Dear Planet Waves Reader:
First, in case you missed Friday’s edition because you were traveling, I posted a year in review horoscope. The January monthly horoscope, called “How to Cross an Ocean,” will be posted Friday morning. This is an extended edition, previewing Light Bridge, the 2011 annual edition of Planet Waves. Until Light Bridge publishes in January, I’ll keep Planet Waves on a slightly slower schedule.
As suggested, this turned out to be the weekend to avoid travel. Hopefully you’re not reading this on your iPad or Droid camped out on the floor of Heathrow. If you’re in a position to decide whether to call off making a move for a few days, or making the move immediately, I suggest you delay if you can, particularly if there are lingering questions or the possibility of additional delays. Things are likely to go smoother with Mercury direct, which is the topic of my letter today.
Mercury will station direct in Sagittarius at 2:20 am EST on Thurs., Dec. 30. In effect that means overnight Wednesday to Thursday in most of our time zones, and Thursday later in the day in Australia. Mercury has been retrograde since Dec. 10, starting in Capricorn and now stationing direct in late Sagittarius. It made a series of fancy moves, such as taking part in a weird, exact triple conjunction on Dec. 13.
If there is any cleanup work or recovery necessary from this retrograde phase, I suggest you do that incrementally until the eclipse arrives on Jan. 4. Don’t rush; work in layers and be gentle and deliberate.
The days surrounding when Mercury changes apparent directions can be a time when the retrograde effect is the most pronounced. Here are my top five hints for easing through this transition:
1. This is not a time to push, it’s a time to move with the energy. Granted, it may never really be time to push (okay sometimes!), but especially not during a Mercury station. Allow things to go at a slower pace and be conscious in your communication with others. In case of a misunderstanding, get off email and try the phone, or in person. Email has lost little of its reputation for communication snafu. If something seems unnecessarily tangled, give it a week or two.
2. It’s better not to commence activities or commitments prior to the station, as they can have a tendency to reverse themselves. If possible I suggest waiting anywhere from three days to three weeks depending on how meaningful it is to you. Remember, we are in the extreme waning phase of the Moon, headed for a solar eclipse. That will bring out additional information and start a new phase. This is a time to wrap up old business.
3. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, and if it seems broke, it may not be. Wait to fix it, because ‘solutions’ can cause more problems than they solve in the midst of Mercury stationing. If you must solve a problem, break out the scientific method — or any logical method. Take notes and test your theories carefully. Don’t let impatience get a grip. Remind Mercury you love him/her and are thankful for all these cool gadgets.
4. One interesting property of Mercury stationing is that the truth can come out, as if from behind a veil. If there are situations that are puzzling you or for which you are seeking answers, listen carefully and gently work the data and you just may get a revelation or two. As Mercury changes directions, the same information can look different from day to day; you might see things you missed the first time; you may understand something that you could not quite grasp. However, this business of ‘the truth revealed’ can be uncanny. Listen to what people say to you; listen to what you say to them.
5. Drive consciously, and leave extra time to get anyplace you’re going. If you’re flying home from a holiday, listen to those expert travel tips. Pack some food, your toothbrush and extra undies in your carry-on (always a good idea), and use the toilet before boarding a flight. I don’t suggest you depend on a digitized flight-checker app. Some of these things are disconnected from reality. Call the airline and talk to a human person.
Now as for the creative part.
Mercury is stationing direct close to the core of our galaxy, and will pass over the core on Jan. 9-10. Think of Mercury as condensing whatever is emanating from the core — the center of our spiral island in space (which is a defining feature of Sagittarius). Mercury is about ideas, but they come from somewhere, and at the moment, if you can tune in, they are being accessed from the heart of the galaxy. The core has the property of fleeting insights that we then forget. It’s as if they’re too sublime for our dimension, but if we get them into tangible form (a sticky note will do) we can have something precious and worthwhile.
This Sagittarian dimension may be less about practical solutions and more about insights into existence, which has a practicality all its own. See if you can tune in and listen, remembering as a poet once scribbled on the back of an envelope, you can get shown the light in the strangest of places if you listen just right.
Lovingly,
