We are close to the halfway mark of the current Mercury retrograde. Overall, this is one of the most interesting retrogrades I’ve ever seen, due mostly to the pattern that Mercury is making with other planets as it backtracks through Gemini.
Artist’s concept of centaur Asbolus. Centaurs are similar to asteroids but have much longer orbits, and cross the orbits of other planets. The crater at the center of the image is fairly recent, believed to be less than 10 million years old.
Over the past week, there were many aspects — Mercury conjunct Mars, Mercury square Neptune, Mars square Neptune and others. This describes some significant churning of the emotional and mental waters.
And while it looks like it could be the source of difficulties, I’ve been working with another theory — that this retrograde will contain keys to solving intractable problems. I would say that much of the turbulence will serve as a wakeup call for any situation that’s still dominated by denial.
The midway mark is when Mercury and the Sun form what is called their interior conjunction. Traditionalists call this the inferior conjunction; I have rejected that language. There is nothing inferior about it, but it is interior in that Mercury is between the Earth and the Sun.
This happens at 8+ degrees, in an exact conjunction with a certifiably interesting minor planet — the centaur Asbolus. One of the earliest discovered centaurs, this body has a name that means ‘carbon dust’. I have noticed that when prominent in a chart, it describes those who survive extreme conditions. Carbon dust I take as a metaphor for that which all life has in common, the need to survive.
We’ll see how this manifests in lived reality. I consider this a proving moment for Asbolus — a test of what this planet is really about. We are describing Gemini here, which embodies the concept of dualism. This happens in the form of the mortal twin and the immortal twin, one representing body and one representing soul. This is a controversial concept, though the ancient Greeks may have been describing a perception rather than a reality.
One other interesting aspect is that Venus is about to square Eris. Venus has been making many aspects the past few days — including an opposition to Pluto, a square to Uranus, a trine to Chiron and now, a square to Eris. At the same time Venus will be quincunx a conjunction of Pallas and Pholus in Sagittarius.
This adds some detail to Mercury retrograde — on the emotional level. Venus is direct for the moment, but running a kind of gauntlet. Soon Mercury will be direct and Venus will head into Leo and a conjunction to Jupiter, though that’s the next chapter.
Asbolus’ discovery degree is at 7+ Libra where the Moon’s North Node is currently. it has a seventy plus year orbit between Jupiter and Neptune which must be why we are all made of the same carbon dust like in one big ocean, like Pisces, metaphorically. aren’t Saturn and Uranus in there too, though? confused. here is what wikipedia says about Asbolus’ orbit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8405_Asbolus#Orbit , I wonder how reliable the ephemeris is, exactly, 1000 years back and 1000 years forward?? apparently this is something chaotic, although not totally chaotic (like the centaur party, now that really is chaotic, in a not great way)
at Asbolus 1995 discovery, i was meeting my first true love brought forward by a venus trine pluto…. what strikes me about the discovery chart is the grand fire trine between sun jupiter mars. i mean, THAT’s what it takes?? more evidence that my timing is off and me hard to love, somehow. this person had sun-venus-chiron in aries so i guess aries gets points for being innovative, and also did not-much for my self-esteem. his family was from gujarat in india. however, i did meet a young kurdish gandhi that was kind of very similar to him. this is highly relevant, somehow, no joke at all. why aries is actually not worthless but feels worthless is a big mystery to me! smart and innovative for sure, i have a jupiter aries , was thinking of ipods long before they came out… i was not high either just “normal”. it’s obvious to astrologers, but fire signs are not necessarily ultimately cool at all, so boo. boo to ipods, too random, i guess…. asbolus being discovered at that moment, though, is good recompense because there has been so much random divination to come from the sequence of events that started (in my life) right there. — however, note this: OK city bombing soon after, the timing seems off or hard to fathom somehow. wasn’t that done with fertilizer? that wouldn’t be carbon, really, but perhaps with the chain of events– domestic terrorism, death penalty, the common theme is the expiration date to a certain strand of life (“we’ll be dealing with this for a long time to come, but not forever!”) kind of like the falling-out-of-prediction (do i have that right) orbit of Asbolus.
given these ominous (the boyfriend was ominous too), developments, i like the “coal dust” description because that is certainly quite toxic, even though Asbolus sounds like a good enough centaur to me. too interesting, basically. salting my still-wounded brain (aries) with total air (gemini) and fanning that flame… (also notable: i was driving down a road yesterday called arbutus which i thought sounded like arcturus except… lamer, and you know these things are blending together, aren’t they, in raw mercury square neptune fashion!)
Last night my right arm became simi-numb and today it still is. My function in that extremity is challenged today.
( And while it looks like it could be the source of difficulties, I’ve been working with another theory — that this retrograde will contain keys to solving intractable problems. I would say that much of the turbulence will serve as a wakeup call for any situation that’s still dominated by denial.)
I don’t know what is happening but I assume you are correct and something long hidden is coming up for review.
comboyiam, are you hydrated enough? Another thing (to eat) would be buckwheat to strengthen the walls of the blood vessels and green smoothies à la Alessandro Junger and Clean or Green for life (or I am grateful (the recipe book from café gratitude or raw! by Juliano as ideas)
Look after yourself, hope you just pinched a nerve!
I’ve often wondered whether ‘inferior’ was actually a typo.
i have observed miracles this month and am also revisiting my family history and the history of my siblings, especially my sister who has been in the hospital and will be for the near future after suffering a severe stroke. She also was the victim of physical abuse at the hands of our father, now deceased, something she has never come to terms with. I know she has too, I think this may force her too, I don’t know. It’s her battle but today a distant cousin across the U.S. reached out to me to discuss a picture he found of our father and his desire to share it with us and talk about her. Of course, my sister has no desire to go there, but I am listening (I did not suffer the abuse, thankfully, perhaps I was just too young to suffer at the hands of our father before he died). I don’t know how this will play out but I am certain that all of this is activated by what is going on cosmically, and I just hope that I can help where I can. It is uncanny what has happened this month, totally uncanny.