by Robert Wilkinson
While Mercury is now direct, it will be in its shadow zone through Sept 2, after which it enters its next phase of moving through "unknown zones" where the themes of this retrograde will be played out in forward motion. So for the next 2 weeks, expect some very productive intersections of past and future, giving us a chance to show what we’ve learned since July! Again, the theme has been and continues to be about past, present, and future "focus on inner things rather than outer things” so we can find a newer, more “adult” way to do our Being!
If the aspects in play right now are any indication, we’re collectively at a point of fulfillment, since all of the frictional aspects except one are waning, and thus completing their “whole cycle” relative to the outer planets they’re in conflict with. I gave you significant aspects in part 1. They include Mercury in a long term sextile with Venus and square to Jupiter. Both of these aspects will continue until early September, along with 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 also have numerous other forming or partile separating aspects in play at this direct station, including Venus semisquare Sun, tredecile Mars, semisextile Jupiter, binovile Saturn, quadranovile Uranus, triseptile Neptune, and trielftile Pluto; Sun triseptile Mars, binovile Jupitter, out of sign trine to Saturn and Uranus, quadranovile Neptune, and biquintile Pluto; Mars quintile Jupiter, out of sign square Uranus, and semisquare Neptune; Jupiter semisquare Saturn, trine Neptune, and sextile Pluto; Saturn trine Uranus and quintile Neptune; and Uranus semisquare Neptune and biseptile Pluto, triggering the Grand Irrationality in a gigantic way!
As you know from the Lunation articles, the long term “action beats” of the very heavy Uranus waxing semisquare Neptune and waxing biseptile Pluto has launched an entirely new era of very frictional irrationality in the collective atmosphere. The waxing semisquare indicates an emergent conflict between the collective consciousness and the individualizing pulse striving to make itself manifest. These will be in play for the rest of 2018 and beyond! The biseptile marks a crucial “fork in the road of the world’s destiny” at the current time, which I believe involves the forces of reason and education pitted against ignorant, irrational and often violent forces of chaos.
Still, while there is widespread friction indicated by these aspects and others, such as Jupiter semisquare Saturn and Mars square Uranus, we also see very favorable spiritual energies of linked multilevel realizations for those with planets or points near 2-8 of the Earth signs, 12-18 of the Air signs, and 22-28 of the Fire signs, and unique gifts from the Mars quintile Jupiter for those with planets or points near 15-19 Scorpio, 27 Capricorn-1 Aquarius, 9-13 Aries, 21-25 Gemini, and 3-7 Virgo.
The Moon biquintile Uranus has the same effect in areas near 6-10 Sagittarius, 18-22 Aquarius, 30 Aries-4 Taurus, 12-16 Cancer, and 24-28 Virgo, and the Sun biquintile Pluto has the same effect in areas near 25-29 Leo, 7-11 Scorpio, 19-23 Capricorn, 1-5 Aries, and 13-17 Gemini. The final specializing aspect is Venus tredecile Mars. This opens up unique interactive gifts and blessings for those with planets near 1-3 Leo/Aquarius, 5-9 Virgo/Pisces, 11-15 Libra/Aries, 17-21 Scorpio/Taurus, 23-27 Sagittarius/Gemini, and 29-30 Capricorn/Cancer.
There are FIVE septile-series aspects in play at this direct station. We see Moon septile Mars, Mercury triseptile Pluto, Venus triseptile Neptune, Sun triseptile Mars, and Uranus biseptile Pluto!
The Moon septile Mars and the Sun triseptile Mars creates a very wide span of degrees that will precipitate major choices, changes, and actions if they impact something in your chart! The affected spans include 23-29 Leo, 14-20 Libra, 5-11 Sagittarius, 27 Capricorn-1 Aquarius, 19-25 Pisces, 11-17 Taurus, and 2-8 Cancer so if you have something in one of these zones, your life will take some dramatic turns these next few weeks. As the Mercury, Venus, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto all involve the Grand Irrationality zones, and I discuss them at every Lunation, please consult the recent Solar Eclipse articles to learn more.
As you can see, this chart shows a huge number of spiritual aspects! We have 2 quintiles, 3 biquintiles, and 1 tredeciles, and 1 Septile, 1 biseptile, and 3 triseptiles. We also see there are 2 binoviles and 2 quadranoviles, as well as 2 trielftiles.
Quintiles, biquintiles, tredeciles, and quindeciles bring out gifts, while the elftile series aspects bring forth spiritual realizations. Noviles show us points of realizations going into or coming out of gestation, while septiles put us at spiritual forks in the road of destiny. If you want to know more about these aspects, when you’re done here please go to The Specializing Aspects Pt. 1 – Quintile, Tredecile, Decile, and Biquintile and The Specializing Aspects Pt. 2 – The Quindecile and the Vigintile, as well as The Spiritual Aspect Series – The Novile, Septile, and Elftile Harmonic Aspects where you’ll find more about the meaning of these aspects and the glyphs associated with them. Also, remember that all of these set up harmonic resonance void points all over our charts.
The Moon at this Station
In this chart, the Moon is at 7 Sagittarius, a degree of a rebirth of love! As it makes a fortunate trine to Mercury, sextile to Venus, and biquintile to Uranus, the next few weeks should be very productive, with that “3 note chord” stabilizing the harmony between the Lunar, Mercurial, and Venusian areas of our lives.
As it’s a First Quarter Moon, activity is favored, as is anything that helps us “build our ego” so it’s an adequate vehicle to express the Loving Wise Intelligence of our Soul. While this Lunar phase produces “crisis in action,” it also helps us build the inner and outer structures we need to fulfill our goals and objectives. So when in doubt, simply embrace the adventure with balanced grace, assurance, and good humor!
Looking Back, Looking Ahead
So from here Mercury moves forward! We can now take what we reviewed, got a new understanding of, or found new information about that helped us remember and/or reevaluate some things and move forward with a larger view and contemplation of what has been and what will be, especially in the houses where we have Gemini and Virgo, since Mercury rules Gemini and Virgo.
As it was retrograde in Leo, those house(s) in our charts have been the areas where our review, reflections, returns, reconsiderations, and/or rehearsals have taken place. I gave you some of the possible effects of Mercury in the houses in the article Mercury Retrograde in Leo in July-August 2018 – What It Means For Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces
Since it is now direct, if there have been misunderstandings or delays these past 3 weeks, it's all moving forward from here! This is a time when Mercury, Mars, and Saturn will all end their retrograde periods, and begin to move forward, re-tracing steps they’ve all been dancing on for many weeks.
We can begin to get a lot more accomplished, after a long period of slow downs, turnarounds, review, reflection, reworking, undoing, and re-planning. We’re now at the end of our long review of what Mars and Saturn offered us over the past several months, and can now move forward with confidence, having overcome certain types of fear and withdrawn from some old projections we no longer favor nor want. While we still have Venus retrograde in October-November, and another Mercury retrograde in November-December, we’re now done with a preponderance of planets being retrograde at the same time!
So things should start moving forward anew fairly quickly. Right now, it’s a good time to use the different information, views, and approaches we’ve been examining through the retrograde lens these past several weeks to find a new understanding of what needed work in our inner and outer world.
Now that we've done our rehearsals, reviews, revisions, and/or research on how we can coordinate the parts of this emerging process during the past 3 weeks, it's again time to get it on! Here we face the future, and do what we must to weave elements of that future into our current life and affairs. We will continue to see more facets to approaching a more balanced life and a new way to live and BE our higher ideals.
Past Mercury Retrogrades and What They Taught Us
The 2015 January-February retrograde in Aquarius gave us a new understanding on some things we didn’t understand before, with the unveiling helping us re-evaluate something related to the areas where we have Gemini and Virgo, as well as any houses ruled by planets we have in these signs. We found ways to free ourselves from adverse conditions, and now are free to move forward into new discoveries.
The May-June retrograde in Gemini gave us new techniques of communicating at a distance, and offered some the beginning of telepathy. That was a time of new information, new discoveries, and new ways of evaluating things related to where we have Gemini, and some areas melted down so that some things repressed in our minds could break loose.
The October 2015 retrograde helped us learn what needed repair or reconstruction in our lives, and many were offered opportunities to bust misconceptions, and make progress in their vision despite limiting conditions. It featured pioneering new initiatives, and new ideals, Whether through direct or indirect information or realizations, we received insights, returns, and understanding about things we didn’t know about before the retrograde began.
The January 2016 retrograde helped mobilize us to escape from some adverse circumstance or condition via a “cosmic visitation.” We opened to different ways of seeing responsibility and duty, “the goodness of life in trials of regeneration,” and some form of “administered responsibility.” We learned to exercise our divine power of Economy of Energy, purify what needs purifying, let go of what needs to be let go of, and allow the quickening to move us into higher and greater effective ways of living and doing your Being.
The May 2016 retrograde gave us insights into what would bring a greater stability, and the inner resources we would draw on as we walked through the storm of June, July, and August. We saw where we had to mobilize, or defend our point of view, or administer some form of expertise. Many things began to come together on the practical level during those months, preparing us for the latest retrograde period.
The August-September 2016 retrograde brought us communications, insights, or interactions from the past that will help us “escape from a narrow destiny.” Those who are willing to rise to an occasion to transcend their limited past have increasingly found themselves living a new destiny. The December 2016-Jan 2017 stabilized the Earth pattern in our charts, and led us into this year’s pattern of Mercury retrogrades which will combine Earth and Fire.
The April-May 2017 retrograde gave us unique insights into past losses, and we understood why some things had to die and be buried if we wanted to be where we’re at right now, or alternately, we knew what had to end this Summer to open the door to a life renewal in the future. The August-September retrograde unveiled many things, opened the door to a much more inspired and brightened life, and we began to follow a longing for new ways to live.
The December 2017 retrograde gave us all unique blessings, some of which are still being made manifest, and early 2018 was a period of being exposed to various forms of an ancestral wisdom we’ve been learning to use. That review helped us come to understand “the power of our spiritual ancestry,” gave us a new look at the wisdom-forms Saturn brought us in 2016 and 2017, and brought us to the threshold of a new life in March 2018.
The March-April 2018 retrograde gave us opportunities to withdraw from things and people we no longer needed to dance with. By our willingness to preserve our dignity by backing down or backing out when appropriate, we could spare ourselves unnecessary headache and heartbreak. We got glimpses of higher truths and purposes to be fulfilled in the future, and since April have been seeing “new dimensions of Being,” where our creativity has been mobilized.
From Here We Move On
Things related to Mercury will speed up considerably for the next three months, so flow with the new YOU you’re experiencing! Meditate on the symbol "An evening lawn party,” since that’s the foundation for Mercury to move forward. Some will experience moments of relaxation from stress and strain, and will find themselves more at ease in their social surroundings. As this station was the same degree as the Moon in the Lunar Eclipse of 31 January 2018, clearly the the themes of this direct Station will be related to whatever was shut down and/or introduced at that Lunar Eclipse!
The Sun indicates a new day has dawned, and now it’s time to get to work. Be outgoing, let loose your heart’s potential, see what has to be done, and then do it! Take time to feel your experience of your actions, and keep an open mind and a sense of humor as your let your imagination play with images that could become concrete. Open to different approaches and different ways of valuing different things, and be mature as you embrace new long term “yearnings.”
Some will find themselves in “counsels of major players” in various fields, but remember to allow it all to gestate as the process takes its very weird twists and turns during this time of “the Grand Irrationality V.2.” There are inner powers to be developed, as well as outer invisible angelic helpers to cooperate with to bring forth “divine help when human efforts fail (or seem to fail.)” Humanity still moves through its long term ordeal, where much in the collective mindset must be “crucified” so that “compassion and understanding can rise from the inmost depths of Being.”
At this time of inspired practicality and practical inspiration, we continue to open to new ways of understanding things, new ways of envisioning what we want to see, and new communication needs. These will naturally lead us to know what to do. Just remember to take time to feel what needs to be felt, interact with those you need to interact with, and enjoy what needs to be enjoyed.
Search for a new way to view and understand everything you’re seeing, since this is a time of impending major changes with so much Leo in the air these next few weeks. When you know what you need to know, then act with precision and focus in the NOW, using your awakened Leo energy to do what you need to do. After you see what must be done, then do it, and then take the time to enjoy what you’ve done. You could experience a surge of spontaneity and freedom!
A New Look at Mercury Retrograde
In a final plug as Mercury moves forward in its shadow zone, for those who want to know more about the qualities of Mercury retrograde in all the signs and houses, please consult your copy of the expanded 2nd edition of A New Look at Mercury Retrograde. available on Amazon. It's a handy reference text for everything you could want to know about Mercury retrograde people and Mercury retrograde in the various signs and houses. It explores how Mercury retrograde people think and work through things, and possible ways parents of Mercury retrograde children can facilitate the roundabout interpretive and communication styles in their child’s development.
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.)
© Copyright 2018 Robert Wilkinson
Thanks for the two very comprehensive posts!
Blessings be to all.
Posted by: Nic | August 20, 2018 at 01:17 PM
Gosh there's a lot happening! Thanks for your Insights Robert
Posted by: Helen | August 20, 2018 at 03:41 PM
Your summary of the 2015 and 2016 retrogrades is amazingly accurate for me. I find it hard to see this kind of stuff when I am still close to it.
Posted by: Denise | August 20, 2018 at 09:57 PM