This is the next natural step in understanding and stabilizing very
similar energies related to past Mercury retrograde periods. All the
retrograde spans have trined each other in 2009, so we should see
further stabilizations that help our understanding of whatever we've
been reviewing, reworking, and rehearsing all year.
A few technicals: The waxing septile between Mercury and Venus at
the beginning of the period shows that our Gemini and Virgo sectors are
at a critical fork in the road relative to our Taurus and Libra
sectors. The choices and changes happening at the front end of the
period will be very important as we review what's happened since
mid-August.
Mercury then moves RX through some extremely important aspects,
including the conjunction to Saturn and opposition to Uranus while
quincunx Neptune. Mercury originally conjuncted Saturn at 22 Virgo in
August, bringing clarity around the "venerable standards" we've been
searching for since last December. This period gives us a chance to
rework the vision, the ideal, the balance, or the perspective on how to
accomplish bringing those standards into a form we will uphold for a
long time to come.
When Mercury again conjuncts Saturn and opposes Uranus, we will get
a new look at how we are or are not practicing in the "Divine Presence"
while getting another chance to purify our personality and dump toxic
or obsolete patterns. This will give us more information about our
individuality, and the ongoing educative process of doing our duty.
The quincunx to Neptune is in force from the Inferior Conjunction on
Sept. 20 through the first week of October. This will bring major
adjustments and sacrifices in the life areas where late Virgo and late
Aquarius fall in the birth chart. We can find productivity in opening
to a concentrated dose of spiritual energy and find forms of "good
fortune" as we put forth effort. We can also make progress being
sensitive to forms of potential fulfillment, even if we also feel
disoriented.
The quintile to Mars at the Inferior Conjunction shows high
specialization and unique opportunities to achieve new forms of
personality integration leading to instinctive growth. This is
immediately followed by Mercury biquintile Jupiter, unveiling new
interactive promise and opportunity while challenging us to maintain
our innocence and renounce glamor and dramas of self-importance. We can
find fresh views "uninhibited by social intellectual preoccupations"
and find Spirit through "vibrant simplicity" and imagination.
As noted, this retrograde period ends with Mercury in close sextile
with Mars just as the Sun crosses Mercury's stationary retrograde
degree, illuminating what the entire period is about. Mercury will stay
in close sextile with Mars through October 4, offering productivity
between our mind and ability to act in our best interests. This will
harmonize the Gemini and Virgo sectors with our Aries and Scorpio
sectors, so make the most of that week of extraordinary productivity!
As I've noted in other articles, since December 2008 Saturn has been
showing us glimpses of our own or another's nobility, and the
possibility of accepting a "royal office," at whatever level we
operate. This is about understanding our "spiritual lineage" and
accepting a collective status. With Mercury going direct on the degree
of Saturn's RX station, which also was the degree of the Mercury-Saturn
conjunction in late August, we shall now be able to live these things
with a sense of everything moving forward toward Destiny.
Basically, the entire year we've been searching for some standard of
excellence we could live for a long time to come. We got clear signals
about this in August, and by the end of this period, we'll know clearly
what is of value to us culturally, confirming one last time what we've
found that's venerable since last December.
Since the final Mercury conjunct Saturn in early October also is
sextiled by Mars, we should be able to focus our will power very
productively and inventively. However, Mercury, Mars, and Neptune form
a "Finger of God," or Yod, thus showing multiple sacrifices that will
produce focused spiritual expansion. We can learn and demonstrate
geniune dispassion, and wisdom born from experience.
This is a final integration period where the Grand Irrationality
will be highly activated, bringing us to critical choices and changes
at major forks in the road in our lives. After that, the die will be
cast for a long time to come.
Other important themes of this Mercury RX include structuring our
genius or unique qualities in ways that are practical but not
unnecessarily limited or limiting. We should find ways to bring any
pioneering or specialized qualities into useful skills, not get too
theoretical, and move from anticipation to actual accomplishments.
It's a great time for finding some larger responsible role to play
once the plan is formulated. Avoid pessimism or narrow interpretations,
and find a larger view that cultivates imagination and Divine
Discrimination while paying attention to subtleties and how they might
relate to the bigger picture or hidden motives.
This period can offer alternative understandings to what we're about
to move into. Explore wherever your curiosity leads you, but remember
that it's probably not exactly as it seems. Many things associated with
Libra and Virgo will be seen in different ways, preparing us for
capturing on the value of these energies when Venus moves through the
Mercury RX Virgo and Libra degrees between October 7-20.
This RX period is ruled by Venus at the front end while Mercury is
in Libra, and then Mercury once it re-enters Virgo. So Venus is the
ruler from Sept. 6-18, and Mercury the ruler after that.
Mercury toward the end of its RX period is in late Virgo, said to be
a span of "Experimentation" in the Individual-Mental and then
Emotional-Cultural level of "Education." While Mercury occupies Libra
and Virgo, many will find they are seeing new facets of their ideals
and what they must do to prepare to live them. This will help many get
new information about what they've been trained for. Expect a constant
refinement and adjustment process that will take many twists and turns
before becoming clear by the end of the year.
Mercury goes stationary direct on 22 Virgo 6:14 am PDT September 29
(September 30 in east Asia). As the Sun transits the Libra span of this
retrograde September 22-30 it will illuminate what the Libra qualities
of this RX was about.
Of great importance this retrograde is Mercury's Inferior
Conjunction degree. This promises that if we use our will power wisely
we can find the driving power of our personality enabling us to work
effectively. This will give new perspectives on life, and an ability to
see why we've been learning and disciplined the way we have been the
entire year. I'll do an entire post on the coming Inferior Conjunction
shortly.
Remembering that nothing turns out as expected during a Mercury
retrograde, and that things take strange twists and turns and there are
curious returns of people, ideas, and experiences in new forms that
resemble old forms, open to useful but overlooked angles of viewing
things, learn and teach through a sense of perspective of how past and
present relate in unusual ways, and be alert to roundabout or indirect
communications that show things going on below the surface.
All in all, given the aspects between Mercury and the other planets,
there will be a lot of unique activity helping us structure or
restructure our sense of purpose and what we care about. This time will
punctuate our search of 2009, and after this time we'll know what we've
been trained for.
Mercury going stationary direct at 22 Virgo shows that through
December 26, 2009, we will be focused on the themes mentioned above
concerning our "royal office," spiritual lineage, and nobility in
holding ourselves to highest standards.
Dr. Jones comments the keyword is PREROGATIVE, and that this is a
degree of "eternal authority," where elders are "the custodians of a
common-sense regulation of life." This deals with an "inherited
stewardship of social function" where "right is dramatized as a
privilege worthy of sustainment." We are told this "is a gift for
bringing all men together in common purpose and unified stability."
So at the end of this retrograde period, we'll wind up being clear
about our authority as custodians in some area of life, where we know
what has nobility and eternal value. Over the next few months, we'll
complete our education on the social, emotional, and cultural levels.
This should bring us the skills and values we need for the greater
roles and archetypal functions that present themselves beginning
mid-October.
So it seems that this next step in the ongoing Mercury retrograde
blended Air-Earth signs sequence we'll continue to get new ideas,
ideals, relationships, and standards to live in our world. This
continues the pattern of 2009 of us all getting ideas and perceptions
of practical necessities, doing an Air-Earth "two step" dance,
preparing us for when Mercury moves into a long term sequence of
retrograding back through Earth signs from December 2009 through
December 2010.
Astrology and Mercury Retrograde September 2009 in Libra and Virgo - What Is Mercury Retrograde?
How Does Mercury Retrograde Work and How Is It Related to Past and Future Retrogrades?
Mercury Retrograde in Libra and Virgo September 2009, Part 1 - Signals of Powers and Service to Come
Copyright © 2009 Robert Wilkinson