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 parts 1 and 2 (links at the bottom of this article) we explored
specific qualities of the present Mercury retrograde period, including
aspects, stationary retrograde and direct degree symbols, and other
important factors. The period before Mercury goes retrograde is
important in getting your paperwork and other life areas in shape.
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, since 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 May 2009 Mercury retrograde will give 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.
We can again reconsider, reinterpret, and rework Gemini and Taurus
issues and activities, seeing their significance from new angles of
understanding. Looking back, 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, 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.
We now are getting 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. As it
retrogrades back through Taurus, we'll get to review values and how we
use what we have, or need, so that our new self-images that are
emerging will be sustained.
Examining what signs previous Mercury RX fell in, Summer 2007 we
began to explore home and family issues, the supply of our everyday
needs, and ways of experiencing our past, present, and future. Autumn
2007 we extended this feeling-understanding and whatever emotional
intelligence we developed when the Mercury RX period made a trine from
Scorpio to Cancer.
In early 2008 when it last went through Aquarius, we began to
synthesize many things into a new larger view or a greater sense of
community or larger service. June initiated a period of exploring how
the concrete form of the images glimpsed the past year have come forth
as forms of understanding, modes of communications, and new "brothers
and sisters" in our community. October began a time of looking at our
sense of balance, justice, and fairness, our relationships, and through
responding to a life renewal, we'll eventually find a new form of hope.
Last year, due to Mercury RX in Air signs, we were guided to our
Soul through reviewing and revising obsolete attitudes, ideas, and ways
of relating to others. In each instance this led us to greater
emotional, social, or cultural power.
Autumn extended this set of patterns, and we found ourselves at a
philosophical and karmic fulfillment. We continued the emotional,
social, and cultural focus during the early 2009 retrograde period as a
result of both stationary degree points.
Now we move into an actional-physical focus, and by the end of this
retrograde period, we will stand on the threshold of four months when
we can practice a greater emotional, social, or cultural power that
will offers rewards that certify our worth. By learning how to value
and enjoy that which sustains us, we can know the resources for future
success. This continues a renewed Earth influence that will pervade
Mercury retrograde periods through December 2010.
By learning about these recurring Mercury retrograde periods, we can
understand how to deal with them productively, as well as the months
afterwards, which they also indirectly influence. Since this May 2009
Mercury goes stationary at 2 Gemini and retrogrades back to 23 Taurus,
you can learn a lot about this coming period by reading all you can
about Mercury retrograde in Gemini and Taurus.
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:
Apr 20 to May 11, read Mercury retrograde in the 1st house.
May 12 to 21, 12th and 1st houses.
May 21 to Jun 12, 12th house.
Jun 13 to 22, 11th and 12th houses.
Jun 23 to Jul 13, 11th house.
Jul 14 to 23, 10th and 11th houses.
Jul 24 to Aug 13, 10th house.
Aug 14 to 23, 9th and 10th houses.
Aug 24 to Sep 13, 9th house.
Sep 14 to 23, 8th and 9th houses.
Sep 24 to Oct 14, 8th house.
Oct 15 to 23, 7th and 8th houses.
Oct 24 to Nov 13, 7th house.
Nov 14 to 22, 6th and 7th houses.
Nov 23 to Dec 12, 6th house.
Dec 13 to 21, 5th and 6th houses.
Dec 22 to Jan 11, 5th house.
Jan 12 to 20, 4th and 5th houses.
Jan 21 to Feb 9, 4th house.
Feb 10 to 18, 3rd and 4th houses.
Feb 19 to Mar 11, 3rd house.
Mar 12 to 20, 2nd and 3rd houses.
Mar 21 to Apr 10, 2nd house.
Apr 11 to 19, 1st and 2nd houses.
Of course, this table is approximate, and if your birthday falls
near the edge of two possible positions you may need to read both. One
should always have the chart calculated professionally in order to know
where the planets are situated, as this helps clarify your exact cyclic
pattern.
Astrology and Mercury Retrograde May 2009 in Gemini and Taurus - What Is Mercury Retrograde and How Does It Work?
Mercury Retrograde in Gemini and Taurus in May 2009, Part 1 - Signals of Gifts, Blessings, and Rewards To Come
Mercury
Retrograde in Gemini and Taurus in May 2009, Part 2 - Understanding How
and What to Communicate Opening Serendipity in Concrete Ways
Copyright © 2009 Robert Wilkinson