by Robert Wilkinson
Mercury goes direct in motion at 2:21 am PDT, 5:21 am EDT, 10:21 am BST on April 15, 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 5 Aries, 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 5 Aries hold for us? Perhaps it would be useful to take a look back on what the last Mercury direct station brought us since December 2017.
You will recall that the last time Mercury went stationary direct, it was at 14 Sagittarius, showing we’ve all had manifestations of “the power of our spiritual ancestry” show up in some way, or were exposed to the ancient Hermetic Wisdom that prevailed in Egypt before the wars and earthquakes destroyed Alexandria. We’ve had opportunities to open to techniques of accessing individual-mental spiritual abstractions. We have had many things develop from Sagittarian reflections, reviews, rehearsals, revisits, and insights from which we’ve moved forward since mid-December.
We are now in a time of retrogrades that are all Fire! 2017 featured a Mercury retrograde pattern of beginning in the first half of an Earth sign, and ending when Mercury is in the final degrees of a Fire sign. This will bring echoes of previous SRX and SD points also in Fire signs.
This retrograde period featured Mercury going stationary retrograde at 17 Aries, bringing us glimpses of a) things from the past that showed us what we had to withdraw from to get where we are; b) things from the past we need to withdraw from if we’re to move forward in another area; and/or c) we get to withdraw from something current we never should have begun to begin with. We got to take a new look at crucial 2017 Mercury stationary degree stationary direct themes which accelerated during the Dec RX which began this run entirely in Fire signs.
We’ve now re-traced ground that we first saw via Mercury’s first pass from March 8 to 22, and re-examined via the RX from then to now. Of major importance will be when Mercury goes back over 17 Aries on May 2-3, when it moves into unknown zones for the year while carrying all its RX lessons forward. Many things related to this RX period will be activated or re-activated in January 2019 when Mars transits Aries.
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 2017 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 awakenings promised by Uranus when it transits early Taurus beginning May 2018!
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 the early September one was in very late Leo, all the Mercury retrograde periods began with the practicality of Earth, but end our reflections and reviews with Fire. This allowed us to move forward after each 2017 Mercury retrograde period with Fiery inspiration, light, and enthusiasm! This year will continue the Fire emphasis, so many of the RX periods this year will be natural extensions of the 2017 direct station platforms.
The added benefit we got throughout 2017 was via these RX periods corresponding 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 5 Aries. 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 new qualities of Being.
Reflect on recent withdrawals requiring dignity; take a new look at what you may want to withdraw from so you can redirect your energies to more direct actions to focus your potential. (The first already happened to me, and it’s clear that I must act on the second if I am to get my next book into production!) All of this involves envisioning “a new dimension of Being mobilizing creativity,” as per the Sabian Symbol of the SD degree.
We should all start seeing, hearing, and understanding things that point the way to some Mercurial fulfillment related to how we have been and continue to be guided to our Soul. Given that it falls at 5 Aries, it shows direct action will fulfill many potentials and open up even more, and that self-initiating self-reliance helping us move in new directions is favored. It’s a new time, a new day, and a new life! When in doubt, just do it!
The Sabian Symbol for Mercury’s Direct Station
The Sabian symbol for the 5th degree of Aries is “A triangle with wings.” In the original notes from the Marc Jones class on the symbols, Rudhyar says this is a degree of “evolution of values in the sphere of inward self, but at a stage not yet substantiated” and “eagerness for a spiritual goal.”
In the Mandala he goes on to say this is a degree of "the capacity for self-transcending,” and a “desire to reach a higher level of existence, of pure aspiration or devotion, of bhakti.” He states this is a further development in the process of “differentiation,” where we become aware of possibilities of future growth.
He offers that this is still an ideal we long form where we envision “a new dimension of being … mobilizing creative endeavors.” He states this degree falls in the Span of Realization, Act of Differentiation, and Scene of Desire on the Actional level.
Dr. Jones, creator of the Sabian Symbols, says this is a degree of “the inviolability of (our) essential nature throughout every ramification of (our) experience, as long as (we) hold to the purity of (our) original impulses.” He states this brings “a very practical balance in (our) self-fulfillment, thanks to (our) threefold individuality in terms of skills, loyalties, and values.”
He continues with “Light rather than darkness remains the goal of (our) life, and (our) personal capacities become a continual refinement of every baser metal in selfhood. He offers us the keyword ZEAL, and states that when operating in a positive way, the degree is “the creative transformation of everything into an expression of enduring idea and a reflection of the real vision ahead.”
So the theme of this direct station is “self-transcendence” and “eagerness for a spiritual goal,” with “a new dimension of Being” available for those who open to their own urge to BE greater or more than they’ve been up to now. So we’re now on a threshold of 4 months to come where “the Guide of Souls” offers us the ability to use our Mercury function to find ways to live in new ways and BE a new person.
We can now move forward with a greater understanding, and can become more than we were before. We now know how we got in shape throughout 2017, redeemed promises then and now, opened to a greater love and/or expectancy, and have received a blessings we now can use to move forward in our new lives, 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 17 Aries, through May 2-3. 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’s made a square to Saturn since the beginning of April, and will continue to make a square to Saturn through the fourth week of April. It also makes an exact semisquare to Venus which gives way to a septile at the end of April. We also see a binovile to Mars and a sesquisquare to Jupiter. 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 July, the retrograde we’ve just experienced will affect the coming months until the next Mercury stationary retrograde at 24 Leo, during which it will make some very powerful aspects to the other planets. That also will be an extraordinarily important retrograde, since the SD degree will be the same as the Moon’s degree in the Jan 31, 2018 Lunar Eclipse.
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 2018 Robert Wilkinson
Thank you for the read.in sync with this for sure.
Posted by: nancy | April 18, 2018 at 08:11 PM