by Robert Wilkinson
Today we take a look at important Sabian Symbols, aspects, and other important factors in play the next three weeks as Mercury is retrograde in Aquarius.
This Mercury retrograde begins Jan 21, 7:54 am PST, 10:54 am EST, 3:54 pm GMT. This retrograde moves from 18 Aquarius back to 2 Aquarius, with the Inferior conjunction of Mercury and the Sun occurring at 11 Aquarius on Jan 30, 5:45 am PST, 1:45 pm GMT.
The Sabian Symbol for Mercury’s Stationary Retrograde Degree
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 18 Aquarius is “A man unmasked.” In "the Astrology of Personality," where Rudhyar uses the original Dr. Jones' class notes on the symbols, 18 Aquarius is said to be a symbol of “The introvert’s desire to protect himself from social judgment,” “Clinging to self-valuation,” and “Conservation of experience.”
We are told in the Astrological Mandala that this symbolizes "the difficulty for the modern individual to keep secret his private past or his deeper motives,” where the individual faces the problem of social or governmental intrusion into their private life, as well as unconscious patterns giving others information about their inner nature. He also offers that those who are living a greater service might need “protective agencies” and “Higher powers” in order to do that higher work.
The goes on to state that this “refers to the unmasking of hidden motives and personal secrets,” or “the publicizing of past behavior.” He says it falls in the Span of Perspective, and it’s the synthesizing degree in the actional level of the scene of Management in the Act of Capitalization.
So we'll be using our Mercury function to catch glimpses of things from the past, perhaps understanding something that has been previously veiled. While it may give us insights into our and others’ motives, we may also get flashes from indirect cues and signals that help us understand something we need to manage through positive action.
It should be a great time to see things we didn’t understand before, or perhaps reclaim something from the past. Here we take a look back and reconsider some ideas, goals, or aspirations we once had, or shared with others. We definitely will get a new look at a bigger picture of something or someone we once knew.
According to Dr. Jones, creator of the Sabian Symbols, this degree is one of “the human mind’s illimitable power for penetrating into the deeper stirrings and underlying motivations of human nature” to “gain a scientific mastery of every psychological process.” He says this is about repudiating “all individualism as other than the common divisions of labor in a social reality” which demands we make a “public accounting” of ourselves when “the general welfare requires it.”
He offers us the keyword ANALYSIS. He states when operating in a positive manner, this degree “is a considered self-dedication to greater or more wonderful reasons for being.”
So What Are We Reviewing?
As with all Mercury retrogrades, we can use this time to take a look back at whatever in the past has recently begun. This one in Aquarius helps us re-shape our mind, perceptions, understanding, and methods by taking a new look at recent ideas, meetings, aspirations, and potential for group development.
We’ve now moved out of last year’s Mercury retrograde pattern, where Mercury began those retrograde periods in early Water signs while retrograding back to Air signs. This one begins in Air and ends in Air, just like the ones to come in May-June in Gemini and Sept-Oct in Libra. We can take a look back at all things related to the Air signs this year, so wherever you have Aquarius, Gemini, and Libra in your chart will be the focus of all the 2015 Mercury retrogrades.
When Mercury is retrograde in Aquarius, we can get a new understanding of old goals, old friendships, old ambitions, old aspirations, and a greater sense of world or social service. This position could be good for reconnecting with people, sometimes from another life. However, it often is not as it seems, will take a roundabout method of developing, and could yield some interesting connections in turn, given these retrogrades are in Air signs.
In Aquarius we can re-visit some past ideals we embraced in former groups, and find new vision and understanding of how that helped us manage our energies in ways that we can now adapt for current conditions. We can get new perspectives on old associations and group activities from when we were younger, and some will find themselves reconnecting with old friends.
These reviews and new points of view will be activated in major ways as the Sun moves through this Mercury retrograde degree span in Aquarius over the three weeks Mercury is retrograde. This will illuminate the Mercury lessons we first saw when Mercury was approaching this retrograde period. Now that Mercury is retrograde, we’ll get a new look at these things.
We’ll also get to review or re-think the love wave movement of the collective field associated with what Neptune brought us when it first traversed 18 Aquarius beginning April 2005, since it went stationary retrograde on that degree in May. It went forward across 18 Aquarius in Jan-Feb 2006, and then retrograded back to that degree by late August 2006, going stationary direct on that degree in late October. It then occupied that degree through the end of 2006.
So Mercury retrograding from this degree back to 2 Aquarius will give us glimpses into the Aquarian dreamscape taking shape in our collective consciousness from when Neptune was in that span between 1998 (first transit of 2 Aquarius) and Dec 2006 (last transit of 18 Aquarius). Of course, given Neptune’s stations, this degree is of paramount importance in understanding how the collective consciousness has been affected since 2006.
Each time anything transits 18 Aquarius it triggers echoes from what was embedded in the collective hologram then. That means this Mercury retrograde should give us a new understanding of what our collective Neptune in Aquarius experience was all about, and there could be returns, signs, signals, memories, or renewals from that era.
These reviews and new points of view will be activated in major ways as the Sun moves through this Mercury retrograde degree span in Aquarius over the three weeks Mercury is retrograde. This will illuminate the Mercury lessons we first saw when Mercury was approaching this retrograde period. Now that Mercury is retrograde, we’ll get a new look at these things.
So this ends the 2014 Mercury stationary sequence of trines that began in Water and ended in Air, and begins the 2015 Mercury stationary sequence of trines that begin in mid-Air and end in early Air signs. Enjoy the “fresh Air,” since 2016 will mainly have Mercury retrograde in Earth signs, and 2017 shows the sequence beginning in early Earth signs and retrograding back to Fire signs. Again, enjoy the Air of 2015!
An interesting feature is that the 2014 sequence had Mercury stationary direct at 19 Aquarius in February, 25 Gemini in July, and 17 Libra in October. This year Mercury goes stationary retrograde at 18 Aquarius, 14 Gemini, and 16 Libra. So this year all the stationary RX degrees conjunct and/or trine all the SD degrees of 2014. Take a new look at what began at those 2014 stationary direct points, since we’ll be revisiting that material throughout 2015.
As I offered in previous articles, all Mercury retrograde periods are great for returns, reviews, rehearsals, reversals, and seeing things from unusual angles. This one offers us unique skills through productive inspiration and solid planning within a larger process, even while navigating some important forks in the road of destiny that will seem extremely weird at times.
Behind the Scenes in this Aquarius Retrograde
While in Aquarius, Mercury is ruled by Saturn in worldly things and Uranus in spiritual things. So this Mercury retrograde period has as its backdrop energy the very powerful truth seeking, liberating energies of Saturn in Sagittarius, as well as the enthusiasm and inspired self-generated initiative of Uranus in Aries. Because of their 11th harmonic aspect, we’ll be prodded to demonstrate a form of faith to overcome some duality or friction that can lead us to understanding and stability in both worldly and spiritual realms.
As I mentioned in the recent New Moon article, Saturn is disposited by Jupiter in Leo. As the ruler of Leo is the Sun, now in Aquarius which is ruled by Saturn, it creates a chain of dispositors, a very powerful self-reinforcing energy loop. Saturn in Sag with Jupiter in Leo will help us prepare for the future by extrapolating old cycles and seeing the bigger picture or larger trajectory of what’s happening. This will give us a look back to find a bigger picture so we can cut loose into the future in an inspired structured way!
Uranus in Aries is disposited by Mars in worldly things and Pluto in spiritual things. As Mars and Pluto are in a favorable sextile, how we express Uranian energy should be pretty smooth, flowing, and organized. Since Pluto in Capricorn is disposited by Saturn and Uranus, and Mars in Pisces is disposited by Jupiter and Neptune, the combination of Fire and Water grounded in efficient Earth should make for inspiration and enthusiasm as well as a deeper connection to “All-That-Is.”
Aspects
This should be an extraordinary retrograde period, since it begins with a plethora of very favorable aspects between the planets. I gave you some of the primary important aspects in part 1, so please review that to know more. Mercury quintile Saturn and sextile Uranus will be very strong, as will the Aquarius conjunctions, the Sun sextile Saturn, and the Jupiter trine Uranus.
As I told you in part 1, Jupiter is biseptile Saturn and triseptile Chiron, and Saturn is biseptile Chiron. This is a highly spiritualizing configuration that works both in this world and the invisible world, and represents a huge turning point for all of humanity (and each of us), offering us choices that will help us heal our Higher Self. Those most affected by coming forks in the road of their destiny have planets or angles near 18-22 Leo, 10-14 Libra, 1-5 Sagittarius, 22-26 Capricorn, 13-17 Pisces, 5-9 Taurus, and 26-30 Gemini.
After the Inferior Conjunction on Jan 30, Mercury begins to speed up gradually, and goes stationary direct on February 11 at 2 Aquarius. During February, Mercury makes a sextile to Saturn the entire month, a solid quintile with Uranus for most of the month, and noviles, semisquares, and septiles with Venus and Mars. Expect amazing productivity and a lot of unique gifts and realizations that “galvanize you to action,” liberating you through some sort of “cosmic visitation.” I’ll write more about that in future Mercury retrograde articles.
Other Influences
Because of the preponderance of Air and Fire with the pervasive feelings of Mars, Neptune, and Chiron in Pisces also playing their parts, we are in a time of inspired ideas and relationships with a lot of deep feelings, as well as some potential uncertainly or a sense of endings around everything. Still, Mars is showing us how to act on the call to renewal we heard in the Summer of 2014, so be enthusiastic as you flow through pictures and visions of past, present, and future.
This is showing you the way to a new vision, new understanding, and new ways of expressing yourself. This can help you understand elements of your quest, your life narrative, that you’ve never understood before, so be courageous and inspired as you pierce the veil that has obscured your vision before now. And note the signs and signals that you can use as a spur to action in February.
This falls within the influence of the recent New Moon, so please take a look at those articles to understand more about the various patterns at play during this Mercury retrograde period, such as the influence of the Bucket Jones pattern, and how to use the current sequence of Deciding, then Thinking, then Feeling to keep things moving forward in a balanced way.
This means action focused through forms of connecting to the Earth and Life force will be a natural way to approach whatever happens. Find the right information and vision, and then connect deeply with what is universal in your experience. This period will help us build our “spiritual vehicle” we’ll use to materialize spiritual energy in forms down the road. Consider this a dress rehearsal where you will begin to see what really matters, and what really doesn’t.
As is usual for Mercury retrograde periods, this one will also be a “back to the future” type of energy, where the Guide of Souls unveils secrets, mysteries, and brings us back to larger goals and ideal relationships. Here we look back even as we are productively propelled into our future in inspired ways. Here we can see a bigger picture as a prelude to what is coming, and see what we’ll need to be acting on in the coming 4 months. This is a time of returns, reviews, rehearsals, and renewals that will have deep echoes for many months to come.
In future Mercury retrograde articles, we’ll explore more about various elements of what’s in play during the next three weeks, how its transit in various houses will affect each of us, what Mercury retrograde in Aquarius may be good for, the coming Inferior Conjunction and what it means, and what we can expect between mid-February and mid-May 2015 after it goes direct several weeks from now.
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, and much improved 2nd edition of my book “A New Look At Mercury Retrograde,” available on Amazon kindle and Barnes and Noble’s Nook as an ebook. The link will take you to the links for both Kindle and Nook. 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.
See you soon with the next article on how Mercury retrograde will affect each sign individually!
Previous articles in this series:
Mercury Retrograde – Time For A New Look at the Guide of Souls
The Guide of Souls in January 2015 - Mercury Slowing Down, Preparing to go Retrograde at 18 Aquarius
Copyright © 2015 Robert Wilkinson
I just listened to something interesting today. According to the person speaking, sometime this year the milennials will replace the boomers as the largest age demographic in the US. He defined milennials as those born between 1981-1997. Kind of futuristic I guess. It made me smile for some reason.
Posted by: caliban | January 21, 2015 at 05:19 PM
Great article! I love how you break down every piece of Mercury's puzzle! Quick question: I thought you mentioned in the previous article about Mercury stationing at the same degree Jupiter went direct in 2009?
Posted by: Laura | January 21, 2015 at 10:59 PM