by Robert Wilkinson
Mercury goes direct in motion May 22, 6:20 am PDT, 9:20 am EDT, 2:20 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 15 Taurus, 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 15 Taurus hold for us? Perhaps it would be useful to take a look back on what the last Mercury direct station brought us since January 2016.
You will recall that the last time Mercury went stationary direct, it was at 15 Capricorn. How we have used those realizations to coordinate Capricornian traits into our lives over the past 4 months has shown us different ways of expressing our ability to show “tender care” for our dreams and manifestations of new initiatives in our lives.
This retrograde period featured Mercury going stationary retrograde at 24 Taurus, bringing us glimpses from the past of the broader context of our life mission, as well as the need to deal with ultra-assertive elements in our lives. We’ve had the blessing of a Grand Earth trine since mid-April, assisting us to understand what needed to be simplified or made more enjoyable to stabilize our lives.
Stationary retrograde and direct points become “hot spots” set into motion by future transits. Interestingly, the last Mercury SD point at 15 Capricorn is the exact degree where Pluto goes stationary direct later in 2016, so we’ve all gotten a front end look at the large scale transformations promised by Pluto during the past 4 months. Those who paid attention will be able to suss out what’s coming on the world stage down the road.
This SD point is exactly trine the SD point in January, and so this period ahead will be related to the natural expression and extension of that Capricorn energy. Interestingly, Mercury’s SD point in September will be 15 Virgo, so this year all 3 stationary direct degrees form an exact Grand Earth Trine!
Now we face 4 months of being guided to our Soul using the qualities of 15 Taurus. How we use those realizations to coordinate the qualities of that degree into our lives over the next 4 months will show us a different way of expressing our ability to show strength of character 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 15 Taurus, it shows us that we’ll understand something about perfected forms of substantiating who we are, what we value, how to use what we have in more versatile ways, and anchor practical energies. This marks the threshold of an entry into a new way of confirming who we are and what we value.
The Sabian Symbol for Mercury’s Direct Station
The Sabian symbol for the 15th degree of Taurus is “A man muffled up, with a rakish silk hat.” In the original notes from the Marc Jones class on the symbols, Rudhyar ways this is a degree of the “Supremacy of conscious mind over brute nature forces,” “full appreciation of outer difficulties,” and “great inner resources.”
In the Mandala he says this is a degree of "the courage needed to meet the crises precipitated by social ambition,” where regardless of what we have already succeeded at, we will still confront inner and outer storms the more “successful” we become. He says we must be ready to face these storms with courage and be willing “to accept crises and to go through them” to develop strength of character, which becomes the vehicle for Higher Consciousness.
He goes on to say this symbol “implies a transition to a new level at which the individual who has learned from experience demonstrates a truly mature mind. What is revealed here is character under adverse circumstances.” He states this degree falls in the Span of Experience, Act of Differentiation, Scene of Substantiation on the Individual-Mental level.
Dr. Jones, creator of the Sabian Symbols, says this is a degree of “Absolute self-integrity at a simple extreme of self-consciousness,” and of our Spirit’s “inherent supremacy over all possible limitations or embarrassments.” He says this degree is about dramatizing self in “a continual and effective awareness of a role to be played in life.”
He offers that we must be “willing to utilize whatever arises in experience” while transcending the limitations of even the least part of it. He offers us the keyword SOPHISTICATION. He goes on to say that when operating positively, the degree is “a superb aplomb arising from the constant rediscovery of greater powers latent in selfhood.”
So we now stand on the threshold of 4 months where “the Guide of Souls” will in some way lead us to see what we must go through to cultivate the better aspects of our character as the foundation for living our Higher Self. Alternatively, we could get glimpses from the past of how our trials of endurance have led to the strength of character we currently have.
This degree is the culmination of making something substantial, and because it’s the Ox point, which is a degree of ultimate stability, and therefore it also shows the ability to move that which usually cannot be moved, and stabilize that which is usually unstable.
Aspects in the Shadow Zone
We will also be re-tracing our Taurus lessons from now through June 7 due to Mercury still transiting its “shadow” span, ie, the span it’s in since it went retrograde at 24 Taurus. 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. Now that it’s going forward, it will continue to be part of the powerful Grand Earth trine with Jupiter and Pluto, and though it doesn’t make many aspects at the current time, there is a very important Moon triseptile to Mercury, showing a big fork in the road of our lives wherever we have mid-Sagittarius, mid-Taurus, and houses and planets in Gemini, Cancer, Leo, and Virgo. This mainly affects degree spans around 8-12 Sagittarius, 30 Capricorn-4 Aquarius, 22-26 Pisces, 13-17 Taurus, 4-8 Cancer, 25-29 Leo, and 17-21 Libra.
While in its shadow zone, Mercury will also make a bielftile and quintile to Neptune, a trine to Pluto, a triseptile to Saturn, a quindecile to Uranus, a quindecile to Venus, and a quindecile to the Sun. The quindeciles are highly specializing, and the triseptile to Saturn will in some way be related to the triseptile from the Moon. As noted in the recent Full Moon articles, these are setting some seeds of specialization and unique gifts into motion that will come into important forms in August and September. You can find out more about quindeciles by going to Astrology Class on the Specializing Aspects pt 2 – the Quindecile and the Vigintile
We’ll close today with a reminder that though Mercury is about to go direct and won’t be retrograde again until late August, the retrograde we’ve just experienced will affect the coming months until the next Mercury stationary retrograde at 30 Virgo in late August. That will be an extraordinarily important retrograde, since Mercury, Venus, and Jupiter will all be conjunct at the very end of Virgo, promising us glimpses of “escaping from a narrow destiny.” You can of course find out more about that coming retrograde, as well as all others past and future, by getting your copy of my award winning book A New Look At Mercury Retrograde.
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! This will help you check out possible ways this Mercury retrograde effect could play out over the next 4 months.
In part 2, we'll continue to examine what we can expect over the next 4 months now that Mercury is direct.
© Copyright 2016 Robert Wilkinson
To see madiva mediocre murder one of Prince's best songs was a full Moon moment!
Posted by: sue | May 23, 2016 at 08:10 AM
Thank you Robert. My Asc is at 15 Taurus, so I found this article very interesting and timely with all that's happening.
Posted by: Ann | May 25, 2016 at 03:34 AM