by Robert Wilkinson
Today we explore specifics of the Inferior Conjunction of October 25 at 3 Scorpio. This “fusion of life and mind” will impact the rest of the retrograde period, and many weeks after.
As I offered in earlier articles, an Inferior Conjunction is when Mercury (mind) conjuncts the Sun (life) while retrograde. This indicates that signals, messages, and ideas from either outer sources or subconscious sources will fuse with the life principle, setting the tone for the lessons involving how our minds are relating to our lives during the next four months.
Mind is now reconsidering territory it’s already seen. This “fusion of Mind and Life” allows Mind to see where the Light has already been, and thereby written in our Book of Light/Life. Mercury, Guide of Souls, now has slowed down enough that the Sun has caught up and they come together for a brief moment. That also means Mercury again leads the Sun, showing Mercury is again the Gatekeeper to the Light.
We now enter a phase of looking back at Life to see how certain things in the past impacted how we got to where we are today. This is “Illuminated Mind looking back at inward, outward, and collective processes which have shaped our Life. As Mercury is retrograde, the degree of the inferior conjunction shows how our perceptions will merge with our Life and bring forth a new understanding of our Light.
The Sabian Symbol for the Inferior Conjunction
This Inferior Conjunction falls at 3 Scorpio. It is said that the first third (decan) of any sign deals with the physical, actional, and material levels of life, and being the Scorpio decan of that sign, invokes a sub-influence of Scorpio with an extra dose of Mars.
The Sabian Symbol we’ve been given for the 3rd degree of Scorpio is “A house-raising.” In The Astrology of Personality, where Rudhyar uses the original Dr. Jones' class notes on the symbols, 3 Scorpio is said to be a symbol of "the constructive sharing of experience which builds social values,” “interchange of efforts,” and “necessity to learn cooperation.”
He goes on to state inThe Astrological Mandala that the keynote for this degree is "the feeling of community demonstrated in a basic joint effort.” He goes on to say that this symbolizes a “collective, friendly enterprise,” where “newcomers building their home-to-be found friendly helpers in their neighbors,” where a “sense of togetherness and participation in a common enterprise was developed by such collective work.”
He also offers that while the “home” is ours, because the whole community is involved in building it, it brings forth a sense of relatedness and connectedness. Here “feeling becomes activity. The past and its memories are repolarized in terms of the expanded social consciousness,“ and the keyword is “cooperation.” Rudhyar says it falls in the Span of Retention, and is the third degree in the Actional level of the Scene of Communion in the Act of Group-Integration.
According to Dr. Jones, creator of the Sabian Symbols, we find this degree symbolizes "the indomitable outreaching of the human spirit” in “simple co-operations in everyday living,” and of our “realization of (our) inherent divinity” as we seek fulfillment through others. He speaks of a “joy in common enterprise” which results in both personal gain and a sense of connection with the community.
He states the keyword is HELPFULNESS. He goes on to say that when positive, this degree is "exceptional power of accomplishment through a consistent success in winning the good will and enlisting the services of others.”
So we enter a time where Life is moving forward as Mind looks back on how a) we have participated in cooperative building endeavors in the past, where we found both personal advantage as well as community connections and/or b) we are again participating in a building endeavor within a community or group context. This gives us a new look at our connections with others, and promises an even deeper one after Mercury makes its final pass through its shadow zone.
We may get flashes or recollection about alternative ways of how we can contribute to a building endeavor, or encounter past life allies who will join us in building something of community value. Through our deeper connections with others forged by cooperative work done together, we are learning to destroy the “heresy of separateness,” as one great Tibetan Master of the Wisdom has put it.
Because it’s a retrograde conjunction in the Water sign of intense shared feelings, take a new look at ways to recognize and hear your inner voice, or how you did it in the past. Because Scorpio represents our ability to penetrate past the appearances of things, and is a part of our Spiritual Warrior, if you want guidance, search for what needs to be eliminated to create the space to regenerate whatever is being built.
Just remember that all Mercury RX phenomena take a while to unfold, often during a subsequent RX period. Things that happen during a retrograde seem to have a way of moving forward at future retrograde. This Inferior Conjunction will bring echoes of past eras when Jupiter and Saturn were in this sector of Scorpio, as well as any Eclipses near this Inferior Conjunction. Of note is this degree was the Lunar position of the 2016 Wesak Festival, so we should be getting flashbacks or renewed insights and/or reconnections with people and ideas related to the global Ageless Wisdom teaching of that year.
Important Dispositors
Because the Inferior Conjunction is in Scorpio, it is ruled by Mars retrograde at 18 Aries. This will help us get to the internal nature of what pushes and pulls us, and should help diminish the general tension in the air. This promises us a “look back” or new insights into how to alternate between activity and rest while regenerating by pulling back on some activities and moving slowly forward with others.
Because this fusion of backward and inward looking Mind with Life is ruled by Mars, we can reconnect with those inner parts of our personality which push and pull us into discontent, and help us understand why we had to go deep within in the past, surrendering our ego to our deepest Soul connection. We can now get new insights into how cooperative action with periods of rest and quiet can lead us to a new understanding of how to flow into deeper relationships on our own terms.
Of major significance is the Moon at this Inferior Conjunction is at 29 Aquarius, the transfiguration degree where Mercury went stationary direct in March which was triggered by Mars in mid-May. In the period of February, March, and April we all prepared to “graduate into a new realm of Being” in May. This “looking back” period will have a specific focus on our ongoing process of learning transfiguration is a verb and not confined to being a noun.
We are again split into two primary “final dispositors,” those being Mars which rules the Sun, Mercury, Venus, itself and Uranus, while Saturn rules the Moon, Jupiter, itself, and Pluto. So Aries is the backdrop to most of the foreground, while Capricorn is the backdrop to the specific focus and all the social-spiritual factors at large except for Uranus.
This Inferior Conjunction can fuse hindsight and life experience to see how new forms of light, life, and perspectives are coming forth showing us a new potential future. Because of the emphasis on Scorpio, Aries, and Capricorn, the next four months are a time to be deliberate, rhythmic, visionary, future oriented, efficient, and ready to act in precise and organized ways as we anticipate what is to come, and see it all as training us to “do our Being” more perfectly.
A benefit of Inferior Conjunctions is they offer us views of how we prepared in the past for current attitudes and ideals, or conversely, through the retrograde lens see how past attitudes and ideals led us to where we’re at right now. When Mercury gives us a backward look or alternative view and understanding of something from the past, it also in a strange way prepares the ground for the future when other planets cross this degree. We will see actions related to these themes on November 12 and 23, when Mercury and then Venus transit this degree.
Aspects in Play
Remember that in any celestial event, forming aspects show the future and closely partile separating aspects show what’s activated now. In an Inferior Conjunction, the Sun and Mercury conspire to bring separating aspects back into play, with forming aspects activated now and in the future when Mercury goes direct.
Major aspects to the conjunction include out of sign trines by the Moon, binoviles to Saturn and Pluto, oppositions to Uranus, and sesquisquares to Neptune. This indicates a somewhat frictional period with high awareness potential based in an ability to “bring happiness in dark hours” by remembering the transfiguration process continues! The binoviles indicate a need to see how any realization shares a base with prior realizations. The out of sign trines promise a harmony of understand and stability of the feeling-flow in the future, once a transfiguration has occurred.
There are many other outer planets aspects making this an important fork in the road of our larger destiny which I wrote about at the last New Moon, You can find more by consulting those articles posted in mid-October.
Elements and the Jones Pattern
The chart of the Inferior Conjunction brings us 1 planet in Fire, 5 in Earth, 1 in Air, and 3 in Water. This continues the dominance of emotions and feelings with the heavy dose of outer planets in Earth. Only the dynamically active (if somewhat slower than usual!) Mars in Aries represents the inspiration of Fire!
The conjunction in Water with the aspects listed above makes this a somewhat irritating period with an imbalance indicated by the Locomotive qualities of the chart. Venus in Virgo opens the pattern, indicating that the power of our personality will determine whether “the offering is peaceful or conflicted.” As Uranus closes the pattern, it shows we’re being trained in an ability to bring hope in difficult times.
This Inferior Conjunction will take us much deeper than before, with a need to look at it as an educative period, whether in action, feeling, or thought. Keep the mind receptive to “impressions of understanding” how your Life is leading you to Divine Mind, and your mind is leading you to the Divine Life. As the conjunction is in Scorpio, it makes this fusion of Life and Mind operate in a Stabilizing interactive experiential mode.
So What’s Been Going On, and What Will Happen From Here?
I’ve explained this “two-step” process of Inferior Conjunctions followed by Superior Conjunctions alternating with each other in previous articles. The last few weeks we’ve been under the influence of the last Superior Conjunction at 26 Leo in August with its theme of “spiritual linkage through emotional stress” and “the blessings which come after the death of useless things.” Now, at the Inferior Conjunction, we’ve reached the end of the direct influence of that conjunction, and now will go into a process where we will take a new look at many things, including our connections with others. Because it is in the first degree of the Scorpio part of Scorpio with an additional dose of Mars due to the decan, this one will take us through deep personal “feeling scapes” which will have meaning to us, whether linking past and present, or past, present, and future.
While Mercury is still slow in speed, from here it gradually speeds up, and will go stationary direct at 26 Libra on November 3. It will continue to speed up until it outraces the Sun at the next Superior Conjunction at 29 Sagittarius on December 19, just hours after Jupiter enters Aquarius.
So while up to now, Life has been catching up to Mind, it will now outpace it for weeks to come. Once Mercury goes direct and hits its maximum speed, we’ll get the next Superior Conjunction, after which Mind will again outraces Life, exploring ideas and perceptions of experiences yet to occur.
So the Inferior Conjunction marks the point when Mind is being absorbed by Life, or Life takes on the results of subconscious or collective ideas returning to source. For the next short period, Mercury will still be slow in speed and retrograde as the Sun moves forward, putting distance between it and Mercury.
Then Life gets as far from Mind as it can, Mercury goes stationary direct, and begins to speed up preparing for the first step anew in a different part of the zodiac. The “pulses” of the Inferior and Superior conjunctions of the Sun and Mercury constitute an entire field of research unto themselves. I explain this process in greater detail in A New Look at Mercury Retrograde.
Mercury, or Hermes, the “Guide of Souls”
All Mercury retrograde periods teach us about how Mercury functions. As I explain in Chapter 2 of Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend, Mercury’s duality is Life/Death, so when the “Divine Trickster” slows down we can get a new look at how our consciousness and responses are either creative, destructive, or both, to cite the venerable Kabalistic Arhat Paul Foster Case. Mercury is where we learn if our mental processes are creating chaos and disorganized scattered conditions through ambivalence, and thus come to see how to use discernment to coordinate various functions to bring forth perfect knowing how to do whatever needs to be done.
As the backdrop to how our mind and life relate to each other, perhaps we can learn how to deal with Mercurial energies in ourselves or others from a different angle of view, organizing or reorganizing or ideas, perception, interpretations, and way of communicating. As this Inferior Conjunction falls in Scorpio, it should provide us new ways to understand, communicate, or interpret the signs and signals of our interactive feelings, loyalties, desires, magnetism, how we deal with loss and gain, and ancient feelings both good and bad as we stand at the threshold of a new life.
All in all, the coming 4 months will bring interesting returns, reflections, and rehearsals of how and what we’ve already dealt with in the realm of learning to use Scorpio energy productively. This includes all the usual Scorpio themes mentioned in the previous paragraph. The new views, understandings, and reinterpretations shown by this Inferior Conjunction should be considered in the light of the house in which this retrograde inferior conjunction is happening. We can see our ideas from a different angle, find a new focus, and make progress in transformational regenerations that will be the source of much information and activity in the next few weeks. Wherever you have 3 Scorpio will bring a fusion of Life and Mind, especially related to the houses where you have Aries, Gemini, Virgo and Scorpio.
Once the Inferior Conjunction happens, whatever has seemed delayed, postponed, or dragging along will move forward soon. This can bring forth a greater holistic vision of how events and people are connected, as well as why we must rethink some things, people, and plans.
Generally, the 11 days before the inferior conjunction (fusion) of mind and life is a good time to take a new look at how you can bring out your inner wisdom by adjusting to a future vision or broader perspective that's opening for you. It's also good for getting a new point of view regarding what your imagination is willing to consider and how to coordinate your life to reorganize it productively.
It's great for intuitive flashes, insights into the larger collective consciousness and unconsciousness, and seeing how you're being led to see elements of your Soul you may not have recognized before now. So think back on what's happened in the past couple of weeks, and find a new way to view how those things may symbolize the future somehow.
Just remember during retrogrades, especially Mercury retrograde, that often things that don't turn out one way lead directly or indirectly to other things somewhat related manifesting down the road. It's as though nothing should be taken at face value, and often what we do or think during Mercury retrograde creates odd echoes in the future that take different shapes, or different functions related to the original intention.
A New Look At Mercury Retrograde
Because we’ll still be dealing with Mercury retrograde through November 3 (and to some extent for the 2 weeks after that while Mercury is still in its shadow zone), if you haven’t already, you should get a copy of the 2nd edition of A New Look At Mercury Retrograde. It offers in-depth information about Mercury retrograde in the various signs and houses, and what the Mercury Retrograde phenomenon is about.
By knowing more about 2016’s Mercury retrograde periods in Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn, the 2017 retrogrades in Capricorn and Sagittarius, Taurus and Aries, and Virgo and Leo, the 2018 retrogrades in Aries, Leo, Sag and Scorpio, and the 2019 retrogrades in Pisces, Leo, Cancer, and Scorpio, you may see patterns in what has been going on in your life, the different things you’ve been taking a new look at and why, and how this "looking back" has influenced your choices as you moved through past events. By taking a look at the qualities of the November 2019 RX in Scorpio, the Feb-March 2020 RX in Pisces and Aquarius, the June-July RX in Cancer, and this one in Scorpio and Libra, you’ll get important information about what you’ve been guided to this year.
Here's the Amazon link to the page where you can purchase a paperback edition of A New Look at Mercury Retrograde. If you want an ebook, you can order one at the link, or go to Barnes & Noble and it's available through Nook. (Just make sure you get the 2014 edition, and not the 1997 edition!)
Previous articles in this series:
Mercury Retrograde in Scorpio and Libra in October and November 2020
It’s Mercury Retrograde in June 2020 – Time for a New Look at the Guide of Souls
The Guide of Souls in October 2020 - Mercury Slowing Down, Preparing to go Retrograde at 12 Scorpio
Mercury Is Entering Its Shadow Zone at 26 Libra - Signs and Signals About How Our Past Will Soon Be Feeding Our FutureCopyright © 2020 Robert Wilkinson
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