Note: This is a reprint of an article from one week ago. Some of the placements are outdated but lead into the present moment. Mercury is currently solidly in Leo, and Venus is about to ingress Libra. — efc
Mercury has been working its way through late Cancer, still settling down from its recent retrograde. A lot came out in the wash when Mercury stationed direct on July 20, as if deeper layers of emotional and mental reality suddenly opened up in a downpour.
This has been driven by more going on in the water signs than we’ve seen in years: Jupiter, Pallas, Mars, Saturn, the North Node, Neptune and Chiron are all in water signs (as was Mercury until yesterday), and many of these factors are slow-movers. Water can be a challenging element in our over-dry society on our drying-out planet. It’s the constant challenge to feel, a challenge that nearly every factor in our society guides us to evade. As part of that evasion, we are pushed to remain immature and distracted, and to keep our true opinions to ourselves.
Mercury has been in Cancer since May 31. That’s a long time for fast-moving Mercury to be in one sign, especially a water sign; in the water signs, Mercury can lack objectivity and the ability to perceive multiple viewpoints (Pisces may be an exception).
Mercury in Cancer can be self-absorbed and subjective, and come with the sense that one’s own feelings are what should (or do) dominate existence. Interest in the feelings of others can be compromised, if it’s there at all.
On Thursday, Mercury changed signs to Leo. I think we’re feeling that shift, especially since we’ve lived with Mercury in one sign for 10 weeks, through its full retrograde cycle. Remember, this is the year that Mercury is spending more than half its time in water signs, due to its retrogrades in Pisces, Cancer and Scorpio.
Mercury in Leo can be the bright idea, but it also comes with its own cautions, which include some of that subjectivity and also pride in one’s knowledge. That can include thinking you know when you’re actually not so sure. Note that our culture is based on the “fake it till you make it” intellectual model rather than the “beginner’s mind” model.
While Leo has a fixed quality and can get stuck in a viewpoint, it has the advantage of an association with children and childhood, meaning there’s a touch of that beginner’s mind quality available. But it may not be so easy to access if it’s hidden inside a petulant or adolescent quality. That can take many forms, from bullying to an obsession with entertainment. The solar quality of Leo is pushing Mercury to grow up and not be so proud or opinionated.
Fortunately, there’s a kind of check-stop included in the astrology: over the weekend, Mercury makes a square to Saturn. That is a moment of ‘grow up and get serious’ — which I would count as the bogeyman of modern society. For all our talk about authenticity, nothing clears the room faster than someone getting real. Squares are not popular aspects, but they may be the most useful. They are leverage points, and potential moments of awakening, when something relevant happens.
What Mercury is running into is a square to Saturn in Scorpio. With this placement, there’s always the question of the role of what is unsaid, taboo or presumed to be in the realm of secrecy. If you’re stumbling over something, consider the possibility that it might be something you’re not saying, whether because you’re unwilling or afraid to say it — or because it runs into the values or objections of an adult from your past, who is still influencing you today.
That is a large category of topics, especially where Scorpio (the sign of sex, evolution, transformation and death) is concerned. If you’re in a dialog and you don’t know what it’s about, or if it seems to get stuck, consider all of the things that you were told must remain unsaid, and the cost you pay for not speaking up.
Sometimes it seems to make sense that these topics be veiled in an impenetrable taboo. The question to ask, I would propose, is why.
This is what I’m experiencing during this extraordinary astrological climate.
Wow! Yes, recognising and breaking taboos, inside and out. Last week, while on retreat and far way from Internet (blissful break, must admit), I was really wondering what the present astrological climate was like, as so much was being shaken up. This says it all dear Eric, says it all. Would just like to add that growing up, becoming an adult and authentic (not proud or opinionated) also entails reclaiming the lost, often repressed child in us, welcoming it back and loving its sheer energy and spontanaeity, and integrating it with who we are today.
Thanks for re-posting this, Eric. Very useful for review in light of the intensity/opportunity of the moment.
For some people they’re so wrapped up in identifying with the programs that make a subject taboo that it’s useless to bring it up with them. How can communication occur when fear eclipses present time perception at any mention of a taboo topic? Not everyone is going to get around to getting past the fear at the door of self knowledge in this lifetime.