Mercury Retrograde at Birth
August 5, 2005
http://cainer.com/ericfrancis/aug5.html
Hi Eric,
Here's a question that has been bugging me for a while. I am
a Gemini Sun with Mercury retrograde. Typically, I know when Mercury is
retrograde, as communication gets all boggled up. Is it the reverse for me
since I'm already 'in reverse'? Also, does the fact that my Sun is in Gemini
play any particular role in relation to this since it is ruled by Mercury? I
remember reading this somewhere and wonder your thoughts. Thanks for any
insight you can provide.
Angie,
Dear Angie,
Because you have Sun in Gemini, Mercury is definitely an
important planet in your chart. It is what some call the 'ruling planet' of
your Sun and its movements mark a big aspect of your identity. But I have a
question for you, that's personal to your life. What happened, or what was
happening with your family, when you were six years old? Here is why I ask. You
were born six days before Mercury stationed direct. So that means that by what
is called 'secondary progression', your sixth year of life was the year of the
Mercury station. And the events of that year will give a big clue to the
meaning and purpose of Mercury retrograde in your natal chart.
When a planet is retrograde in a natal chart, it is
different than we experience that planet in real-time as a collective
experience. Somewhere in the archives is a long response regarding natal
retrograde planets, which I'll have a look out for and link to next week when I
find it.
Remember: when it comes to natal interpretation, you need to
go slowly, and work with a number of different theories, and test them
carefully. You need to use your imagination; astrology is really a series of
images that we experience and interpret. Retrograde planets in the natal chart
are associated with references to the past -- or to internalizing the energy
rather than expressing it freely; or both. I have noticed that they have three
main associations.
1. A talent or skill we turned off or repressed so as not to
threaten our primary caregivers. Often we are in some way more intelligent,
aware or expressive than our parents or caregivers. Often, our these
individuals lack the maturity to handle this, and kids, being highly sensitive
(as a matter of survival) will respond and partially shut down or internalize
their best qualities so that people don't freak out (in large or small ways).
2. Some kind of reference to a past life situation. Check
the house and sign placement; check the houses that are associated with Gemini
and Virgo. The retrograde planet can represent a past life skill, a debility,
or a situation we need to work out in the current lifetime. It can represent a
growth agenda. This theory is dependent on whether you accept the notion of
reincarnation, and whether you think the natal chart has anything to say about
it.
3. Something we do our own unique way that has little or
nothing to do with the people around us. It is the way we march to the beat of
our own drummer. This particular point can encompass both 1 and 2 above, but
does not need to. The retrograde may just be a place we come from a distinct
place inside.
I would create a bold theory here. Retrograde planets all
function a little like Chiron. They have a kind of debility around which power
and talent focus. They represent a place where we were hurt, held back, or
challenged, and now must grow into our full strength. And they represent places
in our chart of unusual individuality.
Now, I'm not suggesting that you can figure this all out in
three minutes, but I do suggest that breaking out the old fashioned
astrological analysis tools will get you a long way. The first one I thought of
was looking up when Mercury stationed direct in your progressed chart.
In summary: describe the house and sign placement of
Mercury. Describe the aspects Mercury makes. Say something about the houses
where the cusps intersect Gemini and Virgo. As you do this, look for
correspondences in your life on points 1, 2 and 3 above. Think of your parents
and their personalities, and how they might have responded to your Mercury,
were it direct and running at full broadcasting power.
Last, consider what you've learned from the fact that it's
retrograde -- and what you've learned, in particular since the age of six.
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