Mercury Turns Retrograde

Mercury Turns Retrograde - The Cleanup

"Grace, respect, reserve, and empathetic listening are qualities sorely missing from the public discourse now."

— Meryl Streep

The ongoing 'cleanup', initiated by last week's Leo New Moon continues this week. By the end of the week, there will be no less than six retrograde bodies: Pluto, Saturn, Neptune, Chiron, Venus, and Mercury. Uranus will station retrograde next Monday and when Venus turns direct on September 3rd, Jupiter will station retrograde the very next day, on September 4th. This extraordinary retrograde activity emphasizes the "profound reordering" underway in the current lunar cycle. This is a realignment with long term implications and offers important opportunities to prepare for Pluto's next ingress into Aquarius early next year. Mars opposes Neptune on Tuesday, which might sometimes suggest a great deal of creativity but there is simply too much unpredictability in this atmosphere to follow through on the creative inspiration. In fact, our intuition is likely to be quite unreliable during the height of the opposition. Attempts to anticipate instead of simply respond are most likely to lead us off course. As well, our responses need to be measured and well considered. There are numerous temptations to respond recklessly. The Sun arrives in Virgo on Wednesday just as Mercury turns retrograde in Virgo. The emphasis is on cleanup: clearing away debris from our past which keeps us from fully appreciating and respecting ourselves and honoring our overall contributions to the world around us. We are likely to feel pulled between opposing situations or perspectives and challenged by the need to make continuing adjustments to adapt to the changing landscape. In this atmosphere, we will find that we can be of the most service to others by simply listening as those around us try to process the changes and challenges. Rather than trying share any 'wisdom' which we may (or may not) feel that we have to share, if we simply listen with empathy and caring, we will encourage others to find their own inner wisdom. Intuition becomes a bit more reliable by the end of the week. The Moon arrives in Capricorn on Saturday and the Sun opposes Saturn. While this may produce what seems to be a rather oppressive environment, it will help us to embrace responsibility and accountability. Mercury's retrograde motion will take it back into a trine to Jupiter by September 4th (at Jupiter's retrograde station), which will help us to find a big picture perspective that we can begin to share more easily and productively with those around us.

We are likely to feel overwhelmed on Sunday. We are presented with too many different kinds of challenges, ideas, or opportunities to effectively process. Pressure increases on Monday. The reliability of our intuition begins to slip. We need to try to organize our thoughts enough to respond effectively instead of trying to anticipate future challenges. Surprising shifts continue to challenge us on Tuesday. We may be tempted to take reckless action when we really need to just focus on 'clean up'. Staying focused and grounded isn't easy on Wednesday but staying with the 'process' will provide opportunities to regain some stability. There is some nervousness in the atmosphere on Thursday. The urge to take action is tempered with a desire to dig deeper in search of further information. The environment is rather chaotic on Friday. We should avoid seeking shortcuts. We are rewarded by taking time to listen to the 'plight' of others. The atmosphere may feel somewhat oppressive on Saturday but provides us with some much needed incentive to take responsibility and embrace accountability.