As you’ve no doubt heard, a Mercury retrograde begins Tuesday. We’ve covered this in a number of blog posts and subscriber editions, though if you would like a concise summary, here is the article to read. This accompanies the November monthly interpretations for all the signs that went out a couple of weeks ago.
Before I give a few of the subtler messages that I see in the chart, let’s do a brief go-over of some basics of the current sky. We are still in the Samhain / Days of the Dead phase of Scorpio. These holidays fall a little in advance of the Sun reaching the Scorpio midpoint. That’s the actual cross quarter, and it happens Tuesday at 7:25 pm EST, about 90 minutes after Mercury stations retrograde. (I’ve got an old article that provides an explanation of the cross quarter days.)
For reasons a bit complicated to explain, when the Sun reaches the middle of a fixed sign (such as Scorpio), that activates the Aries Point, which is like an energy source in the first degree of Aries. This is the zone of the zodiac where personal material overlaps with political themes, and where the political realm reaches right into our personal lives.
Appropriately enough the contact point we’re experiencing is in Scorpio, which covers all the themes of reproductive issues, shared resources, sexuality and other taboo subjects. This happens with the Moon in mid-Leo (at last quarter), another one of the cross quarters. This is appropriate for a day where Americans are taking part in a political process that will have a significant impact on the world.
As for the Moon’s current condition, overnight Sunday into Monday. All of the traditional planets are currently located early in their respective signs, as are the the modern planets, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. By the currently adopted rules that most astrologers follow, this means we have frequent, unusually long phases of the void-of-course Moon; we’re in one now, as the Moon moves through late Cancer.