by Robert Wilkinson
Yes, it's THAT time again! Mercury is radically slowing down, preparing to go stationary retrograde at 17 Aries at 5:19 pm PDT on March 22, 12:19 am GMT (UT) on March 23. This has important implications for all signs.
I'll be composing several articles about this Mercury retrograde in Aries 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 mid-December.
The coming RX period continues the new Mercury retrograde element pattern. This year we have Mercury going RX in a Fire sign, and staying in that Fire sign. This began with the Dec 2017 retrograde which began at 30 Sagittarius extending back to 14 Sagittarius.
This same element pattern continues through the July-Aug 2018 retrograde, which will be entirely in Leo. The November-December 2018 retrograde will begin in Sagittarius, and retrograde back into Scorpio, beginning the next “mixed element” Mercury retrograde cycle we’ll experience in two of the three 2019 retrogrades.
Before that Dec 2017 retrograde, we had an entire year of Mercury going RX in an Earth sign and retrograding back to the final degrees of the previous Fire sign. The Dec 2016/Jan 2017 RX began at 16 Capricorn and went back to 29 Sagittarius. The Apr-May RX began at 5 Taurus and went back to 25 Aries, and the Aug-Sept RX began at 12 Virgo and went back to 29 Leo.
The SD degree is where things move forward after the RX. The last SRX was at 30 Sagittarius, and the last SD was at 14 Sag. This SRX degree is in strong harmony with both of those degrees. This continues the expression of the “blessing” we’ve received since last December, expressed through a “wisdom form” that was initiated at the last Mercury SD degree.
Those retrograde themes have dominated what we’ve learned and expressed since December. As I told you last time regarding the 2017 Mercury retrogrades, it was somewhat of a “round robin,” as the Dec 2017 SRX at 30 Sag picked up the theme of the Jan 2017 SD theme related to 29 Sag and “getting in shape” to do some task. That would seem to imply that we “got in shape” in Dec 2016-Jan 2017 and that was related to the blessing initiated in Dec 2017.
So we “got in shape” in early 2017 as a prelude to burying the past, or seeing a previous past that was buried so we could open to who we had become in April and May 2017. Some had to go back to the past and “exhume the bodies” to make sure they had actually buried the right things!
In any case, that opened the door to “a new quality of being” that “rendered the old patterns obsolete.” This was the next step in the “liberation from a narrow destiny” that’s happened to all of us since August-September 2016.
The August-September 2017 retrograde opened us to a new expectancy, a new yearning, and a new chapter in self-development in our Leo life areas. All of 2017 helped us “redeem a promise” that was awakened in the Summer of 2016, and this retrograde takes us “back to the future” so we can a) see what we need to withdraw from with dignity, nobility, and dispassion, and b) see what we had to withdraw from in the past so we could have the noble, dignified, and dispassionate approach we have to specific things right now.
Anyway, things will slow from here, so adapt! 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.
As I’ve told you, 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 Aries, as well as all the other signs and houses, if you don’t already have one, please consider getting your copy of the 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 Aries, or the 2017 retrogrades in Capricorn/Sagittarius, Taurus/Aries, and Virgo/Leo, or any other past or future retrogrades and their influence in the signs and 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 2015’s Mercury retrograde periods in Aquarius, Gemini, and Libra, the 2016 Mercury retrograde periods in Aquarius/Capricorn, Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn/Sagittarius, and the 2017 retrograde periods mentioned above, 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 will affect sectors in your chart by taking a look at Mercury retrograde in Aries, Leo, Sagittarius, and Scorpio. 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.)
See you soon with an overview of the retrograde and more!
Copyright © 2018 Robert Wilkinson
I bought the kindle edition.
Posted by: Michael Amar Wilson | March 14, 2018 at 10:22 AM