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 Libra.
This Mercury retrograde begins Sept 17, 11:10 am PDT 2:10 pm EDT, 7:10 pm BST. This retrograde moves from 16 Libra back to 1 Libra, with the Inferior conjunction of Mercury and the Sun occurring at 8 Libra on Sept 30, 7:38 am PDT, 3:38 pm BST.
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 Sabian Symbol for 16 Libra is “A boat landing washed away.”
In "the Astrology of Personality," where Rudhyar uses the original Dr. Jones' class notes on the symbols, Rudhyar says 16 Libra is a degree of “Constructive results of apparently destructive forces,” “stimulation to new accomplishment,” and “glad response to needed work.”
In the Astrological Mandala, he goes on to say that this degree symbolizes “the need to keep in operation steady links between the vast Unconscious and the ego-consciousness,” where we have confronted, are confronting, or will confront “broad issues of relationship” that have a destructive potential. He says the boats symbolize the vehicles that allow us to “draw food from the sea (ie, new realizations which (exist) in the unconscious realm of the planetary Mind)” or get away on excursions so we may get a “feel for the water.”
He states that life adventures where we venture “away from the consciously defined and socially structured ways of life” may turn destructive from time to time, and we then need to reconstruct “the boat landings” through a process of repair. He says this degree falls in the Span of Revelation, Act of Group Integration, and Scene of Reconstruction on the Actional level.
Dr. Jones says this is a degree of “the superficially unfriendly relations which exist between man as a person and the totally impersonal forces of nature.” He states “cosmic integrity” continually moves toward re-order “to restrore each phase of reality to pristine conditions.”
He continues that “here is not so much a thwarting of human effort as a stimulation to new accomplishment, and a freedom from whatever has exceeded its usefulness.” This is a “challenge to pure individuality.” He offers us the keyword RESPITE. He states that when operating in a positive manner, this degree “is a joy in bringing every self-competence to the recurrent emergencies of life.”
So we'll be using our Mercury function to send and/or receive impressions and ideas through forms of reconstruction and repair in action that restores harmony, balance, and connections between the individual and the collective, and the links between the conscious and unconscious sides of life. With Mercury retrograde, we may catch glimpses of the constructive results of prior destructive events that stimulated us to new accomplishments.
During this Mercury retrograde period, pay attention to the roundabout signs and signals opening you to noticing these subtle impressions. These lessons will be in play through the time it re-crosses this degree around the time the Sun enters Scorpio, which finishes its forward motion shadow transit.
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 or renew some relationships, get a difference sense of those that were or are important to us, and find a new angle of perspective.
We definitely will get a new look at some old interactive dynamics with those we once knew where things were unfair or out of balance. This time could bring up old issues for re-examination. Remember the Spiritual Brothers and Sisters you’ve known in this life, and honor the ideas they brought you. It’s already happened to me through being contacted from two different people from my very distant past.
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 Libra helps us re-shape our sense of perspective, proportion, or aesthetic by taking a new look at recent interactions, initiatives, renewed or remembered relationships, or reconstructing how past events came to happen as they did.
We continue to be in a Mercury retrograde pattern, where the retrograde period begins in an Air sign and ends in an Air sign. Because the prior 2015 Mercury retrogrades were both in Air, we’ve been taking a look back at all things related to the Air signs this year. Wherever you have Aquarius, Gemini, and Libra in your chart has been and will be the focus of all the 2015 Mercury retrogrades.
When Mercury is retrograde in Libra, we can get a new understanding of previous ideals, and why we expected what we did in our interaction with others, whether biological and spiritual. As I mentioned, 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.
These reviews and new points of view will be activated in major ways as the Sun moves through this Mercury retrograde degree span in Libra 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 lone wave movement of the collective field associated with what Saturn brought us when it last traversed 16 Libra across several months in late 2010 through mid-2011. It crossed 16 Libra in December 2010, went retrograde at 18 Libra in January 2011, then crossed back over 16 Libra in March 2011. It then went forward across that degree a final time in late August and early September 2011.
Related to this, there was a Lunar Eclipse on this degree in September 2014, setting major effects into motion for several months after that. As Mars has not transited that degree for almost two years, according to the ancients it will activate echoes of that eclipse (and this stationary retrograde energy) when it transits 16 Libra in early December 2015.
So with Mercury RX we’ll be reviewing all of this, which will be activated in major ways as the Sun, and then Mercury, and then Venus and finally Mars all move across this Mercury retrograde degree span in Libra between now and the end of the year. All of these will illuminate, reveal, and show the value in 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.
With so much Air emphasis, 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. So take a look back at all of the Mercury RX Air influences we’ve enjoyed in 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 has gone 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 insights into some pioneering initiatives we’ve gone through with others this lifetime, and shows us how and why we had to ignore some of what others told us so we could keep our eyes on the potential while they were griping about the limitations. This will help us take a new look at why those hit critical forks in the road when they did, and why our destiny took us away from them.
Behind the Scenes in this Libra Retrograde
While in Libra, Mercury is ruled by Venus. During the time Mercury is RX, Venus is in Leo, a very strong inspired and loving placement. It also brings the Sun into the mix as Venus’ dispositor, and it moves from Virgo to Libra while Mercury is RX, also making Venus a very powerful backdrop to what this retrograde period will bring us.
Aspects
This should be another extraordinary retrograde period, since it there are an interesting blend of harmonious, frictional, and specializing aspects in play. I gave you some of the primary important forming aspects in part 1, so please review that to know more. At this Mercury station, we see the Moon in Scorpio square Venus, binovile Mars, bielftile (11th harmonic) Jupiter, and triseptile Uranus, promising major spiritual focus, building lines of communication, and cooperating in a pioneering cooperative effort, whether personal, interpersonal, or transpersonal.
Other major inner planet aspects include Mercury semisquare Saturn, biquintile Neptune and square Pluto, with Venus conjunct Mars, biseptile Saturn, trine Uranus, quadranovile Neptune, and biquintile Pluto. From there we see Sun sextile Saturn and tredecile Pluto, Mars square Saturn and sesquisquare Pluto, Jupiter binovile Saturn and trine Pluto, and Uranus novile Neptune and square Pluto.
The hard aspects challenge us to take a broader view of things, and see what must be done now that can make things easier down the road. The good thing is the harmonious aspects to Pluto show us the positive function to be released through the frictional aspects. Tredeciles and biquintiles are interactive and specializing, and the biseptile and triseptile will lead to many important choices that will shift individual destinies in at least 8 different life areas.
The Moon triseptile Uranus will impact houses and planets involving Aries, Cancer, Leo, Scorpio, Capricorn, and Aquarius. Specific zones of radical choices and changes involve 9-13 Gemini, 1-5 Leo, 22-26 Virgo, 13-17 Scorpio, 5-9 Capricorn, 26-30 Aquarius, and 18-22 Aries.
There are two more very important influences in this chart besides the ones already mentioned. There’s the Venus biseptile Saturn, impacting everything we have in Taurus, Leo, Libra, Scorpio, Capricorn, and Aquarius by bringing something to fulfillment. It primarily impacts those with planets or angles near 15-19 Leo, 7-11 Libra, 28 Scorpio-2 Sagittarius, 20-24 Capricorn, 11-15 Pisces, 2-6 Taurus, and 23-27 Gemini.
The other big influence is the incredible serendipity promised by Sun tredecile Pluto! This aspect is specializing, interactive, and brings perfect complementary energy to whatever it touches. Zones most impacted are 1-3 Taurus/Scorpio, 5-9 Sagittarius/Gemini, 11-15 Capricorn/Cancer, 17-22 Aquarius/Leo, 23-29 Pisces/Virgo, and 29-30 Aries/Libra.
Of note is the Venus trine Uranus and quadranovile Neptune with Uranus novile Neptune. This creates a highly spiritualizing atmosphere wherever these fall in our charts, and tremendous realizations can be found, whether after a period of gestation up to now, or a period of gestation over the next few weeks.
This primarily impacts 6-11 Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces, 16-21 Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius, 26-30 Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn, and 1 Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius. Any planet or point you have in these zones will come to a greater realization after a time of waiting. A really great thing is that Uranus is very harmonious, strong, and a spiritualizing influence due to its noviles and trine.
Other Influences
Because of the element balance, with Air the only element in short supply and its sole representative is Mercury in Libra, we should feel a balance in the atmosphere. Also, because the recent Eclipse was only a few days ago, many of the aspects and configurations mentioned in that article also apply now. The Moon is in a different sign, but just about everything else is the same as in the Eclipse chart, including the feeling-deciding-thinking order of the larger process.
Be balanced and adaptable as you flow through pictures and visions of past, present, and future. This is a time to take a new look at old ideals, old ways things didn’t turn out as planned, and old ways we were out of balance in our relationships. We can understand a different sense of what was/is fair or unfair, and through moderate steps and reasoning, can come to a new view of ourselves in our interactions. This can help us understand a lot about things that once fell apart, and we can repair what we can or reconstruct how those old things came to be and came to fall apart.
See what you’ve been educated to do and be, emotionally and/or socially, to understand what type of service you are here to do that will ultimately show your worth to society. The Light of the Sun shows it’s time for cultivating “the public spirit,” and applying our practical skills in ways that prove their worth and bring appropriate rewards for our efforts. This is the light of public service that leads us to fulfillment.
We are told by Dr. Jones the Sun is on a degree of “respect,” and “achievement in a full transcendence of selfhood.” We will also be tested to make practical and planned “leaps of faith” to overcome a duality of some sort, and in making that leap will attain a form of mastery that will help us complete our Saturn in Scorpio lessons.
As I mentioned, this falls within the influence of the recent Partial Solar Eclipse New Moon at 21 Virgo that happened at 11:41 pm PDT Sept 12, 7:41 am BST Sept 13, so remember that many things set into motion then are also in play here, and vise versa. All of this information can help us understand more about the various patterns at play during this Mercury retrograde period.
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 Libra may be good for, the coming Inferior Conjunction and what it means, and what we can expect between mid and late October after it goes direct several weeks from now.
A New Look At Mercury Retrograde
If you want to know what we can expect from Mercury retrograde in Libra, as well as all the other signs and houses, if you haven't already gotten your copy, you may want to buy a copy of the new expanded 2nd edition of my pioneering book A New Look At Mercury Retrograde, the 2015 winner in its category of The Indie Spiritual Book Awards.
The first major work on Mercury retrograde ever written, it 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. If you want to know what we can expect from Mercury retrograde in Libra, or the last one in Gemini, or the others in any other sign and the influence in the houses, it’s all in there.
The paperback is available through Amazon or your local bookstore, so if you want the newest edition go there and order your copy. Of course, it’s also available as an ebook through Amazon Kindle or Barnes and Noble Nook.
As I’ve mentioned before, it is written for both astrologers and laypeople. I have just about everything you could want to know about Mercury retrograde, including 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, or 2015’s Mercury retrograde periods in Aquarius, Gemini, and 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 past events. And you can get a heads up by taking a look at the coming 2016 Mercury retrograde periods in Aquarius/Capricorn, Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn/Sagittarius. It’s all in the book!
Here's the Amazon link to the page where you can order your paperback or ebook copy of A New Look at Mercury Retrograde. It is an invaluable resource for understanding past, present, and future Mercury retrogrades, so get your copy today. Just make sure you get the 2015 edition, and not the 1997 first edition, since the second is a far superior product!
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
Copyright © 2015 Robert Wilkinson
The ephemeris that I use says Saturn not back in Sag til the 19th.....?
Posted by: Diana | September 17, 2015 at 09:01 AM
Fantastic amount of information. Many things seem to be happening or in the making.
Lots to ponder, review and wait to manifest.
Thanks Robert.
Blessings be to all.
Posted by: Nic | September 17, 2015 at 01:19 PM