The Guide of Souls in August 2016 - Mercury Slowing Down, Preparing to go Retrograde at 30 Virgo

by Robert Wilkinson

Yes, it's THAT time again! Mercury is radically slowing down, preparing to go stationary retrograde at 30 Virgo on Aug 30 at 6:04 am PDT, 9:04 am EDT, 2:04 pm BST. This has important implications for all signs.

I'll be composing several articles about this Mercury retrograde in Virgo over the next several weeks. Until then, adapt to the slowing pace of things, be willing to put some things on hold for a little while, and take a look at what's been set into motion up to now with an eye to seeing what has to be done before things can again move forward in late September. This year we also have Mercury making two conjunctions with Jupiter before it leaves Virgo, promising it’s a “back to the future” type of retrograde! Expect a lot of things to get very turned around!

I know there are many unfortunate things attributed to Mercury retrograde, but there are also many productive things that get done, connections that are made, and different angles of view glimpsed that make our understanding more complete and well rounded.

The two weeks before the retrograde is a good time for setting things in motion that will need a delay before being picked up anew. Or for doing things that will need research, rehearsing, or reworking to whatever degree before completion. The time before Mercury goes retrograde is good for doing what must be done so that other related things can be done later, as well as reconnecting with people and activities from the past that are somehow related to the future.

A New Look at Mercury Retrograde

Since Mercury has already been slowing down for a couple of weeks, we’ve already begun to experience a quality of “Mercury crashing into retrograde.” If you want to know what we can expect from Mercury retrograde in Virgo, as well as all the other signs and houses, if you haven't already gotten your copy, you may want to get the new expanded 2nd edition of my award-winning book A New Look At Mercury Retrograde.

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 Virgo, or the previous 2016 retrogrades in Taurus, Aquarius and Capricorn, or the others in any other sign and the influence in the houses, it’s all in there.

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 see how this year’s retrogrades affected sectors in your chart by taking a look at the 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 purchase a paperback edition of A New Look at Mercury Retrograde. You can also get a Kindle ebook at that site, or go to Barnes and Noble for a copy on Nook. (Please note that if you go to amazon, make sure you're ordering the 2015 edition, and not the earlier one. There are plenty of used ones for sale, but they are far inferior to the newest edition.)

An Overview of the Retrograde

The coming retrograde will show us a new look at recent signals and information that we sent or received, and we’ll have opportunities to get clear about This one will show us new ways to do our Being as we stand on the threshold of a new practical era.

This one teaches us precise use of will power, or the power of the personality to take command of circumstances. New archetypes are promised, and any self-induced initiative we take will help us see the light of our evolving mastery in some area of focus this past year. Many will glimpse a greater effectiveness or find a way to reorganize to help things move forward in late September.

As with all Mercury retrograde periods, this will give us a new look at recent signals and information that we sent or received, and things from the past will be reevaluated, re-examined, or understood differently. We can get a new look at ideas, ways we’re communicating and understanding what others are communicating to us, and get new insights into all things ruled by Virgo. We may find different ways to work, or refine our health discipline, or perhaps take a new look at what we believe our spiritual service has been, and find ways to leave lesser things behind, specifically all things related to the house(s) where we have 30 to 15 Virgo.

For example, we may get new insights or understanding about something we’ve been toiling at since October 2015, or find a new angle of approach that will open opportunities in the future. This will help us to concentrate so we may complete some form of experiment and/or education in something, and prepare to enter into a new archetypal way of being, represented by Venus at 1 Libra heralding things to come.

In the chart, we have a very strong Fire trine, a very strong Earth trine, and numerous quintiles, promising this retrograde will be harmonizing, stabilizing, and strengthen both inspiration and practicality. The Mutable T-square made by the Sun in Virgo opposed Neptune in Pisces with both square Saturn shows the juggling act continues, discovery continues, and the need to manage the trajectory of things continues. I’ll discuss more of the aspects at work in the next article.

Mercury Retrograde Is Shifting Element Emphasis

As Mercury goes retrograde in the Earth sign of Virgo, it continues this year’s run of Mercury retrogrades entirely in Earth signs which began with the previous one in Taurus. To give you a sense of the larger pattern, all the 2014 Mercury RX periods began in early Water signs, with Mercury retrograding back into Air signs. So in 2014 we danced between Feelings and Ideas, experiencing and relating. All the 2015 Mercury retrograde periods began in an Air sign and stayed in that sign the entire retrograde period, making 2015 entirely an Air affair!

In 2016, this shifted again, as the January Mercury retrograde began in the Air sign of Aquarius, but retrograded back through the last half of the Earth sign Capricorn. So we danced between ideas and practical necessities, relating and taking a new look at what is in our “enlightened self-interest.” That completed a run of Air sign retrograde emphasis.

Now we’re solidly in Earth, since the April-May retrograde wais entirely in the Earth sign of Taurus, and this Aug-Sept retrograde is entirely in the Earth sign of Virgo. It will shift to multiple elements again in the Dec 2016-Jan 2017 retrograde, since that one will begin in Capricorn and retrograde back into the Fire of Sagittarius. Of course I’ll explain more as each of these periods approaches. Until then, A New Look at Mercury Retrograde” will help you get a fix on all of the above and more!

A Bit More

In the next 3 weeks, we can see what life has prepared for us since the last Mercury retrograde in April and May. This can give us a new perspective on what’s shifted in our view or understanding since then, and this will give us a look back so we can find a more well-rounded perspective as we come to a new understanding of those past events.

This Mercury retrograde will offer us opportunities to look back and find a new way to conquer an illusion, or “resist a false call.” We will hear a call to our soul, and find a more effective competency in preparing to accept that role. The coming period will give some a look back at a prior form of spiritual service, or how they once fit into a bigger plan. This one helps us “return to the garden” and renew how we express our integrity.

This gives us a new look at how we are ministering to others, or being ministered to by others. It opens the door to the sanctuary where our minds behold the soul realm, and requires that we accept we are entering a new way of serving and being served. Shamanic power can be found by those who concentrate, and accept a greater destiny.

Some will experience returns of people from the past who were spiritual Brothers and Sisters, or they will be of some service in the present. Some projects will have to be postponed, or a new way found to make something work. This can give insights into several different ways to get something done, and favors practical rehearsals before “doing it for real.” All of us will get glimpses of how our past experiences and choices resulting from the last Mercury retrograde have led us to a new view of possibilities.

Consider the next 3 weeks as a review of how to make things work better than in the past, reshaping and refining whatever was stabilized during the last Mercury retrograde in Taurus. We’ll get insights into new ways of experimenting in methods, or see how we’ve been educated on the mental or philosophical level to be more practical or dedicated in some way. Some will recall old jobs well done, and get new perspectives on all things related to Virgo people and experiences. This will help finish an old training while opening us to “the joy and power of new beginnings.”

This Mercury retrograde will give us many signs and signals for what will dominate Mercury-ruled areas from late September through late December 2016. Here we take a new look at what’s behind us before moving forward anew at the end of the RX period in late September. We can get all kinds of new insights into future potentials, while seeing things in the recent past differently.

The Inferior Conjunction happens Sept 12-13 at 21 Virgo. That indicates the coming “fusion of life and mind” will help us to a new look, new interpretation, or new understanding of the issues associated with the first degree of the third decan of Virgo, and give us a new take on training within a group setup helping us become more skilled in activities with others.

So welcome to many things being reviewed or coming back up to surface these next three weeks thanks to the retrograde quality of the time. Some will review past efforts to see what still needs to be integrated into the life, and/or there could be returns, rehearsals, or echoes of the past and its views, misunderstandings, dilemmas, paradoxes, and dualities.

This one allows us to take a look back at how we’re using Virgo energy in our lives, see how our lives are effectively functioning (or not!), and review how we’ve been educated on a practical level since last October. Despite the retrograde, it’s a great time for practical inspiration and inspired practicality, as well as giving things a final polish before launching in a big way at the end of this retrograde period. Take a new look at the ideas you’ve had or information you’ve received since mid-August, since we will capture the essential elements of understanding what we need to mobilize into action by late September based in our insights these next 3+ weeks.

For all of us, during the next several weeks the future that's already rolling forward will slow a little so we can get a new look at crucial elements of the process we cannot afford to ignore. All of us will have a new understanding of multiple elements of our lives by late September, and will see the ultimate cultural values we believe in and are willing to live and uphold.

This will be another important retrograde, where the past will be reviewed to see what we can and cannot bring with us into the future in late September. It will help us rehearse or do the research we need to get ready to spring forward then, clear about what we know, what we need to know, and what must happen if we are to move forward into living a new archetypal role.

Renewals, returns, reconnections, reunions, and new beginnings are promised by this retrograde. And of course, more on this Mercury retrograde period will come soon!

Copyright © 2016 Robert Wilkinson

Comments

[Tina Singh]

Thank you for explaining everything so easily.

[Nic]

Thanks Robert. Much to ponder.... Glad and welcome your new posts on the subject.
Time to review my copy of your book "A New Look at Mercury Retrograde" as it is always a source of help and inspiration.

Blessings be to all.

[sue]

Thank you Robert, your words inspired these...
Thousands of years of ignorance to an avalanche of lies
Haunting restless ghosts the wingless Angels cries
"Conquer an illusion" rise up to the prize
Through our feet is where we meet the magic in our lives
Filling hearts with LOVE and open all 3rd eyes
To see how Mother bleeds and needs us to be wise
To overcome an evil greed or we will not survive...

PEACE

[Carrie Adkisson]

Thank you for sharing your wisdom. It is still amazing to me how I feel and see so plainly the effects of the "astral movements". For me, there has been a feeling lately of expectancy for the things you talk about here. It makes me curious to learn more.