It seems like such a long time ago. It feels like ages since the process of selecting presidential candidates started in the U.S. Indeed, one would be hard pressed to even know when the journey started. Everybody with a civil calendar, however, knows when the race is scheduled to end.
Nov. 8 is the day set aside for voters in the U.S. to have their say. After so long reaching this point, a bit more than three months would not appear to be much more. Mercury, however, just may be about to indicate otherwise.
Mercury enters Virgo tomorrow and will remain in this sign, which combines both its rule and exaltation, until Oct. 7. The reason Mercury’s tenure in Virgo will be so long is its upcoming retrograde. It will not be just any retrograde, either.
On Aug. 30, Mercury will pivot in the very last degree of Virgo, then walk back to the midpoint of this mutable earth sign. It will resume direct motion on the same day of this year’s Libra equinox (Sept. 22). Add just over two more weeks before Mercury finally exits Virgo, and a long, eventful road is clearly implied.
Versatile Mercury manifests in many ways. There is, however, one theme that ties many of Mercury’s worldly expressions together: that of mental constructs. Perhaps most notable among the elusive intellectual intangibles that you take for granted as reality is the concept of time.
Everybody has had the experience of time flying by. So have you undoubtedly been through what seems like a great length of time elapsing in what is technically a short while. Depending on your personal relationship with both the sign Virgo and the planet Mercury, it would appear as if one form of time distortion or the other will begin for you tomorrow and extend into the next season.
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For those of you who are U.S. citizens, the more likely possibility is a long journey to the polls in November. You may expect nearly as many steps back as forward. That’s because Mercury will ultimately cover 60 degrees of ground within the boundaries of a 30-degree slice of the zodiac before it finally leaves Virgo behind.
In all probability, the next several months will give you reason to contemplate not only the origins of the U.S., but also the origins of its origins. Just as possible (and every bit as important), you will almost certainly have occasion not only to glimpse, but to contribute to shaping a distant future.
In other words, even with as long as it has taken to reach this juncture in your life, the journey has evidently just begun. As such, you may want to prepare in kind. Pace yourself. Take frequent breaks. Drink water. Note the landmarks and enjoy the view. Savor and seek to make the most of every moment.
After a year in which so may cultural icons and loved ones have taken their leave, you are undoubtedly still here for a reason. If there is anything to what Mercury entering Virgo tomorrow implies, at least part of that reason will be revealed before this season comes to a close.
Offered In Service
Firmly strapped in and ready for takeoff on spaceship Earth, Ma’am, gps broken
Feeling the sparks and rumblings from below decks, shuffle up!
We’re all all-in now, there is no folding
Choose your tiles and o-rings carefully as we must live with that pick for a long while in linear time.
Deal me in with “The Sun” & “Strength” cards…
This really IS fascinating Len; our perceived experience of Time vs. Time’s “reality” is boldly signified now by Neptune (altered perception) square Saturn (reality) and this dichotomy between perception and reality will be further emphasized now by Mercury’s retrograde pattern. Stuff like this never fails to awe me.
Transiting Mercury will also make 2 of his 3 conjunctions to transiting Jupiter while in Virgo, affording opportunity for that contemplation you speak of. Enough so that you can see how it might affect one living in the U.S. to want to participate in shaping the future, what with the Election coming up.
This long haul through Virgo (and how much we could say about that sign!) also puts transiting Mercury into the pattern between slower moving Neptune and Saturn, but only once, to create a T-square on Saturday August 6th through Sunday the 7th. I would probably have missed that if not for your offering today. Thank you!
With the 4 slowest moving planets retrograde now (as of today Uranus stations retrograde) can we assume this will add to the sense of stretching time ad nauseam? Dear or dear, is all this necessary? Of course it is. The Universe has been indoctrinating the masses in the simplest of terms (and now it will be spread out over a relatively great length of time) in the basic knowledge of how our minds must expand and connect with our hearts. If we are to move forward as a species we must include the disenfranchised, disheartened and even the dullards; giving all enough time to absorb, experience and practice the Golden Rule; Do Unto Others As You Would Have Them Do Unto You.
The old cycle between Jupiter and Mercury now ending has been a crash course on that ethic. Put into cartoon characters that connect to our inner child, our choices between smart and not-so-smart, meanness of spirit vs. equal opportunity, fear vs. courage, has had the effect of a bludgeoning of our senses. Nothing subtle here, too risky. We’re leaving on a freight train, don’t know when we’ll be back again.
With the initiation of the new Mercury-Jupiter cycle complete in October with the 3rd and final conjunction between them, we clear the “training” portion of their mission. Now from the sign of the balanced scales, Libra, Mercury and Jupiter will advance through the zodiac for another year of balancing the myriad minute details with the big picture concept. They depart on that journey just as transiting Saturn sits atop the U.S. Sibly birth chart’s ascendant (12+ Sagittarius), while simultaneously squaring both the north node (12+ Virgo) and the south node (12+ Pisces).
The U.S. nation faces a crossroad decision at the time of this 3rd Mercury-Jupiter conjunction and much of that decision will be determined by how well the minds of this country have learned in the previous Mercury-Jupiter cycle. Perhaps it is a blessing that Mercury’s retrograde is taking place all within Virgo, a sign of healing as well as service.
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We sure could use a timely stretch of healing f’reals. Thank you both for your knowledge and writing skills.
Mercury in Virgo sounds perfect. All this Leo is indeed exhausting, so let’s give those upstarts who rallied cross country a big yay for making it to Tuesday. Me, I made it to Thursday … all the way up to Hillary speaking. Sorry, I’ll vote for “her” … I just cannot listen. Sorry team dems. This is what democracy looks like (well said!) and I’m happy to have the focus now shift to the actual day of voting when all the spotlights go dim and we all focus on a new day. Ahhhh, earth energy.
m.