This is not a 'normal' Mercury retrograde. First the whole retro is in Pisces, a sign Mercury does not do well. And it ties into two Eclipses, two retrogrades, multiple nodal contacts (fated endings and beginnings) and an Aries point activation. I need a nap and a cookie just looking at this.
Mercury in Pisces is already porous, intuitive and nonlinear. When he/she stations retrograde on February 26th and our minds turn inward, all this Mercury/Pisces stuff gets amplified.
Collectively this can be about spiritual disillusionment, emotional memories, things we "knew but forgot", compassion fatigue, grief that hasn’t fully processed, seeing self-sabotage tendencies, things done before or behind our back, past-life ancestral threads. Pisces rules the 12th house that we can't see from our perch in the 1st - whatever is back there, well we will be talking/thinking about it.
This Merc retrograde coming after the Saturn/Neptune conjunction (dissolving reality) originally had me thinking/worrying about the Mercury retrograde in 2020 also in Pisces that followed the Saturn/Pluto (time runs out). Pisces/Virgo can pull in pretty big health storylines, and we will have Mars in Pisces just like we did back then. But Pisces ruler Neptune isn't in Pisces anymore. What's that expression - we never swim in the same river/ocean twice - something like that. Nothing is ever what it was last time.
Maybe with the Virgo Eclipse at the same time and Pluto in Aquarius now this will be more about jobs/AI for many people. We could find ourselves, collectively, in something that feels like what happened during the pandemic - fear about safety/security, more people home, government having to figure out how to fix this money mess as jobs dissolve with only a handful of players benefitting.
Let's run through what Mercury is doing retrograde and see what that adds to the story. I am adding dates, but write them in pencil, not ink - the flow of it all and the order will be sticky and more important than the actual calendar.
2/28 - Mercury's first major aspect retrograde will be his meeting with an exalted Venus. This is conversations about love, loss and forgiveness. This is financial or value-based reassessments. For some people artistic/spiritual themes will be resurfacing. Remember this isn't about adding something new as much as it is about remembering something old, maybe even VERY OLD. With Mercury retrograde relationship clarity is coming through reflection, not confrontation and in Pisces, this is not sharp clarity. It’s more a kind of soft realization.
Then we are going to have March 3rd's Virgo Eclipse answering to this retrograde Mercury. Virgo wants order, discernment, health and usefulness (and the need for perfection that can make us critical if we take things too far). Pisces Mercury retrograde says, "You’re missing the subtle layer." This Eclipse is going to bring up health themes (especially stress-related or mental-health related or psychosomatic), exposure of overlooked details, the realization that something “functional” isn’t spiritually aligned or is too draining. There is going to be a need to simplify. The New Moon here is sextiling Jupiter retrograde in Cancer - so small changes are healing old family dynamics. We will talk more about this in the upcoming Eclipse post. Sometimes this stuff can involve a new way of responding, a boundary that we hold CALMLY, a comment not made, a role that we are quietly releasing. Whatever is happening here, again there is this need to simplify/take small steps.
3/7 - Then the Sun will catch up with Mercury - Mercury Cazimi/Mercury into the heart of the Sun. This is the HEART OF THIS RETROGRADE CYCLE/the inferior conjunction. Something emerging from the fog. Something comes to light. There is a realization. A "naming". Maybe a confession. Here is where we should have some understanding about what this retrograde is about for us. And keep in mind this is Pisces, so more intuitive insight than logical facts.
3/9 - Mercury will next trine Jupiter and this is Jupiter's final aspect before stationing direct himself. THIS IS IMPORTANT. Something is falling into place. Jupiter's retrograde in Cancer has been about going back over family history/maybe maternal, emotional security, our ancestral/inherited patterns and our protection instincts. So now Mercury, also retrograde, moves into this smooth trine (brakes off) and maybe we have a healing conversation/information, we REMEMBER something we had forgotten, and some kind of emotional truth softens what we have going on and then Jupiter stations direct and growth/expansion resumes.
3/15 Then Mercury catches up with Mars and this happens opposing that Eclipse degree from the week before maybe making this more significant. This can bring IRRITATION, maybe a confrontation/argument. We might be speaking about what we have suppressed. We might be drawing a line in the sand. If we have been over-empathizing here is where we are exhausted. Mars in Pisces is usually not aggressive - it's exhausted or maybe it is imaginatively/spiritually compelled to act.
On March 17th - and now we are getting very close to the Spring Equinox when the Sun is going to cross the Aries point/the beginning of the beginning that Saturn/Neptune has strongly activated - Mercury catches up with the North Node at 8 degrees Pisces. And Mercury is going to hit this degree retrograde and then station direct and hit the North Node again (on April 4th), so THIS IS IMPORTANT, especially if you have natal or progressed planets near 8 degrees of a mutable sign. Mercury/NN is about fated conversations, destined changes through information, past-life ancestral themes resurfacing.
3/20 Then Mercury STATIONS DIRECT (as the Sun crosses the Aries point) still at the same 8 degrees and THEN crosses the North Node of Fate AGAIN - this is April 4th - and this time he/she is in a second smooth trine to Jupiter! And now they are BOTH DIRECT.
So here is where we have integrated the wisdom of these retrogrades and the Piscean and Cancerian energies start expanding/growing again. This is about home and family, so almost certainly this Mercury retrograde in Pisces is tied into how our family stories are DISSOLVING.
So this Mercury retrograde energy isn't chaotic. It's more of the THRESHOLD energy we have been dealing with collectively through the Saturn/Neptune - dissolving of the old reality - as we prepare to move into THE NEW WORLD.
Themes might include -
* grief that has turned into acceptance
* spiritual clarity that has replaced confusion or by-passing
* health/body awareness shifts and health themes might dominate
* creative/artistic pursuits re-awakened
* family or ancestral stories reframed
* truth surfacing mostly gently but also firmly
* realization of what we can no longer carry
We really are closing an old karmic chapter and then Mars, the trigger, is going to reach 0-degrees Aries - the Aries point/a collective focus/the beginning of the beginning - on APRIL 9TH here is the launch point for the BIG Saturn/Neptune conjunction back on February 20th and then again on March 20th when the Sun crossed this point. And this is happening with a Third Quarter Moon at 20 degrees Capricorn (where time ran out in 2020 and where power was cemented).
So, around April 9th - and Mars sometimes gets an itchy finger and triggers early - when Mars gets here, and keep in mind Mars rules Aries, so everything is answering to him, and he is VERY strong here and at his best - it is GAME ON. Like Donkey Kong.
And then Mercury hits the Aries point on April 14th.
For now, do all the usual Mercury retrograde stuff - recheck your texts/emails before hitting send, back up things that need backing up, expect delays and re-peating actions and conversations, and because this is Pisces expect to not have all the facts/details, expect some confusion, expect to use your intuition, so don't cloud this up with sugar and too much wine. If you feel tired, take a break. Get enough sleep. Know the effects of drugs and alcohol can be amplified. Listen to music/dance/make art. Get some paint and an easel and give this energy something constructive to work with - this will be especially potent if YOU USED TO DO THIS. Know that with Mercury meeting Venus (and this is going to happen early in the retrograde) - things and people we used to love can come back into our thoughts/conversations. Know that Mercury is going to meet Mars - this is about acting on intuition/instinct, walking our talk, seeing/thinking about how we use our energy, it can involve irritation or anger or exhaustion, but ultimately is designed to give words/language to very old situations where words were suppressed. Know that Mercury is going to merge with the NORTH NODE OF FATE multiple times while barely moving, so there are destiny pivots here.
BIG Mercury retrograde folks.
We will talk more about all this as we move through it. Please excuse typos and nonsense, will re-read/re-check later :)
xo all
No comments
Post a Comment