Mining the Magic of Mercury Retrograde

by Cindy Morris, Priestess Astrologer

It feels like Mercury is always going retrograde these days. Things going wrong. Endless juggling of different sized balls. Life generally askew. Every time Mercury goes retrograde (which is three times a year for three weeks at a time) a collective groan can be heard and mournful sighs of: “Wasn’t Mercury JUST retrograde?”

Well, it can certainly feel like that, especially in these mercurial times where communications have speeded up to a point where we can hardly keep up, causing things to crash all about us. Cars break down. Motors need to be replaced. Belts in washing machines need tightening. Everything needs to be re-written (I mean EVERYTHING) and cell phones might as well be flushed down the toilet for all their mess-ups. You can do pretty much do anything on your cell phones these days but hear the person on the other end.

Mercury retrograde periods happen three to four times a year as Mercury appears to be going backward in the skies. These are times for regrouping, reorganizing, re-doing, reconfiguring, and reconsidering. That’s why it can feel like you are going over things you have already done. You are!

Mercury retrograde periods are not so great for signing contracts but if you have to, triple check the fine print. Also not such a great times to purchase appliances or large mechanical items. If you must, save the receipts as you just might be returning them.

Depending on the time of year Mercury will move retrograde in different constellations. From August 20 through September 12, 2010 Mercury will be moving retrograde in the sign of Virgo. Virgo happens to be one of the signs that Mercury rules (he also rules Gemini) so this should be somewhat of an easier retrograde period than when Mercury moves through a sign whose nature does not at all resonate with that of our fleet-footed friend.

Mercury retrograde in Virgo gives you a nice three week period to go back and dot the “i”s of what you have already created, revisit ideas and plans that need tightening and tidying, and re-organize your thoughts and paperwork.

Mercury is a bit of a trickster, a magician, and likes to keep a whole lot of balls juggling in the air. The best thing to do during Mercury retrograde, which is challenging at best, is to tap into the magic inherent in this part of the Mercury cycle and find new ways to flow with the flow that’s already flowing. In other words stop trying to make things happen. Tune in to what is already happening and go with that. Mmmmm. Interesting concept. And so not easy to do.

When Mercury is retrograde magic is afoot so loosen the reins a little and let the magic flow! Miracles are waiting everywhere to be welcomed into your life. Couldn’t we all use some miracles right now?

Cindy Morris, MSW, is the talk show host of Priestess Entrepreneur: Kitchen Table Conversations (http://PriestessTV.com),

author of Priestess Entrepreneur: Success is an Inside Job, and astrologer-at-large.

If you want to know where transiting Mercury will fall in your chart, schedule a session with Cindy to take a look-see. She can be reached through her web site, Priestess Astrology, or by phone at 720. 480. 9322

New Moon in Pisces

by M. Kelley Hunter

Yet another boat-rocking NEW MOON opens a unexpected doorway to surprising new perceptions and perspectives on the Ides of March, the high tides of March, that’s March 15 at 5:01pm EDT (10:01pm GMT). Invisible sparkling energy is vibrating in the aethers and the flow of change is reaching the river rapids. “Things” are likely to go in unexpected directions, as the turning point continues to pivot. We ourselves leaning with the movement to maintain our balance. No one is going to finish this moon cycle unchanged.

JUPITER leads the way in Pisces at 14 degrees, strong in its rulership sign. The New Moon in Pisces is at 26 degrees, with MERCURY and URANUS right next door at 27 degrees. Lots of water is surging and flowing—in tides, storms, underground streams, ice melting, ocean rising, and in our emotional bodies. Go for the ecstasy, as Uranus lights up your psychic sensitivity. Don’t look around and get caught in the chaos. Look up and in, look down and deep into your heart. Are you feeling the vulnerability, the fragility of life as you row row row your boat down the stream that has become a rushing river? Scientists say we lost a milli-second of our day in the Chilean earthquake, but doesn’t it feel like we lost more time than that?

Let’s look at the Sabian symbols for these two Pisces degrees. There is bound to be a storyline.
New Moon at 26 Pisces:
TWO RAPT LOVERS AND A PHILOSOPHER WATCH THE NEW MOON
So appropriate! This IS a New Moon we are watching here. We’re in the dark of it until the crescent shows, probably on Wednesday, accompanied by reborn VENUS fresh from her sabbatical with the Sun. She reappeared just in the last few weeks. Have you seen her yet? This would be a good time. Venus with the New Moon crescent is such a celestial treat. Venus is the lovers. Jupiter is the philosopher, first to rise in the morning, first to set at night. We are learning so much under the waxing rays of this Moon.

Mercury and Uranus (communications from higher mind via feeling flow)
at 27 Pisces:
THE HARVEST MOON RISES IN TRANSLUCENT AUTUMNAL SKIES
This image takes us down under, where the southern hemisphere is soon approaching autumn equinox. It also calls our attention to the blossoming Full Moon on March 29-30 that reveals the meaning of this New Moon. By Moon’s fullness the Sun will have moved across the Aries equinox threshold to initiate a new scene in the transformational drama playing on the world stage now. That Full Moon will plug directly into the Saturn-Pluto dialogue that is moving us inexorably further into Earth-changing events.

Speaking of earth, there isn’t much in this New Moon. Only PLUTO is presently in an earth sign, digging deeper and deeper into Capricorn for the next 15 years, insisting that we restructure our reality. This new monthly cycle is not about practical realities. It’s about new vision, the Big Dream. Haven’t you had one? A dream that you feel is about more than just you, it’s about our shared Story. We are all crackling with electricity with the New Dream that is opening up. Your role may change beyond your current recognition. Uranus and Jupiter move into Aries in the month of Gemini, May and June. All sorts of new options open up. This month the wagon trains prepare to head out. The scouts go beforehand to find the best route. The bold and courageous are rewarded.

AQUARIAN CONSPIRACY
This New Moon in Pisces highlights the subtle realms of NEPTUNE, the Dreamer. Neptune and Jupiter both rule the sign of The Fishes. Jupiter brings out the greater meaning of the times and expands our learning curve. Neptune opens us to mystical melting, spiritual upliftment and compassionate service; yet can also bring storm clouds of confusion, illusion, delusion and anxiety. It’s up to you to fine tune your frequency to the channel you want to be listening to.

Neptune is in an extended conjunction with CHIRON, the Shaman, for this whole year, suggesting a critical moment of potential healing. In Aquarius we need to beware of our techno-addictions and dependencies. The electrical fields are charged up, affecting all systems, hard-wired and otherwise. That includes our nerve wirings and the way the winds blow through our bodies to keep us fresh and alert. Keep breathing! Let the prana, the life force, fan your vitality and creative fires. inspire and delight you.

The BLACK MOON LILITH is coming in to add her ineffable influence, like a miraculous Black Madonna. This vortex point, intimately aligned with the Earth-Moon system. Black Moon will align even more closely with Neptune as we head into June, the same time that Chiron takes a brief dive into the seas of Pisces. Ever more subtle energies in the aetheric field, charging the Aquarian air waves and the Piscean ocean waves.

The planetary pace is picking up swiftly. Await the signal for your turn to enter the game. Tune in to the flow as the context of your life shifts. The dominoes start to fall forward. People move around, coming and going in our lives. The world is changing and so are we.

Kelley Hunter, Ph.D., C.A.P., is an internationally-known astrologer and mythologist. Her psycho-spiritual approach to astrology is supported by studies in Depth Psychology and interdisciplinary doctoral studies in Philosophy, Cosmology and Myth. She appears on John Edward’s new InfiniteQuest.com web channel and is a columnist for The International Astrologer. Kelley is astrologer for the Self Centre at Caneel Bay Resort in St. John, Virgin Islands. Living in the Caribbean, she tells star stories under the tropical night sky. Her free Cosmic News e-letter goes around the world on new and full Moons. She is the author of Living Lilith: Four Dimensions of the Cosmic Feminine and the upcoming expanded version of Black Moon Lilith. Visit her website at www.heliastar.com.

The photo is of dancer, Jacqui Lalita is a goddess in motion. The photo blurred when increasing size, very appropriate for this New Moon energy. Be inspired at http://www.danceofthedivine.org/

New Moon in Libra: Comparisons are Odious

by April Elliott Kent

There is a popular expression that warns, “Don’t compare your insides to other people’s outsides,” and it’s particularly good advice for this Libra New Moon season. [The new moon of October 16 was in Libra.] Libra, as the relationship sign, symbolizes a keen awareness of others that can work to our advantage in relationships and in certain careers, too. But that same awareness can become a liability when it leads us to draw comparisons between ourselves and others – comparisons that can damage self-esteem and breed envy.

We humans are social animals, and we take our cues about what to do and be and desire from watching the people around us. The problem is that we rarely have access to the full story behind their outward appearances. We may envy a man for driving a new, expensive vehicle, yet for all we know he may park that car in front of a dumpy apartment building each night. Most of us admire the sleek figure of a supermodel, but is there a healthy, happy woman inside that beautiful body? Possibly not, if rumors about eating disorders in the modeling business are to be believed.

Born with the Moon in the seventh house – the house associated with Libra – I confess that I spend a lot more time and energy than I should comparing myself with other people. This friend has a more graceful home; that one has a sweeter personality; the other, more clients. All that energy wasted on anxiety, envy, and guilt! It’s as disempowering as when I used to leaf through fashion magazines in my twenties and compare myself to their unrealistic images of feminine beauty.

I wasn’t always this way, though. Years ago, before I became an astrologer, I was a musician. I never recall looking over my shoulder to figure out which musicians were better or more successful than I was; all I cared about was expressing myself exactly the way I wanted to. But as I developed more musical skill, I occasionally dealt with fellow musicians who were envious of me. I always wondered: why were they so focused on what I was doing instead of simply concentrating on sharpening their own abilities?

Now that I’ve moved on to a career that is less suited to rugged individualism and much more Libran in its emphasis on counseling and salesmanship, I understand envy a bit better. It’s all good and well to become skilled at the technical parts of my job, but it’s not enough; to make a living, an astrologer has to become skilled at reading people, not just their charts, and to market herself in a way others find appealing. Somehow I’ve gotten it into my head that my colleagues have figured this stuff out in a way that I haven’t, and I can’t seem to stop comparing my achievements with theirs. Are their websites more popular than mine, their mailing lists larger, their resumes more impressive? What do they know that I don’t?

Being ruled by comparisons is odious. But is it ever a good thing, a healthy thing to cultivate a heightened awareness of other people? Of course. Being sensitive to others is the basis of a society’s laws and rules of etiquette. Growing up, we learn social skills by comparing ourselves to our parents, our brothers and sisters, and our playmates, who show us how to behave and let us know when we’ve stepped out of line. In astrology, this civilizing process is symbolized by Libra. How attuned are we to the needs of others? How adept at blending into society, at least to the extent necessary to stay out of jail and enjoy the occasional dinner party?

Looking back at my musician days, it’s clear that while I didn’t suffer the pain of constant comparisons and envy, my lack of social grace made me an insensitive and ineffective collaborator. I often made tactless comments, insisted on having my own way, and generally played poorly with others. Had I made a career in music, I’m not sure I’d have developed any social skills at all; I might well have ended up with success in my work but none at all in my personal life.

Becoming an astrologer has civilized me a bit, even if (and perhaps because) it has made me more vulnerable to criticism and comparisons. To be of any value as an astrologer I’ve had to nurture the promise of my seventh house Moon, with its ability to get inside another’s skin and see the world through their eyes. But developing a heightened awareness of others can be a difficult skill to switch off at the end of the day. When you spend too much time looking through another’s eyes, it can be all too easy to lose track of your own truth.

As the (very Libran) adage goes, “Moderation is best in all things.” Marching to the beat of your own drum, Aries-style, is vitally important, but so, too, is knowing how to appeal to your audience and how to connect with other people in an effective way. Most of us are a little more comfortable at one end of the spectrum than the other, but each of us can learn to navigate the balancing act more deftly.

The Full Moon in Aries earlier this month offered valuable preparation for this New Moon season by reminding us to love what we are, pursue our dreams, and let our individual lights shine. A strong self of self makes us less vulnerable to Libra’s shadow side of envy and of comparing our insides to other people’s outsides. At this New Moon, let the Libra spirit add the polish of sensitivity and balance to your Aries self-confidence – a lovely lampshade that needn’t obscure your individual light in order to soften it to a warm, inviting glow.

April Elliott Kent has been a professional astrologer since 1990 and is a longtime member of both ISAR and NCGR. A regular contributor to Llewellyn’s Moon Sign Book and The Mountain Astrologer magazine, she has also contributed articles to the websites MoonCircles.com, Beliefnet.com, and AOL Horoscopes. Her first book, Star Guide to Weddings, was published in 2008 by Llewellyn Worldwide. April lives in San Diego with her husband of 15 years and their two cats. She can be reached by email; enjoy her web site Big Sky Astrology.

A Rare Conjunction

by Sheila Belanger

This summer brings us a rare and unusual dance of three interesting celestial characters: Jupiter, Neptune and Chiron. All three are turning retrograde during a three week period at the start of the summer: Neptune on May 28, Chiron on May 30 and Jupiter on June 15. They are all in the sign of Aquarius and hovering close to about 26 degrees of Aquarius.

When a planet goes retrograde, it looks like its stopping and backing up. Planets don’t really move backwards, but they seem to stop and hover in a particular place in the star wheel from our perspective on earth. This action calls our attention to the place in the star wheel where they are shifting.

When planets are in Aquarius, they activate the role of the rebel, the one who is authentic, unique, alternative. Aquarius encourages us to think outside of the box. It’s about the collective and the tribe. Aquarius is an altruistic sign, in the true meaning of the word altruistic: orienting to others. Yet it also calls us to be true to ourselves as individuals, to be unique members of a collective.

So how do these three planetary characters play with the Aquarius energy?
Jupiter is a big gassy planet: it asks us to expand and open up. Jupiter in Aquarius says “I want to support your expanding your sense of the collective and the community. I want to help you take your place in your tribe.”

Chiron is a comet that represents the shaman or wounded healer. Chiron points out where you need healing. In Aquarius, the wound that needs healing is marginalizing yourself, judging yourself, putting yourself outside of the group because you feel you don’t belong.

Neptune’s gift is the ability to dream and vision. In Aquarius, Neptune can help us envision a new way to work together. The negative side of Neptune is a feeling of helplessness. “I can’t make a difference so why bother?”

The conjunction of these three planets is rare. The last time it happened was in September of 1945, at the end of World War II. Before that, it was in 1881. Chiron has a very unusual orbital period around the sun: sometimes short and sometimes long. Jupiter and Neptune come together every 12 to 13 years. Jupiter and Chiron come together every 13 to 20 years. Chiron and Neptune come together every 57 to 80 years. So this conjunction offers us an amazing opportunity.

It is a call to healing, a chance to change our vision in terms of the collective, to move away from a sense of helplessness. We saw this during the campaign and the election of President Obama. In a sense, this was his campaign message: yes we can, we can make a difference. And the economic crisis is encouraging more of the same attitude. We see that we need to make a change. And we understand that we all in this together.

These three celestial characters will go back and forth connecting with each other throughout the whole year. Jupiter (the teacher, the expanded one) conjoins Chiron (the healer) three times on May 23, July 22 and December 7.

Jupiter connects with Neptune, expanding our ability to dream, our intuitive, spiritual and psychic selves (as well as our victim and overwhelmed selves) on May 27, July 10 and December 21.

You may feel the call from your inner teacher (Jupiter) to come out of the fog (Neptune) and attend to some old pattern (Chiron), particularly a wound having to do with dissociation and escapism (Neptune). The healing can come from the positive qualities of Aquarius: staying true to your self, and the unique gifts you bring to the world.

Chiron has a link with healing the ancestors. So the wound may not be (just) a personal wound.  Many of our ancestors struggled with addiction, found ways to escape from the pain in their lives, had to give up aspects of themselves just to survive.

One way to heal an ancestral pattern is to ask for help. You can call on your healed ancestors, ten, twenty generations back, before there was a wound. Ask them to help you, to stand at your back. You can also use Neptunian tools like prayer, meditation and sending compassion to your ancestors.

When you feel angst about your addictions, when you feel overwhelmed or victimized, say a prayer for your ancestors who felt the same way. Offer them love. Offer them light. It’s a way you can shift the pattern for yourself.

Aquarius is connected with technology because it’s about progressive, alternative ways of doing things. Because of the Internet and television, we are now connected to people all over the world. But the shadow side of technology and Aquarius can be too much information. There’s a psychic, emotional component to all of the information, especially the bad news, we are being bombarded with.

Aquarius tends to be a mental sign and that can lead to dissociation. We just shut down. When Aquarius energy is stressed, it tends to want to escape, to check out, to run away. How the hell to I get out of here?

One solution can be found in the compassionate nature of Neptune. Ask yourself: How do I keep my heart open in a way that doesn’t overwhelm me? How do I stay open and sensitive to the collective without losing myself?

Transcribed from a talk Sheila gave at East/West Bookshop on March 26, 2009. The complete tape which covers many other astrological cycles for Spring and early Summer can be purchased at www.sheilabelanger.net