Mercury Stationary Direct Affecting October, November, December 2014, and January 2015 Pt. 1– Retiring, Contemplating, and Finding Peace

by Robert Wilkinson

Mercury goes direct in motion October 25, 12:17 pm PDT, 3:17 pm EDT, 8:17 pm BST, and speeds up for the next 10 weeks. This shows a quickening of the ability to coordinate, put things together, understand the whole and the parts, the process and the larger cycles. It is now stationary at 17 Libra, affecting that area in our lives for 3 months to come.

Mercury, or Hermes, "the Guide of Souls," is also known as the Divine Trickster, as well as all lesser models. What does Mercury going stationary direct at 17 Libra hold for us? Perhaps it would be useful to take a look back on what the last Mercury direct station brought us since June 2014.

You will recall that the last time Mercury went stationary direct, it was at 25 Gemini, trine its previous station at 19 Aquarius. It now makes a very favorable sextile to Jupiter and quintile to Mars, showing major productivity and specialization. Due to the series of trines between the direct stations this year, it would seem that Mercury is harmonized to and from itself within the larger cycle of direct stations, with an added benefit of being in harmony with Mars and Jupiter, which should bring good social progress.

Stationary retrograde and direct points become “hot spots” set into motion by future transits. Interestingly, there are no transits to this point until October 2015, with a little action in November, preparing for this energy to be set into motion in December 2015 when Mars transits this point. That paves the way for when Jupiter transits this degree Nov-Dec 2016, and April and July 2017.

The recent SRX point at 3 Scorpio trined the June 2014 SRX degree at 4 Cancer, trine to the Feb 2014 SRX degree at 4 Pisces and the same degree as the Nov 2013 SD degree at 3 Scorpio. We have had opportunities these past 3 months to continue to learn, adapt, and communicate, using the emotional intelligence we’ve been developing the past year that has been facilitated by these Mercury stationary points. Because the recent SRX point was at 3 Scorpio, the pattern continues.

Throughout the past two years, we've activated new responses to the feeling-knowing (emotional intelligence) awakened during the radical shift humanity went through at Winter Solstice 2012. This feeling-knowing was stabilized for good or ill in the Summer of 2013, and should now be a part of our emotional makeup. We now enter a phase of repairing past conditions that have led to current circumstances, or reconstructing something from the past, see what we need to retire from in deep peace. Keep experiencing your "feeling-knowing" through knowing your feelings, and try to achieve fluidity in balancing your hemispheres.

Just as we’ve recently had opportunities to practice Mercury’s function of being “the Guide of Souls” using the qualities of 3 Scorpio to weave together the higher and lower realizations we’ve awakened to since 2012, we now have the opportunity to be guided to our Soul using the qualities of 17 Libra. Again, how we use those realizations to coordinate those into our lives over the next 4 months will show us our way to a deeper connection to our Higher Self and others over the next few weeks.

In any case, we should all start seeing, hearing, and understanding things that point the way to some Mercurial technique of how we have been and continue to be guided to our Soul. Given that it falls at 17 Libra, it shows us some way to find peace through retiring and contemplating old dramas and crises that were successfully navigated, preparing to move into deeper connectedness with others, as well as new experiences.

The Sabian Symbol for Mercury’s Direct Station

We are told the Sabian Symbol is "A retired sea captain.” According to Rudhyar’s notes from the Marc Jones class, this degree is one of the “Vicarious or mellow participation in life" and "transfer of activity from physical to mental; or self-involvement in the past.

In "The Astrological Mandala" he states the keynote is "the capacity to gain an objective and calm understanding of human experiences in which one was once deeply involved." He says this symbol is about remembering the crises we've overcome as well as the peak experiences of our lives, and notes "wisdom and inner serenity can hardly develop save on the basis of the overcoming of struggles and conflicts."

Isn't that the truth! I've found the only thing that's brought me serenity this life is the knowledge that I was courageous in facing every trial, every problem, every crisis with as much strength and determination as I could muster at the time, and win, lose, or draw, I always took the high road and stood on my basic life principles and convictions. I let my Inner Warrior fight every battle. That's why even though I have occasionally been hammered, I have never been defeated!

Rudhyar goes on to say this symbol is about "peace and quietude," where we watch "ships entering and leaving the harbor," and know that others are learning in their own way through their own challenges. Here we see the dramas and challenges we've overcome, and finding peace and wisdom from our experience, may be able to help others who are going through the same challenges we did.

He also states that even though we may be "retired" from the challenges we've already overcome, this symbol may also be a prelude to "a greater voyage over even more poorly charted seas." In any case, he concludes with this being "the calm mind beyond struggles and victories." He states this degree is in the Span of Revelation, and it's the counterpoint degree of the actional level of the Scene of Reconstruction in the Act of Group Integration.

Marc Jones says 17 Libra is a symbol of our "personal enjoyment of reality, or an indomitable sustainment of (our) world in the precise terms of (our) own special participation in its varying aspects." He states this is "a completeness of self-consummation through a gift for bringing all prior factors of realization to focus in the present moment," where "the Self is secure because it has made its peace with every separate potentiality of its being."

He offers us the keyword RELAXATION. He goes on to state that when this degree is operating in a positive manner, it is “an utter fidelity to the lessons learned from experience and a consequent unshakeable poise in embarking on any new enterprise."

Of note is that this SD degree is the same as Mars occupied when it was RX during the Full Moon Total Lunar Eclipse of April 2014, as well as when it was in direct motion at the July 2014 New Moon. Therefore we get to "begin anew" at this Mercury direct point with Mars-related residue from those periods, or perhaps we shall be able to see what was happening then in ways that bring us peace and a wisdom born of our experience.

Aspects in the Shadow Zone

We will also be re-tracing our Libra and Scorpio lessons from now through November 10 due to Mercury still transiting its “shadow” span, ie, the span it’s in since it went retrograde at 3 Scorpio. Of course there will be residual echoes for the next 14 weeks as well.

Mercury going direct will re-activate many of the aspects it's made over the past few weeks. At various times over the past three weeks, it's made important semisquares, septiles, sextiles, quintiles, binoviles, and sesquisquares with other planets, showing we’ve been getting a full range of experience that has brought inner conflicts, outer aggravations, gifts, unique experiences, and some confrontations with the past that will help us shape our destiny in the very near future.

It now begins to move forward. This direct period is interesting because Mercury immediately makes a strong quintile to Mars which will continue into early November. This will help us sharpen our effectiveness and ability to adapt to circumstances wherever we have late Libra and early Capricorn in our charts. It will bring high specialization between the areas where we have Gemini and Virgo with where we have Aries and Scorpio, as well as influence any planets we have in these signs.

Mercury the makes a decile to Saturn and sesquisquare to Neptune, followed immediately by a sextile to Jupiter. So what begins as a partially developed understanding of a duty, limitation, or responsibility is accompanied by an irritating lack of clarity regarding role and function, but with Mercury sextile Jupiter, all's well that ends well, even if some of the energies seem like ego props.

The next aspect made while Mercury is still in its shadow zone is a binovile to Pluto, showing that some Plutonic experience that began September 17-18 that we got a new perspective on around Oct 18 will finally reveal its meaning. The final aspect Mercury makes before leaving the shadow zone is a quintile to Pluto, which should give us deep and unique insights into any area of inquiry or investigation.

Of some importance is that between now and when Mercury leaves its shadow zone, Venus and the Sun are both trine Neptune, stabilizing our feeling connection with collective Consciousness, and offering powerful karmic adjustments so that some reckless energy is curbed. A new set of stable patterns are now forming via the Scorpio transits, so remember to use your emotional intelligence wisely as you flow down the time stream past old discouraging atmospheres into a newer, deeper connection with self and others.

That’s followed by the Mercury sextile Jupiter, followed by Venus sextile Pluto, Mars sextile, Sun sextile Pluto, Venus square Jupiter, and Mars conjunct Pluto. Then Mercury finally moves out of the shadow zone. As you can see, it's a time stacked and packed with some great aspects!

Remember that Venus square Jupiter can yield great things when managed correctly! With Jupiter on the degree of the World Servant, major ideas could come forth at that time, with new ways and new days ahead! Look for the signal bearing the message from Spirit, and show as much gratitude and appreciation as you can while moving into a new way of life.

In this Mercury SD chart, we have one septile-driven configuration involving Mars biseptile Uranus. This sets up 7 hot zones around 29 Sagittarius- 3 Capricorn, 21-25 Aquarius, 13-17 Aries, 4-8 Gemini, 25-29 Cancer, 17-21 Virgo, and 8-12 Scorpio. If you have a planet or angle in any of these zones, expect the unexpected, and be inventive in how you act on a synthesized vision.

While the Grand Irrationality in not a factor in this chart, it will be triggered in the near future as Venus, the Sun, and Mercury all transit the Scorpio zone. These will trigger this year's aftereffects of the times when Saturn was septile Pluto and biseptile Neptune from late Scorpio in 2013 and earlier in 2014.

Other Important Aspects

Besides the ones discussed above, other forming aspects of note when Mercury goes stationary direct are Moon novile Mercury and sesquisquare Uranus, with the Sun and Venus both quadranovile Uranus and trine Neptune. We also see Mars sextile Neptune, Saturn semisquare Pluto, and as usual, Uranus square Pluto. Of note is that we have a configuration of obscure aspects involving the Moon, Mars, and Neptune, showing that to some extent, we will all have to makes leaps of faith to resolve some duality wherever we have Aries, Cancer, Scorpio, Sagittarius, and Pisces.

From a place of emotional stability, we’ll know how, when, and where to flow, and can now move into a new sphere of interactive feeling-experience. We shall express some fulfilled part of Self in a form of self-transcendence through shedding old "skins of personality," culminating in a sense of relief, an imaginative searching for how and what we need to do our thing, and begin a process of contemplating how we’ve retired from some old dramas and can now be at peace with those areas of our past life experience.

For those who want to know more about the qualities of Mercury retrograde in Scorpio, Libra, as well as all the other signs and houses, if you haven't already gotten your copy, you may want to go over to the Amazon or Barnes and Noble ebook websites and get a copy of the new 2nd edition of my book A New Look At Mercury Retrograde. It was written for both astrologers and laypeople, and has just about everything you could want to know about Mercury retrograde, from how it works, what it means, celebrities who have it in their charts, historic events that happened during Mercury retrograde, and what signs are involved in future Mercury retrograde periods.

By knowing more about 2014's Mercury retrograde periods in Pisces/Aquarius, Cancer/Gemini, and Scorpio/Libra, you may see patterns in what was going on in your life, what you were taking a new look at and why, and how this "looking back" influenced your choices as you moved through the past year's events. Here's the link to where you can order your copy of the new edition of my ebook, A New Look at Mercury Retrograde to check out possible ways this Mercury retrograde effect could play out over the next 4 months, and because it was retrograde during the past two eclipses, the next 4 years.

In part 2, we'll continue to examine what we can expect over the next 4 months now that Mercury is direct.

© Copyright 2014 Robert Wilkinson

Comments

[Roberta]

Thanks Robert - you continue to be such an important guide in my life - bless you 🙏

[Phoebe]

You are amazing Robert. Thank you.

[Rebecca]

Awesome! I really enjoyed your Mercury Retrograde book - I discovered that my boyfriend has mercury retrograde in his natal chart and you described him to a T.. It all makes sense now!

[dcu]

Two weeks ago the Full Moon Eclipse lit up my stellium in the second decan of Libra. Now Mercury SD is exactly conjunct my natal Sun. Oh, and did I mention that Pluto is now within minutes of a degree to make its final pass over my Ascendant? No transformation in my life, everything is status quo, Not!

[Nic]

Brilliant and clear. Ready for part two. Could not be more timely.
Blessings be!