Mercury tends to initiate a retrograde three times a year. Every third Mercury retrograde is what you might call the “slow one” – when Mercury takes about three weeks to travel only about ten degrees in reverse. This is what Mercury is doing now. Because speed is a big part of Mercury’s astrological interpretation, that’s information you should be aware of.

Of all objects orbiting the Sun, none finishes a lap with more rapidity than Mercury. Of all things moving around the zodiac, only the Moon makes a complete circuit of the twelve signs faster. It would therefore be fair to say that Mercury is not its usual astrological self right now.

Then, throw in another factor. Every sign takes up exactly 30 degrees on the rim of the zodiac wheel. Therefore, any object moving forth and back (and forth again) within a range of only about ten degrees is quite likely to be doing so without crossing a sign cusp. Yet, this time, Mercury will have crossed the cusp between Aries and Taurus three times before it finally breaks out of the narrow corridor it’s now slowly oscillating within. That’s important data too.

Regardless of whether it’s a tangible object or calculated point, location matters. As shamanic astrologer Sheila Belanger puts it, the object or point in question is like an actor, and the sign is its costume. As anybody who has seen a theatrical production knows, a change of costume nearly always implies some sort of change in character.

Hence, during the entire forth-back-and forth process now taking place, Mercury will be implicitly changing character three times while being something other than its usual self during the whole time. When you consider how many correlations Mercury makes to your earthly reality, the unusual combination of a slowest retrograde and three sign changes probably (among other things) means you should keep your mind constantly in mind.

Among many other things (such as transportation, communication, electronics, media, data, digits, and maybe even your Swiss Army Knife), Mercury nearly always correlates to your mind and your mind’s means of expressing itself. Given that one correspondence, it would be prudent to examine your own thinking before making it known. Given what’s going on with the rest of the zodiac, you might want to take even greater precautions before acting on your thoughts.

The Sun is in solid Taurus. Even that location, however, cannot insure stability for the Sun’s earthly corollary of consciousness – especially if your mind is fixated on attachments. The Moon, for it’s part, is currently but a waxing crescent in Gemini until late Saturday (or early Sunday, depending on your time zone) – plausibly representing initial conditions which need careful tending over the next week or so to insure an intended fruition over the next month.

Then there is Venus. Just today, Venus (in direct motion once again) crossed the cusp between Pisces and Aries for the third time. In doing so, the previously retrograde Venus has implicitly anticipated the value of this particular Mercury retrograde for each and all of us.

Also significantly, there is Mars – a planet corresponding to action if ever there was one. With Mars presently traversing Gemini (ruled by Mercury) there is an indicated possibility of thought becoming action in what can only be called a thoughtless way.

Finally, there is the background. Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto are moving through very long retrogrades of their own – each essentially taking in recent experience according to their respective nature. Uranus is still keeping close company with Eris to make our times euphemistically (and perhaps even unprecedentedly) interesting enough to drive a mind to distraction. And Neptune in Pisces is at least as powerful in fact as young people drunk on tequila imagine themselves to be.

All told, all the sign ruling objects are making this perhaps the most salient weekend for what can only be called an uncharacteristic Mercury. Luckily, your mind is yours to look after. Even more fortunately, your basic process for doing so is not complicated. It starts with thinking consciously about your thoughts so that you will not draw a blank should somebody later ask you what you could possibly have been thinking.

Then, to reduce the possibility that somebody would question your thoughts, think again before speaking. Last, but not least, share your thoughts with at least one trusted and stable other (and listen to their thoughts in turn) before acting. The protocol herein described may indeed be a lot of work, but ultimately, thoughtless action and speech usually prove to be even more so.

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