Today marks the last full day of Mercury in Scorpio before it ingresses Sagittarius at 9:42 pm EST Wednesday. The three all-water-sign Mercury retrogrades this year have gotten us well acquainted with what it’s like to feel our thoughts. And while Mercury in Sagittarius should bring some sharpness and quickness back to our minds, the aspects accompanying its ingress signal a need to pay careful attention to details that might otherwise go unheeded.
Even now, while still in Scorpio, Mercury is square Neptune in Pisces (exact Friday). Marked by “impractical idealism,” and posing a challenge to one’s ability to concentrate, Mercury square Neptune often shows up as self-deception, denial and so-called white lies. As Eric has often noted, if you are honest with yourself, it’s harder to lie to others — and those who lie often deceive themselves as well.
Although Mercury in Sagittarius tends to be honest (a little impatient, and prone to foot-in-mouth disease, but all in all sincere) it also represents a mind that is more focused on the long-range picture rather than the details. It is sharp but often needs some directing, according to Isabel Hickey.
In a square to Neptune in Pisces — another big-picture, soft-focus type of placement — there’s a chance for what would usually be honest thought to become a little lost in dreams, or caught in projections of how we wish things were. Given a little momentum, it can spiral into actual self-deceit; and once we’re lying to ourselves, even with lofty intentions, it opens the door to deceiving others.
In tandem with Mercury ingressing Sagittarius and its square to Neptune, the Sun is conjunct the Great Attractor (exact Thursday). The GA was a factor in yesterday’s New Moon [[[LINK]]], and although the Moon has moved on, the Sun is still there. The GA is a deep-space point in the direction of Sagittarius that is pulling our galaxy toward it at roughly the same rate that it is moving away from us. As such, it calls up ideas to do with chasing (or being drawn to) the unattainable and the unknowable.
With the Sun, representing our consciousness, conjunct such a thing, there’s another echo of both Mercury in Sagg and Mercury square Neptune: sensing the cosmic big picture while being unable to fully grasp the practicalities. Conjunctions with the Sun can often equal blind spots in our awareness. In the ‘spiritual’ sign of Sagittarius, this one seems to ask: If you know that chasing after something outside yourself is futile, why are you still doing it? What are you really looking for? And is it really as far away as you think it is?
Given that Eric has also described the GA as having the sensation of false controversy, it might also be worth asking: Do the answers to those questions about spiritual searching really matter as long as you’re aware of the broader truth at the heart of things? They might, if you’re deceiving yourself about other, more earthly details in the process.
“If you know that chasing after something outside yourself is futile, why are you still doing it? What are you really looking for? And is it really as far away as you think it is?”
While still not certain what I am looking for, Mercury in Scorpio made me see what I didn’t want. Hopefully the Mercury transit over my natal planets will ring some bells, or offer up new options!
Thank you, Amanda for the heads-up as regards to the slippery slope that Mercury’s square to Neptune can represent. Very well put, and very pertinent to reality at this time (and, as you illustrated by linking in the Sun and Great Attractor, far-reaching). An ounce of honesty up front is worth a pound of repentance after the fact.