Mercury, stations retrograde on January 14th, 2022 at 10 degrees Aquarius.
He/she, as we, (is it confusing when I say this, I can't stop myself!) will get all the way back to 24 degrees Capricorn on February 3rd, before turning around again and re-walking/re-working those same degrees - 24 Cappy through 10 degrees Aqua - until February 24th when he will start covering new ground.
Mercury originally reached 24 Cappy the first time through on December 29th.
So the entire cycle of back and forth encapsulates December 29th, 2021 thru February 24th, 2022, but the actual retrograde, which most people will feel strongest is January 10th, 2022 through February 3rd, 2022. People with planets/points between 24 Cappy and 10 Aqua will feel this
retrograde strongest as well as Virgo and Gemini risings (Mercury being your ruling planet) who are always more subject to Mercury's machinations. Pluto spent alot of time on 24 Cappy last year, so people with planets/points THERE may especially have something breaking loose now. 24 Cappy opposes the United States natal Mercury at 24 Cancer.
So .. Mercury is in Aquarius. Mercury likes being in Aquarius which is the higher octave of Gemini (his sign). He is connected to hive-mind, buzzing along. Taking his "little of this, little of that" Gemini mental gymnastics to a whole new level. He is approaching Saturn (reality) when he is made to stop and turn around. Another look is needed. Another conversation. New information. We missed something.
The "i's" are not dotted (and no, even though Venus is in here, too, hearts don't count). Maybe there is a "t" left uncrossed, somewhere back in chapter seven. Everything is not the way he/we thought it was. The truth shifts. Our reality shifts.
We have to re-think this!
There is alot of non-sense out there about Mercury Retrogrades, and, of course, some people who would just disregard them entirely. I remember when most people had never heard of Mercury Retrograde and now it seems like poor Mercury (planet of communication and MAGIC) is being shamed/blamed for everything that goes wrong.
This is probably because - 1. the internet has exposed many more people to
astrological teachings 2. most people are moving so fast now that any sort
of slowdown feels like a problem 3. it's a convenient excuse when stuff falls to sh*t (pardon my french), especially stuff that would normally be considered our fault.
The truth is, although we don't want to spend too much time looking backward, we can't full steam ahead through life either.
Mercury goes retrograde, as viewed from our position here on Earth, three times a year (sometimes four). Mercury/think Hermes here - is "the Messenger", the "Trickster", the Cosmic Magician. Mercury retrograde periods are great times to figure out things that may be concealed when Mercury is in direct motion. Maybe because we are going too fast to notice them or maybe we took a wrong turn two miles back and need to change direction. Maybe there is a road out up ahead that we don't know about.
Sometimes when Mercury is retrograde, and this might be particularly relevant with this one since it starts in an air sign - we want to be proactive, but aren't able to decide. We second guess. Feel ambivalent. This is especially noticeable as Mercury slows down like he has now. He hasn't stationed to turn just yet, but some, likely ancient, part of us, senses this is coming. We pull up short. Or maybe we magnetize something to us that interrupts what we've been doing or we draw the past - the stuff with the dangling loose ends that might trip us up later if not attended to now - into the present to be dealt with.
Mercury retrogrades are a GREAT time to take another/new look at information. To have conversations that we've had before, but to say things in new ways. To STOP ourselves from saying the same old things. To STOP ourselves from looking at/absorbing the same old information. To STOP ourselves from having the same old thoughts. To REDIRECT our attention. Often, we won't have to make conscious decisions to do this kind of stuff, things come up that pull our attention/intentions in new directions.
Here in New Jersey, everyone is sick, was sick, or is probably about to be sick. Tests are awol, testing centers fully booked. Everyone is kind of guessing about their state of contagion.
This retrograde starting in Aquarius - the sign of the shot/the mandates - and going back into Cappy - the sign of Wuhan/Pandora "time runs out" during the time of omicron (Venus retro) will have all of this being re-thought, re-analyzed, re-lived (Mercury rules Virgo as well as Gemini and his retro takes us from air to earth) over the next few weeks.
No doubt after Mercury stations direct on February 3rd and has some time to get up to speed we will have alot more information. The information will no doubt still be polarizing because we live in a 3D reality that grows through polarity - that's how this thing works. Still, we will know more than we know now, even though we will still all be looking at different things/knowing different things. That's OK. That's how this whole 'life on planet Earth' is supposed to work.
We have all lived through dozens of Mercury retrogrades. We are offered the chance, again and again, to learn to use these periods WISELY. Mercury is a trickster energy though - things can kind of sneak in on us, maybe so we can more consciously decide what to do with them than we did the first time through. Everything doesn't come back around because we need to hold onto it/see it as something important. But sometimes we get useful information/situations that we can use later. Things turn around that we wish hadn't, but can later see how this turnaround/delay or stop, was beneficial.
Often the best way through a dicey Mercury retrograde - and any retrograde that takes us through two different signs looks dicey to me - is to give our attention to what comes to our attention and/or what has been previously neglected to free our hands up to get to something new when the retro period ends.
Let's unpack the chart for this particular Mercury retrograde:
The way something starts is always a good harbinger of what is going to play out and this retrograde starts with Mercury applying to his Saturn conjunction - so we are approaching something serious and need to re-think/re-vise before we get THERE.
Mercury is in an EXACT square to Uranus. We know we have had Saturn in an exact square to Uranus three times in 2021. Now, Mercury stations just as he reaches his/her (our) square. And Uranus is the modern ruler of Aquarius - so Mercury is answering to him.
Squares bring tension/frustration. Mercury has replaced Saturn in the Saturn/Uranus square of last year, so maybe news is upsetting, disruptive or controversial. Whatever happens it is intended for our thinking to change, we will NOT be able to stick with an out-of-date point of view.
Before our thinking/situation meets Saturn (reality/the cement), it has to CHANGE (Uranus). And we know we are going to be back here again after Mercury stations direct, so the change is subject to change!
We get the first Mercury square Uranus on January 14th - a change of direction/thinking and then Mercury will be back on this degree on February 24th, but Uranus will have moved on to 11 degrees Taurus.
The next day, Mercury will reach 11 degrees Aquarius (February 25th) and square Uranus for the second time - the change changes.
Another thing in play during this retrograde is Mercury's sextile to Chiron. You might remember it was Saturn's recurring sextiles to Chiron that brought in the healing energies in 2021. So again, Mercury is replacing Saturn. Bringing new ideas/new thinking/new information to HEALING. This aspect is going to repeat on February 24th, too, and this is also the day Venus makes her second sextile to Neptune.
With Mercury, (from Aquarius) replacing Saturn as he/she (we) move through 2021's BIG Uranus squares and Chiron sextiles - we will be bringing the collective hive-mind, new information/conversations/ideas/genius/logic/reason in to replace what has grown out-dated, traditional, too limited.
How does this apply to our own story?
Another BIG part of this Mercury retrograde is Mercury's multiple meetings with powerful Pluto.
We had the first meeting back on December 30th, a day after Mercury met Venus. So, a conversation started around the end of December. Venus was already retrograde, she had just met Pluto then she meets Mercury then he meets Pluto.
Mercury/Pluto can stir up our fears, obsessions, passions, verbal super-powers, sometimes even TRUTH. That retro Venus might have brought back an old-love/old-ambition. Whatever this is, by the time Mercury gets past Pluto for the final time (when is that mid February?) the hooks and tangles that have been pulling us somewhere we no longer belong will be GONE.
We will know our own mind.
Whatever is left of it anyway :)
(will also be something here helpful for releasing what we have gathered in the name of 'fear', but that will be up to us ...)
Here are some key dates -
DECEMBER 29TH - Mercury reaches 24 degrees Cappy and meets Venus - this is the degree he will station direct on February 3rd - this is the degree of the Sun on January 14th when Mercury stations retrograde, and, also where Pluto (death, transformation) was parked for much of 2021 opposing the United States natal Mercury at 24 Cancer.
DECEMBER 30TH - Mercury meets Pluto - part 1 of 3 - this is the day after he meets up with a retrograde Venus, who has also just met Pluto, so he picks up a piece of her story now, this pulls Mercury into the Venus retrograde story
JANUARY 9TH - Mercury direct sextiles Chiron (pulling Mercury into the 2021 Saturn/Chiron sextile as a stand-in for Saturn) part 1 of 3
JANUARY 14TH - Mercury stations retrograde 10 degrees Aquarius, the Sun is on 24 Cappy, Mercury is squaring Uranus an 10 degrees Taurus (pulling Mercury into the Saturn/Uranus square of 2021 as a stand-in for Saturn)
JANUARY 18TH - Mercury retrograde sextiles Chiron - part 2 of 3
JANUARY 23RD - Sun meets Mercury/inferior conjucntion - here is the mid-point of the Mercury retro journey, HERE is a light on what this is about for us/moment of clarity
JANUARY 26TH - Mercury retrograde trines the North Node in Taurus (sextiles South Node in Scorpio)
JANUARY 28TH - Mercury retrograde meets Pluto - part 1 of 2
JANUARY 30TH - Sun squares Uranus from 10 degrees Aquarius, the degree of Mercury's station on January 14th
FEBRUARY 3RD - Mercury stations direct at 24 degrees Cappy (opposing the United States natal Mercury)
FEBRUARY 11TH - Mercury direct meets Pluto - part 2 of 2
FEBRUARY 24TH - Mercury direct sextiles Chiron, Mercury direct squares Uranus (part 3 of 3 for both)
MARCH 2ND - Mercury direct finally meets Saturn
Of course, we will talk about all this as we move through it.
This is all part of the shamanic evolutionary process we are all going through together (Sedna!).
Have I said that the United States first ever Pluto return happens in the midst of all this? Well, I guess now I have. Post coming about that.
I hope something here is helpful.
xo all
artwork by the talented Pertaret
