Mercury Direct
Oh, joy! Mercury, planet of communication, finally goes Direct after three weeks of Retrograde! This fast-moving planet went Retrograde on 30th of January this year, and heads Direct on 20th February. And in case you were thinking “isn’t Mercury always Retrograde?”, he’s not. In fact, Mercury only Retrogrades a maximum of four times a year, actually. It just feels like he’s always up to his tricks.
After all, Mercury is the Trickster Archetype, the mythological Roman God of the clever plans of thieves and mischief. However, his tricks aren’t the silly type – he is called the “wise trickster”, reminding us that even these most irritating and confusing times can lead to greater insight and wisdom. That’s the gift of Mercury Retrograde.
When a planet Retrogrades, they ask us to look within, to review and reflect a little more to stop our hectic planning and constant focus on progress, and to, instead, circle back and think again. We experience this in our linear world as infuriating, when we aren’t in tune with what Mercury’s message is. After all, he’s Hermes, the messenger of the Gods – and he has something to share with us.
In Aquarius, Mercury is very strong, and has the gift of brilliance and far-seeing insight. Mercury in Aquarius thinks big, thinks idealistically, with vision. This planet sees the truth far into the future, and comes up with innovative plans. Aquarius is not a sign that conforms, and anything that deviates from mainstream ideas appeals to Mercury in Aquarius – this is an energy many of us have been tapping into.
Mercury has met with Jupiter twice during his sojourn in Aquarius, amongst other planetary meetings, But, his last Ptolemaic aspect during his stay in Aquarius will be to visit Jupiter again. Jupiter represents the wisdom archetype, the philosopher and the teacher. The big-ideas planet.
So, as Mercury meets up with the largest planet in our solar system, our ideas and visions get even bigger and more visionary. We can consolidate the brilliant ideas that came to us over the last couple of weeks and gain more insight and understanding, marrying the details with the bigger picture.
For many of us, we’ll be sharing and exchanging ideas and opinions enthusiastically the rest of the way into March. This is very much the teaching/learning aspect, and focusses on education – of ourselves, of the masses and so on.
What will also be important to remember, is that Mercury has a “shadow period” which started a few weeks before he actually went Retrograded and lasts for a few weeks after he officially goes Direct. That’s why it all still feels, well, a bit wobbly on the communication, tech and travel side of things until 13 March. Two days later, on March 15th, Mercury heads into Pisces and his long visit to ingenious and humanitarian Aquarius ends.
Our focus shifts from the group, from our friends, communities and thoughts of the future, to intuitive, empathetic, spiritual and compassionate topics. We go a little deeper with these visions, in other words, and we look at how to implement our airy-fairy ideas into the world in a helpful, caring way.
