in 2014-2015.

So finish getting your affairs in order as soon as possible and continue adjusting to the different pace symbolized by Mercury slowing down very quickly during the past and current weeks. Get ready to take an unusual view, do your research, rehearsals, and examine peripherals since they may be more important than we initially thought. More on all of this, plus how it affects individual signs, in future articles.

Already posted: The Guide of Souls in July-August 2012 - Mercury Slowing Down, Preparing to go Retrograde at 13 Leo

Copyright © 2012 Robert Wilkinson

Comments

[Matt]

I know Mercury still hasn't turned into his retro motion dance but oh my my... his backwardation energy is ringing loud and clear in this corner of NYC. Talk about re-learning and re-affirming lessons about higher, more natural self-expression...

[Debbie Eastick]

I'm for some reason quite enthused about this merc rx and the uranus one considering i dont usually enjoy uranus influences and its square my natal merc which should be scaring the life out of me, but not this time. Merc rx will cross my MC again and things are actually moving forward in my 10th house stuff as my vocation is also lifestyle I am quite intrigued to see why Im feeling good about it :)

I will also be very interested in the coming words about the pluto quincux as I have a natal one with my jup/ic conj and hope it will enlighten as to whether I have been working it the best way I am able, as it also forms a yod with my natal merc with the jup/ic at the vertex, i sense it quite big karmicly both in the healing of it and creating good with it, so yep interested to read how pluto works with neptune so I can perhaps understand it with jupiter.

As always, great writing Robert, an inspiration as always.

[Eva]

Dear Robert, you sometimes were speaking about being “quarantined" from something, which fit quite well to what I experienced. From which astrological configuration do you take that interpretation?
Thank you, and kind regards-- Eva

[caliban]

Me headaches are gone. I knew something was up. I am not prone to headaches. Me cranial plates shifted. All I can say is that karma is very complicated. Massive numbers of images coming together in a common denominator. I don't really know much about vertex, but that's the natal point marker where mercury went rx. Tricky little messenger, that mercury. Merciless and unstoppable sometimes.

[Robert]

Hi Matt - Well, with the RX so favorable in your chart, it should bring serendipitous returns!

Hi Debbie - Glad you checked in. The quincunx will help you adjust to bring forth your Jupiter/IC power in a purified way, with the sextile the line of greatest productivity.

Hi Eva - The quarantine comes from Mercury's passage over 2 Leo, which is where it'll go direct in 3 weeks. Whether a past, present, or future "quarantine," it will show us "the inconveniences of life as they teach us group values." And of course, when to get out of the path of the dis-ease so we can avoid the unfortunate aftereffects.

Hi caliban - Glad to hear your process is paying off in concrete physical ways! I tend not to use the Vertex, since we always have control over our responses to events. You may want to go back and re-read some of the early core material about Mercury retrograde. While it can seem to be without mercy, it always leads us to our Soul. Mercury retrograde is when the Cosmic Magician can be seen in all his magnificence, slowed down so we all can catch glimpses of how the magic works!!

[Matt]

From your mouth to God's ears!

[caliban]

Hi Robert, painful as the catharsis was, yes with inner resistance released . . . well, it's good. And my physical energy is renewed.

Darn projectionism. Considering that, I talked myself into I was responsible for the abuses of the abuser(s)and all the guilt that goes along with that. In that line of consideration, it was impossible to separate myself from all that.

Mercury was retro in my 2010 solar return chart. Mercury was direct but in the shadow phase in my 2011 solar return chart. Looking at the magic of my core abuser was not pleasant, but only a part of the larger magic of life. She was close enough to home that it still held me down. Why get up only to get pushed down again kind of thing. Cheers!!!!