Just after noon yesterday, Wednesday, May 3rd, that old trickster Mercury stopped dead in the sky, turned around, and started going forward. He’s been moving retrograde since April 9th: which explains all the indecision, uncertainty, broken-down communications, and busted technology we’ve all been experiencing for the last 25 days.
For the next two weeks, you’ll be asked to RE-REASSESS, as the God of Truth and Lies moves through his shadow, traversing the patch of sky between 24 Aries and 5 Taurus for the third and final time. Clarity slowly emerges, as you proceed with your new plans.
Mercury is what’s called a “neutral” planet – neither good (“benefic”) nor bad (“malefic”), he is easily influenced by whatever planets he hangs out with. This week and next, he is running with a pretty rough crowd, Uranus and Eris, who flank him on either side – introducing the potential for strife and sudden change in the way we communicate with others.
I am reminded of a friend, who once was in a difficult marriage. For a long time he fought to save the relationship, while his wife was generally more reluctant. Finally, during an argument she said to him, “I only married you because my father disapproved.” Boom. Just like that, my friend was ready to move on. Whether her words were true or not, it didn’t matter. They changed him forever, and though hurtful, ultimately helped. He agreed to the divorce. That’s the Mercury-Uranus-Eris energy we’re reckoning with now, and we’ll continue to do so till Mercury makes his second conjunction to Uranus on May 10th.
In the Mercury station chart, he is also trine to Saturn in Sadge, as well as to the North Node of Fate on the fixed star Regulus. This Grand Trine invites us to move forward in the areas of our lives where WE want to shine. You do what you need to do for you, right now. If you try to please others, they probably won’t like it anyway (see above).
The seeds are being planted this week for big revelations. We get the information, but we don’t get how to interpret it. It won’t sink in till Venus reaches the point of Mercury’s station, 24 Aries, on May 30th. Allow yourself to approach the news you receive now with openness and curiosity. Make sure to listen twice, maybe three times, for the underlying message. You may be making assumptions about what you’re hearing, when that’s not exactly what they said.
When I was young, my mother had cancer. After a surgery, my father (a physician) reported to the family that the disease “had not spread to her liver.”
I (then a computer programmer) heard this, and wondered where it HAD spread; but the rest of my family heard “hadn’t spread.” Period. I had a huge fight with my sister, about our different interpretations of dad’s words. When my mother passed away less than six months later, everyone else was shocked. Because, in their minds, “the cancer hadn’t spread.”
Right now, you’ll want to listen very carefully to what is said, and not said. Don’t leap to conclusions. It might be Mercury’s intention to deceive you, or you might just be hearing what you want to hear. All this is exacerbated by the fact that there’s not a lot of air in the sky right now. People are not inclined to process logically. If somebody blows up in your face, it might be worth asking them, “What did you hear me say?”
It is FURTHER exacerbated by the fact that we have a Finger of God in the chart with Jupiter retrograde in (for those of us on the East Coast of the United States) the Third House of Communications, and Neptune (the planet of delusion) sextile the Sun.
Yes, charts often tell us their messages three times!
So stay alert, stay curious, and don’t click on any weird Google docs links.
And also, please save the date for a webinar on the Nodes of Fate next Wednesday evening, May 10th. The Nodes will be changing signs next week for the first time in a year and a half, from Pisces-Virgo to Aquarius-Leo. This is big! It indicates a huge shift in focus for all of us.
The Virgo-Pisces axis invites us to work, suffer, sacrifice, pay attention to detail, feel depressed, seek spiritual connection and self-improvement, notice our health, work/life structures, and process, process, process.
The Nodes are leaving Virgo-Pisces for the next 19 years, and will next enter the Leo-Aquarius axis: time to shine, create, play, and have fun, as you find your tribe, cause, and the next chapter of your hopes and dreams. This transition is perhaps one of the most important of all nodal transits, as the Nodes are in the House and Sign where each of is individually called to show our stuff and shine.
More information to come!
Big hugs,
Anne
