by Robert Wilkinson
Following up on the general meaning and function of the "Inferior Conjunction" between the Sun and Mercury, today we explore specifics of the Inferior Conjunction of May 9, 2016, at 20 Taurus. This “fusion of life and mind” will impact the rest of the retrograde period, and many weeks after.
Because this particular Inferior Conjunction is an extremely important event due to when and where it's happening, this is a long article that will pull together a comprehensive overview that ties together past, present, and future.
The inferior conjunction is when Mercury (mind) conjuncts the Sun (life) while retrograde. This indicates that signals, messages, and ideas from either outer sources or subconscious sources will fuse with the life principle, setting the tone for the lessons involving how our minds are relating to our lives during the next four months. Since Mercury is retrograde, the degree of the inferior conjunction shows how our lives will merge with our perceptions and bring forth a new understanding of our light.
The Sabian Symbol for the Inferior Conjunction
The Sabian Symbol we’ve been given for the 20th degree of Taurus is “Wind clouds and haste.” In the section on the symbols in The Astrology of Personality, taken from Jones’ class notes, Rudhyar says this degree is one of “Exalted state of consciousness; lightness and breadth of being and understanding,” and “mystical and ecstatic self-expansion.”
In the Astrological Mandala, he says this degree involves "the awareness of spiritual forces at work.” He states this degree shows us that “any emergence of life potentialities from the depth of the vast Unconscious is answered by the spiritual activity of superconscious forces” that represent “the ‘Signature’ of divine Powers confirming (our) progress.”
He continues that the “winglike clouds” may also symbolize the presence of angels and devas “blessing and subtly revealing the direction to take, the direction of ‘the wind’ of destiny.” He finishes with this concluding a process where we should find ourselves “more securely established in (our) own original nature, receiving the blessings of super-natural forces.”
He says it falls in the span of Enjoyment, and it’s the final degree of the actional level of the scene of Confirmation in the Act of Differentiation. So “the fusion of life and mind” available via this Inferior Conjunction is through the Light of an alternative way of viewing or understanding how to let go of ways of confirming things, as well as find new ways to confirm new life directions, new ways to enjoy life, and new ways to see which way “the winds of destiny” are blowing. Just be patient, and keep it simple and straightforward as you move through various “crises” that confirm your evolved character and values.
According to Dr. Jones, creator of the Sabian Symbols, the degree is one of “the transiency which characterizes life,” and “the instability which results from the disinclination of most people” to give of themselves due to ego limitations that cling to “superficial excitement.” He offers that “there is a real spiritual lightness here as an outer mark of the soul’s fundamental freedom.”
He offers us the keyword of EXALTATION. He states that when operating in a positive manner, this degree is “efficiency in controlling events at any point of transition or crisis.”
So we enter a time of the fusion of life and mind that offers us new insights about how to enjoy knowing the direction of our future destiny. This will help us get alternative views and understanding about actions that stabilize our lives and confirm something of worth.
Keep it simple as you let go of moving in old directions and sense new directions being indicated by subtle or natural forces. This period opens new directions, new values, new resources, and new ways to concentrate energy directed toward new discoveries, so enjoy the journey!
Looking Back, Looking Forward
The period ahead will show us glimpses of the future, and ways to live a lighter, happier life. Take a new look at things, and what you believe you need to have to do your individual thing on a social level. Remember that due to the Mercury retrograde effect, signs and signals may come in roundabout ways, like echoes from the past, or memories coming up from the subconscious mind.
This Inferior Conjunction can fuse hindsight and life experience to see how new forms of light, life, and perspectives have come forth in collective consciousness the past. The next four months are a time to embrace new ways of managing transitions through seeing the past through different angles and interpretations and finding alternative views or understanding.
Because this “fusion of life and mind” takes place in the second third of Taurus, favoring practical stability and understanding with an eye to details, practical plans, and refining the methods of work as well as the products of work. The conjunction and Venus bring the Grand Earth Trine back into play, opening the gates to a greater ease in our material existence. Embrace an understanding of what to do to attain a greater security and protection, and lighten up!
This Inferior Conjunction in some indirect way will bring back echoes, insights, or understanding about the endings related to the Solar Eclipse of May 2013 which has impacted 20 Taurus in our charts since then. Since that Eclipse set endings into motion for 45 months after that, it’s still in play. That means whatever happens that’s related to this Inferior Conjunction will also be related to the Taurus elements in our lives that have ended since May 2013.
A benefit of Inferior Conjunctions is they offer us views of how we prepared in the past for current attitudes and ideals, or conversely, through the retrograde lens see how past attitudes and ideals led us to where we’re at right now. When Mercury gives us a backward look or alternative view and understanding of something from the past, it also in a strange way prepares the ground for the future when other planets cross this degree.
Aspects in Play
Remember that in any celestial event, forming aspects show the future, and separating aspects show the past. Because this Inferior Conjunction falls so soon after the recent New Moon at 17 Taurus, all of the outer planet aspects are identical. You can find more about the outer planet aspects in The May New Moon at 17 Taurus Pt. 2, where I elaborate on the outer planet Mutable T square. You will also find more in part 1.
Inner planet aspects of note include the Moon novile Mercury and the Sun while quintile Jupiter and tredecile Neptune, creating a highly specializing, gift giving power configuration affecting late Gemini and Sagittarius, as well as mid-Virgo and Pisces. This will bring blessings to those with planets or angles near 5-9 Aquarius/Leo, 11-15 Virgo/Pisces, 17-21 Libra/Aries, 23-28 Scorpio/Taurus, 29-30 Sagittarius/Gemini, and 1-2 Capricorn/Cancer.
Venus conjunct Mercury and the Sun brings the Grand Earth Trine back into play. The Conjunction also makes a pentelftile to Mars, triseptile to Saturn, and quintile to Neptune, which are also spiritual, specializing, and show the world will go through changes that will set up what’s triggered in late October and early November 2016 when Saturn is back on its current degree. Venus makes a quincunx to Saturn, is tightly separating sextile Neptune, and trine Pluto.
Those who have a “quintessence of faith” will find themselves understanding how to master some duality or dualistic situation. Venus quincunx Saturn shows a type of adjustment leading to “expansion through sacrifice,” and the Conjunction triseptile Saturn shows the need for cooperative action feeding the future. The triseptile primarily affects 13-17 Sagittarius, 4-8 Aquarius, 26-30 Pisces, 18-22 Taurus, 9-13 Cancer, and 1-5 Virgo, and 22-26 Libra.
The element spread is similar to that in play at the last New Moon, with the only change here of the Earth Moon there becoming the Air Moon here. This yields 3 planets in Fire, 5 in Earth, 1 in Water, and 1 in Air signs. And as with the New Moon, Venus leads the Inferior Conjunction, indicating a firm stabilizing phase of our existence. Eliminate, simplify, make sure the plan works, and get ready to expand in a few weeks!
What’s the Jones Pattern, and the Backdrop to What’s Happening
This Inferior Conjunction features a Bucket Jones pattern. You can find more about it by reading the recent New Moon article on that subject. Jupiter in Virgo continues to be the nozzle, or handle, through which we can best express the other planetary energies. Because the Inferior Conjunction falls in Taurus, it makes Venus the worldly ruler of the conjunction. Venus is in its home sign, so it’s the most powerful backdrop to the other energies at this time. I discussed this as well in the New Moon article.
So Just How Does the Process Work?
The Inferior Conjunction between Mercury and the Sun is the second step in a two-conjunction process. The first step is when Mercury conjuncts the Sun in forward motion after its retrograde period. This is called a “Superior conjunction.” Most recently this occurred at 4 Aries on Mar 23, 2016.
That “fusion of life and mind” marked the beginning of Mercury getting out in front of the Sun. That has given us “explosions of heart power,” or inspiration, or bursts of activity since then. Now we are in a different Sun/Mercury phase of operation, where we confront a time of hope and renewal. The “pulses” of the Inferior and Superior conjunctions of the Sun and Mercury constitute an entire field of research unto themselves.
As Mercury is faster than the Sun at any “Superior Conjunction,” after that event Mind again outraces Life, gets ahead of the Sun, and explores ideas and perceptions of experiences yet to occur. That’s what we experienced between late March and mid-April before Mercury began to slow down.
After Mercury gets as far forward from the Sun as it can, it begins to slow, eventually going stationary retrograde. By then it is slowing rapidly. That marks the second step that leads to the point when Mercury again conjuncts the Sun while retrograde. This is when Mind is being absorbed by Life, or Life takes on the results of subconscious or collective ideas returning to source.
Then Mercury, still slow in speed, becomes distant from the Sun anew as the Sun moves forward while Mercury is still retrograde. Eventually Life gets as far from Mind as it can, Mercury goes stationary direct, and begins to speed up preparing for the first step anew in a different part of the zodiac. I explain this process in greater detail in A New Look at Mercury Retrograde.
Mercury, or Hermes, the “Guide of Souls”
All Mercury retrograde periods teach us about how Mercury functions. Mercury’s duality is “Life/Death,” so we can get a new look at how our consciousness and responses are either creative, destructive, or both, to cite the venerable Kabalistic Arhat Paul Foster Case. Mercury is where we learn if our mental processes are creating chaos and disorganized scattered conditions through ambivalence, and thus come to see how to use discernment to coordinate various functions to bring forth perfect knowing how to do whatever needs to be done.
As the backdrop to how our mind and life relate to each other, perhaps we can learn how to deal with Mercurial energies in ourselves or others from a different angle of view, organizing or reorganizing or ideas, perception, interpretations, and way of communicating. As this Inferior Conjunction falls in Taurus, it should provide us new ways to understand, communicate, or interpret the signs and signals of our existence through looking back on the discoveries we made and views we acquired in past cycles when Taurus was prominent.
All in all, the coming 4 months will bring interesting returns, reflections, and rehearsals of how and what we’ve dealt with in the realms of what we are learning about how to use Taurus energy productively. This includes all the usual Taurus keywords, such as consistency, determination, endurance, harmony, keeping it simple, pleasant, enjoyable, and being affectionate and giving.
Taurus shows us how to acquire what we need to secure our self-identity in our world. It does its own thing in its own quiet way, and is the immovable object in the face of any force it does not want to yield to. Where it falls in our charts shows us where we are anchored in our own sense of the value and security available in the life area.
So the new views, understandings, and reinterpretations shown by this inferior conjunction should be considered in the light of the house in which this retrograde and inferior conjunction is happening. We can see our ideas from a different angle, find a new focus, and make progress in some form of transforming initiative that will be the source of much information and activity in the next few weeks.
Once the Inferior Conjunction happens, whatever has seemed delayed, postponed, or dragging along will move forward soon. This can bring forth a greater holistic vision of how events and people are connected, as well as why we must rethink some things, people, and plans.
Generally, the 11 days before the inferior conjunction (fusion) of mind and life is a good time to take a new look at how you can bring out your inner wisdom by adjusting to a future vision or broader perspective that's opening for you. It's also good for getting a new point of view regarding what your imagination is willing to consider and how to coordinate your life to reorganize it productively.
It's great for intuitive flashes, insights into the larger collective consciousness and unconsciousness, and seeing how you're being led to see elements of your Soul you may not have recognized before now. So think back on what's happened in the past couple of weeks, and find a new way to view how those things may symbolize the future somehow.
Just remember during retrogrades, especially Mercury retrograde, that often things that don't turn out one way lead directly or indirectly to other things somewhat related manifesting down the road. It's as though nothing should be taken at face value, and often what we do or think during Mercury retrograde creates odd echoes in the future that take different shapes, or different functions related to the original intention.
A New Look At Mercury Retrograde
Because we’ll still be dealing with Mercury retrograde through May 22 (and to some extent for the 2 weeks after that while Mercury is still in its shadow zone), if you haven’t already, you can find out a lot more about these very important 3 week periods by getting a copy of my award winning 2nd edition of A New Look At Mercury Retrograde. 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.
By knowing more about 2014's Mercury retrograde periods in Pisces/Aquarius, Cancer/Gemini, and Scorpio/Libra, as well as 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 taking a look forward beyond the current retrograde we see Mercury retrograde in Virgo in August-September 2016, and Mercury retrograde in Capricorn and Sagittarius in December 2016 and January 2017. 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!
And as usual, here are links to recent articles on what this May 2016 Mercury Retrograde in Taurus is all about:
Mercury Retrograde – Time For A New Look at the Guide of Souls
The Guide of Souls in April 2016 - Mercury Slowing Down, Preparing to go Retrograde at 24 Taurus
Copyright © 2016 Robert Wilkinson
Loved the post. Very clear and providing lots of clues, insights and ideas to understand the flow of energies and what is at play now and in the near present.
Many thanks Robert,
Blessings be to all.
Posted by: Nic | May 12, 2016 at 10:09 AM