Mercury Turns Retrograde

Mercury Turns Retrograde - Impatient Review

"To keep a lamp burning, we have to keep putting oil in it."

— Mother Teresa

Mercury turns retrograde in Aries on Monday of this week and will almost get back to exactly conjunct the North Node by the time it turns direct on April 25th. This is generally a time for us to work through 're-crafting' our unique individual message so that others can better understand us. Once again, the lessons of the February Chiron/North Node conjunction reverberate, reminding us again to more deeply investigate and strengthen our unique, individual sense of self and how we 'fit in' to the world around us. There is likely to be a great deal of impatience stirred up by Mercury's retrograde station. Although we're 'raring to go', we're instead guided into a period of further review and deeper examination of who we are and what message we want to bring to the world around us. The suggestion that we need to 'reconsider' anything may feel excruciating. Our impatience is stirred by an almost uncontrollable desire for freedom. However, our 'freedom' requires a significant foundation — 'supply lines' of support and foundational elements that we may not have fully considered. This week's desire for freedom is somewhat reminiscent of a small child who runs away after packing a quickly prepared sandwich but soon abandons the journey in favor of dinner. We need to think through the costs of our freedom and the support that we need from others. A Venus-Neptune conjunction, early in the week, stirs a 'heady' creative inspiration that can help us to balance our impatient desire for freedom with deeper insight and more respect for the value of community. Venus leaves Pisces after the conjunction with Neptune and arrives in Aries by Thursday. Venus is not usually very comfortable in aggressive Aries but, ruled by Mars in Pisces, the aggressiveness is softened enough to produce a more amiable demeanor and a magnetic charm. Ultimately, increasing optimism helps to produce the necessary balance between a free expression of our individuality and our need for connection with those around us. Under the retrograding Mercury, intuition becomes more and more important. Many will begin to feel a sense of anticipation ahead of next Monday's Aries New Moon (11:37 AM PDT 19° Aries Solar Eclipse), which will produce opportunities for a fresh start and powerful growing energy. The next New Moon will be exactly conjunct Chiron and continue to bring reverberations of the lessons we learned back in February. As well, there are even stronger waves of excitement coming from the developing Jupiter-Uranus conjunction, which will complete on April 21st. With some awareness, we can begin to feel a sense of continuity and a 'leading to' energy that will expand and develop throughout the month of April.

Although we may feel that we are doing better at expressing ourselves on Sunday, we can't control how our messages are received. Responses may be unpredictable and even erratic. Tension lurks just beneath the surface on Monday. We may be quite impatient with any need to slow down enough to let others get on the 'same page' with us. Impatience seems to wane on Tuesday. There is some insight available to remind us that freedom has a cost and we need to be properly prepared for what comes 'after' we have achieved our freedom. We turn an important corner on Wednesday and find significant creative inspiration and insight. Displays of independence begin to seem more interesting and less impetuous and 'out-of-touch'. The need to rely more heavily on intuition produces a rather tentative atmosphere on Thursday. Nonetheless, we're focused on testing out new strategies for expressing ourselves with a distinct individuality. We 'shift into gear' on Friday, guided by an intuitive sense of confidence and optimism. Charm is assertive but exciting and magnetic. With just the right balance on Saturday, we can begin to develop new skills for expressing ourselves without abandoning or alienating those around us. We feel a powerful determination to just make things work when it comes to working with others.