As this week progresses, astrology’s focus (and yours) must necessarily widen to take in Mercury’s next move: an ingress to Pisces. Mercury will enter Pisces at 11:52 pm EDT Thursday (03:52 UTC Friday). That’s big news made all the bigger by the fact that Mercury has been in Aquarius a long time — since Jan. 4 or Jan. 5, depending on your time zone.
Mercury is a versatile archetype, expressing in many ways. Among other things, Mercury has to do with mind — your mind in particular. Also, Mercury correlates with the means by which thoughts and other more tangible things move in the world.
How Mercury expresses has a lot to do with the sign it’s in. Signs are to planets what costumes are to stage actors. A change of costume nearly always implies a change of role.
Regardless of where it is on the zodiac, Mercury’s role in your life has been made all the greater in this century because of the influence electronic media (an extension and expression of mind) has swiftly taken on in the world.
On average, Mercury’s apparent motion around the zodiac circle is significantly more swift than any other celestial object except the Moon. It usually takes Mercury only a bit more than two weeks to cross from one sign cusp to the next. Hence, only a retrograde entirely within the bounds of one sign can keep Mercury acting in a single costume for more than two months.
Mercury retrogrades are common — usually three times a year, about three weeks at a time. Three weeks in reverse motion functions to take Mercury forth and back and forth again over the same arc of the zodiac three times, in a cycle lasting nearly two months. Visualize three swipes of a windshield wiper on your automobile (except in very slow motion) and you get the picture.
It is not quite common for the three swipes of any given Mercury retrograde cycle to take place entirely within the confines of one sign. It is not every year that all three Mercury retrogrades are that way. This is one of those years.
The last such year was 2012, when Mercury was first retrograde entirely in Pisces, followed by a series of swipes limited to Cancer, concluded by a cycle confined to Scorpio. All told, Mercury spent half of 2012 in those three water signs. This year, it’s the air signs: first Aquarius, then Gemini and finally Libra.
For the time being, however, Mercury is about to leave both retrograde experiences and an airy milieu behind. Soon, Mercury (and, by implication, all in your life that it corresponds with) will begin manifesting through an entirely different raiment — Pisces. It will probably take some getting used to.
What you might anticipate is something akin to discomfort — at least at first. For example, being able to hear yourself think could conceivably (and rather suddenly) become more of a challenge. That’s how you might want to work some regularly scheduled quiet times into your life by Friday. You may even want arrange some quiet space to be in over the weekend
Similarly, a discomforting message or two may come your way over the next couple weeks. If that should happen, respond so as to make things easier for yourself. Procrastination in reply will almost certainly not be a viable option. Conducting your communications consistently and carefully so as to assuage others will encourage returns in kind.
Also, as mundane as it may sound, Pisces (as a water sign) implies how all things Mercury will soon be more subject to immersion, both literally and figuratively. Since tangible water is rarely compatible with electronics, take precautions.
If it is your habit to take a cellular phone into the bathroom, try calling a moratorium on that practice. Likewise, keeping your beverages on a surface separate from your keyboard would be prudent. Finally, if by some chance you indulge in alcohol during what remains of March, you might want to refrain from dialing anybody or sending anything until sober — unless you are calling a cab or a designated driver to get you safely home.
Fortunately, with the exception of delicate electronic devices and heavy machinery operated under the influence, nearly everything else Mercury can be associated with is usually very resilient. After more than two months of Mercury in Aquarius, your mind will probably have regained its sea legs in a matter of days.
Nonetheless, it has been a long time. It would be helpful if you were aware of that. Mercury has a major part in your life. Accordingly, it makes sense to think ahead a few days, and plan for a significant transition of that role as Thursday segues into Friday.
Offered In Service
Len is available for astrology readings. You can contact him at lenwallick [at] gmail [dot] com.
Thanks Len, I’m interested to see how Mercury in Pisces manifests for me internally, & externally. I’ve gotten so used to Mercury in Aquarius that perhaps my mind has gone into auto-pilot. As far as my astrology studies & observations have been concerned, I’m in a bit of a lull.
Michael: You are most welcome. As regards to that lull, you may want to simply make note of it at this time. Then, when the Mercury retrograde cycle in Gemini is complete and Mercury has moved on from the second echo phase, see if you experience something similar. That’s how observations and correlations are done with astrology (and other things – such as the healing arts for that matter). It takes time. It takes patience. It takes years. There is no royal road.
I already received a discomforting message today. When I saw this headline, I thought it was in some oppressed foreign place, but it’s here in Canada. Wow, things sure are moving in the world.
Even so, I still hold great faith for our liberation and I am really happy to have Mercury shift into Pisces.
The southern Alberta town of Taber has adopted a new bylaw that targets bad behaviour — but instead is drawing comparisons to the draconian laws in the movie “Footloose.”
The new “Community Standards Bylaw” prohibits spitting in public, with a fine of $75. Fines double to $150 for yelling, screaming or swearing in a public place.
Kids and teenagers now face a nightly curfew, and peace officers have the power to break up those who assemble in a public place in groups of three or more.
Lambert points out that fundraisers such as car washes, raffles, and bake sales could fall under the bylaw’s definition of panhandling, which brings with it a fine of $75.
And while it appears dancing is still allowed, bars and pubs could be penalized if any noise escapes the establishment and “annoys or disturbs any person outside the boundary of the premises.”
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/03/10/taber-bylaw_n_6839718.html
An inclusion regarding an assembly of persons carries a first-offence penalty of $250. Notably, it specifies the power to disperse an assembly when a “peace officer has reasonable grounds to believe” an assembly will disturb the peace. Under a strict interpretation, this would give local law enforcement the power to disperse an otherwise peaceful assembly based only on an officer’s discretion, not whether an assembly was actually causing a disturbance of the peace.
The General Definitions section of the bylaw includes no description or definition of what would be considered “reasonable grounds to believe” nor does it define what actions would actually constitute a disturbance of the peace. Section 2 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms includes “freedom of peaceful assembly” as one of the fundamental freedoms assured to Canadians under the charter.
http://lethbridgeherald.com/news/local-news/2015/02/09/taber-bylaw-generates-controversy/
Mandy: Thank you for another example of how those who govern us are either ignorant of what constitutes due process, or are actively undermining any access to due process. Either way, whether it’s ignorance or malice in discharging their duty, both governments and law enforcement are quickly losing sight of the fact that they exist only because the governed consent to their existence. It’s almost enough to embrace anarchy.
Harper is doing his best to shove through his Anti-terrorist bill. My ‘Spidey Senses’ are telling me that, even though we haven’t heard a peep about it in a while, the Three Amigo thing is still doing stuff behind closed doors (supposedly based on free trade, but just what is it that is being traded – strategies for power?).
Perhaps we free thinkers/doers need to mirror this ‘union’ of North America and dissolve our perceived borders. Expand our zone of activism from country to continent for a more effective reach.
Thurs pm then, is a good time to have scheduled the removal of the tubes etc left from my surgery, Len. The apparatus will be gone and body fluids will once more be contained as is appropriate; in body. How very Piscean. This past week has all been very pholus, erie, uranas and plutonian for me. With Mercs help as he completes his return to natal position and moves on to apply to natal Sun, I’ll get caught up on schoolwork as good health returns. Venus is about to apply to natal Sedna and Vesta as she heads for MC, perhaps she’ll lend a hand. When’s Merc’s next retro? I must make plans…..
aWord: Thank you. Good to receive word from you. Glad to know you are recovering. You have been on my mind. Mercury next stations retrograde May 18 in the US (May 19 in Europe), and stations direct again June 11 for most readers. The first echo phase begins May 4, and the second Echo phase will end June 26 or 27 (once again, depending on time zone). The arc of Mercury’s swipe will be the most narrow of the year – 9 degrees (from 4+ Gemini to 13+ Gemini). May your recovery be swift. May you know that you are loved by all who read here. May your plans for the next Mercury retro be assisted by the best health of your life.
“The arc of Mercury’s swipe will be the most narrow of the year – 9 degrees (from 4+ Gemini to 13+ Gemini).”
Lovely, Hermes himself will be dancing back and forth across my Sun, and never more than 5 degrees away during the process. I suspect some fundamental shift is on offer.
Chief Niwot’s Son: Thank you. You make a good point. But please consider that what a narrower arc of Mercury’s swipe also means is that Mercury will be going slower – a signal for all of us to do the same as regards to things Mercury. Also, Mercury in a functional conjunction to your natal Sun for two months is not bad in any way, shape, or form. As Robert Hand succinctly describes the transit: “This is the best possible time to express your feelings and emotions.” Instead of having that “time window” open for the usual day or two, you will have two months to “count the ways”, and possibly write them down for the ages. A once in a lifetime transit.