Wetting The Tone — Mercury Enters Pisces

Mercury entered Pisces at 9:55 am EST today, where it will remain until mid-April. Mercury in Pisces has been occurring for as long as astrologers have been tracking the movements of the planets — astrology is an ancient art — but it has never been more important than it is now.

Astrology by Len Wallick

Before I get into Mercury’s latest visit to the last sign of the zodiac, I want to give a nod to the Tuesday-Friday astrology service offered by Planet Waves. Eric’s horoscopes are foremost among the new growth from astrology’s old roots. His interpretations of the Cosmos are both instructive and useful, unerringly addressing our needs now.    

As for the current sky: Mercury will remain with mutable water for so long (about two and a half months) because its first retrograde of 2013 will take place entirely through Pisces, beginning February 23, wetting the tone for the entire year. That’s not a typo. This will be a fluid year. The only setting will be in motion. Mercury’s motion this week will be a good time to begin thinking that way.

Fluid thinking means not being rigid, either intellectually or emotionally. This year, the established order will need to revise its standards. As part of that revision, you will be called upon to be creative.

Being creative often entails going through discomfort with a purpose. With sincere respect to those who choose hairshirts and the like, that is not to say discomfort should be your purpose. It is to say that finding a better way often takes you through the uncomfortable territory of releasing strong attachments to what does not work anymore. That requires integrating intellect with emotion.

Mercury expresses in your life as the various manifestations of the intellect. For astrology, the elemental water part of Pisces energy represents, among other things, emotion. You can begin your creative journey now by working through the discomfort of perceiving how the prospect of Mercury going back and forth through Pisces for more than two months is an amazing piece of good fortune.

In reality, the actual planet Mercury never goes back and forth. It only appears to slow down and reverse its motion when it approaches to pass between Earth and the Sun. From that appearance comes the symbolism of ill repute.

It is a reputation to which many people have formed an attachment. Attachment to negative perceptions of Mercury retrograde will not work for you this year. Therefore, releasing that attachment will be the perfect exercise for harnessing your intellect with your emotions in creative teamwork this week.

You can begin with what you know intellectually — that Mercury’s periodic reversals are illusions. From that knowledge comes a logical question. What would make you inclined to perceive the illusion as negative when it would be just as easy to see it as representing a good thing? To answer that question, you will probably have to bridge over to the emotions.

Modern culture often emphasizes and idolizes progress. Many have an emotional aversion to reversal in any sense of the word. While progress is not inherently bad, it is not always appropriate. Sometimes you want to go back and find what you lost, discover what you didn’t see, or heaven forbid, correct yourself. In reality, the events negatively associated with Mercury retrogrades often serve precisely those purposes.

In reality, both forward and backward motion have their time, and allowing for that, seeing that, working with that, rather than resisting it, is a creative act. Following the lead of the Cosmos is one way you can be guided in your creativity.

When the Sun moves in the sky, it is a representative of the Cosmos telling you what time of day it is so you can make the most of the day’s light. By the same token, the innermost planet approaching to pass between Earth and Sun is telling you what time of year it is. To have the symbol of Mercury retrace its steps in Pisces is, in turn, telling you what time of your life it is. If you embrace the symbolism, you will make the most of your own light.

Embracing the symbolism of Mercury’s impending retrograde begins by convincing your intellect that it is not inherently a bad thing, and noticing the emotions that come up when you do that. You can do that now.

Following those emotions back to when they came from is the next thing. That step that actually emulates both Mercury’s apparent retrograde motion and the emblematic water that, in part, identifies Pisces, placing you in harmony with both. It is not too soon to do that either.

Then, working with the mutability that also identifies Pisces means being creative on the most fundamental level, with yourself. Seeing things differently means creating a different reality for yourself, setting things in motion for an eventual new season in your life.

There will be a lot of other important and pertinent details, aspects and such, that accompany Mercury’s long tenure of Pisces. There will also be a lot of elaborations upon the astrology of the water signs (Pisces, Cancer and Scorpio) as the year goes on, and Mercury takes a long turn back through each. For now, however, please keep it simple, and fluid.

Do what you can to wet the tone of your life and enhance your creativity by working with both your intellect and emotions to overcome discomfort by creating alternatives to your attachments. That begins with what you are attached to concerning what Mercury retrograde is supposed to be. If you can do just that for now, you will have made a good start, which is all now ever calls for.

Offered In Service                

Len is available for astrology readings. You can contact him at lenwallick [at] gmail [dot] com.

24 thoughts on “Wetting The Tone — Mercury Enters Pisces”

  1. Happy Birthday Len! Sorry day late. I hope you did something FUN in honor and celebration of your special life.

  2. aword, maripadhila, Chief Niwots Son, Carrie, Sarah, Jann: Thank you all so very much for your kind wishes.

    and Sarah, i will work harder to make the practical astrology less rare and more useful for you.

  3. Len, Happy Solar Return Day. Many blessings to you in the coming zodiacal year.

    With gratitude and appreciation for all you do – thank you. JannKinz

  4. Thanks Len for your creativity astrology, mercury in fish should increase my intuition, I love fish and Neptune energy that will allow us to change social to go to target more than humanity 😉

  5. The irony of that Mars placement in the 2012 Spring Equinox was it’s symbol: A five-year-old child takes a first dancing lesson.

    Sometimes astrology’s symbols can be taken quite literally.
    be

  6. Whoa it’s your birthday? Cool! I know another guy whose birthday is today, and he is a very fun guy too! Enjoy another turn…

  7. Thank you, Len. You have helped me re-position a mind-set wherein I had not realized my mind was set. A good beginning to the fluidity that awaits.

    A very happy, healthy and otherwise positively-influenced Birthday to you!

  8. Mia: Thank you.

    Lizzy: Thank you. May you rapidly recover to full health.

    Paola: My goodness, i am so very sorry about the theft of you laptop. You are certainly a very strong person of excellent character to handle it so well. Were i in your place, i would not do as well as you. You have my admiration and respect as well as my compassion.

    be: Thank you for your thoughtful comments recalling painful tragedy and anticipating the healing we all need. May the child turning 6 tomorrow (all of them) know healing, love, and the warmth of a safe home.

    jinspace: Thank you for your kind words. May every wave be the perfect ride for you. Hang loose, and hang ten.

    Fe: Thank you so very much.

    beleclare: Thank you for your kind wishes as well.

    DivaCarla: While my advanced age has only conferred wisdom to the part of me in contact with a chair, your generous words are gratefully accepted into my heart. Thank you.

  9. Happy Birthday Len. Thank you for your insights into Mercury, water, and retrograde

    Modern culture often emphasizes and idolizes progress. Many have an emotional aversion to reversal in any sense of the word. While progress is not inherently bad, it is not always appropriate.

    WISE.

  10. Happy Birthday, Len! A book I have about birthdays calls February 5th “The Day of Quiet Eloquence.” I’d say that suits you very well 🙂 Enjoy your day!

    Thanks for the lovely post. I’ve already noticed a distinct, fast fluidity to the way this year is progressing, and am enjoying the ride – so far I’ve managed not to fall off my surfboard…!

  11. Thank you for this wisdom today Len; “while progress is not inherently bad, it is not always appropriate” and Mercury, it seems, will encourage us all year to incorporate these words into our psyches. He will do it through our emotional brains; our feelings. The many comments made here at PlanetWaves are testimonies to the maddening pace we are trying to keep up with, never enough time to do what we need or want to get done. These Mercury retrogrades in water signs not only say “reflect” but take time to feel. We’ve learned that astrology has many ways to reveal the same intent or message, but few of them are more clear than a Mercury retrograde.

    Some other mystical influence, call it memories, made me look back today at the March 2012 Equinox. I remember we all talked about that chart and wondered about how it’s influence would materialize. If only we had been able to understand its messages. We wondered what it meant that Child was conjunct Sisyphus and the South Node in Gemini, while Juno was conjunct the north node in Sagittarius and Mars was square them in Virgo at the south bending; a point of letting go. Nine months later we were to find out what that meant.

    On the December day 20 children were murdered in their schoolroom at Sandy Hook Elementary, transiting Mercury was conjunct the degree where he had stationed on Election Day in November. Stationing Uranus at the time of the murders was trine Mercury; lower and higher octave of thought in harmony, and at the same time Chiron in Pisces was square Mercury. That sabian symbol for Mercury then was of a Wise Old Owl. Just yesterday a young boy, the same age as the 20 murdered children, was rescued from a crazed old man who had held him hostage one day for each of the years of the child’s life. Tomorrow is the boy’s 6th birthday. Mercury was in the next to last degree of Aquarius, for which the symbol is a Butterfly Emerging From A Chrysalis. Even now while still in his preferred element of Aquarian air, Mercury speaks to us through our emotions. Looking back we’ve learned that the meaning of a Mars opposite a Chiron and square the nodes can mean a tragedy, or maybe it can be something more than that. Something better. Maybe seeing Mercury retrograde differently is a first step in that process. Maybe next month’s Equinox will be better understood than last year’s and we will take time to feel as well as think about the messages it carries. My God I hope so.
    be

  12. Speaking about letting go of attachments and Mercury, now it comes out that I had a perfect timing: today, right before Mercury left Aquarius, I was stolen of my computer.
    Well…. maybe I can see it like this: it dematerialized (I saw nobody, it took a few seconds) to give me the oppotunity to upgrade to a new one. In effect it was in bad shape, and the person who took it will probaly not even be able to switch it on: it had no battery and the plug is with me. And my work is saved on a memory key!!
    Mercury just transited on my south node. Time to let go. Sniff.
    Thank you dear friend, you have been a good companion, love.

  13. (back again!)”Seeing things differently means creating a different reality for yourself, setting things in motion for an eventual new season in your life”. Yes! And as so often happens, ties in beautifully with today’s oracle.

  14. Wetting the tone! I love it! Thank you so much for this superb and inspiring piece, dear Len. “It is to say that finding a better way often takes you through the uncomfortable territory of releasing strong attachments to what does not work anymore”. Yes, last weekend went down with the flu and into a very dark place – but have climbed out of it feeling almost purged, of a lot of fear and negative mind stuff. And your wonderful words help me to keep up the good work.

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