by Robert Wilkinson
As you know by now, Mercury has begun to slow down, preparing to go stationary retrograde at 17 Aries on Mar 22 at 5:19 pm PDT, Mar 23 at 12:19 am GMT (UT). Today we take a look at some primary factors.
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 take a new look at old withdrawals and new beginnings. This one will give us multiple angles of understanding about how our past created our present, or how our present will create our future.
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 reviewed, re-examined, reevaluated, 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 Aries.
We may find different ways of seeing our “unedited” personality and/or attitudes, or an alternative view of what we have to separate from in order to find a new potential or a new way to fulfill a past or current potential. We may understand how the past brought us to where we are now from a different angle of seeing where to put our energies, or how past relationships that distracted us or got us misdirected forced us to go a different way.
The next 3 weeks will give us a new take on emergent developments, and what must be reviewed and released, or research and rehearsed to prepare us for May. Because of the “back to the future” quality of Mercury retrograde, we may also get glimpses of how the last 3 months have given us a blessing by showing us “the power of our spiritual ancestry,” or given us insights into an ancient Wisdom derived from the tradition of the Pyramid builders, specifically related to the house(s) where we have 14-30 Sagittarius.
So we enter a time of review, reflection, rehearsal, and new angles of using imagination with a blessing to prepare to fulfill the Aries function in our chart in some important ways. We are finding new ways to see how to “do our Being,” focusing our potency, examining these from angles we didn’t consider before. These will work out wherever we have early Aries in our chart.
Mercury Retrograde Is Shifting Element Emphasis
The previous Mercury retrograde in December 2017 ended a period of 3 retrogrades which began in Earth signs and ended in late Fire signs. That one began in late Sagittarius, and was a “tag team messenger,” as it picked up one degree from where Mercury went direct in January 2017! That retrograde was entirely in the sign of Sagittarius, heralding this Mar-Apr Mercury RX which is entirely in Aries and the Jul-Aug retrograde entirely in Leo.
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.
As noted, the April-May 2016 retrograde was entirely in the Earth sign of Taurus, and the Aug-Sept retrograde was entirely in the Earth sign of Virgo. In December 2016 it shifted to multiple elements again since it began in Capricorn and retrograded back into the Fire of Sagittarius. That began 2017’s blend of Earth and Fire energies during Mercury retrograde.
A Bit More
In the next 3 weeks, we can see what life has prepared for us since the last Mercury retrograde in December 2017. Besides the more recent past, the coming retrograde period can also give us a new perspective on what’s shifted in our view or understanding since the period of March 2012 through January 2016, since Uranus had several stations between 5-17 Aries during those years. We may understand why we had to withdraw from some situations and people during that time so we could come to a new dimension of Being since then.
Consider the next 3 weeks as a review of recent new beginnings with an eye to adapting methods to achieve a more practical organized expression of power, responsibility, or duty in the near future. This is a transmutational retrograde period which will demonstrate our effectiveness in “foreign” or unfamiliar situations. Since December 2017, we’ve been educated on multiple levels of understanding and blessed to go forth into this time via the 30 Sag SRX point.
This Mercury retrograde will give us many signs and signals for what will dominate Mercury-ruled areas from mid-April through late July. Here we take a new look at what’s behind us before moving forward anew at the end of the RX period at the same time that Saturn goes stationary retrograde. We can get many insights and roundabout realizations about our 2018 Saturn lessons, and glimpses of how we’ll need to concentrate our energy and focus to anticipate Saturn experiences to come later this year.
The Inferior Conjunction happens on April 1 at 12 Aries. That “fusion of life and mind” will give us interesting insights into what is ending associated with the recent Full Moon Eclipse at 12 Leo/Aquarius, and give us a sense of a) needing to go deeper into our exploration of life’s mysteries, and/or b), come up into the sunshine and fresh air to remember life is a lesson in generating creative joy.
As the coming Inferior Conjunction is tredecile the last Inferior Conjunction at 22 Sagittarius, no doubt the retrograde insights of how that IC related to previous Saturn lessons will now yield unique interactions, realizations, and very “lucky” events. We will catch glimpses of our Soul’s flight across space-time, and can see forms of “cosmic order,” even if they are not yet mature enough to be grounded.
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. This one allows us to review and get a new look at how we’re using Aries energy in our lives, and review how we’ve moved forward since last December. The retrograde is a great time for new insights into how we’ve been guided to our Souls, as prelude to clearer guidance after mid-April.
We’re already living a future that took hold in 2017 due to the strong Sagittarius presence in the retrogrades that year. We got heart strength, inspiration, blessings, and glimpses of “the power of our spiritual ancestry” last year we are called to develop as spiritual tools during 2018’s Fire retrogrades. This retrograde and the next one will give us a look back at the Fire trines of last year, and incorporate them into our Mercury tool kit during this year.
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 mid-April, and move into a new dimension of Being by May.
This will be another important retrograde, where the past will be reviewed so we may reorganize who we hang with and why, and how we are using our energy to fulfill our purpose. The coming weeks are both a look back and a rehearsal, a time to see past withdrawals as creating the space so that other more appropriate ways of doing our Being could come forth. We’ll be getting signs and signals of our Higher Way, but we must slow down, take a look back and up, and see why some people and things had to leave.
Renewals, returns, reconnections, reunions, and new beginnings are promised by this retrograde. And of course, more on this Mercury retrograde period will come soon!
Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend
Because Saturn is now in its home sign of Capricorn for the first time since 1991, it is the final dispositor of all planets transiting Capricorn and Aquarius from now through 2023. It was the ruler of the last two eclipses, making it an important factor for the next few years, and it will continue to play a different and powerful part in world affairs between March and November because Mars will be transiting those signs during that time. That makes Saturn a major force to be reckoned with in 2018!
As it is Mercury’s final dispositor whether retrograde or direct during this time, welcoming opportunities to know and practice the virtues of our inner Saturn is an excellent thing to cultivate. And, now that it’s in a long term very favorable and serendipitous tredecile with Uranus, we are offered unique interactive gifts and circumstances that can help us awaken to our higher Individuality and how to express it through Saturn’s ability to help us structure it in our lives.
Once Saturn and Uranus come back into trine between May and October involving Capricorn and Taurus, and it will be the next chapter in us learning how to blend past and future together and craft your future destiny. After the 2017 Fire trines between these planets stabilizing Electric Fire and distributive “Fire by Friction,” this will provide practical grounding to our efforts.
In 2017, we stabilized Electric Fire, harmonized with Distributive Fire by Friction, and learned to express it in loving, creative forms of Solar Fire between July and September during the Grand Fire trines, as well as every month when the Moon was in Leo. 2017 was the next step in understanding the movement of Fire in our lives, which will yield to Earth understanding in a few months!
This will help us organize and simplify our Saturn-Uranus “dance of individualization” in our charts. You can learn more about cooperating with Saturn and Uranus to create your future destiny by taking a look at the material in my book “Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend.” Saturn helps us give form and structure to our quest for Self-realization, and in Capricorn, will help bring an “organized personal structure” to the Uranian energies infused with concentrated doses of spiritual energy that is making our spiritual life come alive.
Our inner Saturn gives us the power to take command of our lives and destiny. Saturn shows us how to become spiritual adults and fulfill our purpose for being alive on Earth. By knowing our Saturnian strengths, we can overcome fear and any sense of victimization or powerlessness.
It was written for both astrologers and non-astrologers, and gives the reader the power to understand why some things happened when they did. Throughout the book, it offers ways for us to “make friends” with this part of our existence and take command of our destiny. As you read each chapter, you’ll become more aware of all the factors assisting Soul growth through understanding how our Saturn lessons relate to Dharma (our Highest Spiritual Function) and various types of karma, both those we cause and those which are "Sacred Wounds" leading us to a greater compassion and understanding.
This is a book you will reference many times for many reasons, and each time you pick it up you’re sure to find undiscovered gems of insight on each page. This book can help you throw off all the attitudes and memories which have held you back from finding and living the life and purpose you’ve been searching for since you were young. Welcome to the journey of self-discovery, and finding your power to live your life on your own terms, fulfilling your reason for being alive as an Eternal having human experiences!
Please order your copy today! You can go to the Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend page and order your copy of either the paperback or the ebook. It's also available as an ebook on B&N's Nook. I’ve been told that people who live overseas can get their copy much faster by going through Amazon. And if you would, please write a review on the Amazon site, since the more reviews, the bigger the boost on their site.
© Copyright 2018 Robert Wilkinson
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