Mercury is slowing to a station in Taurus. With about four days to go, that puts in the Mercury storm phase; as of this moment Mercury is retrograde moving at less than one-quarter of a degree per day. Saturday night it will stop (relative to the Earth) and, instantaneously, commence direct motion. There is no actual station (i.e., the planet appearing stationary in the sky or in the chart). Something like Eris, which is currently 97 times the Earth-Sun distance, may station for a number of minutes, but even that is surprisingly brief, when you actually look at the math.
Mercury, slow and powerful, is currently square the Aquarius alignment of Jupiter, Chiron and Neptune, which personalizes that aspect and brings it to the forefront of consciousness while it’s at peak intensity. Mercury retrograde, or a Mercury station, are challenging enough for most people, particularly if attempting to swim against the tide.
When you add squares to a diversity of planets which are themselves in a tight alignment, the stage is set for revelations and for all kinds of psychological pain and confusion. Check your intuition against the known facts and give matters where there is an uncertainty factor time to work out.
What can seem urgent during a Mercury station can disappear like a puff of smoke. What can seem trivial or like a mere clue can lead to a significant revelation or discovery. If unattended or handled poorly, small problems or misunderstandings can become serious ones.
Particularly at this late stage in the retrograde cycle, it’s not the time to make investments, commitments or to push events or arguments forward. For the best value, it’s definitely time to avoid purchasing things.
All of the above could be filed under ‘mundane astrology’ — the ordinary and the worldly. The triple conjunction itself defies easy explanation, though we can say for sure that it’s a collective spiritual event that may drop entirely below the radar for most people because it involves two points that have a tendency to disappear — Neptune and the Galactic Core. What we think of as the spiritual level of reality can hold surprisingly little sway over the affiars of the rational mind or the ego.
Usually it takes some kind of a crisis to get us to change directions, revise our method of thinking or question our assumptions. The triple conjunction points to great things, but not if we are tied up in petty ones.
darlings… paletiger, victorious, blessed Anna of the GraceTit, Fe, CC and Patty … I love and appreciate all of you *so* much. You girls who are slipping the noose, finding that love has a name (or names) and home in your lives, I salute you!!
Such a strange time for me. I am tits-deep in Tantra for Bobos, going in and out of rhythm with it. Scared spitless. *My* first mentor, the thanatologist Anya Foos, wrote me a 6000 word letter today which boiled down to “GET OFF OF YOUR HANDS and KNEES, AND PUBLISH!!” ( Anna, you are in very, very, very good company, doll. Many kisses, many thanks… )
***
Did anyone else know the re-nocked ‘new moon’ last night as merc went direct? I sat for it, and while it was not the deep emptiness of the tirsthi (moment of the new), it was very interesting withal. Felt ‘newish’ – so today I reset the calendar and plunge again.
And uh, Hazel, it wasn’t four, it was six. I was the sixth. Never again.
xo
m
Mystes – you are some woman, no really. I am just back from a couple of days contemplating both my navel and the universe under canvas, by the sea, in the sun, at the foot of the mountains, with my beloved and the dulcit tones of a cuckoo for company. And I;ve been listening to myself – the voice I need to hear, not the one that gives me all the (sometimes) well intentioned ‘should’ shit.
I came home and the first thing I did was to write to the ex and say ‘lets sell or you have.’ Ha! I’ve been battling over that decision for a long time, however fearful self worried about where she would go then????….. But all along, I have been listening and wondering about the voice that said – ‘Go, go, go – let it all go. Something will come.’
I always end up listening to that voice (that’s how I got shot of him in the first place) but still, after forty three fucking years on this planet, I have to go around the fucking houses to get to hearing that voice. I’m smiling. (apologies to those who don’t swear – it’s punctuation where I come from).
Anyhoo – decision made. I’m letting go and something will come…or something shall be discovered…whatever.
And then I come in and find heartwarming message from Victoria and your very sensible, human guidance. (I tell you, it’s hard not to ask, how come 4 wives? 🙂 ) But the reality is, I don’t need to know. You have an interesting ‘living’ kind of life Mystes. That is one thing that I really appreciate about you (amongst other things) – you LIVE your life.
Thank you. With love as ever, H.
AnnaT…
“Maybe I’ll break out, this time!”
of course you will
(umm, can you hold that door for just one… minute… more… )
mystlike
Mystes,
as always, your wisdom rocks, shines, and although I am not Hazel, it applies to me, and I try to hear and obey.
Mercury retro with Jupiter/Neptune/Chiron (and 2nd Saturn return grinding away on its last pass just now) has not brought anything this May that I haven’t been suffering all winter, in fact I think I am seeing the door through now! Maybe I’ll break out, this time!
Thanks be to all of you for the blog words of pain, commiseration, advice, wisdom, vision. It helps me along
xxAnnaT
Hazel… I’ve walked (okay, crawled) out of two marriages stone-cold broke, having poured everything into them. And rebuilt from six-feet under, up. The half-husband’s fourth wife (please don’t ask) simply changed her name, moved to another continent and refused to ever deal with him again. Took me 13 years to get the wisdom of that choice. I highly recommend it.
Whatever property you have in common, let it go. It’s a piece of dirt with some sticks on it. Any value it has at a karmic level immediately evaporates as soon as you stop contending over it.
What happens (as soon as you get through grieving the loss) is that the energy represented by the ‘property’ returns to you 10-fold. It’s no lie that property/childcustody battles are just a continuation of the love-bond. To the extent that you want/need to be involved with that person, you will continue the contest.
Of course the real question is, how much energy will you give it? If your factotum can conduct the battle on your behalf without scalding you in the process, andale. Otherwise…
I know you are going to do what you *really* need to do with this. But try to separate your actual will from the ‘press-play’ of the ‘Hazel A’ incarnatory vehicle. It has certain programs built-in. Wake up through them, don’t allow them to put you behind the eightball.
paletiger, I will never forget your oatmeal entry. It busted my gut with glee.
Mystes – thanks so much. Nice to know I’m being thought of way, way over the deep blue. It may be a day or two before reporting in as life demands my attention elsewhere. Back soon, with love. H.
Hey miss Hazel… I’ve been walking around, thinking about you. Pith? Did I say pith? Two entirely different lines of rumination have sprung up, and I am watching them tunnel their way to one another. Caramba…
Soon.
xo
m
CC7… honey, you’re aiming too high, and you’re taking this too personally (I can hear you scream *WHAT???*). Academic limits… you have to treat them with a certain respectful shrug. Grovelling is good, going to the chair of the department, or Dean of the College and appealing *after* the roar of graduation has died down is a better shot. Watch to see where the political chips may fall. You may provide just the right rationale for an incompetent to be censured or suspended, but you have to pack your man in ice and send him in without desperation.
Threatening almost never works unless you actually have something they want. Money is at this point theoretical, it isn’t your stick. Being an adult student is, though; and trust me, academic circles are shark-infested waters. You have know when to throw out the chum, and when to let the appetite build. Don’t use your outrage, use the part of you that is techtonic, can feel where the cracks in the situation are located. Strike there.
Rooting for ya…
M
::::cough:::
Well, as Eric said, things are not moving ahead. The provost wrote back and said that they can waive one of the Math classes but it still puts my husband one semester more than he has financial aid for (there are lifetime limits on it doncha know). In essence, she has offered a piece of crap and he is supposed to grovel in gratefulness, despite the fact that it was THEIR mistake and lies that started this mess, and their arrogance that will keep him from graduating and getting his teacher certification.
They stand to lose not only his last two semesters of tuition money but four plus years of mine (I was supposed to transfer to them this next spring with my happy 4.0 GPA) AND all the combined college years of tuition from our four kids . Talk about STUPID. He asked the provost about that and mentioned that I won’t transfer there because of how he has been treated and neither will any of our four kids, two of whom will be college ready in a year and a half His words were: “Is it worth it to the faculty and staff of the COE and this University to lose students because of bad advising?” He sent this reply to the provost with a cc to the president of the university. If student retention and recruitment means ANYTHING to these fools, (and you would think it would with the huge projected 30% budget cuts they are supposed to get from the state) you would think they would think twice about screwing someone over, making him pay for it and denying any recourse for it. The combined tuitions of five people add up to around $250,000+, not including future tuition hikes and books. That’s no small chunk of change to a school in need of funds. How can supposedly educated people be so stupid?
So much for the higher education programs in this country. These folks seem to forget that he is PAYING for a service and that as a consumer, he can take his money elsewhere. They like to pull a “god” stance with the students. The customer used to always be right because to do otherwise meant loss of business. It seems this university hasn’t heard about that.
I can’t WAIT for Merc Rx to be done!
Paletiger,
Thanks and love to you too!
I don’t like to broadcast problems here, but everytime I do the resolution is almost immediate. It pays to have friends in loving places!
Well Mystes,
Am having what you might call a turn of events. The lost twin spirit finally connected with a frantic email that said ‘for the 10th time…….I am in Boston…’
Egads – Think I might need a defribillator too. I should know about mercury by now…it has been a rough two or three weeks.
Love and let love – Trust and Love
Spirit is an eternal now – and really is defined as ‘love’. You are love. But it is so easy to forget
Mystes!!! Hunnybun. Have been chortling as I walked the last walk of the day with the hound, thinking about your post. Ha! Pithy. Oh yes, I do want to hear what you think. Yes’m. So please be getting that keyboard straight out of your hand-bag and type for all your worth…
Love H.
PT!
I had wondered where you were!! This: “Left with almost nothing, I had to start again a couple of years ago. For him to try to do this to me is so hideously awful and unfair – but a score has to be settled here and it will be done. We;re still tied up in a property you see. ”
arrrrgghhh achachach(gutteral, scottish noises)-a-fie… Want my opinion? No? Oh, c’mon, sure you do…
Kidding, kidding… I won’t roll it over to you unbidden. I definitely have one (and no, it’s not caustic).
Pithy maybe, but not caustic.
(stuffing the keyboard back into my purse now – >snap<)
Hugs to you,
M
Dearest chums – been ages since I’ve been on here, it’s been arduous to say the least these past few weeks. Reading from some of the posts here, it’s been ‘doing the rounds’. Saturn (I guess in Virgo) is transiting my second house, it’s square against my Saturn (in Pisces), conjunct my Pluto (also in Virgo), and square my Jupiter (in Gemini). My ex is a ‘Virgo’ and made a reappearance to try and extort money from me – including trying to get me out of my home. He took me for a lot of money (no, let me correct that, I let him take me for a lot of money) while we were together and I was a fool. Left with almost nothing, I had to start again a couple of years ago. For him to try to do this to me is so hideously awful and unfair – but a score has to be settled here and it will be done. We;re still tied up in a property you see. I don’t know if I’m going to be homeless or not, taken to court in a faux case or what, fucked over and screwed again or what? I say I don’t know these things – my inner child of 5 thinks we might be, but her darling mummy, my lovely self, says NO WAY, I’m taking care of you and we’re going to be fine.
In my new life, I’m doing good, loving life. Little money, but fine all the same. Started my own business and have dared to dare. In a recession, it’s gently building. Met a lovely Aquarian who nurtures, stimulates and supports like nothing I have known – wonderful. However, this recent attack on my world has been voracious, vindictive and scary. Staying grounded has been tough – but I’m holding out.
I send love to Patty. P, it is not done with yet – expect to find love, expect it, it’s yours. As Mystes (bless her) says, we are built for love.
Love to all of you, actually.
okay fellow water-babies..thanks for the good reads. carecare7 . . too funny . .mystes. .thanks for all the great advice and site; Patty”, phall . .I feel your pain, emotional and physical. I do think Eric summed it up for us all in the title “Be Cool”, and the line “what can seem urgent during a Mercury station . . .”, and it relates to me in that my elderly, beautiful kitty has feline cognitive dysfunction (kitty Alzheimers) which “seems” to have intensified in the last 2 weeks and has depleted any energy and time I had for other pressing demands.
By dragging the Neptune/Jupiter/Chiron team into the rather common Mercury rx, the “fear and pain”, emphasized by Jupiter and the square challange just ramps up whatever nascent emotions were already brewing. But the surprise factor, the Pisces gift of Uranus sextile Mercury, will surprise us and clear the field of fear any moment now. (It’s not just God that works in mysterious ways!)
In the meantime, follow earthy and practical virgoean victoria and get grounded.
Hi Vicvega… I’ve long held that mirrors are doorways, and the reason you trigger a change in atmosphere when one is shattered has to do with who/what comes and goes through the glass. Could be that you just pinched off a portal. Not always a bad thing, but you might want to set up alternate routes for the felicitous help/energy that may have been coming through that one.
Pat, we are no less ardent at 65 than at 25. I honor that in every possible way. I had a tender friendship with a dancemaster in her 70s when I lived in Mexico – at the time I was in my 20s. She taught me, communicated something almost ineffable about the strength of spiritual eros, even in a body that had been essentially destroyed by the likes of Martha Graham. It is never ‘too late.’ Never. We are built to love one another.
***
That said, I woke this morning to a feeling of almost perfect self-indifference. Not loathing, just ‘engghhh – what an improbable story *this* lifetime is turning out to be…’ Since I have a very few days to pull off a major redirect, this lassitude is coming at an odd, and quite inconvenient time. Oh thank you, Mr. Chiron. Bleh…
(Looking around for the defibrillator…”Clear!”)
Thanks Mystes….you are a dear heart. I hope and dream only good things for you and your family and beloveds.
Today, as I was racing and speeding around my workplace getting ready for a photo shoot-I broke a 4 foot tall MIRROR! I knew I had nicked it and it was behind me, but I saw it in my mind falling and breaking….and then POW! I heard it shatter behind me…..Now, I’m not usually superstitious, but I can honestly say I’ve never done that and didn’t know what to do…..My immediate reaction was to go grab the sage and start burning all my fears. I decided immediately that this was a positive thing and symbolic of my eyes being opened and seeing things clearly lately. I even went and took some photos of the shattered glass before cleaning up.
I’ve honestly been on a roll since April and I decided that even breaking a huge mirror couldn’t be a bad thing! A few weeks ago I had a breakthrough about my health (what ‘appeared’ to be a ‘bad’ thing is probably the best thing that’s happened because it’s HELPING me) and it’s been surrounded by peaks of cosmic consciousness appearing all around me and coming thru me.
So much positive stuff and things ‘working’ out lately….What is causing a FLOW I feel like I’ve been waiting a longggggg time to come? The triple conjunction is in my 11th house and is almost squaring my 2nd house Taurus SUN at 24 degrees Taurus…hhmmmmmmm. I’d love any feedback anyone has on this…..thanks people:)
the past couple months or so have been truly horrible for me. for a while it was insomnia, and as a result only got about 10% of my work done, and wasnt able to exercise much which led to more insomnia. then the day after i finally slept long and solid, i got insulin insufficiency disorder from not having the enzymes to digest grain properly which my body became more sensitive to from not sleeping. and then even though i was sleeping i was even more tired than when i had insomnia – unbelievable.
3 weeks ago (may 6th) Eric posted the ‘Mercury stationing retrograde, into the Full Moon’ article which specifically stated my grain issue and that blew me away. so after not having grain for 4 weeks now, then other health problems arose which also prevented me from really sleeping, working, and exercising. it’s extremely difficult to visualize and feel positivity in the midst of all of this. i really hope things will change after this retrograde.
Pat, honey…
I know you have been separated from the Beloved. And I hear something in the tones of your near-despair about this – I recognize that flavor. Stay with it, right *with* it. Don’t suck on any placebos, don’t distract yourself, don’t veer into lesser pleasures. There’s a space beyond exhaustion, rage, disappointment, emptiness, the inscrutable awayness. These are harsh mirrors along the way. Stay right *with* your longing; don’t chase or inflate it, but when it comes, sit and take its (your own) hand and feel until the keening dies down. Something else will come, Patty – the only way I can describe it as that you will detect how the Beloved feels you reach for him. It’s a subtle movement, very subtle, but you’ll know it as more real than anything else.
Life turns from there…
& CC7. . . write while *in* the pain. You’ll vomit for a while, yes – but then something else will start to come through.
Lovingly,
M
This weekend I ejected a bad black glob of weeping saddness that has been residing in my belly. I kicked it to the curb after I had examined it carefully and given in bus fare. Now I’m holding on to solid object so I don’t float away.
Carecare and Mystes,
It’s just hard to finally accept the disappointments of loss – all kinds of loss. I started the new job yesterday and it is promising. I don’t want a career at this stage of life, but they like me and I have the experience they need to get them up and running. Short term, it will keep my mind occupied and refill my savings account, which disappeared as i tried to go into business. I’ll keep the business and hope for better times next year.
Love? There is little hope, so I’ll have to settle for being a monk. The disappointment is unbearable.
victoria,
I have Virgo rising….so it seems to be hitting me both ways this month. Walking….that’s an idea worth doing right now! Thanks for posting that!
mystes,
Thanks for the info. I have bookmarked that astrologer for myself. When I feel less pain, I will begin the process of writing…for some sort of publication (well, I already have a lor of stuff written si it is more a matter of figuring out where to publish it). I have no idea if it will make me any money but it will make me feel better to be writing.
Virgo reporting in. In the lushness of full spring green, lollygagging with delight, comes a phone call like a blast of dynamite. Tension fills my ears and I am powerless to respond, except to say the next step is . . . Mars is moving to taurus soon. I want to take it on down. But for now a brisk walk in the dampness of this chilly spring eve will have to suffice. There are no words, no feeling for this sudden force that I feel. Just one step at a time. And I’m down to hearing my feet on the pavement, one foot, then the other, to re-establish my rhythm.
Darlin’s… Patty and Carecare7 (and fellow Kallinectes, Chrys) Astrologer Bridgett Walther is often pungent to the edge of rant, but some days I *really* like her. I read for Pisces this morning – not sure why, it just seemed like a good idea. Here is her take on the week:
Personal…
May 25-31: You really need more consideration and strength from another this week. No more wishy-washy nonsense or unbelievable excuses. You’ve had enough. You want someone strong and respectful enough of you to be honest. You can feel when someone is blurring the edges or ‘letting you down easy.’ Like hell it’s easy – it hurts even more because you’re trapped in confusion between ‘unintentional misstatement’ (lie) and full-on, rehearsed flaming lie. It not only hurts your heart – it also makes you question your judgment and ability to make smart decisions. You bounce back and forth between feeling betrayed and feeling like a target for con artists. Learn from your mistakes. Learn from others’ mistakes, too. You’ll get through this and won’t ever have to repeat a single moment of it again. No one is mistake-proof, no matter how brilliant or experienced. And because you tend to accept the blame for everything that goes wrong and allow loud-mouthed bullies to smash your self-respect to bits, use this week to ditch an entire load of losers. No more second, third or ninety-ninth chances for parasites. You need space, privacy, security and distance away from someone who has tormented and punished you once too often. If that means living like a monk until early November, so be it. You are not a doormat. Find your inner goddess this week. Weekly touchstones: Emerald, Black Spinel.
Career…
May 25-31: You need more money and must get a little more training, a better job or a grant to help you get a leg up on the competition. If you’re not being paid adequately, look around for other opportunities. That may mean working in a different field and stretching your self-imposed boundaries. Don’t belittle your talent, potential or formidable charisma. Try a few new things that once seemed intimidating. If you’re nervous about speaking in front of a crowd, try it. If the idea of interviewing a witness of an important local event makes you cringe, try it. Your appearance is very camera-friendly. Your personality is instantly likable and warm. You might want to consider a career in media. Some of you might excel in costuming, hair, and makeup, while others do best on stage. Between now and early November, give yourself permission to explore a new career. Maybe you’ll choose something less glamorous than a media-based job. Whatever you decide to do will pay better and be more stable than current circumstances.
http://www.bridgettwalther.com/daily.asp?sign=Pisces
Is any of this helpful? Might take a look at her daily too…
xoXOxo!
M
Patty,
I am a Pisces sun, too and I feel it like crazy. This definitely hurts and is very painful, not only in the heavy debilitating cramps I am having today but the financial quagmire other people have put us into. I feel for you and I hope you come through this with less pain than you are already experiencing.
So much for the predictions that Pisces should be going for it right now. Yeah, right. Kind of hard to go for anything while esconced in painful experiences.
We are dealing with possible financial desperation on two fronts at once…both unresolved, both requiring others to decide and grant extraordinary leeway because of mistakes THEY made, both dragging their feet despite known deadlines. My husband is a Scorpio sun and we are feeling like helpless victims here and neither of us likes the victim position; both of us are pro-active, problem solvers.
Hang in there.
With this happening on my solar return ascendant , and also looking forward to my
second saturn return in the fall, (7/18/51- yes Eric there are a lot of us our there ) today was pretty striking as I sense a number of endings coming up …..work, volunteer spiritual group work, and aging parents. I have been slow to make a move to canada that I have been hoping to make for years but I see that coming on the horizon along with a completion of my artists book on wishing that I have been working on for ten years
I just need to make that step ( which will start to happen in June,) BUT hwat is really interesting is this conjunction and mercury retro has allowed me to see and start to accept the endings coming up . Not easy for a cancer……………
::::rant on::::
It is no surprise to me that this Merc Rx is causing all sorts of problems and doesn’t go direct until AFTER May 29th…the deadline for my husband’s college program decision. If they decide to allow the screw-up to continue to destroy his chances for getting his degree within the stafford loan lifetime limit he is fast apporoaching, we will be financially hurting BIG time. The classes will be dropped, he will be kicked out of the program, etc. on Friday, only to be told after the fact that either they will allow him to continue (and hope the classes he was dropped out of haven’t a wait list and get filled up so he cannot get in) or they will deny his request. This is because the payment for these summer classes he needs is DUE Friday, May 29th….before Merc goes direct. This is because those needed classes start June 1st so they have to be paid for by May 29th. What a mess.
Once again, we both feel like we are the Universe’s cat toy, being batted around and damaged with every recourse being closed off.
So much for trying to become “self-sufficient;” that American buzz word for “not on the taxpayer’s dime.” We have been trying, but with every step forward, we get pushed back two steps. This is NOT making headway by any standard of measurement. ::::deep breath:::
I want to be “zen” with all this and trust the universe to solve this problem but I have been too uptight emotionally and being in pain while OTR hasn’t helped. I should be planting our garden but the pain doubles me over. By tomorrow it should be gone (or at least manageable).
It is hard to imagine that by Saturday, this will all be different…or that somehow it will “all work out.” Deadlines are just too tight.
If this is the “crisis to get us to change direction” I have NO idea what direction we CAN change to with our extremely limited finances and job prospects. If it is supposed to make me change direction from being a worry-wart, doing it this way DOESN’t WORK….any decent psychologist could tell you that cornering and threatening people often only makes them upset, angry and unable to change.
When something doesn’t work, we are told to stop doing the same action. Insanity is doing the same action and expecting different results….well the universe keeps taking me to the edge like this time and time again…why doesn’t the universe get it that expecting a different outcome from me is just as insane?
Ah well. ::::rant over::::
Back to your regularly scheduled Mercury Rx with everything else going on.
Eric, I’m not liking the last two weeks at all. Crisis of change is at hand, and I don’t like it. Is this supposed to hurt Pisces in particular? Or is it the Libra rising getting pounded in the fifth house of love? whichever it is, it hurts. 12th house, 5th house ouchies all over. I hate it.
Thanks for the insight, Eric. I’m sitting here sipping my Tummy Mint tea . . . on my second day of feeling dizzy and nauseous. My business commitments can wait.