Mercury Trine Ceres

Mercury Trine Ceres - Intellectual Protection

"Can I see another's woe,
And not be in sorrow too.
Can I see another's grief,
And not seek for kind relief."

—William Blake,
Songs of Innocence and of Experience

Mercury slows down to station retrograde this week (on Thursday), making an extended trine to Ceres and a quick sextile to Venus. Mercury trine Ceres, working together, suggest a powerfully expansive and supportive atmosphere this week, encouraging positive action and 'life-giving' support. But Mercury, stationing in Leo, brings some significant ego involvement into whatever solutions or assistance we want to apply to the challenges we see others facing. Mercury retrograde in Leo can encourage us to be rather unrealistic about the amount of power we actually have to change our own circumstances — let alone the circumstances that we can see others facing. The Mercury-Venus sextile, coming at the end of the week just after Mercury turns retrograde, suggests attempts to find compromise and at least some ability to talk through possible solutions. It is important to recognize that Ceres in Aries can produce a significant impatience factor if we don't see others doing everything they can to 'help themselves' — or effectively use the help that we are trying to offer. Ultimately, the lessons this week are more geared towards compassionately witnessing and empathetically acknowledging the circumstances of others — not impatiently trying to fix everything. The approach of Mars (ruling Ceres in Aries) to the South Node — a conjunction that will complete at the beginning of next week — increases the tendency to make impulsive attempts to find solutions to the challenges of others. The increasing impulsiveness suggests a tendency to try to do more than is reasonable or feasible. It is important to maintain a broad enough perspective to acknowledge the challenges that others are facing without overreacting to their pain and losing our own objectivity. The key is to develop understanding, compassion, and empathy without assuming that we, as individuals, actually have the 'real power' to impose solutions. Under the waning lunar cycle that was quietly punctuated by last Thursday's Capricorn Full Moon (1:36 PM PDT 18° Capricorn/Cancer), we continue to struggle to find 'footholds' to achieve the accomplishments that the Capricorn Moon's message seemed to encourage. The pressure to find quick solutions only intensify our frustration when we see that our offered solutions don't produce the results that we believe they should. The Sun's square to Chiron, at the end of the week, caps off this week's confusing challenges surrounding our ability to show empathy and compassion while maintaining our own individual perspective — and accepting the limitations of our individual power.

Activity is stirred up on Sunday but it isn't easy to access the information that we need. We feel the need to make preparations but aren't sure exactly what we should be preparing for. We likely have more power than we think we do on Monday. It is important to acknowledge the challenges that others are facing without overreacting to their pain. A significant release of emotion on Tuesday provides an opening that allows us to better understand the challenges that others are facing. We may find some increased patience but we aren't likely to find many real opportunities to actually make forward progress. We are more likely to look for some way to withdraw on Wednesday, instead of sorting through the choices that are presented to us. However, there are fewer complications than we may think. Thursday's atmosphere is quite unpredictable. We may be prone to overreach — believing that we have more power than we actually do. There seems to be a sincere interest in understanding how to find agreement and compromise on Friday. The seriousness in the atmosphere is actually quite reassuring. Finding specific solutions that provide quick resolutions is generally elusive on Saturday, creating vague impatience. The more that we focus on 'detailed solutions' the more impatient we become but when we focus on developing deeper connection, the resources and solutions will seem to surface spontaneously.