by Robert Wilkinson
Mercury goes direct in motion December 22, 5:51 pm PST, 8:51 pm EST, and December 23, 1:51 am GMT, 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 14 Sagittarius, 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 13 Sagittarius hold for us? Perhaps it would be useful to take a look back on what the last Mercury direct station brought us since September 2017.
You will recall that the last time Mercury went stationary direct, it was at 29 Leo, showing we’ve all had to examine our expectations, allowing our minds to become receptive to forms of individual-mental “release.” We have had many things develop from the many Virgo and Leo reflections, reviews, rehearsals, revisits, and insights from which we’ve moved forward since early September.
We now move out of the 2017 Mercury retrograde pattern of it beginning in the first half of an Earth sign, and ending when Mercury is in the final degrees of a Fire sign, and now enter a time when Mercury retrogrades will be entire in Fire signs. It is interesting to note that the recent SRX point in late Sag was in harmony with previous forward stations in 2017, all of which were in late Fire signs. This would indicate that previous SD stations were all in harmony with each other, as well as this retrograde period, indicating this was one last look back before we move forward into a new inspired future.
This retrograde period featured Mercury going stationary retrograde at 30 Sagittarius, bringing us glimpses of a) things from the past that offered us a blessing as we move into the future; b) things from the past that were part of a blessing now can be seen as such; and/or c) we’ve begun to move into a blessing, even in a roundabout way. We got to take a new look at crucial 2016-2017 Saturn in Sagittarius lessons, and now can move forward with understanding and harmony in seeing how this year has had FOUR Mercury direct stations at the end of the Fire signs, harmonizing with the long term Saturn in Sag trine Uranus in Aries.
We’ve now re-traced ground that we first saw via Mercury’s first pass from November 14 through December 2, and re-examined via the RX from then to now. Of major importance will be when Mercury goes back over 30 Sag, as well as when Mars activates this entire RX period when it transits between 14-30 Sag between Feb 15 and March 17. The truths, benefits, and opportunities promised by the blessing will begin to manifest January 2019, and become a life adventure in Nov-Dec 2019.
Past, Present, and Future Overlapping Points
Stationary retrograde and direct points become “hot spots” set into motion by future transits. For example, the Jan 2016 Mercury SD point at 15 Capricorn was the exact degree where Pluto went stationary direct in Sept 2016, so we got a front end look at the large scale transformations promised by Pluto in 2017.
Interestingly, that period was also directly related to the Dec 2016 Mercury retrograde period which began at 16 Capricorn, which was also conjunct Pluto. So where we moved forward in early 2016 became the zone of reflection, review, and re-evaluation in Dec 2016. As the recent SRX happened at 12 Virgo, it should bring a final practical understanding and usefulness to the Capricorn and Taurus themes of this year.
As the Dec 2016 SRX degree was tredeciled by the April SRX point at 5 Taurus, highly specialized and interactive unique serendipitous events and insights were had by those affected by these two degree points. I suspect that whatever was being buried or dug up and re-buried at that time has a direct relationship to the unveiling we’ve just been through during the current retrograde period.
As I said, all the 2017 SRX points were in the first half of the Earth signs. Since the January 2017 SD point was very late Sag, the May point was very late Aries, and this one is in very late Leo, this year we have begun all the Mercury retrograde periods with the practicality of Earth, but end our reflections and reviews with Fire. This has allowed us to move forward after each 2017 Mercury retrograde period with Fiery inspiration, light, and enthusiasm!
As noted, these have had major correspondences with the Fire trines in play all of 2017 between Saturn in late Sag, Uranus in late Aries, and the monthly transit of the Moon in late Leo as well as the Grand Fire Trines of 2017’s “Summer of Love” when the inner planets transited late Leo between July and September.
Now we face 4 months of being guided to our Soul using the qualities of 13 Sagittarius. 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 shaping our minds to become more receptive to current and future blessings. A promise and is being made manifest; if we’ve shaped our minds and quicken to the expectancy, we’ll find that we’re already living a different life, with productive weeks to come as we move deeper into the Jupiter in Scorpio era.
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 14 Sag, it shows that our imaginations can take interesting trips around reality, and find new ways to view old truths, and new truths built on previous life chapters. In any case, we will be going high, broad, wide, and abstract in our new individual, mental, or spiritual adventures!
The Sabian Symbol for Mercury’s Direct Station
The Sabian symbol for the 14th degree of Sagittarius is “The Pyramids and the Sphinx.” In the original notes from the Marc Jones class on the symbols, Rudhyar ways this is a degree of “achievement based in past greatness,” “power of the countless dead upon the living,” “vast resources in selfhood,” and “antecedents.”
In the Astrological Mandala he goes on to say this is a degree of "the enduring power of occult knowledge and of its quasi-divine Custodians, “Seed Men” of a previous cycle of existence.” He says the Great Pyramid and the Sphinx are symbols of an “Original Tradition based on the perfect knowledge of the archetypal principles and forms which underlie all manifestations of life on Earth,” and that this “archetypal knowledge remains the foundations upon which (our) minds can still build solid and valid formulations.”
He offers that “occult knowledge and the traditional process of acquiring it is still available, and that by accepting their principles modern (humanity) can best meet the challenge of our present world crisis. This symbol … points to the greatness of a Soul’s past achievements and the value of trying to re-evoke this past,” revealing “the power of spiritual ancestry.” He states this degree falls in the Span of Receptiveness, Act of Group Integration, and Scene of Abstraction on the Individual-Mental level.
Dr. Jones, creator of the Sabian Symbols, says this is a degree of “the ultimate criterion of reality provided by the common or physical world or normal experience,” as shown in our enduring works. He speaks of these works as “testimonials to human genius” across the world, and they “provide the fabric for a fellowship of creative capacity and give even the least of individuals an assurance and a self-sustainment as they continue to make a new or better mark on the face of events.”
He offers us the keyword CERTIFICATION. He offers that when this degree is operating positively, it indicates “effective practicality through a gift for bringing real imagination to everyday living.”
So the theme of this direct station is a return to ancient wisdom forms or our “spiritual ancestry,” where we can either find inspiration in the enduring inspired spiritual touchstones on our Earth, or we can begin to create these in our lives, or in the lives of others. Express your genius! As per the recent New Moon, BE your “sculptor Self,” using your special creative gifts to bring forth spiritual forms for others to be inspired by. Open your imagination, go deep into your ancestral wisdom, and bring it forth in an enduring form!
So we now stand on the threshold of 4 months where “the Guide of Souls” offers us the ability to use our Mercury function to find ways to embrace a blessing of greater truth, freedom, or possibility. We can now move forward with a greater understanding, and can let our wisdom lead our “horse of personality” to a “spiritual home.” We now know how we’ve gotten in shape since last January, seen a promise to be redeemed, opened to a greater love and/or expectancy, and now have received a blessings, whether we know it or not/
Aspects in the Shadow Zone
Mercury will transit its “shadow” span, i.e., the span it’s been in since it went retrograde at 30 Sag, through January 10. 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. As it hits its station, we see it makes NO aspects to other planets, which is very rare indeed! As it moves forward through its shadow zone, it will make many of the same aspects as it did during its retrograde period. I’ll write more about all the aspects made between planets in part 2.
We’ll close today with a reminder that although Mercury is now direct and won’t be retrograde again until late March, the retrograde we’ve just experienced will affect the coming months until the next Mercury stationary retrograde at 17 Aries, during which it will make some very powerful aspects to the other planets, including Saturn. That also will be an extraordinarily important retrograde, since the SRX degree will be the same as Uranus’ SRX degree in 2014, which I’ll discuss in March.
Of course you can find out more about that coming retrograde, as well as all others past and future, by getting your copy of my book A New Look At Mercury Retrograde.
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.) It's a great resource to 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 2017 Robert Wilkinson
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