by Robert Wilkinson
As you know by now, Mercury has begun to slow down, preparing to go stationary retrograde at 14 Sagittarius on November 16 at 5:33 pm PST, Nov 17 at 1:33 am GMT. 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 ways to be guided to our Soul, or see how “the power of spiritual ancestry” has been at work in our lives since January. 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 Sagittarius in November and Scorpio in early December.
We may find different ways of seeing how our past fed our future, or how we opened to greater Spiritual truths in 2018 that are related to lessons we had to learn in 2015-2016. We may catch glimpses of alternative truths or futures, or understand how the past brought us to where we are now from a different angle of seeing where to put our energies, or how chasing past desires created futures that had to be “unweaved” at some point.
The next 3 weeks will give us a new take on emergent developments, and what must be reviewed and released, or researched and rehearsed to prepare us for December. 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 new look at our potential and who we might be if we chose to be a unique individual acting according to our authenticity and integrity.
We launched 2018 on the Mercury SD platform of “the power of our spiritual ancestry” related to the house(s) where we have 14-30 Sagittarius, and then withdrew from something beginning in April which opened our imagination to different ways of seeing ourselves. Those flashes of insight led us to disciplines of spiritual concentration in July and August.
So we enter a time of review, reflection, rehearsal, and new angles of concentrating and focus on the inner life, preparing to fulfill our Sagittarius and Scorpio functions in some important ways. We are finding new ways to claim our “ancestral wisdom” and see how that theme has infused our life in 2018 wherever it falls in our chart, as a prelude to finding a deeper connection to the ONE, or at the least that which holds things together. These will work out wherever we have 28 Scorpio to 14 Sagittarius in our chart.
Mercury Retrograde Is Shifting Element Emphasis
Though I touched on this in an earlier article, this explains more about the importance of the element Mercury’s in when retrograde. The Mercury retrograde in December 2017 ended a period of 3 retrogrades which began in Earth signs and ended in late Fire signs. These periods began in the practical considerations of Earth, but ended in the inspiration of Fire.
The Dec 2017 RX 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 the Mar-Apr Mercury RX which was entirely in Aries and the Jul-Aug retrograde entirely in Leo. The theme of this year is a “looking back and within using inspired mind,” as well as finding a way to understand old inspirations in new ways, or find new inspiration by taking a new look at old loves.
We now shift from the retrogrades being entirely in one element, as this on begins in Fire and ends in Water. This is the prelude to the March 2019 retrograde entirely in Water, after which in the July retrograde we return to beginning in Fire and ending in Water. The November 2019 retrograde is entirely in Water, while the Feb-Mar 2020 retrograde begins in Water and ends in Air, beginning a new transitional pattern.
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.
2018 was entirely in Fire signs until this one, which parallels 2012. As 2019 will feature two Water to Water retrogrades, that will parallel 2013. So we now move from inspiration to feeling in this retrograde, feeling to feeling in March, inspiration to feeling in July, and feeling to feeling next Oct-Nov.
A Bit More
In the next 3 weeks, we can see what life has prepared for us since the last Mercury retrograde in August 2018. 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 because of the things that were shut down or removed from our lives beginning June 2011-June 2012. There were some very powerful Eclipse in Gemini and Sagittarius during those years, and this retrograde will be returning to some of those degrees.
While those Eclipse effects may have ended one to three years ago, this can still give us a look back and a new perspective, if not undo some of the apparent truths we thought we saw then and after then. We all “divorced the past” between 2011 and 2014, and this look back could yield insights that will expand in the near future as Jupiter transits early Sagittarius.
The next 3 weeks are a good time to review recent openings and closings, changes in the roles we’re playing, and old abstractions that are symbols of much deeper and more timeless truths. Whatever adjustments or sacrifices we went through in late October will be seen in a new light by the time this retrograde is over. This is a review of prior openings, truths, and abstract understanding that will lead to creative integration and a deeper connection to “the ONE.”
This Mercury retrograde will give us many signs and signals for what will dominate Mercury-ruled areas from mid-November through early March 2019. Here we take a new look at what’s behind us before moving forward anew at the end of the RX period which finishes the “tag team retrogrades” involving Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Pluto since March 2018.
The Inferior Conjunction happens on November 27 at 6 Sagittarius. That “fusion of life and mind” will give us interesting insights into what in our lives has renewed as a result of turning inward and concentrating our power in more “adult” ways since August. As it happens in the midst of some great aspects,, it should help us a great long term understanding of what it takes to step into a future with clean past karma.
As the coming Inferior Conjunction is going to be square Mars sextile Saturn and conjunct Jupiter biquintile Uranus, there will be maximum productivity as we “hear the call” and “allow tomorrow to act through today,” where we renew our dedication to our training for perfection. As the Moon will be trine the Inferior conjunction and Jupiter and is biquintile Mars, it seems there will be lots of inspired activity going on involving combining our genius or special qualities with those of others.
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 Sagittarius and Scorpio energy in our lives, and review how we’ve moved forward since August. The retrograde is a great time for new insights into how we’ve been guided to our Souls, as prelude to clearer guidance after early December.
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 the New Moon at 16 Sagittarius in early December, and move into a new dimension of Being by the December Solstice.
This will be another important retrograde, where the past will be reviewed so we may rethink what we believe is true, and see how wider truths have been opened since January. We’ve claimed an ancient genetic wisdom this year, whether we know it or not. The coming weeks are both a look back and a rehearsal, a time to see past “glimpses of truth” as giving our minds the ability to re-magnetize some possibilities while saying goodbye to all that cannot be integrated into our lives. The SRX point is the technical degree on the individual, mental, and spiritual level of “Abstraction,” showing we’re all reviewing techniques of expressing our individual spiritual view.
So we begin the ending of a year of “looking back with inspired mind,” and are going deeper in our connectedness. We learned to concentrate in a new way last Summer so we could become a different sort of “adult” in our world. We got a lot of information since July about our Heart’s Way, and now must slow down, take a look back and up, and claim a larger and deeper wisdom to be learned and taught.
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 a major influence in the Jan-Feb and July-August 2018 eclipses, continuing its years-long power behind events. And it’s just finished its very powerful part in world affairs between March and November because Mars was in those signs during that time.
Saturn now moves forward in its home sign of Capricorn, and though not the only final dispositor right now (there are FOUR, including Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune), it still will play a big part behind the scenes as planets rolls through Capricorn and Aquarius over the next few months. And while its left its long term trine to Uranus, it approaches an extraordinarily serendipitous tredecile with Uranus between late November and early January. This will bring interactive gifts and blessings related to what we understood or stabilized between these two powerhouse planets during their long trines in 2017 (Fire) and 2018 (Earth).
Now that Saturn is moving forward and Uranus is back at the end of the Fire sign Aries, it’s a time of inspired genius that needs to be grounded in practical, organized, mature responses. Uranus is giving us a last look at our place in “the Cosmic Choir,” showing us our effective field of activity, which is to be structured by Saturn so we can move into our next level of spiritual individualization.
I cover this and 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, shows why some things happened when they did. Even those with little or no understanding of astrology will benefit from understanding why they had to make certain choices at crucial times that shaped their lives in profound ways.
Each time you read any section of this book you will find new insights about your power to steer your personal evolution. You will understand how to throw off all the attitudes and memories which have held you back from finding and living the life and purpose. Through your journey of self-discovery, you can find ways to live your life on your own terms, and fulfill your purpose 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 on Amazon and this should be all you need to order your copy. The ebook is available through Kindle. 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
Comments