by Robert Wilkinson
Today we explore the Superior Conjunction of February 28 at 10 Pisces and what it promises for the upcoming months. This “fusion of life and mind” will have an extra layer of complexity, as it will be in very close conjunction with Saturn at the exact degree Saturn also occupies. So this Fusion of Life and Mind will also have Saturn as a huge factor in the mastery achieved, and very powerful through the rest of the Mercury direct period, as well as the first part of its next retrograde up to the next Inferior Conjunction on April 11 at 23 Aries.
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. As Venus will cross this point on March 19 and Mars will transit this point April 3 and 4, you will find evidence of the master of this point coming forth in those times.
Superior Conjunctions – A Brief Recap
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 (Mercury direct) or subconscious sources (Mercury retrograde) 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 conjunctions.
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 10 Pisces, and it is said that the first third (decan) of any sign deals with the actional and material levels of life. Being the first decan of Pisces it has a sub-influence of Pisces with an additional dose of Saturn. While I've given you a sense of this degree up to now, this is where we go into depth.
The Solar Sabian symbol for the 10th degree of Pisces is “An aviator in the clouds.” In the original notes from the Marc Jones class on the symbols which were published in The Astrology of Personality, Rudhyar says this is a degree of “transcendence of normal problems,” “ gaining of celestial responsibilities,” “consummation of the highest ideals,” and “coronation.”
In The Astrological Mandala he offers that this is a degree of our “ability to develop powers and skills which by transcending natural limitations allow (us) to operate in mental-spiritual realms.” He explains that this “synthesizes the implication of the four preceding (symbols): the dedication to the community … (present and future), self-assertion, and the ambition to reach a social goal.”
He continues that here we master “difficulties implied in a type of operation transcending (our) organic limitations and the narrow boundaries of a localized ‘living space” as individuals “in command of powerful energies, but also as heir to the industry of countless innovators and managers.” He states this “evokes the achievement of mastery,” and says this degree falls in the Span of Innocence, Act of Capitalization, and it’s the fulfilling degree in the Scene of Federation on the social and emotional level.
Dr. Jones, creator of the Sabian Symbols, says this is a degree of our “transcendental powers of comprehension, emphasized here in (our) exploratory genius and (our) gift for creating the endless hypotheses (we) need for solving the problems of a modern world.” He states this degree allows us “to take a perspective superior to any involvement or pattern of limitation, and to examine any special complex of human affairs with a consistent thoroughness of overview.”
He continues “the inner and outer realms of activity are brought to a point of effective revelation of each other. He offers us the keyword OBSERVATION, and he says when operating in a positive way, this drgree is “special competence in whole judgment and long-range planning.”
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 our power to transcend old problems and old perspectives, gain higher responsibilities, and solve problems in new ways. We should have opportunities to get a “superior perspective” and show our ability to “fly by the seat of our pants” without needing a visual reference.
This promises to be another transformational conjunction, as it makes a close conjunction with Saturn and all three planets are in tight sextile with Jupiter and quintile with Uranus. Whatever is built through Jupiter will release through Mars, which is square to Jupiter. This square requires us to do things in grand style while practicing our “ambassadorial skills” in a polished adult way. As the conjunction is literally not afflicted in any way, we have quite a few very productive and specializing weeks ahead.
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 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 April 1 at the next Mercury retrograde. April’s RX will give us a look back at the new identity we’ve revealed since 2023, and some will have to revise some methods, goals, or at the least “face facts.”
In this chart, since Mercury no longer leads the Sun, we now have Venus in Aquarius as the “gateway to the Light.” That indicates the “entry to the Light” involves our higher social ideals and our ability to BE the happiness we want to experience. There’s a need for lightness, brightness, balance, reason, and moderation in our judgments of others and the value of things if we would “find the Light.”
Venus will continue to lead the Sun (except when the Moon is between Venus and the Sun) until the next Inferior Conjunction on April 11 at 23 Aries, when Mercury will again be the gateway to the Light. The study of which planet leads the Sun is a crucial but often overlooked part of understanding 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 at 10 Pisces, we enter a time of moving forward into a more satisfying mastery of circumstances on the emotional and social levels of life with themes of transcending routines and gaining higher skills and responsibilities. Because Pisces is associated with the archetype of the Healer, Guide, Shaman, and Priest(ess), if there’s any question about which way a given experience is leading us, see it as part of a healing and ritual where you’ve being guided out of old ways into a new life.
This will give us a chance to articulate our Light fused with “the Guide of Souls” to find how we can find a superior vision and a calm understanding of higher things. This is the culmination of the new dedication we’ve just begun to glimpse, and will lead us to “the Lodge of Initiates” where our minds will be “introduced to the Soul realm.” 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 our ability to transcend old limitations and use our skill at navigating obscure situations effectively as part of our life tool kit. This will help us claim our power resulting from our training and self-discipline, and it will lead to further openings and highly specialized situations in our Pisces house. This will help us become more mature or understanding where we have Pisces, and we may see Saturn’s lessons more clearly.
As Jupiter, the ruler of the conjunction, is in sextile to the conjunction, this will be an exceptionally productive few weeks. We are challenged to hang in there to get what we want from situations, close whatever we need to close, forgive whatever we need to forgive, and move forward into a more joyous beatitude in our lives. This conjunction promises mastery, wisdom, and transcendence as we dance at the intersection of Fate Street and Freewill Street on Eternity Boulevard.
Summing Up
Because this is Life and Mind fusing in Pisces, see it all as the Guide of Souls having caught up to the Great Light illuminating a) our need for a transcendent view of things, and/or b) our understanding of higher things to be done, and/or c) seeing how we’ve “mastered obscure realms” and are no longer hindered by what we cannot see. This can remind us that we ARE forms of Divine expression here to steer our course in our own Self-realization beyond the fears, fogs, changes and renewals which require that we quicken our evolution from time to time.
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 April 1 at 28 Aries. As I’ve mentioned in other articles, we’re still in the middle of a run of many years where each has its own specific Mercury retrograde theme. You can find out more about that in other Mercury retrograde articles explaining the various specific themes for each year.
I’ll write more about this in late March when we’ll begin a review of what was awakened when Uranus transited the last half of Aries between 2014-2018. This will give us a new look at new elements of self, basic facts of circumstances, and a chance to reconsider many developments in our Aries sector. From now through late March, Mercury will begin to slow down, so get whatever you need to get in motion now, preparing for Mercury to “crash into retrograde” by the third week of March.
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 in Aries beginning March 18 when it enters its shadow zone beginning at 16 Aries, 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 Aries or the previous one in Capricorn and Sagittarius, or any other sign retrograde, as well as the houses it occupies in your chart. Of course I'll give you a lot more about the coming retrograde in March.
Here's the Amazon link to where you can order your paperback edition of A New Look at Mercury Retrograde at the new lower price. You can also find it on Kindle. It’s a great reference source where you can check out possible ways the Mercury retrograde effect is playing out in all the retrograde periods in 2023 and 2024.
Copyright © 2024 Robert Wilkinson
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