Mercury Retrograde's Halfway Point

We ended last time with a mention of Mercury.  As of last evening at 9:04 PM EDT Mercury made its inferior conjunction to the Sun.  This is the time we have been waiting for. At the halfway point in the retrograde cycle with the inferior connection to the Sun, the information that was needed, that Mercury left its throne on Olympus to find, has made its connection to the source of life, our goals, and purpose, the Sun.  If you woke up the last few days with a new thought consider that Mercury has brought you a message that is useful for your future.

Another point to be made is Mercury's larger cycle that includes the time frame from July 15th to September 9th.  Although we all know that Mercury is in apparent retrograde for only about 3 weeks, there are shoulder or shadows time periods when issues first arose that will be addressed in the cycle and will finally get resolved. 

If you go back to July 15th you will find that whatever was on your mind at that time, in whatever department of life (or house in your natal chart) the sign Leo governs, the issues you would be grappling with first came to the surface.  These issues should see resolution around the time of Mercury's direct station on the 26th of August at 6: 05 PM EDT, as Mercury again passes 18 degrees of Leo. 

The final solution of the Mercury retrograde cycle however will not be until September 9th when Mercury again passes 1 degree of Virgo (the sign after Leo).  This is important to consider because when Mercury went retrograde August 2nd he did so facing the planet Neptune.  Therefore this whole retrograde cycle when we are seeking new information has been clouded by the spirtual or illusionary planet Neptune.

When you think about all that has occured in these past few weeks, you realize that we were under a cloud and could not see clearly.  This would be true for each of us in some area of our lives, not everything.  When Mercury again passes 1 degree of Virgo on Friday September 9th-the cloud or confusion that Neptune brings to our thinking will dispearse.  Neptune also connects us to the divine, to the egoless state we are in during meditation. This month should have been a terrific time for those affairs, but not so great for financial matters, where Neptune can augur loss or dissillusion. 

So What IS Going on in Our Country???

Alot it seems for a Mercury retrograde period.  Why is that? The next two big planetary pairs to coincide with a change in consciousness, Uranus and Pluto, have entered the theater.  They were last in conjunction (together in the sky) 1960-72 when all the social reforms, the Social Security Act with Medicare and Medicaid, the sexual revolution with "the pill', the women's movement (NOW), immigration reform, civil rights and the war on poverty, were enacted.     Uranus and Pluto were in a closing 90 degree square late 1920's-mid 1930's, when gold was confiscated by the US government, several years of financial panic followed and the dollar devalued, among other worldwide social changes.  Uranus and Pluto have been coming closer to exactness since January and the "Arab Spring".  They are as close as they will get to each other this year, these weeks, late July to mid August.  Next June 2012 they will begin a series of 7 exact  passes through 2015, we had only 4 passes in the 30's. What we are seeing now is only the beginning of a universal human awakening of our instinct  to survive -that same call that the young Egyptians responded to.   Uranus the reformer who wants freedom, brings a sudden uprising or awakening and meets Pluto, who symbolizes the struggle for survival, who over turns the staus quo so that things are never the same after.  (Think Egypt those young people had no idea that their protests last January would result in their leader in jail, on trial 7 months later-much less the movement spreading throughout their region).  These 2 planets in early cardinal signs are affecting the USA's natal Venus (finances and values) and Jupiter (lots of).  And then in a few years our natal Sun (our identity).   Uranus the awakener and Pluto the reformer have been triggered by the planet Mars (action, energy and sometimes violence) these past few days as that planet entered Cancer (feelings and domestic security) so the the nastiness of the long drawn out debt ceiling debate, the market crashing, the USA's credit rating getting downgraded because we are seen as not being able to govern ourselves, the single worst days for American casualities in Afghanistan -are all events that fit the symbolism of the planetary movements. This turbulence should continue through mid August as Mars moves through Cancer triggering the planetary setup in our natal chart. This is of course in conjunction with the USA having her Saturn return when the belt must tighten as we have gotten too fat (our natural tendency with a Venus and Jupiter conjunction). Saturn returns happen every 29 1/2 years, even in our own lives and mark a time period of constriction and downsizing, when we are called upon to mature, to take responsibility, to live according to who we are.    Our natal Saturn is in the 10th house of reputation, how we are seen and Saturn is there again. The last time Saturn came around the Sun to this place was in 1981-82 with Ronald Regan as president. The conservative Federalist Society was formed at that time with the express mandate to get more conservative lawyers on the Supreme Court. (They did it!!) On the previous exact Saturn return, October 22 1981, we were informed that the national debt topped 1 trillion dollars-sound familiar? Saturn  makes a 90 square to our natal Sun (our identity) in our natal chart,  indicating we are fearful (Saturn) of change and must be forced into it (a square).  So we see that it is timely that the conservative forces are so strong, people want to talk about debt  and we are experiencing a down grade to our reputation and status in the world.    And then there is Mercury.....