Like all Mercury retrograde periods, these three weeks offer a chance
to reorganize in the areas of our life ruled by Mercury. These are the
houses of your chart ruled by Gemini or Virgo, any planets in these
signs in your chart, and the house occupied by your natal, progressed,
or solar return Mercury.
All retrogrades show us that sometimes it is more important to be
inwardly oriented than outer-directed. These are times when our previous
activities "echo back" information about what we've already experienced
during a planetary direct motion phase.
When the inner planets are retrograde, our personal life is most
subject to review, reflection, re-doing or getting a new angle on those
affairs. When the outer planets are retrograde, we get the same process
of review but it impacts our place in the larger scheme of things,
whether social, cultural, or transpersonal-global.
When retrograde, Mercury, the "Guide of Souls," challenges us to
cultivate our personal understanding of our "fellowship with the
Eternal," explore our deeper issues and useful but overlooked details in
what's being discussed or asserted, take an unusual view, and allow
ourselves to be led by the future implications of what's happening. It’s
a time when we truly get a new look at many things and come to a
different understanding of how the various affairs of our inner and
outer life are coordinated, or need to be.
We can get different perspectives and insights into prior events,
messages, and signals, and can fill in important gaps in our
understanding. Sometimes it may seem like it's one step forward, two to
the side, one step back, one to the other side, then two steps forward,
but often we find that we are offered entirely new and crucial
perspectives and knowledge that can help us when it's time to move
forward again after the retrograde is past.
In part 1 we explored specific qualities of the present Mercury
retrograde period. The period before Mercury goes retrograde is
important in getting your paperwork and other life areas in shape, so
take note of early August and see what hit a threshold and now requires a
delay, research, or renewal.
For now, while Mercury is retrograde, please take this period to
re-trace ground covered in recent weeks, get new information and
interpretations of old ideas and perceptions, and find new points of
view. All these are great things to do while Mercury is retrograde. We
are now in a three week retrograde period to deal with things we've put
off, or take care of things from the past. This August-September 2010
Mercury retrograde is giving us new understanding about the events of
the past four months.
Once Mercury is retrograde, we often experience that communications
and other Mercury ruled areas are slower than usual. It's time to re-do,
review, rehearse, research, and take a new look at many things that
evolved to a threshold during the period before Mercury goes stationary
retrograde. So during this time we can again reconsider, reinterpret,
and rework Virgo issues and activities, seeing their significance from
new angles of understanding.
Looking back (a perfect thing to do during Mercury retrograde!), we
got Cancer insights during the Summer 2007 Mercury RX, and Scorpio
insights during the Autumn 2007 Mercury RX.
We got Aquarius insights during the early 2008 Mercury RX, and
insights about our Gemini areas during the Summer 2008 Mercury RX in
Gemini. We completed a natural Air trine of Mercury RX energies when it
went through Libra in Sept-Oct 2008, offering new insights about
relationships, judgments, balance, fairness, and ways we are or are not
being an equal with others in our world.
It moved through Aquarius in early 2009, offering insights about
our friendships, goals, ambitions, ideals, group work, larger vision of
how we can contribute to our world, how our love and enthusiasms are
exteriorizing, and the greatest good for the greatest number.
When it went back into Capricorn January 2009, we got insights about
our public self image, how we self-organized to make our lives more
effective, and how willing we were to embrace different ways to use
discipline and our power to take responsibility effectively.
In May 2009, we got new ways of communicating, researching,
understanding, and getting insights into how we can or should discover
blessings that can reward our faith and purity of heart. When it
retrograded through Taurus, we got to review values and how we use what
we have, or need, so that our new emerging self-images can be sustained.
In September, we got new perspectives in relationships and how equal
we are or are not, finding new ideals that prepared us for important
Saturn in Libra experiences beginning late October. When it slipped back
into Virgo, we got a review on how we needed to adjust to make our
lives more effective, or got a new look at work and/or health issues.
In December 2009 and January 2010, we got new perspectives on why we
had to surrender in certain ways in 2009, and found unique interactive
circumstances that fit our gifts, or gifts to fit our circumstances.
Adjustments helped us achieve closure while giving our curiosity
something to chew on in the way of ideas we've been externalizing since
February 2010.
In April-May 2010 we again got a look back at Taurus themes and
issues, and mobilized in some way that has been cooking steadily since
then. In this Virgo retrograde period, we'll not only get insights into
the Taurus energies that have been affecting us since Spring, but we'll
also get insights into Saturn lessons as they presented themselves when
Saturn occupied this Virgo retrograde span. That was October 2007
through February 2008, July 2008 through November 2008, and February
2009 through August 2009.
These times of Mercury retrograde in Earth are showing us how to be
practical in organizing our lives. Since last January, we've begun to
finish up some things, preparing to move into a more "limitless" set of
possibilities. We've now mobilized the Taurus areas of our chart, and by
mid-May began a slow, steady growth mode through the beginning of this
Mercury retrograde period. This continued Earth influence pervading
Mercury retrograde periods will last through December 2010, after which
the Fire element will begin to influence these periods in 2011 and 2012.
By learning about these recurring Mercury retrograde periods, we can
understand how to deal with them productively, as well as the months
afterward, which they also indirectly influence. Since this
August-September 2010 Mercury goes stationary at 20 Virgo and
retrogrades back to 6 Virgo, you can learn a lot about this coming
period by reading all you can about Mercury retrograde in Virgo.
You can get more information how this important time of Mercury
retrograde (which happens three times a year every year!) affects you
personally by getting a copy of my book "A New Look At Mercury
Retrograde" and reading the section on Mercury retrograde in the houses.
However, you can also get some very useful ideas of how it works by
consulting the article that I linked to in the first paragraph of this
article titled "How Does Mercury Retrograde Work in the Houses." The
ideas I offer there work, whether you're referencing the natal or Solar
charts.
To that end, the houses in astrology show us the specific areas of
our worldly affairs where we experience a given planetary influence. If
you know your natal chart, then read the corresponding house in the
article. However, whether you do or don't know your chart, you can find
out Mercury's approximate position in your solar houses (created by your
Sun sign position) by consulting this table:
For birthdays between:
Aug 11 to 27, read Mercury retrograde in the 1st house.
Aug 28 to Sept 10, 12th and 1st houses.
Sept 11 to 27, 12th house.
Sept 28 to Oct 11, 11th and 12th houses.
Oct 12 to 27, 11th house.
Oct 28 to Nov 10, 10th and 11th houses.
Nov 11 to 26, 10th house.
Nov 27 to Dec 10, 9th and 10th houses.
Dec 11 to 25, 9th house.
Dec 26 to Jan 8, 8th and 9th houses.
Jan 9 to 24, 8th house.
Jan 25 to Feb 6, 7th and 8th houses.
Feb 7 to 23, 7th house.
Feb 24 to Mar 8, 6th and 7th houses.
Mar 9 to 24, 6th house.
Mar 25 to Apr 8, 5th and 6th houses.
Apr 9 to 24, 5th house.
Apr 25 to May 8, 4th and 5th houses.
May 9 to 25, 4th house.
May 25 to Jun 8, 3rd and 4th houses.
Jun 9 to 25, 3rd house.
Jun 26 to Jul 10, 2nd and 3rd houses.
Jul 11 to 27, 2nd house.
Jul 28 to Aug 10, 1st and 2nd houses.
This table is approximate, and if your birthday falls near the edge
of two possible positions you may need to read both to know which
applies to your Sun sign. Of course, one should always have a correct
natal chart calculated professionally in order to know where the planets
are situated, as this helps clarify your exact cyclic pattern.
Astrology and Mercury Retrograde August-September 2010 in Virgo - What Is Mercury Retrograde?
When Mercury, Venus, and Mars Go Retrograde, What Does It Mean and How Are They Related To Past and Future Retrogrades?
Mercury Retrograde in Virgo in August-September 2010 - Beginning the Adventure Despite the Inadequacies
Copyright © 2010 Robert Wilkinson