A Concentrated Mercury Rx Station: The Truth is in the Details

Graffiti on a train car
This train went forward past me and then reversed back up the track the way it came. A fitting symbol for a Mercury retrograde article, I thought.


Mercury retrograde August 30 to September 21 from 29 to 14 degrees Virgo

Communication and intelligence planet Mercury stations retrograde on the 29th degree of Virgo on August 30 (6:04 a.m. PDT) in a mash-up with the two benefics of the zodiac, Venus (which will be newly in Libra) and Jupiter (just finishing its transit of Virgo).

Winged messenger Mercury is at home in Virgo. It is the ruling body of that sign. However, a retrograde station on the potent and concentrated anaretic (final) degree of this sign is a bit much, even for Mercury in home territory.

There is an absolute glut of information and detail concentrated into this degree, so very much we have to take into consideration if we are to maintain effective perspective. As Mercury puts on the brakes and reverses direction on this most analytical of zodiac degrees, to say we are tasked with keeping up on the finer points would be an understatement.

Luckily, we have an extended transit of Mercury through Virgo (until October 7) to process and integrate all those pertinent finer points...

We're going back over the ideas, information, connections, perceptions, and conversations we've had since Mercury first entered the retrograde shadow on August 10. There are more details to be gleaned and more perspective to be gathered on everything experienced between August 10 and August 30.

There is some confusion here, also, as Mercury reverses itself, some difficulty in maintaining that honed, practical, "100% totally and completely with it" perspective. Staying on top of alllllll the information, details, and organization we have to stay on top of in our daily lives and work is a challenge at the moment, to say the least.

This challenge eases a little as Mercury re-gains speed in retrograde motion during the first few days of September.

Mercury in Virgo has a tendency to turn things over and over and over in the mind, looking at every possible angle, bringing in even the tiniest of details, going over even the most minute of perceived errors.

And all that mental processing and processing and processing has a tendency to make us a little stressed!

With Mercury stationing retrograde in conjunction to Jupiter, the over-thinking and overly-analytical tendencies are exaggerated even further. Mercury conjunct Jupiter indicates the possibility of too much information/analysis/thinking with the Virgo function (fairly overloaded at the moment) required to streamline and filter it all.

The truth is in the details, but we must first shed the unnecessary and narrow our focus.  

There is some concentrated worry here, some intensified mental stress, some over-analytical tendencies that must be balanced and kept under control.

We have to be willing to cut ourselves (and others) a little slack - just a little - so that we don't have smoke coming out our ears before the retrograde process even begins. Mercury is in the sign of the virgin until October 7. We have to pace ourselves.

With Mercury stationing retrograde on this taut and somewhat loaded zodiac degree, small glitches can throw us off in big ways, particularly stress-wise. There is an element of things not going exactly according to plan. Some mistakes could be made. Misunderstandings are possible. Some errors in judgment could seep in. We'll become aware of areas that need improvement.

Just breathe, stay calm, and correct your mistakes as soon as you become aware of them. Virgo is a mutable sign, so stay adaptable. Stay fluid. Be proactive. Adjust to the organic flow of things, even when what's going on wasn't part of the original plan. Don't stress. Most mistakes can be corrected without anyone being the wiser! And remember: we're humans, not machines. Humans are fallible. But we can also learn, correct, improve, make things better.

There is a lot of work associated with Virgo and with this Mercury retrograde period. But Virgo is also a minimalist sign, an "only what's necessary" sign.

With Mercury conjunct Jupiter in Virgo, we must be sure not to make more work for ourselves than is necessary. We must ensure that we are fulfilling our exact roles and nothing more.

Rather than burying yourself under heaps of work right off the bat, first ask if it's work that really needs to be done?

Then ask if it's work that really needs to be done by you specifically? Could it be delegated? Is there someone with skills better suited to the task?

Finally, ask what is the simplest and most efficient way to complete the work - and then do it.

Keeping things simple, minimal, basic, realistic, and functional is the name of the game.

During this extended transit of Mercury through Virgo, we're streamlining and purifying our work life, our communications, our information sources, our personal perspectives, and our daily tasks, eliminating non-essentials and a lot of unnecessary stress along with them.

As stated, Mercury has been in a conjunction with Venus and Jupiter in late Virgo for the tail end of August, indicating that some blessed connections are in progress, paving new trails for us.

The blessed perspective, information, and connections indicated are helping us to pare away the excess, streamlining and honing our personal trajectories to maximize efficiency.

A "paring down" is underway so that we are fulfilling the roles and duties most suited to our skill sets while also picking up new skills that will be necessary to us along the way.

We're honing our perspectives throughout the Mercury retrograde process, sanding things down to exactly what we think, ensuring that we are applying our efforts, our words, and our minds in just the right ways.

Mercury goes direct at 14 degrees Virgo on September 21.

Mercury leaves Virgo for Libra October 7.

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