The Big Line-Up – Mercury and Jupiter In Retrograde

Posted by Len Wallick

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Len Wallick suggests you defer any need for precision or meaning as Mercury approaches the middle of its retrograde in Aquarius, and Jupiter approaches the middle of its retrograde in Leo — with their respective conjunction and opposition to the Sun and Earth. Instead, try standing in wonder of and appreciation for the sheer majesty of celestial beauty and cosmic timing.

Mercury and Jupiter, the only two sign-ruling planets in apparent retrograde motion right now, are lined up with Earth and the Sun. The alignment is getting tighter by the day. It is an arrangement that begs you to defer any need for precision or meaning so as to simply stand in wonder of and appreciation for the sheer majesty of celestial beauty and cosmic timing.

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Yet, implicit meaning and functional precision are in much in evidence as the smallest fully-fledged planet (Mercury) and the largest one (Jupiter) move in unlikely synchronicity with Earth.

We might begin deriving interpretation of the Big Line-Up with Jupiter because you can see it with your own eyes. It’s the steady bright light in the East after dark. You can distinguish Jupiter from Sirius (or Canis Major, Orion’s faithful dog), shining fiercely to the South of Jupiter by the fact that stars tend to twinkle and planets don’t.

If you have been watching Jupiter lately, you may also have noticed it’s a little lower in the East for a given time every successive night. That’s what Jupiter retrograde looks like, rising a bit later every evening.

In the middle its Leo retrograde period (which started on Dec. 8 and ends on April 8) Jupiter will oppose the Aquarius Sun on Feb. 6.

What astrologers call an opposition actually means Earth will be moving between Jupiter and the Sun while “lapping” Jupiter’s apparently slower motion from our inside lane. This process creates the illusion of Jupiter in reverse.

Nonetheless, Jupiter’s approach to oppose the Aquarius Sun from Leo functions very much like the template for all oppositions — a Full Moon. First, Jupiter will be rising just as the Sun sets, just like a Full Moon does. Secondly, Jupiter will be at its brightest, also like a Full Moon.

Finally, manifestations of Jupiter in your life (expansion, amplification, optimism and excess) will likely become more exaggerated as Jupiter approaches and reaches opposition to the Sun. You can probably see such expressions developing in and around you already.

Interestingly, and in unlikely synchrony, Mercury is nearing the middle of its Aquarius retrograde period (which started on Jan. 21 and ends Feb. 11) just as Jupiter enters the middle of its Leo retrograde period on the opposite side of the zodiac and the sky. Nevertheless, the process will play out very differently because Mercury has the inside lane on Earth.

Hence, there will never be a Mercury opposition, because Earth will never pass between Mercury and the Sun. Thank goodness for that; no amount of sunscreen or air conditioning would help us if such were to be the case.

Instead of an opposition, Mercury has two types of conjunction with the Sun. The exterior (or ‘superior’) opposition comes when Mercury is in the middle of a period of direct motion, traversing the other side of the Sun, but still occupying the same degree of the same sign with the Sun on the zodiac — which is a conjunction defined. We are not approaching that sort of Mercury conjunction with the Sun now.

Instead, we are now approaching an interior (or ‘inferior’) conjunction of Mercury with the Sun at 8:45 am EST (13:45 UTC) on Friday. That means Mercury will be passing between Earth and the Sun as it laps us, once again creating an illusion of backward motion in the process, but not an illusion you will be able to see.

Mercury at interior conjunction is hidden in solar glare in very much the same way that the template for all conjunctions (a New Moon) is — rising with and traveling across the daytime sky with the Sun.

That’s how Mercury’s conjunction with the Sun on Friday will probably play out much as a New Moon does, except substituting Mercury’s many and varied associations for lunar archetypes.

First, it will be the beginning of a new cycle between the solar representation of consciousness and Mercury’s mentally associated attributes. The new cycle will eventually manifest visibly with Mercury re-appearing in the East before sunrise after the middle of February, following its recent disappearance from the West after sunset.

Additionally, the impending conjunction from the Sun to retrograde Mercury will (once again, like a New Moon) represent a merger of energies. Indeed, you may already be experiencing some difficulty quieting the mind to simply be conscious.

So that’s the Big Line-Up for you. Not something that happens every Mercury retrograde. Not something that comes with every Jupiter retrograde, either.

It’s not perfect or precise, but close enough to connect Leo’s imperative towards extroversion with Aquarius cultivations through a rare cosmic alignment.

It’s a string of pearls (Jupiter, Earth, Mercury and the Sun) of which you are a part. It is beyond meaning, and is perhaps best taken in a state of awe and reverence for how all of us must somehow be similarly aligned with each other and with greater things, both evident and unseen.

Offered In Service

Len is available for astrology readings. You can contact him at lenwallick [at] gmail [dot] com.

Posted in Columnist on | 17 comments
Len Wallick

About Len Wallick

Besides endeavoring to be of service to all of you here at Planet Waves, Len strives to live in Seattle while working as a professional astrologer. To contact him for an astrology reading you can send an e-mail to: lenwallick@gmail.com. His telephone number is 206-356-5467. In addition to his profession, Len contributes to the Seattle community without monetary compensation by serving as a Reiki practitioner and teacher through classes and outreach offered by the Seattle Reiki Mastery Series modality.

17 thoughts on “The Big Line-Up – Mercury and Jupiter In Retrograde

  1. aWord

    “Indeed, you may already be experiencing some difficulty quieting the mind to simply be conscious.”
    Indeed, Len! With all this activity so close to natal Sun, AC and Be’s magic AQ11 (natal DC) I’m exhausted from my own mental wave-making. I have given up trying to quiet my mind for the time being, and instead just do my best to flow with the strong currents and relax into the undertow, knowing I’ll pop out again, better’n’ever in the next “over”tow.

  2. Len WallickLen Wallick Post author

    aWord: It is encouraging to know my service today resonated so well with concurrent transits to your nativity. Your supportive words in response are deeply appreciated. Thank you so very much.

  3. JeanMarieYoniyoganidra

    Oh yes, stars “twinkle” and planets in apparent retrograde motion “lap one another” … there have been moments in the past few days where my customary inspired yet grounded mind is twinkling and lapping itself, causing me to wonder what is more real; my dream time or my awake time.

    I am starting to get how we can dream ourselves awake!

  4. Barbara Koehler

    Fascinating stuff Len, I’ll want to re-read to absorb it to the fullest! Meanwhile, before I forget, the exact opposition between Jupiter and Mercury on 3/1/15 features a grand trine between Jupiter, Uranus and the Great Attractor. Mercury will not only oppose Jupiter but sextile both Uranus and the GA. To me this qualifies as a kite configuration, although some might not agree since the GA isn’t a planet orbiting the Sun. Bah, humbug.

    Recall that the Jupiter Mercury conjunction on August 2nd was square Mars indicating challenges in communicating, travel and thought processing. At their cycle midpoint (opposition) Jupiter and Mercury will have gone beyond the limits (Saturn) of the norm by engaging with outer energies symbolized by Uranus and the GA. Yet, on the day that Jupiter exacts his trine to Uranus (3/3), Mercury will also exact a quintile to Saturn (meaning spiritual will can transcend physical limitations). That sounds like it could produce a breakthrough!

    Also, when Jupiter and Mercury made their conjunction last summer, Chiron was retrograde at 16+ Pisces, and now at their coming opposition Chiron will have returned to 16+ Pisces, reinforcing his part of their cycle; healing. The Sabian Symbol for Chiron’s position in both cases is:

    AN EASTER PARADE – Keynote “The capacity inherent in all great sociocultural Images to unite the members of a community in a display of excellence”. Dane Rudhyar says the image tells us “It is time for conformity to what constitutes the highest ideals of one’s culture and for PARTICIPATION IN COLLECTIVE PEAK EXPERIENCES”

    Several years ago I wrote a response to one of your blogs about how I felt like a kite barely tethered to the earth, and that any day I might be blown free. That was because so much of what was happening (to me and the rest of the world) took me further and further away from the stable (Saturn) life within community I’d developed over the years. A Kite formation in astrology provides an opportunity for the energy of a grand trine (this one will be in Fire signs) through it’s focal point (this time it will be Jupiter) to express the power of the grand trine (with Uranus and the Great Attractor). Jupiter will be opposed to Mercury who will be quintile Saturn.

    That could be a time when a lot of us could have the experience of flying high and I’m thinking that with Mercury’s retrograde conjunction with the Sun on Friday it could be a preview or a seeding of that experience of Uranus (breakthrough), GA (powerful attraction), Jupiter (understanding) and Mercury (communicating) in their kite form. I’ll be thinking about what you said here, “it’s a string of pearls”.
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  5. Len WallickLen Wallick Post author

    Yoniyoganidra: Thank you for your cogent insight into the theme of my service offered. What you have “spoken” to and the way you have phrased the relationships between the qualities involved is a deeply appreciated boost to my own understanding.

    Barbara: Speaking of understanding, thank you so very much for bringing the the gift of your long reach into and broad grasp of astrology’s current and impending developments. For myself, i don’t have any problem with including the Great Attractor in a “kite” configuration (or any other form of aspect). Anything that helps us to understand both the GA and the greater thrust of the astrology (often demonstrated by the more complex compounded/combined aspects such as the “kite”) is useful information. Readers with the “kite” as part of their natal, progressed and/or return astrology should especially take note .

  6. Len WallickLen Wallick Post author

    Jude: Thank you for being so kind in your appraisal. It’s gratifying to know you were receptive to my advocacy of something other than analytical precision in order to more fully appreciate our current astrological motifs.

  7. Nicolas Salinas

    A truly Aquarian display of creating magically with knowledge. You had me chasing lights and sparks until I just had to, as you say of this moment, stand back in awe. I will not pretend to know too much astrology from now, I’m humbled, instead I’ll just admire and trust more what you say Len, I have more confidence in you now after this piece than before, and before I sure had confidence in what you said! Thank you and by the way, I read on the last post you were of the Aquarian “brew”, I saw you had to defend your constellation, haha. Well, see you Len and thank you once again.

  8. Len WallickLen Wallick Post author

    Nicolas: My thanks to you in turn. My further endeavors will be to remain worthy of your trust and confidence. May all constellations and brews require no defense, only that we look up to one as we look up to all as one with a grander call.

    1. Nicolas Salinas

      Len, I read your article very late last night and kept on wondering, just wanted to say, and perhaps needlessly but I will anyway, that what I saw in your article, what you did here is, in my thoughts, a sample of the craft of how “The great city in the sky” is made, meaning I saw a vision of how a Uranus/Aquarian idea manifests in such a great way that I started looking at the beautiful details of what you were talking about, then I realized it was just a part of a much bigger “picture” which I just had to stand back and admire. This may be repetitive of my previous comment but I write this anyway. The idea of “The great city in the sky” is something I read about vaguely somewhere in the past but left me very much impressed, don’t know what the thoughts about this idea are here on PW but I just wanted to share my thoughts. I have been thinking of Aquarius very much lately, don’t know if it is because of Mercury or the Sun and curiously enough I have been very sleepless and feeling very much awake, even wanting to be awake all the time because I seem to perceiving that there’s so much to do, all the time, everyday, so much to think about also, and learn. Well, hope I can read your thoughts on this or if I am asking too much, let me just suggest for maybe one day a piece concerning this vision of “The Great City in the Sky”.

  9. Michael MayesMichael Mayes

    Thanks Len! I am feeling this bit about deferring the implicit meaning of “The Big Line-Up”. There are times when all I can do is sit back, and marvel at the “majesty” of astrology without pinpointing the meaning of it all. My left brain is downshifting from the past two weeks of hyper-analysis. That said, I’m looking forward to the Mercury/Sun conjunction to begin a new cycle.

  10. Len WallickLen Wallick Post author

    Nicolas: Thank you for your follow-up inquiry. Speaking only for myself, “The Great City In the Sky” sounds suspiciously like Plato’s Republic with electricity – a nice place to visit, but i would not want to live there. Also, one must remember that Saturn is the original and traditional ruler of Aquarius. As traced last week by Eric, the origins of Uranus as a ruler of Aquarius are (perhaps appropriately) controversial at best. That being said, one may make a good case for how the very survival of humanity is (paraphrasing Norman O. Brown) the utopian imperative of our time. To attain that ideal, however, will require grounded realism and cooperative effort.

    1. Nicolas Salinas

      Thank you Len, it’s good to read your thoughts, yeah it does sound like that now that you say and I think in those circumstances I agree with you. Thanks for the heads up on Aquarius’ original ruler and for pointing out the basics.

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