Restraint — Mercury Re-Enters Sagittarius

Mercury re-enters Sagittarius Monday at 10:40 pm EST, counseling restraint. It will be a re-entry because Mercury has been away from the mutable fire for less than a month, thanks to a retrograde review of Scorpio’s fixed waters. The advice to discretion derives from an unlikely combination of factors that will come together with Mercury’s return to Jupiter’s dominion. The first factor is the sign itself.

As the innermost planet goes, so your mind, and its expression, is likely to go. With its impending resurgence to expansive Sagittarius, there are several ways Mercury could go too far.

Any planet in opposition to a sign it rules has the potential to be less than dignified in its expression. That’s the case when Mercury takes its annual tour of expansive Sagittarius in opposition to its Gemini domicile. Of course, it can also go quite well. The determining factor is whether the head gets out of hand. On one hand, there is the peril of hyperbole and conceit. The other side of the coin holds a promise of inspired communication. This year, a rare case of mutual reception implies a toss-up. 

The phenomenon of mutual reception takes place when two planets simultaneously occupy each others’ ruling signs. This year, for the first time in 12 years, Mercury is traversing Sagittarius while Jupiter is retrograde through Gemini.

Planets in mutual reception often function to resemble each other. A mutual reception in opposing signs becomes more of a reflection. Add apparent motion in opposite directions, and cautious, creative thinking will be necessary to make heads or tails of any concurrent situation in your life. Two aspects immediate to Mercury’s return from Scorpio will simultaneously enhance the creative while revealing a path to resolution. The first of those aspects is a third square to Neptune.

Mercury’s Sagittarius redux will immediately incur the third of three rapidly successive squares to Neptune, long posted at the gateway to Pisces. Just as with the previous incarnations during Mercury’s direct motion on Oct. 29 and during its retrograde Nov. 14, it will help to make a plan for the aspect and stick to it. You should not look for trouble, but you should anticipate feeling troubled. Because this will be the third time, the feeling will be less likely to sneak up on you unawares. Previous experience will also help you take a couple of things on faith.

When Monday rolls around, have faith that your troubles originate with you. Therefore, address and act only on yourself with faith that protocol will resolve your disquiet. That does not mean you should withdraw from others. With others, communicate confirmations and affirmations to bolster their faith that you are behaving responsibly and appropriately. Finally, take it on faith that a second aspect unique to Mercury’s second Sagittarius ingress will reward the conscious practice of restraint.

The essence of restraint is not in what you do, but in what you consciously choose not to do. When Mercury enters Sagittarius to square Neptune as it has twice before, it will also oppose asteroid Hybris as never before. Auspiciously positioned retrograde in Gemini’s first degree, Hybris will convert the Mercury-Neptune square into a mutable T-square.

Back in December of 2004, Eric wrote that “Hybris is about hubris — the tragic flaw, pride, the issue we cannot see.” Simultaneously opposing Mercury, and square to Neptune while Jupiter serendipitously transits its discovery degree, Hybris will symbolize both reflection and resolution on Monday.

Reflecting on both Mercury’s detrimental peril and expansive potential in Sagittarius, Hybris will make it clear that you need fear only your own excess of ambition and arrogance. As a parallax perspective to Neptune, Hybris will be in a position to resolve in clarity and focus where previously there had been only distortion and confusion. All it will take to work Monday’s dodgy astrology to your advantage is a little restraint on your part.

If you can begin next week with the sure and certain faith that what you don’t say is equally as important as what you do say, you will not only avoid the perils and enhance the potentials of the moment. You can also have faith that you will be ahead of the game addressing issues you cannot yet see.

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Len is available for astrology readings. You can contact him at lenwallick [at] gmail [dot] com.