Photo: Willow
Mercury Retrograde: November 6 through November 26, 2012
4 degrees Sagittarius to 18 degrees Scorpio
Mercury enters its retrograde shadow - the degrees of the zodiac it will be moving back over during its upcoming retrograde - on October 18 at 18 degrees Scorpio. This entryway into the retrograde zone marks a concentrated and potentially influential point, one we will be returning to in late November when Mercury stations direct.
In basic terms, conversations, ideas, and connections made (or almost made) from October 18 through November 6 are all potential fodder for the retrograde process.
During the retrograde, Mercury will move back and forth over a conjunction to the Scorpio North Node, and we experience a mental re-wiring of the deep, dark Scorpionic variety. This mental re-wiring coincides with the Sun and Saturn coming together in Scorpio for the first time since November 1984, settling us into a more serious, reality-based tone.
The North Node relates to our successful, soul-driven path forward - a major navigational system. This Mercury retrograde will be drawing to our attention points related to power, allegiance, energy exchange, motivation, intuition, honesty, and trust that could be the make or break of our North Node journey through the sign of sex, death, regenerative healing, and hardcore soul drive.
Themes are coming up that will require our attention and action over the next years, and everything we can clear or resolve now frees up time and energy later on.
Mercury conjuncts the North Node at 26 degrees Scorpio for the first time October 25, the same day the Sun makes its first conjunction to Saturn in Scorpio in 28 years. Consider that one for a moment…
Mercury Rx backs into the second conjunction to the Scorpio North Node, also at 26 degrees, on November 17. Mercury Rx will also be conjunct the Sun at this time, as the two bodies come together in interior conjunction smack dab on the North Node. Like a laser beam showing us the way...
Mercury makes its final pass over the North Node December 7 at 25 degrees Scorpio.
Thinking like Scorpio and talking like Scorpio are keys to our successful advancement here. If we fail to pick up on the underlying tone or message during Mercury's first pass over the North Node, it will make sure we figure it out during the second pass and are ready to apply it during the third.
During the Mercury retrograde period, we will be drawing on the forward-thinking optimism, inspiration, and faith of Sagittarius while wrapping our minds around both the challenges of the Saturn in Scorpio transit and its considerable opportunities for advancement.
Our intuition and Scorpionic insight will be honed via this retrograde, whip-smart, razor-sharp, through what we are hearing, reading, thinking, and talking about.
Conversations and exchanges of information during Mercury's transit of Scorpio will catalyze both collaborations and the severing of ties.
Drawing on the strengths of the Taurus South Node, mental and verbal boundaries will be re-formulated and reinforced. Respect them. No dumping information or secrets on someone just to get them off your mind.
People may want to spill their guts, but that doesn't mean you have to be the receptacle.
Mercury in Scorpio can be a fairly incendiary placement, and the reactions we receive from the things we say now show us how we may need to adjust our courses. We're sharpening our tongues here in Mars and Pluto-ruled Scorpio, no doubt about it. But with Saturn in Scorpio, we're also finding the right levels of verbal restraint. Scorpio is the sign of secrets - kept or blabbed - and there is an intricate withholding of information and personal perspective required.
How we feel in our guts after conversations we've had tells us whether we're hitting the mark or whether the alchemical mix has to be adjusted. From this point on, people ignore their Scorpionic spidey sense at their own peril. Every twinge, every unsettled moment, every whisper of ill-at-ease is speaking to us now. It is in our best interests, as we take on both a Scorpio-flavoured path forward and the challenges we will find along that path, to listen carefully.
At the same time, there is a "worst case scenario" type of thinking associated with Mercury in Scorpio that must be carefully mitigated.
During this retrograde, with weighty Saturn holding down the early degrees of the sign, it's helpful to remind ourselves that it's never as bad as Mercury in Scorpio thinks it is.
(Except when it's worse.)
Mercury in Scorpio involves dense information. With Saturn sitting at one end of Scorpio like a bowling ball, an anvil, and a boulder combined, the insights we're having during this retrograde can prove to be too much. The layers of the situation too complex, too heavy, too mind-twisting. Again, the strength of the Taurus South Node needs to be channeled here so that we don't overstep our own mental boundaries or the boundaries of others.
We have to be careful not to go too deep, too dark, too fast with this one. Inject some levity wherever possible, and disengage from conversations, exchanges, or thoughts that leave a bad aftertaste.
Verbal (Mercury) power struggles (Scorpio) can be expected. Watch for them as they start to dig in and disengage wherever possible.
We can take a real load off our minds during this Mercury retrograde if we cut away everything we need to cut away.
Scorpio is a sign of alchemical streamlining, unceremoniously shedding what no longer cuts the mustard. In this case, the shedding/streamlining/re-wiring process involves old communication habits and patterns, crystallized neural pathways that no longer get us anywhere, mental and conversational ruts, and detrimental thinking.
With Mercury retrograde traversing the North Node, we're honing in on the mental acuity and depth that will assist us over the next years while also getting a handle on the detrimental aspects of the sign of Scorpio as filtered through our minds and mouths.
Mercury in Scorpio is known for a deeply researching brain as well as tremendous powers of focus and concentration.
But the challenges of the Scorp brain - dug up during this retrograde - involve the mitigating of mental and verbal extremes. Mercury in Scorpio is often a triggered brain. Ideas or conversations can set it off, stirring inky, all-encompassing emotional or psychological reactions that can cloud the logical, intellectual functions of Mercury. Small triggers can flood the synapses with emotional and psychological detritus, paranoia, and fear. And Scorpio is a fixed sign, so once something disturbing is on our minds, it can be difficult to dislodge and clear it.
Mercury in Scorpio penetrates, with the mind, to the roots of the situation. But as it digs in, it kicks up all kinds of nasties.
Concentration can turn to fixation, focus to obsession.
Again, during this transit and retrograde, make sure you are not delving too deeply or allowing the detrimental effects of the Scorpio brain to run the show.
Determining reality from over-the-top fear, paranoia, or "worst case scenario" thinking is not an easy task, but luckily, we have a very supportive sextile (60-degree aspect) from practical, discerning Venus in Virgo to assist us in paring away excess crud. This paring of the crud is how Venus in Virgo shows its love!
This "cut the crap" Venus in Virgo - Mercury in Scorpio sextile is in effect for most of October. It was exact October 16 and becomes exact a second time October 25 - the same day as the Mercury-North Node conjunction and the Sun-Saturn conjunction in Scorpio. Very influential.
Mercury will form squares from zero Sagittarius to Neptune in Pisces October 29, November 13, and December 11, creating the possibility of mental fogginess, forgetfulness, and problems related to inattention. It's probable that our minds will be on other things, in other worlds. Don't zone out while driving, and watch for inattention in others.
Pay careful attention to details, particularly during the retrograde square November 13, or things could slip by and create problems later on. Not a good day to sign or solidify contracts. People could easily be taken to the cleaners while under the Neptunian delusion that they're getting a hell of a deal!
Misperceptions and false assumptions are probable in the days surrounding these squares. This aspect has the feel of yelling to make yourself understood while underwater. People may grasp bits of what you're saying, but the full point could be lost.
Mercury will be in the sign of its detriment (Sagittarius), it will be retrograde, and it will be forming a frictional aspect to Neptune, a planet often allergic to details, logic, and clarity. These squares are potentially tricky and will require our conscious mental and verbal navigation.
Mercury enters Sagittarius late on October 28.
It retrogrades back into Scorpio November 14.
It re-enters Sagittarius December 10.
What is Mercury Retrograde?
2 comments:
Me: Sun and Mercury in Scorpio, along with Neptune. Saturn in Cap in the first house. My older daughter has Saturn in Scorpio in HER 1st house too, making this her first Saturn return. This is a relationship that is in real trouble as we speak.
That dang Mercury in Scorpio functions like my worst enemy. Maybe this Saturn transit will teach me how to turn it into my friend, which would likely go a long way toward helping my relationship with my daughter.
I am equally elated and intimidated by what lies ahead with Saturn moving through Scorpio.
Ack. I have two monthly student council meetings on two of the Mercury-Neptune squares. Thanks Willow ... I wouldn't have noticed that without you!
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