Moon, Mercury, Mars: The Big Ride Begins

Dear Friend and Reader:

With Mercury stationing retrograde on Friday, followed hours later by the Pisces Full Moon on Saturday, we are on the big ride to March 2023. That is the moment of revelation and, among other things, the beginning of Pluto in Aquarius, which lasts until 2044.

That is accompanied by Mars entering Cancer, and Saturn entering Pisces, all concentrated around the Aries equinox of 2023. 

While it’s an important spiritual discipline to stay in the present, which really means to pay careful attention to yourself and your environment, it’s equally vital to remember where we are headed, because it’s a place in the timescape like no other. And we need preparation. I began that in my recent article, Rumors, and from a personal standpoint in the Cancer reading for An Aquarian Era (open content).

We have been in “Mercury storm” for a few days — that is, Mercury moving well under half a degree per day as it approaches its stationary retrograde moment.

Mercury Retrograde into the Full Moon

Let’s take the events in order. Mercury stations retrograde in Libra on Friday at 11:37 pm EDT; that is, overnight Friday to Saturday in most of the time zones we reach. The retrograde begins in Libra and moves back into Virgo, lasting until Sunday, Oct. 2.

We have been in “Mercury storm” for a few days — that is, Mercury moving well under half a degree per day as it approaches its stationary retrograde moment. I will skip all of the usual “don’t sign” mythology associated with Mercury retrograde — I cover it in this ancient text — though one principle is worthy of a reminder. 

Mercury retrogrades are excellent times to rectify and resolve conditions lingering from the past. They are a natural period of review, like those intervals in the A Course in Miracles workbook. We need those moments of reflection and repair, here in our ever-forward-driven society. This is a time to complete what you have started in the past, rather than to begin new things. And there are plenty.

It’s also an introspective time, where you are encouraged to devote your energy to your relationship to yourself rather than to others. However, given that the retrograde begins in Libra, there may be some old business that comes up in interpersonal affairs.

It is a fact that people do a lot of casually failing in their commitments, deceiving and stealing from those who trust them, and generally abusing one another’s faith, as if there is no alternative.

The Setup: Psyche to One Side, Logos to the Other

A close look at the minor planets describes an interesting scenario with this Mercury retrograde. It seems to stop its motion a half-of-a-degree short of a point called Logos (an ultra-slow-mover, located out near Pluto). And has just passed over asteroid Psyche. Said another way, Mercury stops short of a conjunction to Logos, and will retrograde back over Psyche. 

To one side of Mercury is something that makes perfect sense (Logos), but Mercury does not get there — yet. To the other side is what makes no sense at all (Psyche) — betrayal, the loss of faith, and the sense of the resulting psychic or spiritual wound that will not heal. Certainly, that is true if the underlying matter is not resolved. Psyche is similar to Chiron in this respect. 

So one effect of this Mercury stationary-retrograde moment is a prolonged conjunction of Mercury and Psyche. Asteroids can blend into the planet that conjoins them, and we might consider this a crucial matter for which there are really no other words: betrayal, loss of faith, and the sense of a permanent and hopeless spiritual injury. 

It is a fact that people do a lot of casually failing in their commitments, deceiving and stealing from those who trust them, and generally abusing one another’s faith, as if there is no alternative. 

Yet at the same time, Psyche represents the expectation that this will happen, and the loss of faith in others and oneself. With Psyche, there is the experience that this is all senseless, and we cannot do anything about it, but we can. And that starts with making yourself worthy of trust and keeping your promises as a matter of honoring Dharma. When your brother or sister asks you to walk with them one mile, walk with them two miles — the second mile in spirit.

Where Logos is abandoned, the pain and alienation of Psyche can easily dominate, and in our time, they do.

Logos: Divine Reason and Wisdom

As for Logos (in Libra 2015-2039), this is the thing gone missing from society and consciousness: the living spirit of that which is true, makes sense, is understandable through a process of reasoning and can be expressed in language. We humans have all but abandoned this principle, particularly in the mental chaos of digital times. 

Instead of Logos, in our time, we have logos — meaningless brand trademarks that we think mean something. 

Where Logos is abandoned, the pain and alienation of Psyche can easily dominate, and in our time, they do. While some say that the suffering of the soul is the only way that humans learn; for most, this is true. Most people refuse to consider their situation until they are in utter agony. 

This is not necessary, though the only workable response is a combination of faith, and accepting divinely inspired reasoning and intelligence. And even with that, there can be plenty of anguish of the soul. The underlying question is which one we prefer.

Logos is an old Greek word that comes from a deeper root that means to collect or gather.In our fragmented times, we seem to exist in many places, in shards, and pieces and no place as a whole being; we need to gather ourselves and exist as one being. Not a collective — that comes later. I mean each person being responsible for their own wholeness. 

Mercury finally reaches the conjunction to Logos at 11 degrees of Libra on Oct. 18, 2022.

So while that can create a dreamy, delightfully escapist vibe, there is also the matter of truth and integrity. Neptune, which can be a source of inspiration, is also the most easily corrupted of all the planetary energies.

The Pisces Full Moon

The Full Moon in Pisces is always a special astrological moment of the late summer. Sometimes it’s the Harvest Moon (in my mythology, that is the Full Moon closest to the equinox). 

Let’s go back to the Virgo New Moon of which this Full Moon is the product. This was a somewhat fraught chart, with the Moon and the Sun making a square (90-degree) to a slow, powerful Mars in Gemini. That New Moon chart talked about paying attention to the conditions at the end, to matters of stagnation, and cautioned of a LOT of rain in the coming months. I cover that in an audio presentation here.

The Full Moon continues the theme of a lot of water, where there is rain (i.e., I’m not talking about in the Gobi Desert). The Full Moon is conjunct Neptune in Pisces. So while that can create a dreamy, delightfully escapist vibe, there is also the matter of truth and integrity. Neptune, which can be a source of inspiration, is also the most easily corrupted of all the planetary energies. 

One might even get the idea that in our time, where “image is everything” and people think that their belief establishes reality for the rest of us, it is inherently corrupt. Listening to music is the closest most people get to the inspirational quality of Neptune. 

The real issue of Neptune is how easy and appealing it is for people to delude themselves, and the fact that it’s generally far easier and more profitable to lie than it is to tell the truth.

The corresponding problem is that it’s also more convenient to believe lies than it is to seek the truth. To have a clear and unobstructed Neptune comes only from total devotion to honesty and understanding. 

People who are aware that they have Mars square Neptune in their charts know that this is an aspect calling for special attention. It presents a condition that can only be resolved through spiritual practice and devotion to impeccable ethics — and self-care.

Mars Square Neptune, then Mars Retrograde

One closing thought for today. Mars in Gemini is creeping toward its stationary-retrograde position in late Gemini on Oct. 30. This will be in a square to Neptune, exact for the first of three times on Oct. 12 — just a month away. 

I avoid predictive astrology, but here is what I see coming: some form of a diversionary event that consumes society, raising a cloud of chaos and confusion. This Mars-Neptune square is a sustained event, staying within five degrees of a square for three months. That is a long time.

People who are aware that they have Mars square Neptune in their charts know that this is an aspect calling for special attention. It presents a condition that can only be resolved through spiritual practice and devotion to impeccable ethics — and self-care. 

It is one of those aspects that is inherently self-destructive, and this must be addressed with all of one’s attention. It’s easy to slip back into its tendencies, even when they seem to be transcended. There can be an obsession with finding “the easy way,” when this is purely an illusion. 

If someone fully grasps the meaning of this aspect, they can accomplish great things, though this is rare to find. And generally, it is better for artists than it is for expert witnesses.

Neptune can render Mars impractical; the result is often the philosophy that “the ends justify the means.” And we are going to be living with this for many months; and then it returns in late winter and early spring, as slow-mover Saturn and ultra-slow-mover Pluto change signs. My take is that the controversy created under the cover of the Mars-Neptune square clouds perception and distracts people from the far more significant implications of Pluto changing signs.

Her errors were on the level of a sportscaster saying that the New York Yankees had scored a fabulous touchdown, or an orthopedic surgeon claiming that there are 16 bones in the foot, one for every toe.

A Stunning Mars square Neptune Synchronicity

Fans of my investigative reporting may be aware that last week, I published a report about someone claiming to have two Ph.D.s, who further claimed that she had proven that SARS-CoV-2, HIV and malaria do not exist as science currently says. While these matters are up for discussion, I proved that she did not have her credentials, and that she had never done the experiments she claimed to have done.

This was not especially difficult. The institution she claimed to have attended said that no person with her name ever received a degree, which was confirmed by the media relations office and also by the dean of infectious diseases.

Her errors were on the level of a sportscaster saying that the New York Yankees had scored a fabulous touchdown, or an orthopedic surgeon claiming that there are 16 bones in the foot, one for every toe.

All of those resources are here. If you click the top player, the story is over in the first thirty seconds of the program (it’s a cold-opener with my subject talking about her dissertation — it’s funny). Here is an interview with me describing how and why I did the story. It’s great fun.

My investigative feature sent a concussion through the “covid truth” movement, which on the whole does not do much concerning itself with truth — most presenters under this umbrella are either obsessed with “half truth” and many are blatantly deceiving the public. A few hold the line and honor the scientific method, rather than “political science.”

The effect of her actions was to distract attention from legitimate doctors, scientists and investigators working on the viral isolation issue. Had someone other than me outed her, the damage would have impacted them; even still, people have tried to use her lack of integrity to tar the efforts of sincere people.

It was disturbing how many people, speaking in various comments, thought it was OK for her to lie because they agreed with the position she was taking.

Now for the synch: she gave me her natal chart data. The first aspect your eye goes to in her natal chart is Mars square Neptune.

So, get ready.

I will read the chart on Friday’s Planet Waves FM.

With love,