Mercury is about to cross the point where it will resume direct motion in mid-December. We are thus entering the echo (or shadow) phase before Mercury stations retrograde on November 24. Whether you prefer the evocative term “echo” or the more orthodox “shadow,” there is validity to be found in both phrases. Over the next several weeks our opportunities will derive from consciously integrating the two characterizations. In your life that process will entail going beyond simply responding to your perceptions to considering how you may assume as much responsibility for your cognition as you do for your action. We can begin with a review of the corresponding physical reality.
Mercury is presently catching up with our planet and will pass between Earth and Sun in a month or so, essentially lapping us from the inside lane. While that is going on, it will appear to us that Mercury is slowing down from one night to the next, eventually reversing its motion before it conjoins with the Sun. That will be a false impression. The misapprehension has its origin in how we are naturally inclined to perceive what we see in the sky.
Our physical senses are attuned to the scale and nature of our physical existence. Eyesight, hearing and tactile sensations efficiently inform mind as body moves under its own power over ground. We are not so well equipped to detect the continuous motions of our planet. Earth seems to be a stationary surface. Hence, it is natural to assume that we are looking at the sky from a fixed center of reference. Intellectually, however, we know that Earth is moving. To reconcile that knowledge with what our senses tell us requires a conscious exertion. Fortunately, most of us have some experience we can apply to that effort.
Most of us have ridden in or on something that is larger and faster than our bodies. When you direct your attention to another conveyance overtaking and passing yours, what you observe is not the actual motion of the other relative to the ground, but rather the difference between that vehicle and the one you occupy. As the other car or train comes from behind, it appears to decelerate, stand still and accelerate again in the opposite direction from which it came. In fact, that apparent sequence is just the difference between the two vehicles playing out as perspective changes. The same is true when Mercury approaches to pass between Earth and Sun. We are in the deceleration phase now and it can be interpreted with validity as both the shadow of what is really happening and the echo of what is to come.
In astrology, Mercury is an archetype for the part that mind and its expression plays in our lives. In Sagittarius, that archetype rides in the symbolic combination of fire and mutability that characterizes the sign. Mercury in that vehicle represents how thoughts and their declaration will gradually overtake us, propelled by an energy evocative of the flame, manifesting as a prelude for what will appear to be a change of direction. Intellectually, we know that change will in fact be an ephemeral illusion. Nonetheless, we also know the illusion is the shadow thrown by something real, echoing actual changes about to happen. It comes at an auspicious time.
We live in a time when Uranus in Aries and Pluto in Capricorn are maintaining a unique and enduring geometrical relationship, 90 degrees of separation. That relationship is an aspect called a square and it represents an internal tension that only action can resolve. In the words of Richard Tarnas, that aspect between these planets coincides with a period of “historical change requiring Humanity to radically expand the scope of its vision.” Vision, as we all know, is a product of the mind and the square aspect between Uranus and Pluto reminds us that the imperative of expanding our collective vision begins with each one of us acting in anticipation of that which may come to be. The impending echo phase of Mercury is a good time to start by realistically discerning what is going on behind the shadow and integrating that expanded perception with the future’s echo.
Mercury in Sagittarius has the potential of energetically manifesting and passionately expressing an abundance of ideas. It also holds the peril of burning out before those inspirations can be realized in achievement. Mercury retrograde in Sagittarius can either widen the pitfalls or expand the promise, depending on what we do. What we achieve begins on how well we can conceive. What we conceive begins in turn with how proficiently we can perceive. As Mercury enters the territory that it is destined to cover three times, our own destiny will be determined by whether we begin taking responsibility now in discerning the origin of our individual perceptions while accepting personal ownership of the collective expression that will echo from beyond them.
Offered In Service
Bloggers all–thank you for your amazing discussion that was ignited by Len’s challenging article.
mystes:
“Romans 3:17 is clean and resigned. Now the trick is for your mind to stop right *at* the border, without tilting over into judgment. The lines are being drawn, for all of us.” I have recently learned how for me judgment and reaction are like Velcro that instantly sticks me to whatever negativity (hatred, malice, dislike etc.) has passed through my consciousness. I love how you phrase it: without tilting over into judgment.”
“To not hate is simple enough, to not fear a little more challenging; but to learn the art of neutrality is harder. First few times seems ‘unspiritual’ but it isn’t. The offer has been made dozens of times now; those who cling to their malice will be pulled back in, like a hungry umbilicus.
Do not reach out for them. What happens after that is *none* of our business.”
For me to not want to “rescue” or “bring light” it getting easier and easier. They don’t want it, has been my 100% experience. We all are where we want to be, have chosen to be.
Mary Oliver’s poem, “The Journey” speaks this particular point well for me. Link below:
http://www.experienceproject.com/stories/Read-Poetry-For-Transformation/269347
xoxoxo
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B- Thank you for bringing light where there was a need to expand. This is the second time you have stepped up and given me some real tangible assistance. [!] Mystes, your kindess was reassuring. Patty, those looks are maybe because the light confuses them. What a nourishing conversation! Thank you all for chiming in and sharing your ideas. I am receiving from each and every post.
I was on the road all day yesterday allowing the info to settle in with me. Along with the current general [expansive!] astrology, I have pluto trine pluto and merc square pluto so it has been an incredible trip! I shall continue the journey, printing out your thoughts. I hope when I check back again, that more is written. To everyone’s process- the 5th is yours! -G
Mystes and Be,
Thanks for writing; Mystes, I almost wrote to you privately and yes Be, I really related to Jude’s piece too, especially because of my work. There are several of us planning to exit our employer soon. I plan to leave by end of year, or maybe next week if 11/11 unfolds the way I think it could. Staying neutral is hard for me, but a 32 year old at work whom I just love told me how to do it. She said, “It isn’t phony if you are phony on purpose.” She showed me the way to smile and wave and move on. LOL. That actually works believe it or not. She is resigning too, but neither of us has announced it.
Most of the people I know and love are getting very real about who they want to keep in their lives, and who it is time to prune out. There are several people I’d like to attach to my spirit as beacons of light, and you dears are two of them.
Patty, blisswalker, listen:
You got your answer. Romans 3:17 is clean and resigned. Now the trick is for your mind to stop right *at* the border, without tilting over into judgment.
The lines are being drawn, for all of us. To not hate is simple enough, to not fear a little more challenging; but to learn the art of neutrality is harder. First few times seems ‘unspiritual’ but it isn’t. The offer has been made dozens of times now; those who cling to their malice will be pulled back in, like a hungry umbilicus.
Do not reach out for them. What happens after that is *none* of our business.
***
**
*
Patty, Hugging,
Really absorbing your words here, even as my fingers play the keyboard, not knowing how my own words will, well, read. Just read Jude’s piece and it too seeped through me like a big R C Cola swig when you are sooo thirsty. It is energizing when you learn others think and have experiences much like your own while navigating the exit ramps of the third dimension. The body blows to the solar plexus, like Patty described, can make one stop in one’s tracks however, as one tries to understand the meaning of why it happens. To gain awareness is one big answer. Of yourself, of others and finally of the whole of us. The weakest links, the saying goes, need to be repaired before we can all get out of the disintegrating building. Another answer would be to raise our vibration frequency. Hugging Scorpio explains it as a ‘lightening up’ of our thoughts, enabling us to interconnect on the collective level.
The effects of negative energy – someone else’s or your own – have a positive side if, like me, one examines the factors that cause that effect. It might be forced on one (like me) – that examination – or it might be a choice but it is probably part of the process of evolving. I don’t think many of us do it all in one fell swoop. One can agree absolutely with the idea of love and compassion but one must be tested from time to time to see if all the ramifications of that axiom have penetrated into the heart. Patty says it is easier to say than to put into practice. Often there is some left-over dark matter still lodged in the recesses of the primitive snake brain that needs to surface and be purged. Give it time I say. Deal with it in whatever mode suits you best. Finally, “accept personal ownership of the collective expression” like Len suggests, and you are that much better prepared for the evolution of our species, the other species and our planet.
be
be: “Seems to me that the higher octives could transmit to their lower octive counterparts (if this theory works) as a facilitator for leaping over the 4th.”
Thank you for that amazing description. This is exactly how I feel it (although I might say ‘leaping over the 3rd’). As Len described our perception of orbits from the ground surface, so to, understanding any dimension past 3 needs an ability to let all concepts about form disappear. Higher dimensions is about efficiency. Entering into it has a lot to do with our personal frequency and raising it. Compassion, Altruism and Love is a mechanism we can use in meditation to do this. Interconnectivity is efficiency and this idea is about our evolution as a species. Once we leave 3D concepts behind, we understand time differently. We can enter into it and understand ourselves as cosmic rather than earthly. We understand too that abundance is source energy, and allowing our thoughts to become subtle and less weighed down in dense matter allows the collective to operate on higher vibrations and awareness. What we do positively with that energy allows us to move into deeper more efficient dimensions.
This is at least how I feel it for myself.
HS
“5th dimension is all about love” – Amen to that, and it’s the kind of thing that makes people look at you like you are crazy when you try to explain what you have seen with your eyes. The vibration is pure love – you can’t get there with feelings of irritation, anger, fear and cynicsm. Love all, reject fear. Easy to say, but put into practice is not so easy. I worked the last 2 months in a cubicle next to a woman who carries the darkest energy I’ve ever encountered in a work situation. I have been physically sick working next to her. Yesterday I was moved to another part of the wing and I felt so much lighter by the end of the day I almost cried with thankfulness. But this woman still exists with this evil, dark energy. What can i do to help this situation? It reminds me of the article Eric wrote on Halloween, like the workplace is evil. I’d like to quit the job, but the dark energy needs to be expelled. I offered tobacco a few times and it seemed to help. I’ve prayed over the cubicles. The woman is probably a nice person, but she has attracted a dark energy to herself, and he is a son of hell, surely. I was praying about this yesterday before I was moved and a verse popped up in my head several times – Romans 3:17. When I got home from work I looked it up, “The way of peace they do not know.” It felt like judgement had already been passed.
gwind, also known as the hole poker,
Thanks for sharing your insight, I feel your euphoria and today I understand your questioning better than yesterday because of it. A friend of mine wondered why we never heard anything re: ascension that included the 4th dimension. Info just covered the 5th and beyond. Then one day I read that it was where the dark ones operated from, which ties into what you said in your first comment. Based on this little bit of information, I believe the 4th dimension is only another name for our unconscious. If advertisers and the like can manipulate us it is often through our unconscious. Poking a hole is letting something out and letting something else in. The hole flows both ways. So we let our unconscious ‘out’ into our consciousnes, and then our consciousness drifts in to the 4th dimension/unconscious, which can be pretty scary for us at the time. Now about the planets.
The 3 major outer planets used in astrology are considered by the majority of astrology students and their teachers as higher octives of personal planets. In the case of Mercury, Uranus is considered its higher octive, for Venus it is Neptune and for Mars it is Pluto. Seems to me that the higher octives could transmit to their lower octive counterparts (if this theory works) as a facilitator for leaping over the 4th. So when transiting Neptune aspects transiting Venus, lets say, then the opportunity is present for great numbers of individuals to reach higher consciousness all at the same time. I think this does happen pretty much all the time.
Then there are your natal planets (higher and lower octives) that receive transits or have aspects already present between the two octives. Perhaps this is a way to bypass the 4th dimension. But then, would not the 4th dimension continue to exist to some degree, and we all could unwittingly fall into it from time to time? I think your hole poking should continue to make the unconscios material accessible to consciousness and therefore available to all humans. Make it conscious; talk about it, write about it; expose it to the air and light of day. There can still be those leaps forward through communication between upper octive energies (planets) and their lower counterparts, but the deflation of the unconscious (4th dimension) through hole-poking seems to me a very beneficial (for all) talent to have. Continue to share with us and in the meantime we astrology types can watch the charts for transits and progressions to charts for specific types of leaps. . be they through the mind, or love, or action.
be
gwind ~~~~standing in water~~~~
In or on?
Either way, woohoo right back atcha. Good stuff.
x0
M
I did it! By asking, it came, and I did it! [thank you Len, for providing me the opportunity to go further] After writing my last comment I went and stood in water. Image after image flowed from asking lengthy boring questions in Algebra as a kid, to building stone formations wherever I have lived, to loving the seemingly unloveable within and externally, etc., it hit me with a wave of love.
I poke holes.
I poke holes in that mask of confusion, that web of energy that reinforces littleness, our smallness. I poke holes in cultural beliefs and unseen structures that may hold negativity. I poke holes and just about every time I have done so, the reverberation is like a wake hitting me. I thought that made me separate some how. It scared the hell out of me, but I knew it had to be done. I did not know why.
I am not separate. I am here to poke holes. B Hand Clow says that when we forgo the 4th and hit the upper, say the 5th, it is all about love.
Woo hoo! I feel it.
Now as far as the planets and the higher reaches of dimensionality, I know, but I don’t know using this brain. All I know is that I poke holes.
Len, How about a stab at it?
The thought that “nobody knows what it looks like” [4th dimension] may or may not be true, but the premise of recognizing it is within our grasp. If it is a barrier, why not hold the understanding of that barrier or at least entertain that concept’s existence and then formulate ideas on how we may move beyond it within our minds? [We may not know specifics around an old wound, but when we choose not to let it rule over us, we relinquish its power.] I interpreted your statement about vision to be just that. [“expanding our collective vision begins with each one of us acting in anticipation of that which may come to be.”]
I am asking the professionals, the terrific PW writers & astrologers here, to maybe illuminate how we can use the planets in understanding their relationships to this concept. Maybe we don’t need to “know” before formulating the answer, maybe just asking the questions will move us forward.
Just a thought. Time is very confusing. 🙂
So if you could see the 4thD as a barrier, one that we individually and collectively are constantly plugging into and believing, how can the planets and their gifts be utilized in a higher level than we currently have knowledge of? How can we tune in more to hear and understand? What concepts of the planets are held there? Are their true natures bent and misconstrued in beliefs regarding time? What do those planets and their roles look like from the higher dimensions. What are some “what if’s?”
So many questions and I am not even sure I am asking the correct ones! But I ask!
be: Thank you for your kind words. Yes, Brian Greene is one of my favorite authors. He well explains what is difficult to even imagine. Thank you also for the Neptune connection. Soon to station direct and leave Aquarius for another 150 years, it is in many ways the man behind the curtain. Finally, thank you for extending the car metaphor to merge with the square.
gwind: Thank you for your reference to Barbara Hand Clow. It has been said that the fourth dimension is, from our perspective, the dimensional realization of time. Nobody knows what it looks like from there (so far as we know), but it would be no surprise if Barbara has a good perception. If you are having trouble integrating new information with astrology, you may need to get a parallax view from another oracle.
aword: Thank you for your kind words. A new perspective on your chart usually means a breakthrough – congrats, you earned it.
Len, thank you so much – as always. Your guidance and wisdom are great gifts to me. I am currently getting a new “take” on the squares and oppositions in my own chart. Very useful just now.
Be and G – thank you for your additions. Really great. Very helpful. Good stuff we are wading through.
xo
“Vision, as we all know, is a product of the mind and the square aspect between Uranus and Pluto reminds us that the imperative of expanding our collective vision begins with each one of us acting in anticipation of that which may come to be.”
Len, I just finished reading, and then watching, Barbara Hand Clow’s “Journey Through the Nine Dimensions.” My initial interpretation is that she describes the 4th dimension as a blanket/web of sorts that covers us and contains the collective thought process. It is manipulated by news media, advertising, negativity, etc. and if we are unable to ground properly in the 3rd, we experience what images/ideas that are held in the 4th as if it they are real. Since the true “image” of who were are is above the 4th, how can we use, say, Mercury’s phases to understand how we can forgo the trappings of the 4th and directly involve the upper dimensions to our highest potential for collective growth?
I guess what I am searching for is to bring what I just heard and integrate it with astrology. I feel like I need to move a bit and see it from a new angle.
You and Martin Bashear are two fellows I’d like to have lunch with. . just love how your minds work and your way with words.
So we must remind ourselves that what we see here on the ground works pretty well, if we aren’t ‘moving’, but trust science to explain what is really going on when we look to the sky. And then there is the theory that it is all an illusion, here on the ground or up in the sky. I think the gods provided us with the science of astrology way back when so as to give us guidance before there was a lot of science to explain things. Our eyes may decieve us but sadly sometimes, it doesn’t stop us from perceiving or even intuiting.
Have you seen the new “Nova” guy Brian Greene? His new series picks up the study of the universe where the old Cosmos series ended and right away he starts with perception (of empty space. . . or is it?) “The Nova series is a journey that challenges audiences on things they take for granted – and is an exciting opportunity to change that mindset in startling ways,” said Greene. “It will convince people that everyday perception is a thoroughly, completely, profoundly misleading guide to the true nature of what is actually out there.” Thru the magic of digital imagery,TV, and Neptune I might add!
Thank goodness for Neptune who doesn’t give a ratzazz about reality or science but encourages us to perceive through means other than our god-given senses. What would Republicans do without Neptune during this pre-election season? However, with the great planet earth swinging so widely these days, any help on stabilizing our perceptions (not to mention our pulses) should be welcomed by all.
When I think of a square and what to compare it to, driving a car comes to mind. When you step on the gas pedel while idling in a stationary position, it is two energies butting heads. If all is working well in the car, the gas pedal will overcome the stationary position and everything is the way it should be. Unless the passengers aren’t paying attention; that could be jolting if the driver is not putting their comfort first and foremost. Squares can motivate one from a stationary position, or a failure to execute can happen if motivation is not desired. This would be a conscious square of course. The unconscious kind? Well, that would depend on your perspective wouldn’t it?
He’s young this Brian guy, but I think I would invite him to join us for lunch, do you mind? Thanks Len for a very timely reminder of Mercury’s symbolism and the perils of Sagittarius’ fire burning out.
be