Mercury goes retrograde in the sign of its detriment November 24 at 20 degrees Sagittarius, stationing direct again December 13 at 3 degrees. This retrograde has us mentally taxed - more so than a regular Mercury retro - and there is a great impetus to get away from communication - anything that isn't necessary, meaningful, or enjoyable - whenever possible to give our poor, stressed synapses a rest.
Don't push your exhausted self into going into that one last store to find that one last gift, and don't put any more pressure on already pressurized service staff unless you'd like a candy cane stuck somewhere funky. If you're employed in retail sales, this holiday shopping season will require even more meditative survival tactics than usual, though this eases gradually beginning December 14.
The influence of pressurized Mercury in Sagittarius means people are going to be itching for a chance to shoot their mouths off so as to release a bit of the mental stress. Those who don't have the knowledge of a holiday season Mercury retrograde in their back pockets are going to be a bit snipey. You can just sit back and watch or, if they're really asking for it, snipe back. If you do snipe back, though, make sure you damn well mean it and that you damn well have a point that can't be refuted. Don't exaggerate (Sagittarius) the issue, as words can come back to haunt us here. Verbally, things could get feisty.
Luckily, Sagittarius, in general, is a "don't sweat the small stuff" sign, and this is the kind of Mercury placement that will only deal with so much frustration until saying, "Screw it. Let's go get an eggnog."
We're given the freedom to let it go and to let the big picture deal with it to a certain extent until January 8 when Mercury moves into Capricorn, and we get down to business once again.
All in all, this winter holiday season is a great time to get away from cell phones, Blackberries, Facebook, Twitter, and the like to enjoy some face-to-face revelry, relaxation, and merriment. In fact, with the North Node in Sagittarius until the end of August 2012, curtailing the use of these things a lot more in general is a good idea. Electronic over-stimulation increasingly leads to exhaustion, and this Mercury retrograde in Sagittarius, moving back and forth over the North Node, is a mental re-wiring on this front.
Venus and Mercury came together in a conjunction with the North Node November 13/14 before Mercury started to slow for the retrograde station and Venus pulled out ahead.
Now, with the Mercury retrograde, we get a second (and third) chance to figure out what that conjunction was all about. There's some insight we need in order to successfully navigate our way forward from here related to that Venus-Mercury-North Node conjunction, and Mercury deposits some more of it December 2 in its second pass over the North Node.
The final conjunction to the North Node is December 27 with Mercury moving direct. This is all good as long as we can decipher what it is Mercury is trying to tell us through the filter of one of its more difficult placements (Sagittarius). The big picture Sagittarian truths are not all that easy to break down into easily digestible Mercurial words, concepts, and phrases, though this is our challenge. Sagittarius is often more of a "vibing on the silent inner wisdom" kind of sign - although it will certainly shoot an arrow of truth or two when it thinks it has a clear shot. Let's hope it does here.
The Mercury retro in Sagittarius also has us thinking about those who aren't having such a relaxing, revelry-rich time on this planet, and we honour all angles of this, aware of the facts, holding a loving space in our hearts and minds for anyone in this category.
Many won't have gifts to unwrap or a holiday feast to eat, and finding new ways to share the wealth is a fine use of this retrograde energy, creating a holiday season that fits personal ethics.
In my mind, the ultimate goal is to make "charity" unnecessary, ensuring that every living thing on this planet has full access to the necessities of life. But in the meantime, local food banks and charities need help.
My Sagittarius Sun Mum always finds new and interesting ways to share the holiday spirit. One way she does it is by purchasing gift donations for Unicef that buy Survival Gifts: things that have practical aims like funding new school supplies, water treatment, or vitamin-rich snacks to help prevent disease. This can obviously be applied in local societies, also. Anything that has a direct result is good with Sadge. Sagittarius likes direct.
By winter solstice December 21, Mercury is back up to full speed direct.
8 comments:
So helpful, Willow. I had a noteworthy Nov13-14 and had journalled it. I so appreciate your heads-up about the re-crossings of that North Node by Mercury coming up. Consciousness is about 99% of the battle for me staying in balance. And what I don't know that I don't know can hurt me right about now. What I know, thanks to your articles, is certainly going to be a strength for me . I have a very difficult three weeks coming up --I guess we'll say five weeks and start it all on Nov 13 going until the Solstice. Thanks, baby.
You're welcome, Lea! You're armed with the astrology now. :-)
I have a question, how come sagittarius is associated with higher truth, philosophy, morality etc and non of the sagi friends i have have any interest in these. Actually, they have nothing to do with higher truth seeking, they are generally very occupied with their own problems and have a self-centered view of the world and don't have much empathetical skills and concerned with general truths and other humans. I had seen virgos, pisces, capri, cancer, aquairus seeking and defending higher truths but sagis were very far from such issues. Just my personal observation, not meant to offend anyone.
Are you talking about friends with Sagittarius Suns? Because the Sun sign is only one aspect of a person's astrological make-up, and it's generally given too much weight in Western tropical astrology.
There are qualities and themes associated with Sagittarius as a sign, but that doesn't mean they're all fully embodied by everyone who has Sagittarius placements. That's one of the problems with personality-based astrology (especially Sun sign astrology). It's a lot more complex than that.
I would say the Sun sign relates to qualities the person is developing into. The sun, in general, is something we need to grow, and to me, a Sagittarius Sun would need some level of direct experience with things associated with the sign throughout life in order to grow.
What exactly is associated with a sign differs slightly depending on astrologer and the tradition he/she comes from.
Sagittarius is not necessarily related to "higher truth" - just the blunt truth. Shooting flaming arrows of the stuff. The higher/lower thing isn't necessarily a part of it.
In my experience, Sagittarius isn't about following someone else's philosophy or ethics. It's a sign that relates to the freedom to follow one's own personal philosophy and ethics. So someone with Sagittarius placements won't necessarily study traditional philosophy or spout off about ethical codes, but that doesn't mane they aren't developing and living by their own guiding philosophies.
I've written about the problematic class/sex/race aspects of associating Sagittarius with "higher education" before, and the rest sort of follows:
http://willowsweb.blogspot.com/2011/03/lucky-13-new-moon-in-pisces.html
And then there's the aspect that astrology doesn't really apply across the board. Some people are not much like their signs would indicate, and that's all there is to it. Astrology works with some people, and it doesn't work with some people.
OMG! I just read this AFTER I went crazy on FB and told everyone I was deactivating my account and if they wanted to stay in contact with me, to do it via email! Hahahaha! I also was just diagnosed with Asperger's and now am trying to figure out how to communicate with others... Have a little Saggie rx with that verbal outburst, eh? I feel like I'm living this astrology in real-time and there's just no putting these horses back in their stalls. FML... Thanks Willow for making me feel less insane with this post. I really thought I was losing my mind this morning... Now I'll be able to give myself three weeks or so to see if my mind comes back when this rx is finished! (slaps forehead and wonders why reading this came after the freak out...)
Ah, par for the course. Sorry you had to be the Merc Rx in Sagittarius example person, but it will smooth out. You're definitely not insane, and you probably said things on FB that a lot of other people were feeling. I think a lot of people are getting tired of that place.
Thanks Willow, it makes more sense now.you said ". The sun, in general, is something we need to grow, and to me, a Sagittarius Sun would need some level of direct experience with things associated with the sign throughout life in order to grow. ". Now that I think about it, this is quite accurate. For instance, I have a capricorn sun sign but never felt like the qualities they attribute to it define how i feel inside, e.g I am not fond of traditions and keeping the status quo etc, I feel more like an aquarius inside i suppose ( i am ont he cusp anyway), but my life/work conditions are in line with capricorn stuff and unless i speak what i believe, people assume i am a traditional, structured, conservative workholic :) And for my sagi friends, I think their lives presented them conditions to make them find their truth. My venus is in sagittarius and i found such conditions in my love life which really helped me to determine my own truths and form my own philosophy. One shadow side of sagittarius might be that they are a bit like aries, in the sense that they try to determine and live by their own truth and speak bluntly, but it can make them be too self-centered, not open to understand other people's truths, and I am a bit too sensitive to such one-sidedness due to my libra moon :) anyways, thanks for the great insights, I love your blog and read all the time eventhough not comment often.
Thanks, Anon. Yes, I was thinking that, too - that the process of developing a personal guiding philosophy and "living according to one's truth" could make a person seem a little self-involved because they're going their own way. The more mature expressions, I think, would have more of the generosity associated as they're then certain of themselves and what they believe and can then relate to others a bit more.
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