Mercury Retrograde

MESSENGER OF THE GODS, SPEEDY MERCURY PREPARES TO BACK IT UP

Posted on May 12, 2015 by Gaye Mack in Balance, Karmic and Self-Discovery Astrology, Writer's Work Leave a comment

It’s that time again when speedy Mercury, ‘messenger of the Gods’, slows, pauses and to our visual eyes, backs up in the heavens–often creating havoc with anything having to do with communication. Over the last few years, I’ve blogged about this three times per year astrological event, particularly concerning the deeper meaning of Mercury’s motion for each of us.

However, for this posting I’m pleased to have my Evolutionary Astrology colleague, Tony Howard appear as my guest. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Tony(or his incredibly IMPRESSIVE bio), he’s an Evolutionary Astrologer himself and a guy with his feet in several canoes including the job of keeping all print, video and website matters running smoothly for Evolutionary Astrologer, Steven Forrest and his Seven Paws Press. So I leave you now in Tony’s good hands…pay attention!

Mercury Retrograde in Gemini May 2015 by Tony Howard

Are you ready for another Mercury retrograde cycle? We almost never are, are we? Since Mercury will retrograde in Gemini this time – its own sign – it’s likely we’ll see more of the stereotypical manifestations of this cycle. To get in the flow, you’ll probably need to slow down in general, but especially in regards to Gemini-ruled topics, like communication, speaking, writing, teaching, and learning.

My approach to a smooth Mercury retrograde period is to soften my will. Frustration only arises if I’m too invested in doing something at my usual lightning pace (I have natal Mercury conjunct Uranus). If I allow myself to slip into ultra-patient mode, I usually find that Mercury retrograde is pleasant. It’s one of the only times I give myself permission to slow down, let things go undone until they get done, and allow life to unfold as it will without pushing too much.

Hey, I should probably adopt a Mercury retrograde attitude all the time! Luckily, Mercury retrograde happens 3 times a year, so we get 3 chances to get it right. (Did I really just say “luckily”?!) If you have planets in early-to-mid Gemini, Sagittarius, Virgo or Pisces, you’re likely to notice this Mercury Rx cycle more than usual. Also pay close attention to planets in those signs near 4° or 13°, the degrees of Mercury’s stations. The shadow period for this cycle begins May 4, with Mercury at 4° Gemini. As Mercury begins to slow down this time, it moves into a square with Neptune on May 8.

This usually quick transit takes on more importance since Mercury will retrograde back and forth over that square point at 9° Gemini. It retrogrades into the second pass of the square on May 28th. After stationing direct, Mercury squares Neptune one more time on June 22. Mercury with Neptune can bring shady communications, so let’s steer it towards more spiritual pursuits. You may want to postpone important conversations around those dates. Instead, use the time to connect with something higher than yourself, outside the linear realm of the easy-to-understand. Take an internet holiday (or just look at the pretty pictures instead of reading!).

Spend more time in silence, dream a little. Being too linear or trying to make sense of things on those Mercury square Neptune days feels like going against the flow. You’ll have plenty of time to get back to rational thinking after Mercury goes direct. The only conjunction of Mercury and Mars in Gemini this year happens during Mercury retrograde. Pay attention to the dates May 25-28, when listening is probably a better choice than speaking and taking action, especially if you find yourself peeved. Give Mars a couple of days to march briskly forward out of the conjunction while Mercury dilly-dallies, and wait until your frustration has integrated somewhat before saying what you need to say.

Just before Mercury goes direct, the collective seems to let out a big sigh of relief via Facebook these days, given that so many have become familiar with the cycle. We might see even more of that this time, when Mercury turns direct June 11 as it buddies up to Venus through the sextile aspect, ending the cycle with some good vibes. If any feathers got ruffled during the Mercury-Mars conjunction, or confusion set in with Mercury square Neptune, the sextile with Venus should provide some opportunity for pleasant re-connection. Venus will be in Leo, so celebrate the end of the cycle by spending time with fun friends who make you feel good. Get dressed up and go out to dinner for some lively conversation, or have some of your favorite peeps over for game night. Mercury is totally in the clear by June 27, when it passes the 13° mark, ending the post-retrograde shadow period.

Photography Courtesy of Karen Pfiefer

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AS MERCURY GOES DIRECT, WARRIOR MARS RETREATS-RIDE THE WAVE WITH DR. BACH’S CERATO AND HOLLY

Posted on February 12, 2014 by Gaye Mack in Karmic and Self-Discovery Astrology Leave a comment

Astrologically speaking, 2014 is starting off with a bang, so much so that it’s hard to keep one’s bearings. Among the more recent events, the brief but nevertheless intense square, mid January between Venus and Mars reappears again just as Mars retrogrades in Libra, March 1st on the heels of Mercury going direct in Aquarius.

As with all things in the Universe, there are multiple layers of meanings expressed through outward events such as these astrological configurations. But in order to take full advantage of these planetary energies and their metaphorical meanings through the evolutionary lens, we need to dive deeper within ourselves. As I’ve written in previous posts, any time a planet ‘appears’ to be moving backwards in the sky, there’s the expressed opportunity for us to go within, examine and consider where and how we need to move forward for our own growth.

EVERYONE jokes about Mercury going retrograde as it does three times a year, portending computer failures, messages being garbled or lost, the sudden appearance of foot in mouth disease along with a host of other communication malfunctions. Some of our experiences are funny wherein we can only laugh, others not so much, like when you’re directed to the wrong gate and miss your flight! When Mercury backs up, the Universe is suggesting that we closely examine our ways of thinking, listening and expressing…it’s as if the pause button has been hit in order for us to revisit our ways of and interactions with, communication. Where we need to switch to a different channel that supports us moving forward? Fortunately we still have time here, as Mercury remains in retrograde mode until the end of this month when it slowly changes course and begins to move forward.

Mars, the god of war, can be a nasty guy when he shows up in his guise as ‘a trickster.’ Aggressive, even vindictive with an intensity of having to be right; that’s the moderate portrait…no need here to detail what the escalating profile looks like; we witness it daily on the news. But what about when Mars is a teacher for us, especially when he starts moving backwards? It’s in this mode that Mars’ agenda is to help us develop courage so that we may manifest our greatest potential on our evolutionary path. Growth takes courage because it demands that we move out of our comfort zone, take the leap of faith, go into territories that are totally unfamiliar. In this mode we all become Captain Kirks at the helm of the Star Ship Enterprise. In order to navigate these arenas of communication and courage we need supportive tools and of course within easy reach are two of Dr. Bach’s famous flower remedies, Cerato and Holly.

Like all of Bach’s remedies, Cerato can re-balance temporary or situational mood states but also as with all of the remedies, Cerato has deeper applications. Cerato is particularly paired to communication and therefore Mercury in this sense. When Mercury behaves as a trickster, we distrust our innate wisdom, which totally defeats the purpose of the ‘pause to go within.’ As a result, we question what our intuition is trying to tell us, we ask everyone what we ‘should do’, rather than trusting our own knowing. During Mercury’s retrograde motion where the message is really to quiet the mind and mouth, Dr. Bach’s Cerato can act as a catalyst, shifting our perspective from the external to the internal. So if we are prone to distrusting our own Divine wisdom, Cerato’s energy will support us in our effort to embrace the wisdom that’s ours and learn to trust it.

In the broad sense, Holly is about dealing with aggression, jealousy, envy, greed and rage. Such emotions are very much in the spirit of Mars as a trickster driven by fear at the core. As a remedy, Holly’s life force, prana, Qi, vibration, softens this perception by helping us to step back where we can reinterpret the reality around us and at the same time support us with a feeling of safety. When this happens we develop the courage to open our heart center, step out of the box and move forward in our evolution!

DR. BACH’S CERATO

DR. BACH’S HOLLY

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OUR SOUL’S EVOLUTIONARY JOURNEY THROUGH THE PLUTO/URANUS SQUARE

Posted on October 31, 2013 by Gaye Mack in Balance, Karmic and Self-Discovery Astrology, Writer's Work Leave a comment

Tomorrow, November 1st, we’ll experience the 4th ‘exact hit’ of the energetic Pluto/Uranus square-dance which began back in June 2012. The final ‘hit’ will happen on December 15th, 2014, but between then and now, we’ll continue to feel the intensity of these two planets as they tease each other with the energetic tension created between the waxing and waning of their orbits. As I’ve said in previous posts about the energy of this configuration from an evolutionary perspective, there’s an urgent message for each of us that the Universe is trying to deliver.

Back in 2012 I welcomed the following guest post from Simon Bentley, Principal of the White Eagle School of Astrology, based in the UK. As we are currently being inundated with the recent lunar eclipse in Aries, Mercury’s retrograde and extended stay in Scorpio, the forthcoming Solar Eclipse on November 3rd in Scorpio on top of this exact hit tomorrow, it seems more than appropriate to revisit Simon’s ‘take’ as to WHY the Universe is trying to get us on the line! As Simon points out, the energetic and metaphorical signatures of Pluto and Uranus are about transformation. Pluto brings to light those things which have been hidden in the dark that we need to bring to light and face while Uranus shatters that which is past its ‘sell by’ date and pushes for thinking, doing out of the box…new chapters and directions on our evolutionary path soulfully and collectively are waiting for us to go through the doorway. As you’ll read through Simon’s words, evolutionary astrology is a powerful tool to help us along on this journey.

‘Life, the Transformer’

I wonder if we have ever stopped to think what the word [transform] actually means? Literally, the prefix ‘trans’ means ‘across’, so that ‘transformation’ comes to mean ‘moving across to another form’, and so, changing form. If we aren’t careful, we use this word very glibly, but looked at from a spiritual perspective it is a word of crucial importance, since we are constantly attempting to transform ourselves, change into a form suited to our current position on the spiritual path.

Eventually, we shall all learn to transform continuously, but until we reach such a point of evolution it tends to happen in fits and starts and is not always welcomed…Astrologers recognize that Pluto, despite the fact that astronomers ‘demoted’ it in recent years, is the planet that symbolizes this factor in our growth, and when it’s particularly strong in a horoscope one can be sure that there are significant transformational processes going on in the life.

At this time, Pluto tends to be manifesting in terms of those occurrences and changes in life that seem completely fated, over which we appear to have no control. The ‘fits and starts’ mentioned above tend to bring to light some kind of major change, the closing of one chapter and the beginning of another, closely linked with Pluto’s action. However, bearing in mind that every life, every incarnation of every soul, is part of the grand transformational process that eventually brings us to divinity, the significance of the word ‘transformation’ means far more in astrology than simply a reference to what Pluto may do. The whole of life is in some way transformational, and so it could be said that astrology is a science that illuminates the transformational process we call ‘life’. Astrologers are often called upon for advice when there are crises in life, turning points – moments of transformation, if you will.

Astrology can help the soul to understand the process and therefore to be less apprehensive about it and to handle it more harmoniously. Most of life’s problems, as well as often being the inevitable outworking of karmic patterns, are brought about by our tendency to resist this process: astrology, by at least attempting to explain it, helps to remove our all too natural tendency to resist. This raises an interesting point, especially for astrologers themselves.

It has always been considered that the planet of our science is Uranus, and I would not dispute that, astrology is a Uranian occupation, revealing, as it does, spiritual truth and the action of the divine will in human life. However, if astrology is also an assistant to transformation, surely it is also Plutonic? Personally I have often suspected as much, and what I have found is that while astrology is undoubtedly Uranian, Pluto is commonly very active in the horoscopes of those who become professional astrologers.

As professionals they are called upon to help others to cooperate actively with the transformational process in their lives. But there are also implications for the astrologers themselves, and the origin of their vocation. They too are undergoing transformations in their own personal lives, and what they see and experience through their clients is part of their process as well.

The use of the wonderful tool we call astrology is always, therefore, a two-way experience; if properly accomplished it’s that classic win-win situation which we all like to achieve! The client is better enabled to cope with his or her transformation; the astrologer is transformed to a degree simply by doing the job and thus learning from the client. So we could say that astrology itself can be – and hopefully is – used to hasten this process and thus speed up evolution, both individually and, through that, of the whole world.

PLUTO/URANUS SQUARE-NOVEMBER 1ST, 2013

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MERCURY’S RETROGRADE IN ‘SPOOKY SCORPIO’ MEETS DR. BACH’S CERATO FLOWER REMEDY

Posted on October 21, 2013 by Gaye Mack in Balance, Karmic and Self-Discovery Astrology, Writer's Work Leave a comment

On the heels of the powerful Full Moon in Aries last Friday, little Mercury, ‘messenger of the Gods’, ‘director of all forms of communication’, begins its final retrograde motion of 2013 today as it appears to back up in its orbit until November 10th. On the practical level as always with a Mercury retrograde, it’s wise to make certain that computers are continually backed up, messages are double checked before we hit ‘send’ or ‘delete’, details of appointments are re-checked and that we are conscious of what’s coming out of our mouths. When Mercury turns retrograde, it tends to play havoc with all forms of communication whether they be external or simply a mind that just will not STOP…this is Mercury’s energetic MO.

However, this time there’s a further catch. While speedy Mercury normally moves quickly through a sign, this time it hangs around in what Steven Forrest refers to as ‘Spooky Scorpio’, the sign of those things ‘hidden’, until December 5th. Even after it goes direct in motion, Mercury remains here, giving us more time to feel at the depths of our Soul, where Scorpio demands we come face to face with our truths. At first glance, it would seem that the planet which rules the mind, communication and thinking paired with the sign of depth, feeling and truth, would seem a very odd pairing.

However, when any planet shifts into ‘retrograde’ motion, the message is to contemplate; to better understand the particular part of ourselves represented by the planet’s energy and the messages of the sign its occupying. In this case we’re mentally encouraged to consider different perspectives of the past, perhaps where our mind demanded control, running roughshod over our innate intuition. In the silence of Scorpio’s depth during Mercury’s retrograde and post-retrograde period where it remains for a time in Scorpio, we’re offered the opportunity to step back and shift perceptions, to ‘let go’ of reactions and thought processes that no longer serve or benefit our evolution. Such shifts can lead us then to alternative actions in the future that support our growth and ability to manifest our greatest good.

Thus, during a Mercury Retrograde as I’ve written previously, Dr. Bach’s flower remedy Cerato can be very helpful. Like all of the remedies, Cerato can re-balance temporary or situational mood states but it’s also one of Dr. Bach’s original ‘Twelve Healers’ and therefore a Soul Type. While one may not be a Cerato Soul per se, those who have Mercury significantly placed in their chart are particularly subject to Cerato’s shadow energy which distrusts innate wisdom. As a result, trusting one’s own knowing is very difficult if not impossible.

During Mercury’s retrograde motion where the message for everyone is to quiet the mind and mouth, Bach’s Cerato can act as a catalyst, shifting our perspective from the external to the internal. It can take us down to our depths where Scorpio waits for us to face our truths and acknowledge our feelings. Such excavations are scary territory, but if we call upon Cerato, its gentle energy will support us in our efforts to go forth where we can come to ‘know’ the wisdom that is ours and to trust it.

MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE

DR. BACH’S CERATO

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SWIMMING WITH NEPTUNE’S PISCEAN FISHES ~DR. BACH’S CLEMATIS TO KEEP YOU IN THE GROUND

Posted on February 25, 2013 by Gaye Mack in Balance, Karmic and Self-Discovery Astrology, Writer's Work Leave a comment

At the end of November I blogged about the transiting effects of Pisces‘ planetary ruler Neptune and the benefits of using Dr. Bach’s Clematis to help dispel the predictable fog. I have to say, that post was just a morsel; a preview of what was coming down the pipeline for all of us. Now the Tsunami of Neptune’s energy is here; on February 19th, the Sun moved into Pisces joining Mercury, Mars and Neptune! And as if this lineup weren’t enough, by the end of February Venus will have also moved into Pisces’ watery world.

The good news is that Venus, Mercury and Mars are fairly fast moving planets. So, aside from the fact that Mercury is now retrograde until March 17th, by mid April much of the fog will have cleared as these speedy planets and the Sun, will have moved on. However, Neptune will stay in Pisces for some time; we need this time to assimilate Neptune’s messages (and teachings) which are core to the success of our journey into the frontiers of the bigger picture in our evolution. As I’ve said before, deciphering such messages very much depends on where the transits hit your individual birth chart, but make no mistake– there are no mistakes here, for such events are never by ‘accident’ and always have cosmic intent. Nevertheless, what to do in the meantime? What can we use to help us navigate the deep waters of emotion in a material world? What can help us understand how each of these planets relate to our own evolution? Fortunately, we can call upon Dr. Bach’s Clematis, one of his original Twelve Healers and a ‘soul type’ as I wrote in Igniting Soul Fire, Spiritual Dimensions of the Bach Flower Remedies.

This all said, I’ve re-posted an ‘edited’ portion of November’s blog as the Piscean/Neptunian energy is so important to our evolutionary growth as is the healing energy of Clematis to help us along our journey.

From an evolutional perspective, there are no accidents in a chart. Everyone’s chart is uniquely orchestrated for optimum soul growth opportunities. When a planet’s orbit ‘hits’ a sensitive point in our natal chart, such as the birth position of the Sun, Moon, Ascendant (i.e., the sign on the horizon the moment of your birth), as well as other important points, this is called a ‘transit’. Transits can be very important because the energy they carry comes with a personal agenda for us. Whether or not we take advantage of these perfectly ‘timed’ events is another matter; we can respond positively or negatively, the choice is ours. This said, for the sake of space here, I want to zoom out to Neptune and talk about what it feels like when its orbit hits a sensitive chart point.

A significant Neptune transit typically throws us into a landscape of fog and sand. At the deepest levels Neptune stands at the edge of consciousness…it’s the planet of self-transcendence. Known as the dissolver, its energy confuses the mind. Intentions become fuzzy, goals evaporate; you can’t see the way forward. Relationships dissolve or change in ways you could never have imagined. These are just a few of the effects of Neptune’s transit. Many years ago before I was leaving for a trip to India, I met someone who said to me, “India. You’ll either hate it or love it…either way you’ll never be the same.” This is how I look at Neptune’s transit through Pisces (now joined by the Sun, Mercury, Mars and soon, Venus) . Because we can’t figure it, (whatever ‘it’ is), out…we can find the experience frustrating, annoying, angering, depleting. The mental air signs of Aquarius and Gemini have a terrible time with this transit as do the ‘get things done’ signs of Aries and Capricorn. Where’s the map, where’s my compass? Forget it, you don’t have one.

The best way to navigate a Neptune transit (which can last a couple of years depending on retrogrades) is to understand there is ‘no time’. You can’t articulate specifics but you sure can feel them. The good news is that if you quiet down, go within you can perceive other dimensions for which there is no language but the experience is there; sit with it. The information is valuable and it’s there if we can just listen. For these reasons, understandably the ‘Mystic’ is the archetype of Neptune. Clematis’ vibration helps us to stay focused and grounded, but not in such a way that access to the higher realms is prohibited. As with all of the remedies, it’s about ‘balance’. In general flower remedies can be very helpful in sharpening the images of our dreams, helping us to remember them in our waking state.