Astrology in October and November 2012 - Will The Coming Mercury Retrograde in Sagittarius and Scorpio Slow Things Down Like Mars, Venus and Saturn Did the First Half of 2012?

by Robert Wilkinson

Actually, the coming Mercury retrograde should prove to be a fairly productive time with many things coming into very clear focus around elimination, purification, and regeneration through organized action, leading us all to translucidity and the ability to tune into higher knowing. What follows begins the exploration about why.

Now that Venus and Saturn have been moving forward things have been proceeding with more precision and momentum since June. The last Mercury retrograde in July-August helped us retire from many old dramas and quarantined us from situations so we could learn to play or be more naturally creative.

Right now the only planets that are RX are Jupiter and Uranus, with the latter about to go stationary direct in mid-December. That means for the next few weeks, just about every planet is moving forward, either into unknown zones or re-tracing familiar zones to get perspective, as in the case of Neptune and Pluto.

One way that past retrogrades work out in future events can be seen by this example: Venus gave us a look at past and future developments as it danced back and forth three times between 8 and 24 Gemini in May and June. Even though it’s now moved forward several signs, Jupiter transited 8-17 Gemini from mid-July through now, and it will retrograde back to 7 Gemini from now through late January, after which it will again move through the Venus retrograde zone through late May 2013.

That means that all the Venus in Gemini lessons, events, meetings, movement, realizations, and all the other stuff related to Venus retrograde in that sign, are now subject for us to examine and learn from a broader perspective. This will continue while Jupiter transits that span Venus transited then. So what was then a Venus experience is now a Jupiter experience. You can figure out more by researching what parts of our personality Venus and Jupiter rule and express.

Even though Mercury is slowing down, about to go RX at 5 Sagittarius on November 6, 3:04 pm PST, 6:04 pm EST, 11:04 pm Greenwich, I suspect the coming retrograde period will be a relatively productive time due to Venus and Mars being in a favorable quintile and sextile during the entire period. Overall with the planetary spread, the stationary point doesn’t make many aspects other than a septile to Venus and a square to Neptune. I’ll explain more in future articles.

During this period, the initial septile sets the stage. It shows that any houses or planets we have in Taurus, Gemini, Virgo, and Libra will be the areas where we’ll find this “point of critical decision” at work. Those involve 11-14 Libra, 3-6 Sagittarius, 24-27 Capricorn, 16-19 Pisces, 7-10 Taurus, 28 Gemini-1 Cancer, and 19-22 Leo.

(Students of the craft will note the zones created by this septile will trigger energies that began for all of us in Summer 2011, when Saturn went stationary direct in the Libra zone in June, and Jupiter went stationary retrograde in the Taurus zone in August. That implies these long term lessons and growth patterns will achieve focus on Nov 7-8, 10-11, 14, 17-18, 21-22, 25-26, and 30, with a special emphasis on November 24-27. Expect major triggers pushing us to demonstrate what we learned Dec 13-15 and especially 16-23, when Venus transits the SRX point with Mars in the Capricorn zone!)

Keep in mind that sextiles are productive, quintiles are specializing, and septiles indicate times when we are forced to make critical decisions. So it involves turning points in the Mercury-Venus areas of our charts, and uniqueness yielding productivity involving the Venus-Mars related areas of our charts.

Much will get very focused toward the end of the retrograde period when Venus conjuncts Saturn in early Scorpio sextile Mars conjunct Pluto in Capricorn. This will be a very productive time for those with planets in the first 10 degrees of Taurus, Cancer, Virgo, Scorpio, Capricorn, and Pisces, even if it does seem very intense and some sort of elimination, regeneration, or reorganization has to take place.

Mercury makes mostly semisquares and sesquisquares this retrograde period showing a lot of internal and external agitation requiring clarity. The problem is that the first week of the RX period has Mercury square Neptune, not great for getting clear, or fogging conditions. This is sure to make a mess of the coming election, along the lines of 2000. I’ll be writing on that soon.

As Mercury is squaring Neptune now through mid-November, remember to get clear about where you stand relative to the various stages and phases of things that are happening in your life. Please refer to the recent article on “Order of Priority.” Knowing that can make things go more smoothly in this time.

That aspect also shows we cannot afford to lose focus and put ourselves down or allow ourselves to be taken for granted. Train the mind and speech to express ONLY your ideal, and no lesser fogs and confusions. This is a time to cultivate the ability to express subtleties and your understanding of how the hidden side of life works. Cultivate discernment of knowing what is core and what is peripheral, how the parts show us the whole, and open to discovering that which is under daily life and its currents.

While Mercury is in Sagittarius and Jupiter is in Gemini, they’re in mutual reception. That makes them very strong between October 29 and November 14, even though they won’t form a significant aspect during that period. It shows a polarity of forces that have no relationship to each other.

Paying attention to Mercury related things is very important right now, since it’s in Scorpio in the span it will traverse in late November and early December. As the ruler of Scorpio is Mars, and it’s in Sagittarius and opposed its ruler Jupiter in Gemini, it explains why the public dialog seems to be going all over the map right now, with people making assertions that completely miss the mark.

I’ve seldom seen such deflection, dissembling, wild assertions, and conversations where people talk over or past each other. I suppose I can say that as we prepare to enter the RX period, avoid getting involved in disputes that are none of your business, or just deflect you from getting the momentum or openings you want. Ignore the petty or petulant, and if you are trying to get something done, it’s probably as much a matter of style as substance.

Once Mercury retrogrades back into Scorpio in mid-November, it will again be ruled by Mars, which will still be in Sagittarius until Nov 16-17 when it enters Capricorn, the sign of its “exaltation,” or grounds for greatest growth. Mars does well when expressing the organization, maturity, thoughtfulness, and discipline of Capricorn. Though Mercury semisquares Mars at the end of the retrograde period, it then moves quickly into a septile, again throwing things at critical forks in the road of destiny.

That will mark a time of signs and signals about the larger invisible transformational energies working out globally at this time in history. Since Pluto will then be septile to that Mercury stationary direct point for some time to come, expect dramatic global shifts directly related to that. We’re all going to get some news from the invisible world that will show us how well we’ve attuned and gotten over our fear in 2012.

For now, be very alert to what happens November 7-11, since that’s when the Sun will septile Pluto as it transits the future Mercury stationary direct degree. You may see what’s coming in late November through January very clearly. Another time to keep your eyes and ears open will be December 3-7 when Venus finishes the transit of the Mercury SD degree.

Overall, we’re moving into a period where we’ll experience a lot of compression, showing us what to eliminate and how to reorganize our magnetism. Explore the concept of translucency during the coming weeks, since that will be a major theme in how we express our wisdom, poise, and calm understanding.

Sometimes getting out of our own way is the best thing to do, as well as reduce our density so that more light can pour into our vehicles. Though the coming weeks may bring aggravations, it will also show us how to get focused as we prepare to ride out the major league Yod, or “Finger of God,” in December. I’ll be writing about that sometime in November.

That one will squeeze us ALL into multiple focuses with the emphasis on the house where we have 9 Gemini. And even that Yod is just the dress rehearsal for a sequence of more powerful, interlocking Yods coming up in late March involving Moon, Sun, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Pluto. That’s going to be a sequence of major events demanding a lot of expansion through sacrifices! Again, more to come soon!!

A front end hint for December: We began to rehearse our “archery skills” related to that point, of being able to take careful aim with a trained eye so we could “hit our target” consistently, beginning the second week of April. We furthered those skills in late May, the third week of June, early July, and opened to expanding those new skills the last half of July.

So begin to finish up what you need to in order to prepare for the slowdown indicated by a Mercury retrograde period. You’ll get a new look at all of it again, so just do what you must to prepare for a shift in momentum in all things Mercurial. And of course, I’ll be writing more very soon about the coming Mercury retrograde in Sagittarius and Scorpio.

© Copyright 2012 Robert Wilkinson

Comments

[Ursamare]

Robert - I'd like to thank you once again for clearing the mist. Let's just say I'll be better prepared for the Mercury retrograde as a result.

Thank you so much for your addictive articles.

x Ursamare

[Nancy Robinson]

Much gratitude for this thoughtful well written article.

Love and Light~

[GaryB]

Thank you Robert,

Any thoughts as to Mercury SD (and Venus follow up) exact on my natal 7th house Saturn 18 03 Scorpio sextile natal 5th house Mars 18 40 Virgo?

[Debbie]

YES!!! I have merc rx natally like many, so find it quite productive anyway, but this does sound even more hopeful and actually feels it as well as glimmers of seeing it in mind. Plus I have much in the areas you noted affected, that have suffered or forced sacrifice in those areas big time. Having a venus rules chart means I can lap up alot of her power too. Focus focus focus Debbie...Thank you for your analysis Robert

[Matt]

Several thoughts here...

Isn't the Mercury-Jupiter mutual reception an indication of how things are getting even more out of hand than they usually are? The news tonight made my mind spin. Time to put on the symphonies...

Since Mercury will be in one of the voids of the Jupiter-Neptune square that occurred earlier this year, aren't we just getting more information about the fog that was created then (and reviewing it/re-experiencing it)?

Yet, blessedly Mercury goes Rx on the degree of the old owl in a tree...

[caliban]

Multiple focuses???? Oh dear. Sounds blurry.

[Angharad Reese]

Hi Robert,

Even though I'm an astrologer myself I've only recently been pointed towards Aquarius Papers. I'm enjoying what I'm reading and hope you'll keep up the nice work.

Best wishes,

Angharad