Mercury Enters Home Sweet Home Gemini, and the Synapses are Firing Fast and Furious

Communication planet Mercury entered its domicile of Gemini this morning, a sign it loves. 

The messenger planet sliding into home sweet home Gemini indicates a period of time when things are full speed ahead on the mental and verbal fronts. With Mercury just coming out of laidback and relaxed Taurus, it may take a few days to get our brains back up to full capacity. But get them back up to full capacity we must. Things are swinging into gear. Communication, information, interactions, connections, and movement in the local society all speed up now. New ideas are starting to form. The synapses are firing fast and furious. There is mental and verbal fluidity and an ease that we haven't enjoyed since Mercury was in exaltation in Virgo way back in August/September 2013.

Interactions within our local societies and neighbourhoods are highlighted and of greater importance now. The smallest of interactions in our day-to-day lives are meaningful. Heading into full-on spring (allbeit a frosty one in much of Canada) with transiting Mercury in Gemini, we want to get out into our neighbourhoods, check in with our neighbours, re-establish contact, get things moving.

However, Mercury is also forming a square to foggy, gauzy Neptune in Pisces (exact May 11), indicating a bit of confusion and space cadet-itis. Our interactions can have a bit of a dream-like quality, and it may be hard to keep our minds on one subject for any length of time. The "mind fuzz" effects indicated by this Mercury-Neptune square are fairly short-lived, though, and should start to dissipate May 12 when Mercury in Gemini trines Mars in Libra, slowing to station direct. 

It is advisable to stay mindful now, keeping an ear out for any silver-tongued deceptions or diversions. Anything that hits your ears as "not quite right." Liars would generally do well under a Mercury-Neptune square. So would con artists. We are looking for information and tips that can put us out of reach of those elements, disarming them. If it sounds too easy or too good to be true, it is. You just have to keep gathering information until that is proven.

It's important that we get a handle on any illusions or false impressions we may be under now, asking questions and seeking other viewpoints as we gather information and perspective. Context is everything with Mercury transiting Gemini, and we have to be willing to seek information until we fully comprehend our situations, even when that information could disappoint or disillusion us, even when that information could drop our hearts out.

Our perceptions could be a little off here. Misunderstanding is possible. We may pick up a wrong idea or two from conversations or gossip.

If you don't understand something, ask. Even if you think you understand it, ask. Assuming people are on the same page now is not advisable.

Mercury will square wounded healer Chiron in Pisces on May 17, indicating the possibility of new information or perspective painfully puncturing an illusion or dream - but also providing healing context and new understanding. Conversations could be uncomfortable as painful topics are raised, topics we may be pinning a lot of hopes on, but they can also be healing, especially if we are conscious not to throw verbal salt into any wounds.

We have to be following the narrative keenly all along here, or this Mercury-Chiron square could catch us unaware and provide a reality-checking wallop. 

On May 15, Mercury in Gemini forms productive and supportive sextiles to Venus and Uranus in Aries, just as those two bodies form a conjunction at 14 degrees Aries. This indicates a revved up, "bright ideas" type of day with the potential for flashes of exciting, long-range insight into our futures. Things are moving and snapping and popping. Interactions, conversations, and pieces of information gleaned are opening vast new expanses of possibility around this time - but they are also closing doors on other, old-era possibilities, and this can be a little rough. We will re-visit some of the more beneficial effects of these sextiles on May 28, as Mercury in Gemini slows to station retrograde and forms a second sextile to Venus in Aries at 29 degrees of the signs.

The Mercurial action now is definitely related to the change of eras, wrapping our minds fully around where we are now and where we go from here. The way we thought things were going to go is coming into tense contact with the way things are actually going, and this can be painful at times. We are challenged to maintain an understanding of our own context - particularly within our local societies - during a very confusing, changeable, up-and-down, and uncertain period on the planet.

Any painfully-punctured illusions or stepped-on dreams can be seen within this context. As hurtful as it is, we have to apply logic now, setting our sights on movement into new and interesting scenarios and out of the dissolving dreams of an era now past.

We're gradually shifting our mental focus to the possibilities of the new era and off the devastation of the dreams and ideals that did not materialize as the Piscean era came to a close. We are looking at what we still have and getting excited by that, rather than focusing on what has been lost.

Not easy territory, but territory we must mentally master, nonetheless.

And we'll have plenty of time for these mentally masterful pursuits, as all this provides fodder for our next Mercury retrograde period, occurring June 17 to July 1 (3 degrees Cancer - 24 degrees Gemini).

Mercury enters its retrograde shadow (the degrees to which it will return during the next Mercury retrograde period) on May 22, so keep an ear on the themes around that time. The information and exchanges will be coming up again during the retrograde. 

Mercury retrograde re-enters Gemini June 17, where it will remain until re-entering Cancer direct on July 12.