by Robert Wilkinson
At 12:38 pm PDT on July 16, we will experience the "Superior Conjunction" as Mercury catches up with and passes the Sun at 25 Cancer. This marks a major turning point where past and future separate, putting the focus on accepting the grace, or “mantle of power” to take the lead in the house, or area of life this affects.
This ends the period of the last Superior Conjunction theme of 14 Aries associated with the dance of the inner male and female to reveal sacred relationships and allowing Spirit to come forth in all our interactions. We now move forward with the theme of 25 Cancer wherever this conjunction falls in our chart. As the Sun represents Life and Mercury represents Mind, this Superior Conjunction marks a fusion of Life and Mind moving forward fulfilling the sector of emotional and/or social consolidation.
The Fusion of Life and Mind Works Two Ways
The Superior and Inferior Conjunctions are important points in the dance Mercury and the Sun do each year. They are points when Life and Mind “come together,” one time looking forward, one time looking back. Though you may have read some of this before, the next part can refresh your understanding of the differences between the Inferior and Superior Conjunctions of Mercury with the Sun.
Mercury conjuncts the Sun two different ways. When Mercury is direct in motion, it's called the Superior Conjunction. When Mercury is retrograde, it's called the Inferior Conjunction. These conjunctions of the Sun and Mercury are important points showing how our life and mind are fusing past and present to vitalize the future. Each represents a “hot spot” in how our life and mind relate to each other.
Mercury symbolizes our mind, eternally racing forward and then looking backward at where it’s been. The Sun symbolizes our life-in-the-making, illuminating the integrity of the moment. It holds a steady pace while all the other planets move in their orbits. When the Sun and Mercury conjunct, it allows the mind to evaluate and process past, present, and future life experiences from “a new light.”
Mercury's direct motion period is when it directly learns, evaluates, classifies, divides, and generally dissects reality. The mind (Mercury) races ahead of the life (Sun) and gets as far ahead as it can before it begins to slow and turn inward, look backward, listen to other beats, other drummers, other interpretations, other ways of weaving the experiences of life from a different point of view. This is how we gain perspective and understand how our life experiences require illuminating them from multiple angles. While our direct experiences bring us one angle of understanding, a retrograde can give us an entirely different perspective on what we’re learning and how to apply it.
By understanding the process of Mercury speeding up and slowing down, we can understand how to navigate the fluxes and flow of our life experience. By knowing the timing appropriate to the moment, we can learn what to do and when by taking advantage of these never-ending periods of life.
I explain a lot more about Inferior and Superior Conjunctions, and how the mind operates when racing forward and looking backward, in my book A New Look at Mercury Retrograde. There's a lot of material on Mercury Retrograde in the signs, houses, what it means for each sign, when it happens, and Mercury Retrograde celebrities and historical events you'll never find in any other single source.
Here's the Amazon link to order your paperback edition of A New Look at Mercury Retrograde. (Just make sure you get the 2nd edition with the award on the cover and not the ancient 1st edition.) You can also find a Kindle ebook there. In the book you will find countless possible ways Mercury operates in its retrograde and direct motion, along with insights about the value of retrograde periods to take time to reflect, review, reconsider, rehearse, or see things from different angles.
What follows elaborates on how this “fusion of life and mind” at the current Superior Conjunction at 25 Cancer will generally play out for all of us over the next 4 months. In part 2, we’ll go into greater depth about the specific qualities of this particular Superior Conjunction.
Mercury Retrograde and the Superior and Inferior Conjunction
As noted earlier, there are two critical points in the Sun-Mercury cycle. One is at the “Inferior Conjunction” of Mercury with the Sun when Mercury is retrograde, and the other is at the “Superior Conjunction” which occurs when Mercury is direct in motion and again catches up to conjunct the Sun. The Inferior Conjunction of Mercury retrograde is always followed by a Superior Conjunction when Mercury is direct, which leads in turn to the next Inferior Conjunction during the next Mercury retrograde.
The Superior Conjunction is when Mercury catches up to the Sun, and brings insights from the past to our Life/Light symbolized by the Sun. That’s what’s happening now. These are coordinated Mercurial messages which have come since the last retrograde period, and Mercury (Mind) now can weave them into our life understanding to be used by the Sun (Life) as Mercury again moves ahead of the Sun and our mind again outraces our Life.
The Inferior Conjunction (the last one was at 1 Gemini on May 21) brings insights from the past, or subconscious imagery from earlier times, to the life and vitality symbolized by the Sun. They can be reflections leading to new insights about past or present life coordination issues, or signs and signals, messages or symbols from the personal or collective subconscious, and/or they could be new or alternative insights about some part of the life experience, also symbolized by the Sun.
After the retrograde period Mercury goes stationary direct. It then takes all it learned from the two previous transits of its retrograde span and puts it all together for its third transit of that span, known as the “shadow zone.” So it gets one take when direct about to go retrograde. It gets a second take when retrograde in the same span of degrees. Then in the third phase it coordinates the two previous perspectives on that span of experience in its third experience of that span of degrees.
When Mercury is direct it speeds up until it again catches the Sun at some point, bringing mind into another direct connection to our life, symbolized by the Sun. That’s been going on since the last Mercury retrograde period in May-June 2022. After every retrograde period Mercury again conjuncts the Sun one or two signs later, and about four months after its previous retrograde station it again goes retrograde, preparing for another Inferior Conjunction when it again delivers all it has learned since the last Superior Conjunction.
The Sun Lights Up the Stage of our Life
The Sun is the Law of our Light-Life, the Central Order of our personal Solar System of our material, emotional, and psychological affairs. All conjunctions to our Sun are important fusions of parts of our life, affecting the era to come, whose length is determined by the particular planetary cycle engaging our Sun.
The Sun can only make “inferior conjunctions” with Mercury or Venus when they are retrograde. All other Solar conjunctions to planets happen when they’re direct, and the oppositions when the planet is retrograde. It could be said the Solar conjunctions with Venus when it’s retrograde are a sort of “inferior conjunction” with those parts of life ruled by and related to Venus, and a type of “superior conjunction” when Venus conjuncts the Sun in direct motion.
Mercury always “brings the news” to the planets it conjuncts, whether retrograde or direct. It brings a forward view when direct in motion, and brings a reflective view when retrograde. An Inferior Conjunction allows Mercury, the planet of mind, to look back at its recent span of experience it first transited when previously direct in motion. After the Inferior Conjunction, it's still retrograde for a brief period, after which it goes direct in motion, and then speeds up until it makes the Superior Conjunction, about half way between the previous and next retrograde period. That’s happening right now, and impacts the immediate future.
The experience we get through Mercury retrogrades gives us perspective allowing us to become well rounded in our knowledge and ability to apply our knowledge, skills, and talents in ways which fulfill our purpose on this Earth. It is said that Mercury, or Hermes, is the "Guide of Souls." If that is true, then perhaps looking back with a different perspective may help us to reconsider our footprints in time, and choose to re-think some of our assumptions which are not leading us to our Higher Self. Then during Mercury’s direct periods we can consciously choose a different way to coordinate our mind, feelings, and lives, and begin to live a more fulfilled sense of purpose.
Mercury retrograde periods are an extremely important period of getting signals that can lead you to your Soul. Take an unusual view, look back with a new perspective, see the patterns, both productive and destructive, and then when it goes direct, implement your new insights and perspectives into new ways of seeing, communicating, and envisioning.
At this Superior Conjunction at 25 Cancer, we will have “a fusion of life and mind” which will help set a platform where in blending these principles we will see a shift in our affairs, attitudes, and understanding about those things symbolized by Mercury in Cancer. Natal points in harmony with 25 Cancer will see productivity, understanding, stabilization, and unique qualities come forth. Natal points in friction with 25 Cancer will see turning points, blocks, braking action, and/or dynamic releases of potential.
In the next article in this series, we will explore the specifics of this July 16 Superior Conjunction in Cancer, and what its lessons hold for us over the next several months.
© Copyright 2022 Robert Wilkinson
Mercury Direct in April 2022 - How Will the Superior Conjunction at 14 Aries Manifest in the Future?by Robert Wilkinson
Today we explore the Superior Conjunction of April 2, 2022 at 14 Aries and what it promises for April, May, and June. This “fusion of life and mind” will impact the rest of the Mercury direct period, as well as the first part of its next retrograde up to the Inferior Conjunction on May 21 at 1 Gemini during Mercury’s retrograde between 5 Gemini and 27 Taurus.
All previous superior and inferior conjunction points, as well as Mercury’s retrograde and direct stations, are triggered by subsequent transits long after Mercury was there. This Superior Conjunction will be activated in a big way when Mars transits 14 Aries in June, and when Jupiter transits 14 Aries in March 2023!
What’s A Superior Conjunction?
As we covered in part 1, the superior conjunction occurs when Mercury (mind) conjuncts the Sun (life) when in direct motion, while the inferior conjunction is when Mercury (mind) conjuncts the Sun (life) when Mercury is retrograde. Each operates as a fusion of Life and Mind, but in each “Mind moves in a different direction.”
When either conjunction happens, it indicates that signals, messages, and ideas from either outer sources or subconscious sources will fuse with the life principle. This sets the tone for the lessons involving how our minds are relating to our lives during the weeks which follow the inferior conjunction.
Since its last retrograde, Mercury in direct motion has been moving faster than the Sun. It has now caught up to the Sun and making a “superior conjunction,” beginning a several week period when mind will race ahead of life, heralding things to come when the Sun transits the span Mercury will show us over the next few weeks. The degree of any superior conjunction shows how our perceptions have caught up with our lives, which can bring forth a new expression of our light.
The Sabian Symbol for the Superior Conjunction
The Solar-Mercurial degree symbol for the Superior Conjunction falls at 14 Aries, and it is said that the second third (decan) of any sign deals with the emotional and social levels of life. Being the second decan of Aries, it has a sub-influence of Leo with an additional dose of the Sun. While I've given you a sense of this degree up to now, this is where we go into depth.
The symbol for the 14th degree of Aries is “A serpent coiling near a man and a woman.” In his notes from the Marc Jones class, Rudhyar says this is a degree of “power of higher wisdom manifest in the bi-polar nature,” “protection by the higher genius of self,” and “Fulfillment in Truth.”
(At this point I feel I should clarify some things. I believe the first to mean the power of our higher wisdom manifest both inwardly and outwardly. Rudhyar uses “bipolar” in a totally different way than that term is used today, The second to mean protection by the genius of the Higher Self.)
In his Astrological Mandala he goes on to say this is a degree of "Identification in bipolar relationship with the impersonal rhythm of natural energy.” He says this operates at a “mentally stimulated level of experience and consciousness,” where the serpent symbolizes both the “spiral process of evolution and life force,” and becomes the means by which we embrace, dance with, and accept the relationship.
He continues “there must be a polarization before there can be fulfillment,” and offers that the price of individualization has also meant (we) “cannot find our truly matching polar opposites. Because (we) are not fulfilled at the root level of human emotions and vitalistic forces, (we) pass (our) lives seeking the ideal complement, the ‘Soul Mate.’” He says this can find expression on many levels including the highest level of spiritual marriage between people, and ultimately is related to the mythology of Adam and Eve, or Ish and Isha.
He states the Adam and Eve mythos was “turned upside down by priestly intellects to serve their purpose,” since “Adam and Eve accepted the Presence, not of the Tempter, but of the Individualizer who sought to have them born out of the womb of unconscious passivity to Nature’s God,” and offers that they feared individualization and “that failure is deeply imbedded in (our) generic unconscious.” He closes with a vision of the challenge we all have, which is to find our way to participate consciously in the greater evolutionary process in which we play our unique, polarized, loving wise part in the ritual dance of relationship. He says this degree falls in the Span of Realization, Act of Differentiation, and is the technical degree of the Scene of Desire on the Individual, mental, and spiritual level.
Dr. Jones, creator of the Sabian Symbols, says this is a degree of our “threefold nature” and “high competency.” He speaks of “emotional and rational elements of selfhood as they achieve their unity through the creative ordering of a universal wisdom.” He says that the symbol is “a fullness of being following on the everyday satisfaction of ordinary human appetites, but only as these are made a manifestation of the higher appreciation and a greater self-dedication.”
He offers us the keyword REVELATION. He states that when operating positively, the degree is an “exceptional self-discipline in the continual acquisition of a very real understanding.”
Given the themes of this degree, we'll use the ”fusion of life and mind” through the next Inferior Conjunction to see the light of the dance between the inner and the outer, the material and the spiritual, as expressed in our relationship to self, to others, and to Source. This fusion of Life/Light and Mind requires that we become aware of “a higher appreciation and a greater self-dedication” as agents for Spirit to work through us and express the dynamic spiral force of evolution in the house where we have 14 Aries.
The Magic of Venus: Friendships, Soul Mates, and Twin Flames
It’s obvious that this degree’s theme is “Right Relationship.” We are told by the Tibetan Master DK that this is one of the primary qualities of the emergent Aquarian Era. As Venus is the planet ruling “right relationships,” I’ll take this moment to plug my new book, The Magic of Venus: Friendships, Soul Mates, and Twin Flames. It’s the most comprehensive book ever written on how our inner Venus plays out in our life relationships, and is a blend of astrology, psychology, and spirituality in ways that will help all those who read it to come to more fulfilling relationships with self, others, and Source.
This book offers insights about universal factors in healthy relationships, and is both a guidebook for life as well as an astrological reference book. It has chapters of Venus in the signs, the qualities of each sign’s archetypal mate, Venus retrograde, how we attract who we meet, the value of friendship, how to know if someone is right for us, and how changing our patterns changes who we attract. For astrologers, there are chapters on important astrological factors in compatibility, marriage charts, and the timing on who we meet and what that means.
A special feature of The Magic of Venus: Friendships, Soul Mates, and Twin Flames is the chapter explaining the difference between Soul Mates and Twin Flames which will help all to navigate the powerful Soul connections we make in our lives, showing us that just because someone breaks your heart, your strength and clarity could still point the way to the most incredibly fulfilling relationship you ever imagined in the future! There is also a chapter with affirmations for each Sun/Venus sign combination, so that everyone can center on attracting their perfect life relationships.
The book was written for both astrologers and non-astrologers. Even those with little or no understanding of astrology will benefit from what’s offered. It’s more than I ever thought or intended, and I have no doubt it will open the door to your imagination and ability to find perfect friendships, make the most of the Soul Mates you’ve met or will meet, and help you understand how the Twin Flame is different than a Soul Mate.
You can use the links above to go to amazon and get your copy! Or if you prefer, go to your local bookstore and order one. This book is unique, and whether you’re an astrologer or someone interesting in knowing how to attract more ideal friendships and potential partners in your life, by the time you’ve finished the last chapter, you’ll already be attracting different people than before you started.
And now, back to the Superior Conjunction!
Who Leads the Great Light Now That Mercury is Ahead of It?
At this conjunction, Mind is no longer following Life, trying to catch up to it. Now Mind races forward as herald, catching glimpses of knowledge, perception, and understanding that shows us where Life is headed in the near future.
When Mercury outraces the Sun and moves ahead of it, it no longer "leads the light." Now "Life" leads "Mind" even as Mind blazes the trail the Light will follow these next few weeks. This is the time when we stretch out into the future, with a period of looking back beginning mid-May at the next Mercury retrograde.
In this chart, since Mercury no longer leads the Sun, we now have asteroid Chiron as “the entry to the Light” This will last until the Sun conjuncts Uranus on May 5, except when the Moon is between Chiron and the Sun on April 28-29. With the Healer and Mentor Chiron as the entry to the Light, take every opportunity to learn whatever you need to learn to become more comfortable expressing your Higher Self.
As Chiron is at 13, 14, and 15 Aries during this time, heal into your new identity, focus on the themes of the current Superior Conjunction at 14 Aries, and catch glimpses of your “ultimate fulfillment” as you await the return of the Wanderer to the Central Self. This can bring future oriented ideas related to the dance of Spirit and matter in us, and help us understand how to “get out of our own way” and allow our Spirit/Soul to express itself in relationships. The study of which planet leads the Sun is a crucial but often overlooked part of the study of how the planets work in sequence.
What’s Ahead?
This Superior Conjunction can fuse foresight and life experience to see how new forms of light, life, and perspectives can come forth these next few weeks. Because this “fusion of life and mind” takes place in the second third of Aries, we enter a time of moving forward into an intensified future and greater technical skill on the individual spiritual levels of life.
As Aries is “Electric Fire” by which all new things come forth in inspired firepower, we are now offered new ideas about new initiatives in how we relate to self and others to light up our world! Because Aries is associated with the archetype of the Lover/Relator, if there’s any question about seeing the sacred quality in every interaction, regard it as new elements of your personality are learning how to relate to “All-That-Is” during this next chapter of your Quest.
This will give us a chance to articulate our Light fused with “the Guide of Souls” to find how we can BE the Light we are, expressed in allowing Spirit/Soul to operate through us in a sense of the sacred elements in all our relationships. The house this conjunction falls in shows where Mind now leads Life, and will open doors of perception wherever it falls, with many things “coming together in the Light of Mind.
We can now accept “the genius of our Higher Self” as part of our life tool kit, and see the dance between us and others in a new light. Our Higher Self is both a guide and a protection when we reference it rather than externals or inner fears and assumptions. We now begin a period of unifying the “emotional and rational elements of self” by creatively ordering “a universal wisdom” to manifest a “higher appreciation and a greater self-dedication” to achieve a revelation through “exceptional self-discipline in the continual acquisition of a very real understanding.”
We will experience manifestations of this “higher Wisdom awareness” after Venus transits this degree, with a huge activation when Mars crosses 14 Aries on June 11-12. For now, this “fusion of Life and Mind” at 14 Aries sets a platform of new discoveries, new understanding, and new focus in the house where this conjunction occurs in our charts. In blending these principles we will see a shift in our affairs, attitudes, and understanding about those things symbolized by Mercury in Aries. These will open us to a heightened conscious spiritual expression as part of the larger transfiguration process in play this year and next as we dance at the intersection of Fate Street and Freewill Street on Eternity Boulevard.
Summing Up
This superior conjunction will show us the need to “get out of our own way” to allow the dance of Yin and Yang, Spirit and matter, and the inner/outer female/male to individualize. This is the natural expression of the deep inner changes we began at the last Superior Conjunction at 8 Sagittarius, and is the third conjunction in this area of the Fire signs. Having “made it through the night” last August, September, October and November, we now have gone through deep inner changes with new elements of Being forged from last December to now.
Because this is Life and Mind fusing in Aries, see it all as the Guide of Souls having experienced the Great Light illuminating the Divine Dance occurring in all interactions in a dualistic reality. This will help us fulfill our individual quest for Divine expression as a result of the intensification of Love we’ve been through since the Summer of 2021.
From here, even though Mercury will outrace the Sun for the next few weeks, it’s going to begin to slow down in speed, and will go retrograde on May 10 at 5 Gemini, beginning a time of review and reflection related to themes involving the need for action, efficiency, and reaching beyond established forms. With the aspects in play right now, mobilize productively, practicing your unique gifts and approaches in a time when we’re all at a fork in the road of your destiny, with many things quickening in the next few weeks.
All significant Mercury events give us a chance to check in with our inner Mercury to make sure we’re listening to its knowledge so we may be guided to our Souls. By how our Mercury works, we are led to the “Active Intelligence” of Divine Mind, or scattered confusion because of the inability of the lower mind to know anything.
As I explained in my book Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend, Mercury’s duality is “Life/Death,” so 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. Understanding its influence as a factor for weeks to come is crucial to the smooth operation of what moves forward from here.
Because we’ll be dealing with Mercury retrograde energies beginning April 26 when it enters its shadow zone beginning at 27 Taurus, you should also take a look at the appropriate chapters in my book A New Look at Mercury Retrograde. You can find out all you need about the coming Mercury Retrograde in Gemini or Taurus or any other sign, as well as the houses it occupies in your chart. Of course I'll give you a lot more about the coming retrograde in early May.
Here's the Amazon link to where you can order your paperback edition of A New Look at Mercury Retrograde. You can also find it on Kindle or Nook. It’s a great reference source where you can check out possible ways the coming Mercury retrograde effect could play out between May and July 2022.
Copyright © 2022 Robert Wilkinson
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