Mercury Slows

Mercury Slows - Independent Vision

"Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen."

—John Steinbeck

Mercury slows down all week, turning retrograde just after the week ends (December 3rd). We begin the week intent upon freely pursuing our own, independent vision. We would rather avoid any input that provokes conflicts that might distract us or take us off course. However, by the end of the week, we are likely to realize that the big picture is too big for us to contemplate alone (independently) — the need for cooperation and compromise becomes apparent. Essentially, our individual attempts to capture and restrain the intense stream of new ideas and inspiration becomes overwhelming, setting up our need to go back and check our work in cooperation with others. We are likely to try a variety of strategies to maintain a free, independent course. We may try to simply avoid any discussion that might lead to uncomfortable questions or conflict. However, the resulting frustration at trying to keep the peace is more than likely to produce some rather passive-aggressive attempts to distract others or change the subject. There is a strong temptation to use clever, intellectual mind games to keep others off-balance while we look for some way to maintain our independence — instead of working cooperatively. However, the cleverness only adds to the confusion as Mercury stations to go retrograde and we approach next week's Full Moon (December 3rd, 11° Gemini/Sagittarius 7:46 AM PST).

Freedom is paramount on Sunday and we're focused on keeping the peace in order to avoid stirring up any uncomfortable questions or challenges. Staying on our independent course seems more difficult on Monday but we're still trying to avoid any open conflicts. The resulting frustration is likely to produce some passive-aggressive attempts to change the subject. The tactics shift on Tuesday, when we realize that we may need the help of others. There are significant concerns over trusting the wrong people with our new ideas. We may seek to display our cleverness, without fully showing our hand. However, this may only serve to add to the confusion. We reach a peak of personal confidence on Wednesday and abandon our concern over keeping the peace as Mars opposes Uranus. We could easily go too far in any attempts to change the minds of others. Confidence dissipates quickly on Thursday as the situation seems to spiral out of control. Venus gets to Sagittarius on Friday, which helps to restore some optimism and encourage a more philosophical, cooperative approach. Our perspective seems to be stretched past the breaking point on Saturday, ahead of the Full Moon and Mercury's turnaround. Rather than work too hard to draw meaningful conclusions, we'll need to look for ways to detach (let go) and open up to honestly sharing our perspectives with others.

Read Today's Forecast