Just after midnight on Labor Day Monday, September 7, Mercury made a Retrograde station in early Libra. Several days later, on September 11, Pluto makes a Direct station in early Capricorn. Mercury is square Pluto– Mercury is in social Libra, while Pluto is in social-order Capricorn. Retrogrades are about timing. This is about the timing of influence.
And this is a Cardinal square. We are ready for action! Or are we just ready to raise the anger-speech level.
As Mercury makes its Retrograde station in Libra, it has just squared Pluto (August 26) and will again, twice (September 17 and October 10). This is not over. As Mercury moves between a conjunction to Saturn and a square to Pluto, it is announcing the approaching Cardinal t-square between Saturn-Pluto and Uranus.
When Mercury makes a Retrograde station, it is rising ahead of the Sun and moving at a cranked up pace that is unsustainable. On Earth, we tend to get more aggressive just before the Mercury Retrograde effect begins (when Mercury starts to slow down). It seems that information is coming at us too fast to sort it all out. Slogans are flying. Especially in early Libra, a Cardinal point of initiation, everyone wants to interact. Everyone wants to share an opinion that shows they understand what’s happening– and they fit in. In a hyper state of mind, slogans can have more influence than well thought-out plans and explanations. We are not listening, but we are talking– fast. Faster than we can sort it out.
Meanwhile, Pluto is making a Direct station. This means Pluto is not moving which means that society as a whole is not evolving, but will be soon. Right now, as Mercury stations Rx and Pluto Direct, we are not really sure which direction is right. And what it all means. There is considerable power at odds with the messages we are receiving. What is the real agenda or intention behind the words we say and hear? Getting angry because someone asks you to look at something could be a clue that you are covering up real fears with excuses. And this can become more of a real issue as Saturn, planet of responsibility, comes to square Pluto. [Mercury has already made a conjunction with Saturn, and carried its message to square Pluto. Mercury will conjunct Saturn twice and then square Pluto again two more times in Fall 2009. Then Saturn will square Pluto starting in November 2009, continuing through August 2010, all while Saturn opposes Uranus.] As Pluto stations Direct, it’s a good time to look at who we are becoming, as a whole. It’s a good time to look at our behavior, personally, professionally, politically. What we are saying may reveal more of our deeper fears than we may realize right now. Ultimately, this will be healing, meanwhile it is a challenge.
Yet, as Pluto stations Direct, power starts to become more accessible. Word-games can gain influence, and their power can be even more subtly penetrating. When we speak in slogans, or bytes, what are we really saying? While it’s good to clear our minds, yet not to whitewash over important ideas. Events happening now require attention to detail and rushing past those details can have a personal effect on every person living now and in the future. We all have power. How will we use it? Will we tear down others because of illusions and slogans? Will we make judgments based on facts, or on what we kinda think maybe is happening because of some slogan we heard or image in our mind? What are we choosing to do with our brains? That’s where our power begins. If our minds are filled with catchy ads and slogans, how clearly can we be thinking? The realization now is: what each of us thinks IS important. All of us make the whole. We are all part of the whole of the planet, the larger brain. Each of us has a part to play. All of our opinions count. So it is in our best interests to be as informed as we can so our opinions are just and not based on something we taken out of context and twisted for personal and/or political gain.
As Mercury starts to move backwards and enters Virgo (September 17), we get another chance to chew over the details. There is something we are not digesting, and it is threatening to cover up some important details. Yet, we are lucky. Mercury Rx often comes just as we go way too far. Just when we think there is nothing that can stop us now, we don’t have to answer to our conscience or facts- is exactly when Mercury makes its Retrograde stations.
As Pluto starts to move Direct, the movement of society can be more fully integrated. The goals of any extremist (Pluto) segment can start to lose their overwhelming power over the whole, as the entire world moves in a general direction. Even though we may wobble and even move backwards at times, in general, evolution has a motion and we all move in that direction. I’m not saying where or what that is, only that we all move in that direction, as a whole.
We have a few weeks to reconsider some stressed out comments and decisions we made as Mercury squared Pluto and approached its Retrograde statio. Now that Mercury is actually Retrograde, we have time to re-think snap judgments. And we will want to do that because Mercury will re-enter Libra and square Pluto again. At Equinox, the Sun will conjunct Mercury and Saturn and then square Pluto. Balanced solutions to real problems will be even more crucial. We may find our real power comes from understanding. True judgment is based on helping all of society, not only certain factions.
To clarify– and balance– your judgments before Mercury returns to Libra on October 9, here are some questions you can take ‘to go’…
How do you judge and how are your judgments helpful or hurtful to others, and yourself?
Are the judgments of others hurting or helping your chances of success?
How do the judgments you pass or feel from others make you feel? Enthusiastic? Or boxed in!
Where are they coming from, within yourself. How do your beliefs influence how you judge you?!
Do you let your need for power cloud your judgment?
If you do find yourself in a tight spot now, what information or thoughts are you overlooking? You may be forgetting something important, or not using available information to make decisions.
More on Mercury Retrograde to come! Next week Saturn opposes Uranus, and inconjuncts Neptune. Saturn has already moved into 24 degrees Virgo, forming a partile (in the same degree) opposition to Retrograde Uranus. That accelerates their influence. This is a big deal and there’s more to share about these important outer planet transitsp– not to mention Fall Equinox. I also have some concepts on the Day of At-One-Ment on September 28.
For now,
wishing you
Love&Trines,
Lauren
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