By Amanda Painter

Have you ever looked at your reflection in the water with the Sun directly behind you? Your reflection ends up being mostly a silhouette that’s gently distorted by the movement of the water; and though you can’t see your own features very well, you can see all the color and detail of what’s behind you — it’s just softer than if you turned and looked directly at where you are.

Photo by Amanda Painter

It occurred to me this might be one way to think of tonight’s conjunction of the Sun with retrograde Mercury in Pisces.

Due to the compression of your perspective with the source of illumination, you may not be able to see yourself as others see you right now. Yet you might find a new, gentler appreciation for where you’ve been — a view with softer edges but no less imagination-sparking (or growth-sparking) insight.

After all, Mercury retrogrades really are about slowing down and reassessing more than they’re about everything getting glitchy and going to hell in a handbasket. As I saw suggested elsewhere, those hiccups are generally the result of us fallible humans refusing to slow down, pay closer attention, and retrace the steps that got us where we are now (or where we have been many times). It’s trendy these days, even for people who scoff at astrology, to blame everything that goes wrong on Mercury being retrograde — even when it isn’t.

I wonder, however, how many of those same people are willing to take an introspective moment to consider what actions, oversights, attitudes, unnecessary urgency, distractions, and so on, might have actually contributed to whatever is going on? How often do any of us take the time to truly connect the dots between cause and effect when things go annoyingly wrong? Or are interested in tracing our habitual ways of reacting to SNAFUs to figure out if there’s a more constructive or efficient mode of response we could adopt?

As always, this seems to be Mercury’s mission during these thrice-yearly phases. Apparently we human beings need a lot of repetition in a variety of modes to learn our lessons.

In any case, the Sun and Mercury make their conjunction in late Pisces tonight at 9:47 pm EDT (1:47:24 UTC Friday). This marks the astrological midpoint of the retrograde (and, incidentally, the day of this phase said to be more okay for any business that cannot wait until Mercury stations direct on March 28).

Mercury conjoins with the Sun about fifteen hours after today’s first quarter Moon, with the Moon in Gemini. (The Moon enters Cancer later today at 5:49 pm EDT / 21:49:03 UTC.)

The whole retrograde Mercury / first quarter Moon pattern is also in aspect to Jupiter in late Sagittarius, Borasisi in Pisces, and the asteroid Chaos in Gemini.

One effect of this astrology could be a tendency to talk more than you listen — especially about yourself (and perhaps your past). That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as long as you also listen to what you’re sharing; in doing so, you could offer some valuable clues about yourself, and it would be a shame for you to miss them.

Whether or not the other person is paying attention or is preoccupied with their own agenda is another matter — though with Pisces such a sensitive sign, I suspect we’re all a little more primed to pick up on others’ subtleties. Calibrate your inner sensors to alert you when you veer toward self-righteousness or arrogance, and conversations will likely at least stay energetically sound, even if it takes a few tries to communicate clearly.

Borasisi — an object associated with belief — looks like a reminder to give yourself a reality check. Are you sure you’re being completely honest with yourself about a certain matter — especially something about yourself, which you may be unknowingly expressing?

The object Chaos can relate to things spiraling out of control, but it was actually named for the primordial void state prior to the creation of the universe. There’s always more than one side of the story of how we affect others, and of our origins. You may encounter fertile, multifaceted imaginative territory today, but it will be up to you to meet it constructively so that chaos does not reign.

All of that, of course, is in contact with the broad, expansive energy of Jupiter in Sagittarius. By all means, tap into any optimism you’re feeling, particularly when it comes to long-range goals. Just be aware that with neither Jupiter nor retrograde Mercury very concerned with details, you’ll be responsible for making the effort to check them. “Measure twice, cut once” is the name of the game, no matter what you’re playing.

Jupiter here is also a reminder to stay flexible in your point of view. Now is not the time to assume you have all the answers. In fact, Mercury in its current state pretty much guarantees that you don’t.

Luckily, Mercury (and the Sun, though that aspect is separating) is also in a sextile to Pluto in Capricorn: a perfect aspect for investigating mysteries — the more psychological or oriented on the past, the better. That aspect will take some focused intention to use, and you may find you want to share the answers. Just double-check that you’re sharing them with the person you intended (especially important if you’re emailing or texting the info).

I mentioned that today marks the astrological midpoint of Mercury’s retrograde; you might have also noticed that it stations direct on March 28. We’re only about a week into this, and have another two weeks to go — so you might as well settle in and take a long, slow, soft look at whatever is coming up for you, tripping you up, or causing you to run around in circles.

Any review of spiritual, emotional or creative growth is worth performing with compassion for all the ways you’ve screwed up, strayed from the path, or allowed pain to dictate your steps rather than letting joy and inspiration lead the way. Just like the planet Mercury orbiting the Sun, you’re not actually moving backwards right now. You’re just reinforcing what you’ve learned so you can flow more gracefully toward what’s next.

As we go deeper into this most unusual and challenging phase of history, intelligence is the thing we need the most. That is the theme of the 2019-2020 annual edition of Planet Waves — audio now available for instant access. See more information here. If you’re looking for individual signs, order here.