the second mercury retrograde of the year commences on april 28th although we have already entered the front end shadow of that retrograde as of april 14th. when mercury does his retrograde dance he goes over a certain portion of the sky a total of three times: he goes over it the first time as he is right now as of april 14th, then he stations retrograde and goes over it a second time which will commence april 28th and then he goes over it all a third time when he stations direct on may 22nd. he will exit his backend shadow and be completely done with this last pass over all the degrees he has gone over twice already on june 7th. so if you take the shadow phases into account this mercury retrograde journey is in effect for just under 2 months.
the portion of the sky getting activated this time around runs from 14 taurus (where he goes direct on may 22nd) to 24 taurus (where he stations retrograde this month on the 28th). if you are familiar with your chart you should check to see if you have anything in these degrees as if you do this particularly mercury retrograde is likely to be extra potent for you!
when planets are retrograde they are more internal, introspective, reflective, shamanistic and even spiritual. yet the shadow side is that they can also be more limited, restricted, repressed and unable to express themselves purely and in direct fashion. because mercury rules travel and communications these two things are known for having snafus during mercury retrograde. this is a time when emails sent never arrive and you cannot find them in your outbox, planes get rescheduled, trains get missed and communications in general can go awry. this probably makes mercury retrograde sound horrible- and i can assure some people definitely do experience it that way (more often than not these people have strong gemini and virgo in their charts- the signs mercury governs). but there are good things about mercury retrograde as well! the key is that we have to be able to surrender what we think we know and the direction we think we need to head in and allow the Universe to re-route us and take us back over the past to clear things out/clean things up/complete things before we can truly move forward.
this is actually a theme right now due to mars- another personal planet- just having stationed retrograde on the 17th (and pluto on the 18th). outer planets like uranus, neptune and pluto are retrograde about 5 months of every year- whereas the personal planets have more sporadic retrogrades depending on their cycles. mercury goes retrograde approximately 3 times a year for about 3 weeks (this week we will start the 4th mercury retrograde on december 19th and that will carry us into the new year of 2017). venus goes retrograde once every 22 months so we don’t get a venus retrograde each year- and the same for mars. this inner, personal planets govern our personal energies: mercury has to do with our thoughts and perception, venus with our desires and values, and mars with our will and energy. with mercury and mars retrograde the mind and the will are being asked to slow down and turn within. this can actually be a very valuable time in therapy, dreamwork and spiritual studies- as all of them involve going beyond the surface of things to get to the roots.
this particular mercury retrograde is in taurus- the sign that says I HAVE and loves to hold onto what it has ;) with mercury’s shamanic journey into the underworld (when mercury is retrograde he is in his psychopomp form as guide of the Souls in the underworld) we are being asked to revisit, revise, revision and review our relationship to the material world. what do we hold onto out of safety and security that is really not all that good for us? this can be things, people, situations- but also mental attitudes and beliefs. taurus is the sign of what we value as well- so this is a time to honestly self-reflect and see if our lives are truly aligned with our deepest held values and if they are not what do we need to do to change things? taurus is a very traditional, conventional sign- so being willing to question tradition, question what you have always been told or what you have always believed and stay open to change on many levels is key.
the aspects mercury makes during his retrograde are quite powerful. during mercury’s direct motion he approaches a planet, makes an aspect with it and then moves on- but during mercury retrograde he makes the aspect three times. the first aspect often opens the door to some awareness, the second takes it down into interior/Unconscious levels so we can assimilate it and the last helps us tie up the loose ends and make use of the information we have gleaned (from within or from without). they say 3rd times a charm- and there is certainly a reason we have 3 aspects during mercury’s retrograde journey and we want to be sure we are making use of them all!
the main themes of this mercury retrograde are two fold: on the one hand mercury trines pluto and the north node 3 times (4/17-19, 5/10-12, 5/30-31) and he trines jupiter only once (4/14- right before the front end shadow of mercury retrograde began) due to jupiter being retrograde and moving in the opposite direction of mercury up until may 9th. this is a precursor to the jupiter/north node conjunction trine pluto from june 9th through the 26th (pluto trines the true node 6/9, 6/11 and 6/14 and the mean node on 6/16; jupiter cojoins the true node on 6/20 for the 3rd and final time and on 6/24 he aligns with the mean node; and finally jupiter trines pluto for the 3rd and final time on 6/26). this is a HUGELY significant transit that is all about massive evolution on personal and collective levels. jupiter in virgo is helping us be discerning and see the Truth of reality before our very eyes while pluto comes in to help us align with the path we need to tread in order to evolve, transform and move into new levels of mastery in our personal and collective lives.
the other significant theme is mercury’s link up with the rebel and revolutionary uranus and the warrior Goddess and activist eris. mercury links up with both of them a total of 3 times (4/21-25, 5/1-5/4 and 6/7) bringing in radical, revolutionary thinking as well as upheaval of the old traditions and conventions that keep us tethered to the past. i have my eye on the june 7th aspects as that is the day mercury exits out of his shadow (right after his aspects to uranus and eris) and the very next day uranus and eris exactly align for the first time (which will occur two more times between june and spring of 2017). another thing to note for those who are politically inclined- june 7th is a huge day for the primaries with several states involved most notably california (the state with the most delegates and super delegates). i am a huge supporter of bernie sanders (if you have different political beliefs i honor and respect that)- and it is very interesting to note that the uranus/eris conjunction is right smack on his retrograde mars in aries. bernie is definitely an activist and revolutionary and having the planets of revolution and activism activate his chart right during the california primary is very, very interesting. (i will write another blog on my speculation about this at a future date but suffice it to say i think regime change is coming).
the specific dates for all the mercury aspects during mercury’s retrograde are listed below in case you like to write them in your calendar. and be sure to read the weekly horoscopes for your sun sign and rising sign to get a sense of how this will pay out for you personally as well :)
have a blessed mercury retrograde!
~divine harmony
MERCURY RETROGRADE DATES
4/14- mercury trine jupiter (only once due to jupiter in retrograde motion until may 9th)
front end shadow begins (after the mercury/jupiter trine)
4/15 mercury quincunx saturn RX (only once due to saturn in retrograde motion)
4/17- mercury trine pluto RX
4/19- mercury trine NN
4/21- mercury semisex uranus
4/23- mercury semisex venus
4/25- mercury semisex eris
4/28 23’36 taurus MERCURY STATIONS RETROGRADE
5/1 mercury RX semisex eris
5/4- mercury RX semisex uranus
5/9- mercury RX conjunct sun- MIDPOINT of the retrograde cycle***
5/10- mercury RX trine NN
5/12- mercury RX trine pluto RX
5/13- mercury RX conjunct venus (and vneus aspects NN and pluto)
5/22 14’20 taurus MERCURY STATIONS DIRECT
5/30- mercury trine pluto RX
5/31- mercury trine NN
6/7- mercury semisex uranus and eris
out of backend shadow later that day
6/8- uranus conjunct eris at 23’30 aries****