Retrograde Pre-shadow begins: 7-24-17 @ 10:13am CDT
Mercury Stations Retrograde: 8-12-17 @ 8pm CDT
Mercury Stations Direct: 9-5-17 @ 6:29am CDT
Retrograde Post-shadow ends: 9-19-17 @ 10:59am CDT
Though I don’t cover every Mercury Retrograde here (since
they happen 3 to 4 times a year…this year we began toward the end of one and
will have another in December, so this is the third of four this year), I do
bring them up if it is part of significant events happening. This one leading us into Autumn is
significant because Mercury stations retrograde in between the two eclipses
this August. In my previous post, I
shared some key elements of what is initially brewing in this eclipse
cauldron. Here, I will focus upon
Mercury, specifically (as Mercury is one of the starring roles in the story
unfolding on the eclipse stage this month).
The Opening of the Retrograde Shadow
Mercury’s retrograde shadow period began on the morning of
July 24th, when Mercury was moving forward through the 29th
degree of Leo (where it will station direct in September, as well as where the total solar eclipse will be focused). This time period,
before the retrograde, is often when we are moving along full-speed ahead,
flying through green traffic lights, and missing a few important details in our
journey. The details we may have missed
likely happened right away, as Mercury exacted a trine with Uranus and an
inconjunct with Chiron Retrograde that same day. On that day, our minds were receiving an
influx of bold, new energy downloads and innovative flashes of genius
(preparing us for the Mayan “Day of No Time” on the 25th and the
beginning of the Mayan New Year on the 26th) from a harmonious link
to Uranus in Aries. But it may have been
overshadowed with a focus on wounds that are difficult to heal because of the
inconjunct to Chiron Retrograde.
My experience, as the shadow period opened,
was quite literally that. I had a
tension headache all day (which are happening more frequently lately, in fact I
had headaches while writing this all week leading up to this retrograde station
too) and my husband got stitches removed from a deep wound in his shin that he got
at work the week before (two days after our 8th anniversary). We didn’t know it at the time, but the
stitches should have been left in a bit longer.
He was following doctor’s orders though.
He returned to work that day, and then two days of work later, the wound
reopened. It hasn’t healed up
since. He tried to go back to work again
this week, but aggravated the wound again.
This is a very direct experience of us moving too quickly, mirroring
Mercury, and coming to the necessity of slowing down (and eventually repairing
any damage done).
Mercury was conjunct the Moon the next
morning (7-25) after the shadow period opened, and then moved into Virgo that
evening. Because these shifts were
occurring on the “Day of No Time”, they are significant to note. Similar themes of that day may be revisited
on the day after the solar eclipse (Moon conjunct Mercury) and the last two
days of August (Mercury in the 1st degree of Virgo). Mercury’s shift back into Virgo happens again
on September 9th, to complete the lessons brought up by that
particular shift.
Many other multi-pass Mercury alignments
followed (all of which are harmonious or neutral aspects), and many of them are
revisited during, or completely within, the eclipse cauldron. Here’s the rest of the pre-shadow list:
July 28- Mercury trine Hygeia Retrograde (1st
pass)
July 30- Mercury trine Astraea Retrograde and
Juno Retrograde (1st passes)
August 2- Mercury conjunct Vesta (1st
pass)
August 7- Mercury trine Pallas (1st
pass, detailed in my full moon post as the first Mercury-related “ingredient”
added to the eclipse cauldron)
August 10- Mercury sextile Venus (single
pass, eclipse cauldron)
August 11- Mercury conjunct Vesta (2nd
direct pass, eclipse cauldron)
A quick rundown on what these alignments deal
with: Hygeia is the asteroid of health
and her trine with Mercury is a beneficial focus on mental health, in
particular. Astraea is the asteroid of
“the savior/martyr” and her trine with Mercury focuses on the beneficial side
of those archetypes being communicated.
Juno is the asteroid of marriage and midwifery and her trine with
Mercury brings a focus to the understanding of the role of partnership in order
to keep things together or bring things to birth. Vesta is the asteroid of the priestess of
hearth and home, and I’ll go into more detail on their connection in the next
section since Mercury is in conjunction with Vesta during the retrograde
station. Pallas, the asteroid of the
wise warrioress, was mentioned in my full moon post: The Wheel of Fortune. Venus is well known as the planet of love and
is also the astrological archetype of the Divine Feminine, and her sextile with
Mercury brought us an opportunity to focus on our communication of love.
Again, these are greatly beneficial aspects
Mercury made in this pre-shadow period.
But did we take advantage of them?
Did we notice the opportunity as it arose the first time around? Aside from the sextile with Venus, which many
of us were asleep for anyway, each of these aspects will be revisited again so
that we can gain more insight to that valuable information that we may have
missed at first.
Yellow Light…Red Light!
The three days prior to the Retrograde
Station is a significant slow-down period (August 9-11). In this time, things tend to come up that
make a change of plans necessary for any major commitments you had scheduled
during the station, especially if it involved travel or multiple people. After a few weeks of overstimulation and
mental congestion, Mercury in Virgo detects an underlying issue: we’ve been ignoring key facets of our own
health and well-being…focusing too much outwardly, and not enough
inwardly. So, Mercury slows down
momentarily (on the morning of the 11th) and contacts his spiritual
advisor Vesta, the Priestess. Vesta
advises, “Sit here in my temple and focus upon this sacred flame. Meditate.
Breathe. Soon, you will go back
and look at things from a different perspective. There are signs you missed that are key to
what you need to understand in the near future.
These keys will be of great benefit later, as they are what unlocks the
doors to what all life on Earth needs now.
For now, though, you must align yourself to prepare for this inward
journey.”
And ethereal as Vesta often sounds, Mercury
already senses the need for this shift.
Accordingly, he calms his mind before he begins an inward journey
through what already was and dares to find some hidden truths previously
overlooked. The day this shift occurs
(the exact shift is at 8 pm CDT on August 12th), the global mindset
is a bit shaky. We were just in the
middle of things that needed some focus and logical communication to
accomplish…and now what’s happening?
Delays, confusion, transportation issues, scheduling snafus, and
Murphy’s Law in full effect? Sure, that
can happen as Mercury stations retrograde, but is that what it’s all
about? Absolutely not. And, does irritation in the daily grind have
to be your experience of this time? Not
even close. It’s all about perspective.
The Retrograde Station (in effect from 8pm
CDT on August 11th to 8pm CDT on August 13th) is the big screeching halt, when the ordinary
activity of the mind—as well as the ordinary conduct of business and
commerce—sometimes seems to have stopped in its tracks, unwilling to continue
its course. Once Mercury begins moving
in retrograde, though, our minds begin to turn toward vistas of knowledge and
wisdom that call us from a distant past beyond our present lifetime. And since Mercury retrograde periods often
have topsy-turvy inclinations on our minds and communications…rational intellect
may be replaced with gut instinct as logic gives way to intuition. However, during a Mercury retrograde, our
actual ability to think and communicate doesn’t slip into reverse—it is our
perceptions, assumptions, and projections that turn things around. After all, the trickster planet in its orbit
stays on a steady course; it never actually goes backward. It is only from our perspective on Earth that
we see Mercury (or any planet in retrograde) appearing to reverse its course.
So, during the retrograde station, Mercury
stays put where he met with Vesta, while she continues to move forward…tending
the sacred fire and sweeping out the unnecessary remnants of the past from her
temple, along with her Vestal Virgins.
But Mercury and Vesta are still in close conjunction in this
station. She stays where she can keep a
close eye on him, making sure he is taking the time away from everything that
he needs for a couple days to regain some focus. She reminds him with her presence, as Goddess
of Hearth and Home, that the Latin word ‘focus’ means ‘hearth or fireplace’
and, figuratively, means ‘home or family’.
In this stationary time, Mercury and Vesta
are in the 12th degree of Virgo, illuminating the symbol of “a bride
with her veil snatched away”. Visions of
‘unveiling’ come to the collective mind at this time. Mysteries are revealed. And all things that seek the security of
secrecy may have the veil lifted upon them as more things come to light for the
sake of transparency in this next stage of our becoming.
On the morning of the 13th, while
Mercury is still stationary, Pallas appears in his thoughts (Pallas trine
Mercury, for the second pass, at 10:03 am CDT).
The wise warrioress is adept at noticing the patterns of things and
arming herself with clear strategies on how to move forward for the best
possible outcome, so she sends some of her creative genius Mercury’s way. Their first encounter was on the night of the
full moon (August 7th), so she reconnects with him in his meditative
state by showing him what patterns were forming then that the collective mind
may have missed. In this vision, from
her vantage point in Taurus 12, Pallas connects Mercury to the “window
shoppers” symbol of her degree by sending him an image of the initial
ingredients placed into the eclipse cauldron the day the eclipse window first
opened. Again, if you’d like to revisit these
symbols as well to refresh your memory, you can read about them here: The Wheel of Fortune.
Depending on how hard you’ve pushed yourself
during the pre-shadow period, the weekend may feel like one where your mind
just checks out for a while…where either the exhaustion catches up with you, or
you just take a weekend retreat to reconnect with your spiritual side. If you have other plans, don’t worry. What does come up or is already scheduled
(providing plans aren’t canceled last minute), is likely a necessary starting
point to this retrograde process.
Embrace it and make the best of it, as it could prove to be exactly the
thing that will open your mind to other perspectives.
Mercury’s Retrograde, a Journey of Retrieval
If you are familiar with astrological
symbols, you may have already noticed that the Rx symbol for a retrograde is
very similar to the symbol we use for a prescription. It seems appropriate, considering that the
initial shadow of the Mercury retrograde often presents us with the root of
whatever ailment arises during its retrograde station. Throughout the duration of the retrograde
then, Mercury (who has often been seen as somewhat of a shape-shifter for his
associations with the gray area between polarities) becomes the shaman
travelling through non-ordinary reality, retrieving scattered pieces of what we
left behind in our recent past, in order to provide some holistic healing.
The biggest opportunity comes during the
total solar eclipse on the 21st, where the sun and moon meet in Leo
29, the same degree Mercury will station in on September 5th before
moving direct again. The symbol for this
degree is “a mermaid” which, after the Mercury links to Vesta and Pallas, is
the final ingredient within the eclipse cauldron. I will write more in depth about the mermaid
degree as we get closer to the total eclipse, and again as we approach
Mercury’s direct station, but for now I will say this about it. The full expression of the symbol is “a
mermaid emerges from the ocean waves, ready for rebirth in human form”. There is a rebirth on the horizon for all of
humanity…and those of us within or migrating within the eclipse path across the
U.S. have the opportunity to be the midwives to this rebirth, this great
change, that is coming. An intense
feeling or intuition is rising from the collective unconscious, soon to take
form as a conscious thought. The eclipse
is our opportunity to bring it to being, elevating the collective consciousness
of the whole planet. However, it won’t
be easy. There will be shadows to
contend with. Eclipses like this are
historically linked to major crises or natural disasters, both within months of
the eclipse as well as within miles of its path of totality. For more information on such phenomena, here
is an excellent video full of historical research on eclipse
effects…specifically focused on those that crossed the U.S.
After the eclipse, many energetic shifts
bring an atmosphere of new perspectives during the rest of the retrograde: on the 22nd, the sun moves into
Virgo (and our seasonal fuel focuses on the energy of the priestess), on the 25th,
Saturn stations direct in Sagittarius (and our lessons of commitment shift from
the inward journey began on April 6th, to an outward expression of
all we have learned from this teacher of social structure and karmic lessons in
the sign of the archer), later on the 25th, Venus moves into Leo
(and the Divine Feminine dons the cloak of the sovereign queen), then on the 26th,
Juno stations direct in Virgo while nearing the second pass of her exact
conjunction with Mercury (and the Queen of the Gods, the Bona Dea, shifts the
collective consciousness back from an inward journey began on May 9th,
to an outward expression of all we have learned about tending the sacred flame
of healthy relationships with our significant others). Each of these shifts following the eclipse
put in motion the medicine that was brewed within the eclipse cauldron, giving
its first forms within our earthly experience.
Then, at 3:31pm CDT on Saturday, August 26th,
Mercury Retrograde enters into combustion with the Sun. On a chart, that means they are
conjunct. In the sky, that means Mercury
seems completely swallowed by the sun’s light and appears invisible. And symbolically, the combustion indicates
that Mercury’s worldly significations are eclipsed, but its spiritual
significations become even stronger. So
there may be some awkwardness in the areas of your life that Mercury rules in
your natal chart (as well as whatever house Virgo 4 falls into on your chart),
but your spiritual intellect will be heightened during this time. The symbol for Virgo 4 is ‘black and white
children play together happily’. This
symbol alludes to the overcoming of socio-cultural prejudices…illuminating the
ideal of universal brotherhood that underlies all great spiritual
teachings. Essentially, we are
different…but we are One.
On the 27th, Mercury makes three
consecutive trines to asteroids that he previously connected with during the
pre-shadow, each for a second pass.
First he revisits the trine with Astraea, the Star Maiden, who is known
for her dedication to helping the imperfect, fallible underdog that is the
human race prove that they are redeemable and worthy to even be on this
Earth. It is an uphill battle trying to
keep us humans from destroying ourselves…but Astraea is like the Boddhisattva
archetype who decides to stay with us and help us level up. She connects with him in that ‘brotherhood’
degree while she encourages it through Capricorn 4 (symbol: ‘a party entering a large canoe’…alluding to
group-activity and group-purpose). Then
Mercury revisits the trine to Juno, the Queen of the Gods, who has just
recently shifted into direct motion. In
this meeting, he becomes privy to the insights she has learned from her inward
journey…mentioned above. Soon after,
Mercury revisits the trine to Hygeia, the Holistic Healer, who provides him
with the eclipse elixir he came for in this journey…to aid the healing of the
collective consciousness on our planet through the elevated mental clarity of
humanity. These two beneficial links to
Juno and Hygeia happen while Mercury is in Virgo 3 (symbol: ‘two guardian angels bringing
protection’). Juno and Hygeia, the two
guardian angels, are in Capricorn 3 (symbol:
‘the human soul, in its eagerness for new experiences, seeks embodiment’). The midwife and the naturopath are acting as
guardians of the eclipse elixir here…providing Mercury with all the ingredients
necessary to distribute the medicine to all who seek a rebirth of consciousness.
To reach humanity, he must continue to
journey backwards through non-ordinary reality and shift back into Leo (trading
in his monk-like Virgo cloak for the more kingly variety befitting the sign of
the leader), which happens on August 31st.
In one last test of strength and will upon
this retrograde journey, Mercury exacts a conjunction to Mars (both now in the
‘mermaid’ degree of Leo 29). There may
be a battle with some monster from the deep ocean of our collective unconscious
that threatens to thwart Mercury’s efforts to bring that necessary elixir back
to ordinary reality. However, with the mental
strength and agility of Mars teaming up with Mercury, they will overcome this
final test (as any good Hero’s Journey has shown us).
Mercury Returns with the Medicine
Mercury stations
direct at 6:29am CDT on September 5th (though the station goes on
for 24 hours before and after that exact shift), still conjunct his ally, Mars
(who shifts into Virgo a couple hours before Mercury shifts into direct motion)
to keep up his willpower to finish this final stretch of his quest. The main
goal now is to take some time out during this weekend, reflect on where your
spiritual compass has directed you throughout this journey, and chart a new
course through familiar, though newly understood, territory.
After an eye-opening sojourn through
non-ordinary reality, Mercury returns to a calmer state of being. In this station, the mental state is gradually
restored and Mercury (along with those channeling him) can pass the knowledge
and experiences (as well as that eclipse elixir) of that retrograde on to
others, helping them to successfully navigate life. Stability as well as the
benefits associated with Mercury’s usual course are restored as the planet of
communication moves forward again from our perspective.
Release from the Retrograde Shadow
Almost there!
One last leg of this journey that is often overlooked is the final
shadow period and eventual release. In
this shadow period (from September 6th through the 19th),
we are retracing steps our minds have already covered forward and backward…but
this third time, we’re ready for what’s coming (whatever it may be).
On 9-11, Pallas (the wise warrioress)
stations retrograde in Taurus (sign of the gardener) to take her own inward
journey to connect the patterns that have arisen out of this time spent in
beneficial contact with Mercury.
On 9-13, Mercury reconnects the trine with
Juno for a third and final pass, followed by Astraea conjunct Hygeia…both of
whom reconnect their trine for a third and final pass the next day (9-14).
Then on 9-16, Mercury makes his direct pass
to Mars in Virgo 8…which is the final aspect Mercury makes before releasing
from this retrograde shadow period. The
symbol of this degree is ‘a child takes his first dancing lesson’, which
highlights the activation of creative expression within an initiatory
experience.
Then a couple more shifts happen leading into
the retrograde release. On 9-18, Vesta
moves into Libra (tending the fire of twin flames and turning her focus toward
partnerships). And on the day of the
retrograde release (9-19), Venus moves into Virgo (which is almost the reverse
of Vesta’s ingress…where the Goddess of Love dons the cloak of the Priestess). These two shifts are integral in how we will
initially move forward with Mercury out of the post-shadow.
The release is when
Mercury makes it past the point of the zodiac where it first stationed
retrograde (Virgo 12)…so at this point, we’re no longer re-tracing our steps
and our minds can move on to new things.
Have an insightful
journey this retrograde and an illuminating experience of the total solar
eclipse!
Love and Gratitude,
Felina Lune Kavi
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