by Robert Wilkinson
Mercury is rapidly slowing, preparing to go retrograde soon! Lots of Sagittarius action ahead!
The shadow zone is defined by the span between where a planet goes retrograde, and where it goes direct after the retrograde period. In this case, Mercury goes retrograde at 23 Sagittarius on November 25. It will retrograde back to 7 Sagittarius, where it goes stationary direct on December 15.
That puts the shadow zone between 7 and 23 Sagittarius, and around 9:30 pm PST on November 6 Mercury enters 7 Sagittarius, the degree where it’ll go SD. I’ll be writing quite a few articles about the coming retrograde which will post as it comes closer.
So we now begin an 8 week run of three passes over the span between 7 and 23 Sagittarius. We’ll have returns related to Sagittarius people and events which impacted our lives in the past. This will be “a look back” at past truths, past adventures, and even parts of past and present philosophies we haven’t remembered in a long time.
We may get “echoes of memories of perceptions of echoes of memories of perceptions of echoes of…..,” or flashes from the past of times we glimpsed truths which opened new doors of perception or new “long distance adventures” in inner or outer space. Some will be reminded of past travels, or even past times of waiting to enter into some sort of new world of experience. This one brings memories of prior Sagittarius experiences so we can get a different angle of understanding.
Mercury retrograde always gives a new take on whatever it’s transiting, and this period is going to remind us of the “new openings which have come to those who have been willing to risk the lesser self for the sake of greater Selfhood.” We’ve all reoriented since January, and seen the promise of a greater life and freedom.
Because the retrograde begins at 23 Sagittarius and goes back to 7 Sagittarius, we may get echoes of the period from December 2006 through November 2007 when Jupiter was in this span. The promise opened by Jupiter then were crafted into structures when Saturn transited that span beginning November 2015 to January 2017 when Saturn occupied 7-23 Sagittarius, and again between July and October 2017.
When Mercury transits these Saturn span, we should be getting information about how the things we learned then have brought us to where we are now. And because Jupiter again transited this span from early December 2018 through early March 2019 and again from mid-May through late October 2019, we should catch remembrances from that period as well.
During Mercury retrograde, we often see how we dealt with something in the past and come to new insights about how it affected our ways of relating to similar things since then, or we could come to a new way to apply those old insights into life experiences. The sign(s) where Mercury “looks back” opens us to new ways to view those things, giving opportunities to weave, unweave, or re-weave our understanding of how to apply our “second sight” as we are “guided to our Soul.”
Since Mercury last went stationary direct in September, we’ve been in a period of learning and expressing our individual creative genius, “sculpting” our lives to make them more effective and setting up the patterns which will expand in early 2024. We’ve been learning discernment while seeing what isn’t working any more, or the need to find a new approach to something. We’ve been stabilizing and trying to find a degree of momentum wherever we have 9 Virgo in our charts. Much of what’s been happening in the Gemini and Virgo sectors of our charts has prepared us for a greater efficiency and more precise ways of expressing our genius.
The coming Mercury retrograde period will definitely bridge the past, present and future! We’ll take a new look at the near past, as well as the entire year, since it has 23 Sagittarius as its “theme” which I’ll explain in the first article about this Sagittarius retrograde coming in a couple of weeks. We’ll be seeing the present as a time to review, preparing for the stirring up of a new love by mid-December!
It makes a lot of aspects to the outer planets during its time in its Sagittarius shadow zone, with the big ones being 3 squares to Saturn and 3 oppositions to Jupiter! It also makes 3 septiles, semisquares, and noviles to Pluto, 3 triseptiles to Uranus, and 3 sesquisquares to Mars. This promises to be a highly active retrograde period with more than a couple of forks in the road, some annoyances and both internal and external friction, and a challenge to integrate with positive Virgo energy.
the coming retrograde period, including a square to Saturn and theThe Mercurial data you notice over the next 3+ weeks will be clarified after the Sun crosses the Mercury SRX degree December 13-14, about a week after the Inferior Conjunction at 15 Sagittarius creating a T-square with Jupiter and Saturn. That begins to quicken the information cycle, since Mercury goes direct on December 15, speeding everything up substantially. So in the coming weeks, adapt to the slowing pace of things, get all your papers in order, finish what you can, and prepare to put some things on hold for a little while.
Take a look at what's been set into motion with an eye to building in delays, rehearsals, or more research before things again begin to move forward in mid-September. The time before Mercury goes retrograde is good for doing what must be done so that other related things can be done later, as well as reconnecting with people and activities from the past that are somehow related to the future.
With Mercury’s retrograde station at 23 Sagittarius, get ready to go inward and review how far you’ve come in 2024. This period can help us take a new look at how we transfer information socially and/or emotionally, and find new ways to be effective and open to a greater adventure. We’ll be more or less “backing into new visions of possibilities” as prelude to a new and enthusiastic love in mid-December. I’ll give you more about Mercury’s SRX degree in a week or so.
if you want to know more about Mercury retrograde and how it may operate in Sagittarius and how it affects your chart, please consider getting your copy of the 2nd edition of A New Look at Mercury Retrograde where you can find out all you need about this retrograde, as well as past and future retrogrades. Here's the Amazon link to where you can order the paperback 2nd edition of A New Look at Mercury Retrograde, and if you want an Kindle ebook copy you can get it there as well. Just make sure you get the much improved 2nd edition with the award on the cover rather than the earlier one from 1997.
See you soon with more on the coming Mercury retrograde on a degree of “Immigrants entering.”
© Copyright 2024 Robert Wilkinson
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