by Robert Wilkinson
At 9:13 pm PDT on May 29, Mercury will make its “Superior Conjunction" as it catches up with and passes the Sun at 10 Gemini. This is turning point where past and future separate, with Life and Mind focused forward on changing the direction of the trajectory of things.
This ends the influence of the last Superior Conjunction theme of 21 Aquarius associated with going inward to manage outer world disappointments. It’s been a time of seeing how frustrations can lead to spiritual understanding. We now move forward with the themes of 10 Gemini in the house this conjunction occurs in our charts. As the Sun represents Life and Mercury represents Mind, this Superior Conjunction marks a fusion of Life and Mind moving forward as we begin a new phase of discovering our power to move things in the direction we want socially and/or emotionally.
The Fusion of Life and Mind Works Two Ways
This is a review of what the Superior and Inferior Conjunctions are in the bigger scheme of things. As Mercury races forward and then goes retrograde, these conjunctions are points when Life and Mind “come together,” one time looking forward, one time looking back. This part will elaborate on 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 are important points where our life and mind fuse past and present to bring our mind to center. Both conjunctions are trigger points 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 discovers, 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.
When the “Cosmic Trickster” slows down and goes retrograde, we get different angles of seeing things we’ve just experienced. When “the Guide of Souls” turns to review where it’s been, it offers a different pace to be guided to our Soul.
All of our life experiences require our ability to see and evaluated them in a different light from different 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, how to apply it, and how it fits into our life.
By understanding the process of Mercury speeding up and slowing down, we can more easily navigate the fluxes and flow of our life experience. There’s a lot more about these two types of conjunctions and how the mind operates when racing forward and looking backward, in my book A New Look at Mercury Retrograde. There's 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. The book offers countless 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.
In part 2, we’ll go into greater depth about the specific qualities of this particular Superior Conjunction at 10 Gemini in play for the next 3+ months until the next Superior conjunction on September 13, 2025, at 21 Virgo.
Past and Present Process
The Superior conjunction always happens when Mercury is in direct motion, and the Inferior Conjunction always happens when Mercury goes retrograde. When Mercury catches up to the Sun in the Superior Conjunction, it brings insights from the past to our current 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 5 Aries in late March) brings insights from the past, or subconscious imagery from earlier times, to the life 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 life experience. That’s what we’ve received the past 8 weeks which will continue until the next Inferior conjunction in late July at 9 Leo.
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.” We get one take on the span when direct slowing to go retrograde. We get a second take when RX in the same span of degrees. Then in the third phase we are able to coordinate the two previous perspectives on that span of experience in our third pass through that span of degrees as our affairs move forward.
When Mercury is direct it speeds up until it again catches the Sun at some point and brings another Mind/Life connection. That was the last Superior conjunction at 21 Aquarius. It then went RX at 10 Aries and went back to 27 Pisces, which began the period we’re in right now.
After every RX period Mercury again conjuncts the Sun one or two signs later, and about four months after its previous RX station it again goes retrograde, preparing for another Inferior Conjunction when it again delivers all it has learned since the last Superior Conjunction. Each Superior conjunction has an influence through the next one, just as do Inferior conjunctions. These of course influence each other by the dual types of “fusion of Life and Mind” they represent as they each add to each other’s fusion.
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. The Solar conjunctions with Venus when it’s retrograde are also an Inferior Conjunction related to the Venus ruled parts of our life, also followed by the Superior Conjunction of the Venus with the Sun when Venus is in direct motion.
Mercury “brings the news” to the planets it conjuncts, both retrograde and direct. It brings the past forward when direct in motion, and brings a reflective view when RX. 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.
Mercury retrogrades gives perspectives allowing us to become well rounded in our knowledge and ability to apply our skills and talents to fulfill our purpose on Earth. If Mercury, or Hermes, is the "Guide of Souls," then looking back with a different perspective helps us reconsider our footprints in time, and re-think attitudes 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 life, and 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 10 Gemini, we have “a fusion of life and mind” which sets a platform where we can shift our perspective about those things symbolized by Mercury in Gemini, a sign it rules. Natal points in harmony with 10 Gemini will see productivity, understanding, stabilization, and unique qualities come forth. Natal points in friction with 10 Gemini will see turning points, blocks, braking action, and/or dynamic releases of potential with a need to manage the trajectory, pull out of metaphoric “nosedives,” and land the plane safely.
In the next article in this series, we will explore the specifics of this May 29th Superior Conjunction in Gemini and what its lessons hold for us over the next several months.
© Copyright 2025 Robert Wilkinson
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