Mixed Signals, Bright Ideas: Mercury Retrograde in Gemini

Dear Friend and Reader:

WE ALL KNOW how weird Mercury retrograde can be. On a mundane level, it’s usually simpler than the psychological level; i.e., it’s easy enough to back up your disk drives early and often. It’s also wise to avoid doing anything of the kind during the few days close to the stations, and all it takes is a little planning.

With some negotiation, you can avoid signing contracts or making major commitments during the retrograde phase or during those days when Mercury’s direction is changing. Conserve your cash and you’ll be ready if something goes amiss. All of this becomes common sense after a while, though it’s worth repeating.

Mercury is retrograde for three weeks about three times a year, and we’re about to experience one between May 25 and June 19. There is a phase of about three weeks on either side of the actual retrograde wherein the effect is noticeable; this is called the echo or shadow phase. During this phase, Mercury is moving through the degrees where it’s about to be retrograde, or was just retrograde. When the echo phase ends, Mercury takes new territory and continues to do so for about nine weeks before entering a new echo phase. The rhythm of this dance is meaningful to follow and you can learn a lot about astrology and life if you do so.

The retrogrades make interesting patterns; for example, focusing on one particular element each year. We are currently in a year of Mercury retrogrades in the air signs. Over the winter, Mercury was retrograde in Aquarius. It will soon be retrograde in Gemini, and later in the year, in Libra.

The pattern is not evenly distributed through the signs. For example, Mercury is retrograde least of all in the water signs Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces. I’ve noticed that, for most people, these are the most emotionally challenging retrogrades.

Note that all planets (except the Sun and Moon, which are not actually planets) spend part of their orbit retrograde. The patterns are different between the inner planets (Mercury, Venus and Mars) and the outer planets (Jupiter, Saturn and anything beyond). The outer planets are retrograde part of every year, usually for about four to five months. Venus is retrograde every 18 months and spends the least time retrograde of all the planets. Mars is retrograde every two years. Mercury, which moves quickly, is retrograde three times a year.

They all have one thing in common — when a planet is retrograde, the Earth is closer to that planet.

The Unique Psychological Trip

While the issues with communication devices, mechanical objects and agreements are what make Mercury retrograde famous, what makes each retrograde unique and interesting is the psychological and emotional material that surrounds the process. Many have noticed that retrogrades can be creatively potent, deeply introspective and reveal a lot about who we are — to ourselves, and at times to others. Conspiracies can come unmasked. Gossip can be revealed.

We can notice things we would have missed otherwise; odd or long-concealed facts have a way of bubbling to the surface. When this happens, Mercury works a little like Chiron, revealing the weaknesses in a system in a way that helps us fix them. Mercury retrograde is particularly hazardous to those who deceive or make a habit of deceiving themselves: it is a great time for gossip to backfire. All these changes can put stress on relationships, and when you add to that the undeniable factor of miscommunication, things can get hairy.

If there is still anybody out there who judges a person’s character based on one unreturned email, or even two, I suggest you reconsider your policy. If you send an important email during this phase, perhaps make a phone call to say you did so.

People who like Mercury retrograde tend to be the ones who enjoy having their ideas about themselves shaken up, and welcome the experience of new ideas being shaken loose from their minds. They tend to be artists, writers and system-busters of various stripes.

In addition to being associated with money and communication devices, Mercury is about the living spirit of our minds, the spark of consciousness that represents self-awareness and conscious intelligence. It is an androgynous god, and appears in many cultures as the archetype of the trickster. The trickster effect is particularly potent during retrogrades, and as annoying as it can be, you can also have a lot of fun playing with ideas, investigating yourself and surfing the threads of synchronicity.

In traditional astrology, Mercury rules two signs — Gemini and Virgo. Both of these signs are mentally oriented, dualistic, and associated with language and intelligence. Of the two, Gemini is more associated with quick wits, skill with language, talent for commerce and multitasking. Virgo is associated with analysis, systematic thinking and service. It is the most self-critical sign, often taking this to excess.

In Alice Bailey‘s system described in the book Esoteric Astrology, Mercury is the ruler of Aries, which if you think about it makes sense. Mercury is a planet associated with ideas, and ideas represent an initiation.

Looking at Gemini

Since this retrograde is in Gemini, let’s briefly review that sign. Gemini is part of the mutable cross. Mutable means changeable, and what it changes between are cardinal (initiative or impulsiveness: to wit, Aries) and fixed (steady or hunkered down: to wit, Taurus). Bailey associates the mutable cross (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces) specifically with the awakening of the Christ mind, which I will translate as a unifying spiritual principle. Even if you look at ordinary interpretations of the signs out of Dell Horoscope, you might get this idea.

Many of the zodiac signs infer a reference to dualism. For example, Aries and Taurus are both represented by animals with two horns. Gemini is the first sign to depict a human being, a distinction reserved exclusively for the air signs and for Virgo. The other eight signs depict animals.

In the first sign depicting humanity, we have two people shown — and they are twins! I appreciate this bit of cosmic wit, Gemini styled. Yes, people tend to arrive in pairs (but they do a lot of triangulating).

The twin metaphor suggests that within every individual is a kind of inner double with whom we are in a relationship, be it conscious or not. Think of this any way you like — the dark and light sides of our nature; male and female (Mercury is androgynous); the physical versus the psychic nature; or the dual sense of mortality (ego) and immortality (soul) that follows from the myth of Castor and Pollux.

Another Gemini theme reminds us that it’s impossible to name anything without also implying its opposite; any concept, like “me,” also implicitly contains the concept that everything else is not that (everything else is “not me”). This is the original “fall” or separation; dividing the One into manageable little chunks and slices using mental concepts and taking these to be real, when they are all only ever ideas, imaginary dividing lines between me, you, the tree and the dog. This is perhaps the oldest reason why Mercury rules Gemini: because the mind (initially ruled by Gemini) was traditionally said to divide everything into opposites, and be the cause of separation. The first separation always being into “me” and “everything else,” which instantly causes insecurity and fear that was not present before that concept. You can always see when babies develop their self-concept because they immediately become insecure and clingy.

The twins of Gemini also suggest that many human relationships are typically played out on the level of siblings: not particularly mature, operating by their own rules and — most significantly — subject to parental authority (which begins to take hold in the next sign, Cancer: the sign of the mother). Note the paradox: the kids come in the third sign, mom comes in the fourth. Alice Bailey suggests we run the zodiac wheel in reverse and see how well it works (it works pretty good).

One of my favorite facts about twins is that they sometimes develop a secret language, called an ideoglossia. Here is an interesting case study. This can be an elaborate, complex language understood only by two individuals. (If there is a linguist in the house who has studied this phenomenon, I would love to hear from you.) People who speak to one another in jargon or coded words are invoking one of the infrequently acknowledged powers of Gemini, which is to exclude others from the private partnerships that are so often formed in the world. Jargon frequently appears among people who buy and sell things with one another, and commerce is a distinct quality of Gemini.

A Rich Moment: Retrograde in Gemini

Considering all of this, Mercury retrograde in Gemini promises to be pretty interesting. Retrogrades turn inward and they allow us to reflect on the past. I think this will be an exciting phase for people who are introspective, reflective and who value their relationship to themselves on a conscious level. For others, it may feel like being led through a confusing maze.

Looking at the charts, two themes come to mind: mixed signals and brilliant ideas. Humans are famous for their mixed signals. How often do we say one thing and mean another, fully aware of what we’re doing (or not)? One might dress a certain way, which seems to be a message to the world, then not appreciate what people think you’re expressing. You might play a game of approach-avoid, which sends one of the most mixed signals of all. Hypocrisy is a mixed signal, where people say one thing and do another thing, or hold the world to one set of rules and themselves to another.

Mercury retrograde in Gemini can help us see these patterns for what they are, learn from them and, then if necessary, help us rectify them. They are confusing to ourselves and others, and they waste a lot of time.

Second: brilliant ideas. The retrograde takes place square Uranus in Pisces. It’s dancing around in opposition to the Great Attractor; it makes repeated aspects to Chiron, Nessus and is loosely trine Neptune. This is a lot of flow.

The beginning of the retrograde phase teases a perfect square to Uranus; at the very end, the square resolves and, after a long and complex inner journey with many little, big and bigger discoveries along the way, something shifts.

I thought I would put a microscope to this unusual transit and see what we discover, looking at Mercury’s aspects to the more than 100 minor planets we track, as well as other interesting events that occur during the retrograde. For example, on the day that Mercury stations retrograde, Neptune also stations retrograde, with Chiron close by. So there is a triple station retrograde within about 24 hours, and all three planets are in the air signs. If you are one of those people who is looking for ways to shift your thinking, or searching for new experiences of inspiration, this is a rich moment.

We don’t have delineations of all the minor planets that are referenced in the sequence of aspects below, but the ones we do have are linked each time. We are planning 16 more delineations for the next annual edition. Aspects listed below that are marked “near miss” are not the closest pass ever of the aspect, but are the closest pass occurring during this time frame. They are usually exact to one degree. This sequence covers from the beginning of the first echo phase through the end of the second one; from May 11 through Saturday, July 5. I won’t interpret every aspect, though I’ll leave them all in for the sake of the akashic record. It will be interesting to go through the process and take notes on events or thoughts of each day and see how they align with the aspects or not.

Note that most (not all) of the aspects repeat a total of three times on this list. This happens each time Mercury is retrograde, because it covers the same 11 or so degrees of the zodiac three times, repeating its aspects to the slow-movers.

The aspects below were calculated by Serennu.

Aries Point Events 

Dear Friend and Reader:

This week’s earthquake in China is the second of two recent events that qualify as Aries Point events. The first was the cyclone (known in our culture as a hurricane) that made landfall in Burma on May 2 and has, so far, killed an estimated 100,000 people.

Earlier in May, I explained how the May 5 New Moon was precisely on the cross-quarter — that is, at 15+ degrees of a fixed sign, in this case Taurus. I explained how this is 135 degrees (a sesquiquadrate aspect, which is a square plus a semi-square) to one of the cardinal points, which tends to magnify the news. In the past decade, all these events have the feeling of what used to be called Earth changes (this language originally came from Edgar Cayce and was adopted by the New Age in the 1980s). Two other memorable examples of Aries Point events are the Sept. 11 false flag attacks and the Asian tsunami of late 2004. Each has this sense that “something big is happening” and, if you’re the type to use such language, “the end is near.”

The New Moon was square the centaur planet Nessus. A friend summed it up well when she wrote that Nessus “is associated with the dynamics of power and abuse, and in Aquarius is about those situations we are all collectively responsible for.” The concept of responsibility stands tall now: both tragedies are mired in politics, including American politics. We could do more; we cannot (for one example) offend China, from whom we borrow $2 billion a day.

Yesterday’s was a 7.9 magnitude earthquake, the worst in the region since 1976. For the record, 7.9 is not the same thing everywhere. I felt a 6.8 once and, though this is significantly less, it felt like a Jell-o mold jiggling; the beer bottles didn’t fall of the shelf in the local tavern. If the waves hit a different way, you can level part of society.

This is the second major disaster since the Taurus New Moon. As Judith Gayle writes in our Political Waves feature about the cyclone in Burma or, officially, the Union of Myanmar:

Take the Myanmar tragedy, with the complications projected to take a million lives; relief is still being kept out generally, but the junta continues to vigorously export rice to Bangladesh and other points, while throwing their citizens the spoiled leftovers. The “election” went on as planned, even though 100,000 people are dead or unaccounted for and the country is in chaos.

I sincerely feel that astrology needs to get out of the business of predicting disasters — you won’t read that stuff here — but we do need to see the patterns for what they are and know what we are dealing with. So, an estimated 50,000 have died at one time in one day, and 10 to 100 times more in Myanmar. This is beyond comprehension — think of the families of all those people, the communities lost, the networks.

What is particularly sad regarding the event in China is the proximity to Tibet; one of the true points of historical grief on the planet at the moment. Associated Press reported that the earthquake occurred along a faultline “where South Asia pushes against the Eurasian land mass, smashing the Sichuan plain into mountains leading to the Tibetan highlands — near communities that held sometimes violent protests against Chinese rule in mid-March.”

Then consider how about 154,000 people leave the planet, every day. Consider how an estimated 24,000 of those people die of hunger, every day — many thousands of them children. Consider, in light of the Sept. 11 false flag attacks, wherein 2,998 people died, and then the United States tore up Afghanistan and Iraq and is, apparently, still planning an attack on Iran. To be clear, on Sept. 11, many more children died of starvation than New Yorkers perished in the event; and we don’t hear about them except on late-night infomercials. We still hear about Sept. 11 in one form or another every time a politician opens his or her mouth. Therefore, while it’s deeply tragic and truly beyond the sphere of an individual’s understanding to hear of these events, I suggest that what we need to be questioning is the death-manufacturing industry. We are not impressed until these deaths happen all at once; it’s like we don’t notice the pain of the world otherwise.

And there is plenty of it now. That, too, presents a paradox: awareness immediately leads to the awareness of the world’s pain. We have a lot of incentive not to pay attention. At least these events cause us to notice for a little while.

This being said, we have the question of how to respond. Is this rightly an excuse to stop living the adventure of our lives? Well, not if we really are doing that, and many of us know perfectly well that we are not. In which case, we can remind ourselves of the fleeting transience of existence as we perceive it, take a breath and resolve to live every day.