by Robert Wilkinson
Mercury goes direct in motion at 6:59 am PDT, 1:59 pm GMT on March 28, 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 17 Pisces, 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 17 Pisces hold for us? Perhaps it would be useful to take a look back on what the last Mercury direct station brought us since December2018.
You will recall that the last time Mercury went stationary direct in August, it was at 28 Scorpio, showing we’ve all turned to “the One” within, redirecting energies from outer things to inner things. Since December 2018, we’ve all had to focus inward in order to project a focused, centered, caring compassion to our world, and “guided to our Soul” through “devotion to the One,” as per the Sabian Symbol of the Dec 2018 SD degree. Through the Mercury direct process, we’ve learned that deep individualized faith and a clear understanding create a transformational process when we identify at the core of our Being with the Oneness of “All That Is.”
The November-December 2018 retrograde period saw Mercury going stationary retrograde at 14 Sagittarius, bringing us glimpses of how in 2018 things from the past showed us a) “the power of our spiritual ancestry”; b) techniques of going inward from the past we need to use now if we’re to tap into our genetic wisdom; and/or c) we reflected on the wisdom we’ve learned in 2018 so we can understand what’s expanding at this beginning of a long adventure.
We’ve now re-traced ground that we first saw via Mercury’s first pass from Feb 19 through March 5, and re-examined via the RX from then to now. Of major importance will be when Mercury goes back over 30 Pisces on April 15-16, 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 on April 8-20 when Venus transits transiting the RX span. And we shall see “echoes of memories” between now and March 2025, since Neptune will be transiting this entire span of the “dream zone” in late Pisces, with Jupiter’s next transit of the span in 2022, launching our current dreams of the future on to the stage of Life!
Now we face 4 months of being guided to our Soul using the qualities of 17 Pisces. 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 leading you to a social rebirth, or a rebirth of faith; take a new look at how you’re part of humanity, and your deepest feelings are those of countless others. Take a new look at how to project a multi-faceted compassion to your world. All of this involves focusing your “group renewal” 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 17 Pisces, it has qualities of actions leading us all to self-improvement and self-renewal in the house where this SD degree falls in our charts.
The Sabian Symbol for Mercury’s Direct Station
The Sabian symbol for the 17th degree of Pisces is "An Easter promenade.” In the original notes from the Marc Jones class on the symbols he published in The Astrology of Personality, Rudhyar says this degree is one of “a symbol of ‘high moments’ in life, when (we) challenge (ourselves) and renew (our) faith in circumstances,” and “self-improvement.”
In his Astrological Mandala he states this degree is one of “the capacity inherent in all great sociocultural Images to unite the members of a community in a display of excellence.” He goes on to say this is about “the unifying power of great myths and symbols in truly organic and self-perpetuating culture,” with a focus on the “Image of the Resurrection” helping all to show their best Self in a renewal aligned with Nature.
He offers that this degree “emphasizes the value of attuning one’s life activities… to the ritualistic patterns of society or Earth Nature” rather than acting independently. Here “the Collective dominates the Individual, Yin overpowers Yang,” and we are told it’s time to participate in “collective peak experiences.” He states this degree falls in the Span of Protection, Act of Capitalization, and Scene of Perpetuation on the Actional level.
Dr. Jones says this degree is about a “constant expansion of self and experience” in terms of individual self-expression. He speaks of “Implicit in all the ridiculous extremes of man’s vanity and self-exhibition is a realization that each least manifestation of his personal excellencies must be shared widely and generously” so they can develop.
He offers the keyword of CELEBRATION. He states that when this degree works positively, it is “tireless self-refinement in an effective inspiration of others.”
Given this SD point is conjunct Neptune on the same degree where it went SRX last Summer, we now begin to move forward into the vast “feeling field” where we learn to navigate the fogs and mists of reality associated with Neptune. So the themes of this direct station is self-improvement and showing up for the symbolic “worship service” where we can have a sense of togetherness in self-renewing images. That puts us 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.
Aspects in the Shadow Zone
Mercury will transit its “shadow” span, i.e., the span it’s been in since it went retrograde at 30 Pisces, through April 16. 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 an exact conjunction with Neptune, quintile Mars, semisquare Uranus, and sextile Saturn. These will hold for about a week, with the quintile to Mars lasting through mid-April. In addition to these major aspects, while it’s still in its shadow zone, we also see Mercury sextile Pluto, novile Uranus, and square Jupiter on its RX station.
We’ll close today with a reminder that although Mercury is now direct and won’t be retrograde again until July 2019, the retrograde we’ve just experienced will affect the coming months until the next Mercury stationary retrograde at 5 Leo, a degree of seeing the long view when it comes to creating anything enduring in the world. As that degree is the same as the Sun in the Lunar Eclipse of July 2018 which affected the months after that, if you want to know what we’ll be reviewing in July, please go to that article in the archives.
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 where you can order your paperback edition of A New Look at Mercury Retrograde. And here’s the link to where you can order an ebook copy of A New Look at Mercury Retrograde 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 2019 Robert Wilkinson
Hi Robert. This station is on my natal MC at 15 Pisces, with natal Mercury and s. node at 24 Pisces.This is on top of the eclipse that hit my Cancer/Capricorn (and 2nd Saturn return) AC axis earlier this year. Can you give a brief explanation on the role of the MC axis? Love and gratitude, Veronica
Posted by: Veronica Norman | March 27, 2019 at 05:57 AM