Most of us know our way around the concept of quantity. You know ‘bigger’ when you see it, ‘smaller’ too. Many (but not all) athletic contests are won by those who move faster and jump higher or farther. Finances are usually a matter of quantity. One of the oldest sales enticements is to offer more in exchange for less.
Quality is another matter. Sometimes quality is actually just quantity in fact (such as 14 karat gold versus 24 karat gold). In other contexts, quality can also be so highly subjective that no two people will agree on what it means.
Yet, you know much of what constitutes a quality of life cannot be measured in dollars, pounds, hours or square feet. Love, for example is without price. The quality of service, to cite another example, is more about intent and spirit than amount.
Another one of the things that eludes quantitative measurement most of the time is astrology. You know a Full Moon when you feel it, even if you cannot put a meter on the experience. Even the Moon changing signs, which will happen when the Moon moves from Cancer to Leo shortly before 10:36 pm EDT tonight (or 02:35:48 UTC tomorrow), is usually something you can sense even if it is not something you cannot objectively assay.
Of all the qualitative experiences astrology has to offer, Mercury retrogrades are probably among the best known. Seeking to understand what goes along with Mercury passing between Earth and the Sun (making Mercury appear to slow down and go into reverse from our perspective) is the gateway to astrology for many.
As it so happens, now is a good time to begin improving the quality of your understanding of both Mercury retrogrades and astrology. No measurements will be required. You won’t have to remember anything farther back than the first month of this year, and your own judgment will be all you need to make what will almost certainly be some useful, albeit subjective observations.
That’s because Mercury has been in its first echo (or ‘shadow’) phase of its third and last retrograde of 2015 since Aug. 28. Mercury echo/shadow is when Mercury enters the degrees where it will be soon be retrograde. This happens again when Mercury goes back over the territory where it was retrograde.
Since you are in a process that has repeated twice before and recently, you have some grounds for qualitative comparison. This is especially true because there is a constant: air.
Mercury’s actual retrograde period will begin on Sept. 17 at 15+ Libra, and end on Oct. 9 in Libra’s first degree. The second shadow phase will then continue until Mercury reaches and passes 15+ Libra again on Oct. 24.
Libra is an air sign. The two previous retrogrades of 2015 also took place entirely in air signs. Counting the echo/shadow phases, Mercury moved back and forth three times between 1+ and 17+ Aquarius from Jan. 5 to March 3. Subsequently, Mercury tacked between 4+ and 13+ Gemini for nearly all of May and June. Indeed, by the time this year is over, Mercury will have spent about half of it in three signs all distinguished by the same element.
This is not to say all three of the Mercury retrogrades this year will be the same. They will not be the same. However, there should be a qualitative through-line you can sense and subjectively discern, which will provide some useful (if un-quantifiable) information.
Of the four elements (fire, earth, air and water) that contribute to distinguishing one sign from another, air might fairly be said to be the most qualitative. After all, the earthen element implies both material as well as metaphorical substance, and material substance can be weighed. Similarly, the watery elements correspond with literal and figurative volume, and literal volumes can be measured. Fire, for its part, is often a matter of time and temperature (or temper, as the case may be).
Air, on the other hand, is as elusive as it is essential. You are continually and necessarily immersed in actual air, which is not the case with the most familiar and tangible forms of earth, water and fire. Additionally, when something is said to have an ‘air’, it’s understood to be a quality, not a quantity.
Hence, this is the year and now is the time to pull together a qualitative sense of what the experience of Mercury retrogrades mean for you. You can start by comparing your two previous periods of reference. January and February would be the first period. May and June would be the second. Look for some qualities in common. Recall experiences rather than acquisitions or losses. Disregard that which can have a price, and emphasize value.
Once you have made some qualitative connections between the two previous Mercury retrogrades of 2015, sniff the air you are moving in now. See if you can find a corresponding scent. Keep in mind that history does not repeat, but history does tend to rhyme. Disregard the differences for the time being. Feel for correlations. Then, experiment based on what you experienced during the two previous Mercury retrogrades this year and what you feel (not what you can prove) now.
No hurry. You have time. Even so, give yourself a start in qualifying the qualitative now. If you can do just that, by this time next month you should have gleaned a quality of information that only the conscious practice of astrology can provide.
Offered In Service
Len is available for astrology readings. You can contact him at lenwallick [at] gmail [dot] com.
Beautifully insightful as always, Len – thank you. I feel my Mercury retrograde experience has been almost continuous, in the echo/ shadow phases and the retrogrades themselves, seeping into the non-retrograde times as well. It’s all been a pretty continuous flow – which makes sense with all the great fluidity of air. Thanks for bringing this into focus.
Eskimobee: Thank you for being so kind. i’m not sure whether Mercury is being kind enough to you, but perhaps it is that air sign thing this year somehow synchronizing with your personal astrology to give you that feeling of continuum. Just so long as the wind is at your back at least as much as it might be in your face, it should all work out well enough.
was Saturn in Sagittarius during the first one this year, like it will be for the next one coming ?
Tug: Thank you for your question. The answer is “not exactly.” Saturn’s first foray into Sagittarius was from December 23, 2014 to the middle of June (14th or 15th, depending on your time zone) this year when it retreated back to Scorpio as if to tie up loose ends. That time span took in all of the Mercury retrograde in Aquarius (including echo phases), and all but the final two weeks of the second echo phase of the Mercury retrograde in Gemini. The second ingress of Saturn into Sagittarius will take place about eight hours after Mercury stations retrograde at 15+ Libra on September 17. Please, does that answer your question in a satisfactory manner?
yes 🙂 thanks, Len !
Nice thought.
Grateful Len, for the teacher or awakener (as Robert Frost describes it) in you!
Reflecting on the rhymes and rhythms. Love how you describe it as such too. “Rhymes” and “rhythms” come from the same Greek word: “rhuthmos,” meaning ” to flow” (according to the dictionary). It also offers tempos, beats, cadence, and other regular patterns and characteristics of vibrations, which I believe you are offering us to pay attention to so that we may be more attuned to what this mercury in retrograde (and other astrological happenings) can offer us by awakening ourselves to it. Thank you!
Pisces Sun: Thank you for bringing attention to the the fact that the words “rhyme” and “rhythm” have a common origin. For that important addition (and for your continously kind appraisal of my service here), please accept my heartfelt thanks.
Hi Len, Mercury’s whole trip through Libra this year covers some pretty important astrology, thanks to his extended retrograde visit. It covers most of the Sun’s stay in Virgo, all of the Sun’s stay in Libra and 10 whole days while Sun is in Scorpio. Mercury will be in Libra when the eclipses occur, playing a pivotal role in the solar eclipse ( he is square Pluto). He conjuncts the North Node 3 times, once while he is stationing direct, which to me suggests his role as the messenger god. Because that’s also where the U.S. MC is, it might be wise to recall the happenings around us in late August and the Pisces Full Moon, when Mercury entered Libra.
In the Fall Equinox (9/23/15) Mercury retrograde will make the 2nd of his 3 conjunctions to the U.S. Sibly chart’s Saturn at 14+ Libra. Does this mean that something starts, then re-groups and then re-starts? If so, it might have something to do with the U.S. Libra midheaven (MC), where the Fall Equinox happens every year. This year the Sun at 0 Libra 0 is joined by the transits of the North Node, Juno, Logos, Makemake, Sisyphus and of course, M87, part of the Super Galactic Center, or what Phil Sedgwick calls the “cosmic vacuum cleaner”.*
This year’s Fall Equinox at 0 Libra will have a sextile to trans. Saturn at 0+ Sagittarius, doubling the emphasis of Mercury’s conjunction to the U.S. Saturn in Libra. Equinox Saturn will also partake of a T-square with the Equinox Nessus at 0+ Pisces and Mars at 28 Leo 54. In the U.S. (Washington DC), the ascendant of the Equinox chart is 28+ Leo too.
Clustered around Equinox Mars (and the ascendant) is Transpluto, Apophis and Hygiea, all at 1 Virgo, so they too add meaning to the T-square of which Saturn (who sextiles the Sun et al) provides the shortest leg. Some sort of coming to terms with the Nessus-Mars opposition? Well, the Equinox Mars/ascendant is very close to Donald Trump’s Mars and the Equinox Nessus/descendant is very close to the U.S. Moon. Who ( or what) do we know that has something in their chart at 0+ Sagittarius that the Equinox Saturn will activate?
Hillary Clinton’s natal Jupiter is at 0+ Sagittarius! Bernie Sanders has natal Pallas at 1+ Sagittarius! Well, well, well.
be*
http://www.philipsedgwick.com/Galactic/ZS.htm
Sorry Len, I said Trump’s Mars was close to the Equinox Mars/ascendant, but it is his ascendant at 29 Leo that is close to the Equinox Mars (28 Leo) and ascendant (28 Leo). . . . must be that solar eclipse creeping up on my Neptune!! (His Mars IS at 26+ Leo though)
be
Find it interesting the Mercury retrogrades have all been in the environment of air. The element has such the potential of flow if guided by it’s natural symbolism Spirit. But, at the same time, air is difficult to navigate.
“Which way does the wind blow?” “Where did that come from?” ..Yeah that could some up half my year. ; ) Mentally, air’s elemental nature is an illusive, change-full quality which feels difficult to grasp. It can also tend to slip in mind. Especially with Mercury in it’s retrograde, kindof feeling caught between the Earth and Sun.
Like what you said about Love Len. “Love, for example is without price. The quality of service, to cite another example, is more about intent and spirit than amount.”
I went back and forth quite a bit in duality with the vagueness of Mercury in air this year. One of the most important realizations I recieved from this period, was understanding the only contant is change. Yet, practically experiencing in that, holds the key to one of the greatest values ..love; alway true, never changing.
Perhaps that’s the best way to recieve a message that actually may stick. Set in an environment of it’s opposite. Well, in it’s shadow i am already feeling the Merc Retro, and it’s slight pull towards weighty ambiguity. My mind continues training with the intent to persist in quality, and constancy. That’s what’s guiding this ship through air this time anyway.
Barbara: Thank you for bringing up Mercury’s three square aspects to Pluto while in Libra. That was between the lines of what i wrote, but i wanted to stay on-topic without too many details that might put off those who are unfamiliar with astrology. Hence, i am very, vary grateful to you for writing to include what i could not fit in. For that, and the other aspects you mentioned (both mundane and to the USA and presidential candidate charts, AND for the Phil Sedgwick link, thank you so very much!
P. Sophia: Thank you for sharing your observations and meditations regarding the element of air as employed in astrology. Just another one of your intellectually stimulating and emotionally moving perspectives for wich (along with your kind affirmations), i am always grateful.
Hi Be! Thank you for the Sedgwick link. I have been meaning to look this up. And, as always i so value all your observations. With your reference here..here’s hoping!
P.S. You mentioned the Super Galactic at 0 degrees. I have also understood some view the center spaning anywhere from 28+ Virgo to 6+ Libra. What is your experience and thoughts of the range? It will be interesting to see how this last Mercury retrograde, touching the nodes and the Eclipse season unite. I am no where close to readings like you. But I will be in there somewhere. My Ascendant is at Libra 4+ degrees.
Hi P. Sophia, the Super Galactic Center isn’t something I pay a lot of attention to unless a chart has a planet or point at 29 Virgo to 2 Libra, It is in that range that you can expect to feel a powerful magnetism, if in your own chart, or see it in another person’s chart or in the chart of an event or cycle. Like all symbols in astrology, there is a range of energy from slight to strong and a range of meanings from mundane to spiritual.
For example, the US Sibly chart’s MC (reputation) at 1+ Libra can be seen in the country’s ability to attract humanity to its shores. They come searching for success, for safety, for happiness . .whatever they feel that can’t find in the place they originate from. After that, it becomes a more spiritual quest to find themselves. I would say that you can feel that pull from your ascendant at 4+ Libra; an attraction to others and they attracted to you, but in the end it is about loving and being happy with who you are, without searching your whole life for satisfaction elsewhere. Thanks for your interest!
be
“One of the most important realizations I recieved from this period, was understanding the only contant is change. Yet, practically experiencing in that, holds the key to one of the greatest values ..love; alway true, never changing. ” Beautiful, and so very true. Thank you, dear P. Sophia.