by Robert Wilkinson
Mercury goes direct in motion at 9:25 pm PDT on August 18, 12:25 am EDT and 5:25 am BST on August 19, 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 12 Leo, 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 12 Leo hold for us? Perhaps it would be useful to take a look back on what the last Mercury direct station brought us since April 2018.
You will recall that the last time Mercury went stationary direct in April, it was at 5 Aries, showing we’ve all “levitated” in some way, or elevated our sense of who we are or what parts we’re playing in the world. Our values evolved, and in many an “eagerness for a spiritual goal” has arisen. It sure has in my life since April!
April through July gave us all opportunities to open to seeing how to mobilize our spiritual initiative in active ways, breaking new ground or getting new dynamic experience. We have had many things develop from Aries reflections, reviews, rehearsals, revisits, and insights from which we’ve moved forward since mid-April.
And since we’re looking back, the direct station before that was last December at 14 Sagittarius. So our evolved sense of self that began to reveal itself in April was based in “the power of our spiritual ancestry” which showed up between January and March 2018.
This is the last Mercury retrograde that both begins and ends in 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. 2018 retrogrades have been entirely in Fire, and have brought echoes of previous SRX and SD points also in Fire signs.
This retrograde period featured Mercury going stationary retrograde at 24 Leo, bringing us glimpses of a) things from the past that showed us when we needed to go inward and concentrate rather than be distracted by outer things; b) techniques of going inward from the past we need to use right now if we’re to release certain emotions or demonstrate ways of being socially effective; and/or c) we just had opportunities to turn away from appearances and superficial things so we can focus our potency at the beginning of a long adventure.
We’ve now re-traced ground that we first saw via Mercury’s first pass from July 7 through 25, and re-examined via the RX from then to now. Of major importance will be when Mercury goes back over 24 Leo on September 1-2, 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 July and August 2019 when Mars transits Leo.
Now we face 4 months of being guided to our Soul using the qualities of 12 Leo. 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 redirection of energies from outer things to inner things; take a new look at your need to focus inward in order to project a relatively calm and studied persona to your world. All of this involves easy interactions “of human souls in moments of relaxation from strain,” 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 12 Leo, it shows aplomb, playfulness, a certain dramatic style of self-expression, and an adventurous courage is favored. It’s a new life, a new love, and a new power, so make the most of it!
The Sabian Symbol for Mercury’s Direct Station
The Sabian symbol for the 12th degree of Leo is "An evening lawn party.” In the original notes from the Marc Jones class on the symbols Dane Rudhyar published in The Astrology of Personality, he states this degree is about “easy intercourse of human souls in moments of relaxation from strain” and “examination of, or self-loss in social values.”
In The Astrological Mandala,, Rudhyar offers this degree involves “group-relaxation in fashionable surroundings as an escape from work routine.” He states this symbol “refers to the more or less standardized and fashion-dictated relaxation of adults,” where the interactions are cultivated and socialized.
He tells us that here “we have now reached a stage of sophistication and involvement in externals and superficial intellectuality and wit.” He states that this symbol falls in the Span of Assurance, the Act of Stabilization, and the Scene of Combustion on the Individual-Mental level.
According to Dr. Jones, this degree is about “superficial gratifications” enhancing our “individual experience,” and of “the inherent normality through which (we) share the fruits of (our) personal accomplishment” with friends and neighbors. He offers “there are limitless forms of self-expression” through which we discover our “distinct personality, but what we achieve is meaningless unless there is some definite recognition of its worth” from others.
He states they keyword is COMPANIONSHIP. He says that when positive, this degree "is a genuine social maturity and an effective capacity for working with others.”
So the theme of this direct station is relaxation, reducing stress, getting a freer routine, understanding how we or others have gotten “lost in social values” or at least examine them to come to a sense of stable assurance so we can express our heart in some way. 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 more well-rounded understanding, and can project a bit more assurance in “normal” social situations. This promises a great recognition for us wherever it falls and wherever it rules, even if it’s only recognized in the inner world of self. As this is the exact degree of the Moon in the January 2018 Total Lunar Eclipse, much of what we move into from here has a direct relationship to whatever left our lives in the late Winter and Spring of this year.
Aspects in the Shadow Zone
Mercury will transit its “shadow” span, i.e., the span it’s been in since it went retrograde at 24 Leo, through September 1-2. 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 still in a long term sextile with Venus and square to Jupiter. Both of these aspects will continue until early September.
In addition to these major aspects, we also see Mercury biseptile Uranus, quincunx Neptune, triseptile Pluto, and sesquisquare Saturn between August 24-27, followed immediately by a quincunx to Pluto and a triseptile to Neptune, activating the Grand Irrationality! In early September triseptiles Mars just as it leaves its Shadow Zone. Still, the days immediately after that are very important, since Mercury quincunxes Mars, makes a very favorable Grand Earth Trine with Saturn and Uranus, and then makes a biquintile to Mars, sesquisquare to Pluto, and quintile to Jupiter.
We’ll close today with a reminder that although Mercury is now direct and won’t be retrograde again until mid-November, the retrograde we’ve just experienced will affect the coming months until the next Mercury stationary retrograde at 14 Sagittarius, the exact degree Mercury went direct in December 2017! Looks like “the power of spiritual ancestry” is pervading all our lives throughout 2018, and many of us are “remembering” an ancient Wisdom that resides in our cellular memory.
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.) This is 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
Murder and Mayhem returned from the bottom of the swamp with an ancient recipe for a failed species...cook off imminent!
Posted by: sue | August 18, 2018 at 08:17 AM