by Robert Wilkinson
On May 31, around 9 pm PDT, Mercury left its “Shadow Zone” and now moves into the future. What does this mean?
For those who don’t know the term, a planet’s “Shadow Zone” is the span of degrees between the point it goes stationary retrograde back to where it goes stationary direct. When a planet which was retrograde goes direct, it moves across the same span of degrees it did when retrograde. That is the Shadow Zone.
Mercury went SRX at 16 Taurus on April 21. It retrograded back to 6 Taurus, where it went direct May 14. It’s now in forward motion and just left the boundary of its shadow zone at 16 Taurus. As Mercury, “the Guide of Souls” and coordinator of our Life is now speeding up, we can expect all things related to Mercury to speed up as well for the next few weeks.
Now Mercury moves forward through the rest of Taurus and into Gemini, Cancer, Leo, and the first 2/3 of Virgo, where it goes retrograde again in mid-August. During that time “the Guide of Souls” will take us through a Mercurial examination of the signs of discovery and communication, caring and reorientation of allegiances, spontaneous creative expression and education in how the parts relate to the whole, and will wind up in place where we’ll understand the need to review the “venerable standards” we’ve been living since 2009.
As Mercury leaves its Shadow Zone, it now can bring us a new approach to substantiating and confirming anything. We’ve now seen the need for new approaches, new answers, and new frames of reference. This will help us adapt to what’s coming in the Autumn when Jupiter retrogrades across the same span as the recent Mercury retrograde.
We now we have a new view so that our ideas can “catch up” with our life, likes, and initiatives. From here, Mercury will speed up until it catches up to the Sun at the next Superior Conjunction at 10 Cancer on June 30/July 1. That will offer a “fusion of Life and Mind” related to our way of being “crafted to perfection,” or express the “acme of our civilized Self.” As that degree is novile Venus, sextile Jupiter, and biseptile Neptune, that conjunction promises major productive changes in the collective atmosphere.
So enjoy the quickened pace, which should help many areas of our lives move forward in fine style. As usual, I’ll be writing more about Mercury’s Superior Conjunction with the Sun in late June, as well as the very important aspects going on at that time. We now have reviewed and reflected on many things about our Taurus involvements, and now get to experience a Mercurial take on the spans in Gemini, Cancer, and Leo already transited by Venus, the Sun, and Mars.
All the Mercury retrograde periods of 2022 began in the early degrees of the Air signs, and ended in the last degrees of the Earth signs. So last year was mainly focused on learning how to ground the idea, or find practical ways to accomplish the ideal.
The one we just finished was entirely in Earth, as was the December 2022-January 2023 in Capricorn and the August-September retrograde in Virgo. This will put the focus on the life areas (houses) where we have these signs.
The recent Capricorn retrograde began with a look back at 2022, and ended on a degree of a technique of attuning to our invisible helpers. The Taurus retrograde has made it clear that old answers are inadequate to current needs, and ended on a note of joining with others to bridge some sort of “chasm.” The Virgo retrograde will begin with a review of what we hold venerable, and leave us with a technique of emotional or social discernment.
The Guide of Souls takes us forward from here, into the gentle power of Taurus, the curiosity of Gemini, the realignments of Cancer, the creative radiance of Leo, and the Divine Discernment of Virgo. Welcome to the Summer of 2023!
Copyright © 2023 Robert Wilkinson
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