Mercury's retrograde journey through Aries | spring cleaning, an identity crisis, a re-turn to SOMETHING - if the passion is still there, fix it

without roots I grow and to light backwards by anna-o photography

Mercury stations retrograde today at 16 degrees Aries. At the same time Vesta will trine (brakes off) Uranus and the Sun (in Aries now) is sextiling (opportunity) the Moon in Gemini (and ruler of Mercury). And we just had Mercury hooking up with Venus.

Maybe a retrograde Mercury in "let's just get it going" Aries will have us re-thinking/re-working our actions as well as our words. Especially our more hasty ones. "What was I thinking?" well, maybe we weren't and here is where the rubber meets the road with that situation.

The delays, limits and necessary re-visions we will encounter over the next three weeks are designed to focus our actions and clear our heads. It won't be a straight road - straight roads are highly over-rated anyway - no one really learns to drive until we get off the highway and master maneuvering ourselves in downtown traffic.

Well, here is where we do that. Yes, please buckle up.

With Mercury facing multiple contacts with Saturn (authority, walls, limits, rules) - they already squared off once on March 11th - the consequences of our prior actions and conversations will come up for re-view or smack us right in the face (this could be a good thing- think lip-smacking good or maybe a not so good thing, think left hook to the jawbone).

New ideas and plans of action will be tested and re-tested.

Going into this retrograde with Vesta (in Sagittarius) trining Uranus (in Aries) at 26 degrees, speaks of the potential for a lost opportunity to be re-captured. If something has been back-burnered due to procrastination, discouragement or fear of failure (which is really fear of success and all its subsequent burdens/trappings or fear of embarrassment/loss) - maybe this retrograde could be the time to give it another look.

The key with Uranus is to loosen the reins.

Know you cannot control the outcome. What you can control (Vesta) is your part in the process - your devotion to something's success, your daily duties/actions - is what to key in on. Let Uranus - the liberated and unpredictable - be Uranus (we have no other choice anyway!). Things may not end up exactly where you expected/hoped them to be, but so much will have been gained from your daily devotions to the process (think like a Virgo here, a sign Mercury also rules) - you won't be able to lose, no matter what the result.

We also have the Sun (freshly minted in fiery Aries) sextiling the Gemini Moon (Gemini being the other sign Mercury rules). Sextiles create opportunities, but we sometimes don't notice the things that slide easily into place. Pay attention. Gemini always offer multiple choices. Aries always offers courage and initiative.What courageous choice needs to be made? How can you use the next three weeks to best re-work/re-invigorate that?

So, yes, Mercury is retrograde, and we ignore that at our own peril. Trying to plow ahead re-gardless will not work. It also won't work to stand still and try to wait Mercury out. We must move our ideas, projects, etc through the process of the retrograde period. 

He/she is making alot of connections over the next three weeks - he will trine the North Node (March 30th), meet the Sun on April 1st, square Mars (Aries ruler, so kind of like fighting with your host when you are visiting their house) on April 4th, square Saturn for the 2nd time on April 5th (daring and determination will be needed as we face another limit) and trine Ceres - all before he stations direct on April 15th. Then he (as we) will do all/most of these things again moving forward.

Think about where we are now. Pluto has just entered the 3rd decan of Capricorn - we have never been this far out in our entire lives. This is uncharted territory.

We are being challenged to come up with a new direction because old directions/behaviors aren't working in this new paradigm. What is our direction now? What is the purpose? In Aries, this is kind of like we are all having an identity crisis at the same time - who am I now? who are we now? When Mercury stations direct in mid-April forward movement and clarity will be available, but for now we have to work the process. Or I should say re-work the process!

Whatever is happening now could take us back to news or information or a conversation we had back at the end of December/early January when Mercury hooked up with Saturn in Capricorn. Back then I was saying for us to remember what we were talking about/thinking about, what agreements we were making/what commitments we were agreeing to, what we were writing, what we were signing - because we were going to be saddled with it - for better or worse. Then Mercury squared Saturn on March 11th and whatever this is hit an obstacle. And now as Mercury moves retrograde he is moving toward Saturn again - he is going to square Saturn on April 5th retrograde and then again on April 25th direct.

Positive change and forward movement are coming ... just not quite yet.

xo all

2 comments

lynn bowes said...

Boy, do I feel this right now! Here we are in the middle of packing and moving things to storage for the Big Move on 25 April and I feel like a fish out of water. We have made peace with so much junk that has been weighing us down - and we are resolutely determined to NOT bring that old junk into the fresh space - that the openness is kind of unnerving. It echoes, it's so unnerving. So I guess this month we have revisited the old feelings we held onto as we held onto the junk and we are gradually releasing it all. Well, not ALL.

True - I am taking some of the old stuff into the shop and redoing, repainting, renovating it so it fits with the new space. I get what you're saying here. It's a reevaluating what we have held to see if it's worth keeping. As we look back, it's been quite a nine month birth process. It took time to get to the point that this was going to happen and now the build up to the final push.

We rely on each other to get us to the finish line. And modern medicine.

xox :: lynn

Catherine Ivins said...

April 25th is huge astrologically, too - Mars (action) is moving into conjunction with Pluto (transformation) - exact the next day - one of the biggest conjunctions of the year - maybe the biggest and right on the cusp of your 12th house as you start a fresh chapter AND you were born on a day when Pluto and Mars were conjunct - just one degree apart like they will be on the 25th AND when you were born they were right on the cusp of your partnership house. The astro is amazing and so are you two. BIG Move, yes, I'd say so! Makes total sense with Pluto death/rebirth - that it has been a birthing process. xox