by Robert Wilkinson
Yes, it's THAT time again! Mercury is radically slowing down, preparing to go stationary retrograde at 3 Scorpio on Oct 4, 10:02 am PDT, 1:02 pm EDT, 6:02 pm Greenwich (BST). This has important implications for all signs.
I'll be composing several articles about this Mercury retrograde in Scorpio and Libra over the next several weeks. Until then, adapt to the slowing pace of things, be willing to put some things on hold for a little while, and take a look at what's been set into motion up to now with an eye to seeing what has to be done before things can again move forward in late October.
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.
The two weeks before the retrograde is a good time for setting things in motion that will need a delay before being picked up anew. Or for doing things that will need research, rehearsing, or reworking to whatever degree before completion. The time before Mercury goes retrograde is good for doing what must be done so that other related things can be done later, as well as reconnecting with people and activities from the past that are somehow related to the future.
If you haven’t already, you can find out a lot more about these very important 3 week periods by getting a copy of the new expanded 2nd edition of my book “A New Look At Mercury Retrograde,” available on Amazon kindle as an ebook. Also, it will soon be available as an iBook, as well as via Barnes and Noble’s Nook for those who don’t want to do amazon kindle. This work offers in-depth information about Mercury retrograde people, Mercury retrograde in the various signs and houses, and what the entire Mercury Retrograde phenomenon is about.
The coming retrograde will be an extremely important one showing us how to feel a deeper connection with others, learn cooperation, and give us one look back so we can get clear about how to use the wisdom of our 2011-2012 experience to a) repair something, b) reconstruct something to get a different view of what happened and why, and/or c) find peace in having overcome old dramas we no longer need to be involved in. We can get a new look at recent balance or imbalances in our relationships, and receive blessings from Spirit once we’re willing to “let go, let God,” especially if it involves old resentments and unnecessary limitations.
We can get new insights into old feelings, desires, losses, legacies, and prior unfair situations in self and others. Some will get flashes into old conflicts in desires, or cross currents between our magnetism and others’ magnetism. This will lead to new perspectives over the next several weeks.
As Mercury continues to make quintiles to Jupiter in Leo and Pluto in Capricorn, this will be the second phase in receiving gifts, reconsidering unique circumstances, remembering old specialized talents, and will show us our unique qualities wherever these interlocking quintiles bookended by Jupiter biquintile Pluto. Those most affected have planets or angles near 16-22 Leo, 28 Libra-4 Scorpio, 10-16 Capricorn, 22-28 Pisces, and 4-10 Taurus. These zones will shift somewhat over the next few weeks, so these aspects will affect a huge number of people!
As Mercury goes retrograde in the Water sign of Scorpio, pay attention to reflections, returns, and new insights into the emotional intelligence that you’ve been cultivating since June 2013. This is the second review in 2014 of the Feeling-awareness we all experienced from the time of the Grand Water Trines of June, July, and August 2013 through this past Spring. This can give us a new perspective on what’s shifted since then, and will show us how to be more cooperative in our social interactions.
In October, we can see what life has prepared for us since the last Mercury retrograde in June. This Mercury retrograde will offer us opportunities to look back and distill wisdom from our past experiences and choices resulting from the choices and changes set into motion at the last Mercury retrograde which kicked the Grand Irrationality into high gear. Since it is going retrograde in very close trine to its last two retrograde stations at 4 Cancer and 4 Pisces, this one should continue to stabilize our understanding of how to use our emotional intelligence in a variety of ways.
Consider the next 3 weeks as a bridge between old experiences where some hard dues were paid, and new ways to live in relationship with others. This time will bring interesting insights through looking back or within about prior relationships, shared values, or why we had to leave certain people behind. Pay attention to the signs, signals, information, and understanding that come through your feelings and introspection, since seeing how things have changed the past few months will bring clarity about the new cycle in play since July.
This is where we get to look back on what has been and what is happening right now in order to get insights into what is to come. It will certainly be an important retrograde, given the aspects in play!
This chart offers a huge number of extremely important aspects indicating what’s up both for the period of the retrograde station, as well as the entirety of the retrograde period. When Mercury goes stationary retrograde, Mars is trine Jupiter and Uranus, and the Grand Irrationality is set into motion by Saturn biseptile Neptune. As the Moon is also square Saturn, and Saturn is biquintile Uranus, expect high specialization, inspiration, and a “changing of the guards.”
This Mercury retrograde will give us many signs and signals for what will dominate Mercury-ruled areas from late October through mid-January 2015. This retrograde is a time to review recent critical shifts in relationships, and take a new look at how things were out of balance or needed recalibration. Here we take a new look at what’s behind us before moving forward anew at the end of the RX period in late October. We can get all kinds of new insights into future potentials, while seeing things in the recent past differently.
The Inferior Conjunction happens October 16-17 at 24 Libra. That indicates the coming “fusion of life and mind” will help us to a new look, new interpretation, or new understanding of the issues associated with the last decan of Libra, as well as what Saturn taught us November 2011, as well as May through August 2012 when it occupied that exact degree.
So we approach a period of important choices and changes in trajectory and destinies due to the challenges and weirdness of the Grand Irrationality front and center thanks to Saturn biseptile Neptune. The Grand Fire Trine will provide stabilized inspiration, the productive sextile from the Sun to Mars will help us to prepare for a better future, and the Moon square Saturn can help put the brakes on any corrosive Saturn in Scorpio residue we’re still dealing with. I’ll discuss these in a future article.
Of note is the Moon is on the exact degree where Neptune went stationary retrograde in May 2006, as well as where it went stationary direct in late October 2007. That extended period began a long wave collective atmosphere of getting blessings and rewards from Spirit, so there will be echoes during the next several weeks of things learned or set into motion back then.
So welcome to many things being reviewed or coming back up to surface these next three weeks thanks to the retrograde quality of the time. Some will review past efforts to see what still needs to be integrated into the life, and/or there could be returns, rehearsals, or echoes of the past and its needs, habits, and personality structures.
While there will be some hard edges, this time should help us integrate our feelings with a new way to viewing how we feel what we know and know what we feel. This period can help us feel connected with others who share our ideals. There may be the return of old friends and allies, or ghosts from the past that need to be blessed and passed on.
Last November’s Mercury retrograde period was the beginning of a genuine renewal, and the one in February 2014 helped us “let go, let God,” and rise to some emergency that expanded our lives and/or skills. The most recent one in June allowed us to take one last look back before our lives accelerated dramatically when Jupiter entered Leo in mid-July, and we all got a “dress rehearsal,” where we “get the feel” of the stage and how we want to play our part in the near future.
This one allows us to take a look back at how we’ve bridged Libra and Scorpio energy in our lives, see who we need to forge deeper connections with through genuine cooperation of magnetism, and say goodbye to old dramas where we achieved forms of victory, whether we knew it or not. Take a new look at the ideas you got in September, since we will capture the essential elements of what we need by mid-November based in our insights these next 3+ weeks.
For all of us, during the next several weeks the future that's already rolling forward will slow a little so we can get a new look at crucial elements of the process we cannot afford to ignore. We will all have opportunities to take a new look and find a new way to apply our emotional realizations we’ve had since Summer 2013.
This period offers us excellent chances to rework how we interpret our desires, our sense of relatedness, and what we like and what we don’t. It’s a great time to get a different view of how we attract what we need to thrive, and how our emotions and ideals relate to each other, and how these do or don’t fulfill what our subconscious minds desire. All of us will have a new understanding of what matters to us by late October, and will find peace in contemplating old struggles now in our rear view mirror.
This will be another important retrograde, where the past will be reviewed to see what we can and cannot bring with us into the future in late October. It will help us rehearse or do the research we need to get ready to spring forward in mid-November, clear about what we know, what we need to know, who we need to get closer to, and who we need to say goodbye to.
Renewals, returns, reconnections, reunions, and rebeginnings are promised by this retrograde. And of course, more on this Mercury retrograde period will come soon!
Copyright © 2014 Robert Wilkinson
"Renewals, returns, reconnections, reunions, and rebeginnings are promised by this retrograde."
That should cover a lot of interesting territory!
As always, thank you Robert for the heads up as to the cosmic weather forecast.
Posted by: Diane | September 28, 2014 at 05:36 PM
Hello Robert,
I found this article by way of this article http://www.mysticmamma.com/mercury-goes-retrograde-october-3rd-2014/
I am truly inspired by what you have to say. I follow astrology and am extremely interested in Mercury Retrograde. I am going to feature you on my own personal blog with credit given to this article, of course.
Thank you for your inspiration.
Best,
Ashley
Posted by: Ashley B | October 02, 2014 at 07:39 AM