Editor’s note: between last-minute, pre-holiday work for Planet Waves and being in a rush this morning, I completely forgot to prep Len’s article for today. Apologies, and enjoy! — Amanda
Mercury resumes forward motion at 5:48 pm EST on Monday. The stormy period that predictably accompanies days when Mercury appears to slow down and change direction may currently have you feeling as though you have hit bottom. As you approach Monday, the key will be to push off the bottom and come back from where Mercury’s retrograde has taken you, possessed of the treasures you have found there.
Because Mercury’s direct station will oppose a Taurus Moon, one treasure you will want to come back with is compassion. Because both Mercury and the Moon will be in square aspect to the asteroid Damocles in Aquarius, the other treasure will be humility.
An opposition of Mercury and the Moon invokes the subject of compassion both physically and symbolically. Physically, opposition means Earth is between the two objects in question. If you see the waxing Moon on Monday, point at it with one hand and point down through the Earth in the opposite direction with your other hand to the approximate position of Mercury. When you do that, strive to both feel and contemplate yourself between two principles of your consciousness, intellect and emotions.
Mercury corresponds to the intellect, the Moon to emotions. Compassion walks between the two, seeking to serve the positive side of both, while avoiding the negative. The intellect is distinguished by detachment. The strength of detachment is good judgement; the downfall is lack of understanding. Emotions are open to understanding, but are often more concerned with demanding than giving it.
Compassion strives to balance selfless empathy with impartial judgement. The endeavor is both supported and complicated by the symbolic meaning of an opposition, that of a reflection.
Oppositions imply reflection more than conflict. The long experience of astrology is that opposing signs are more alike than different. Hence, Mercury pushing off the bottom of Scorpio’s murky waters will have much in common with a Moon growing ever more full in the safe background of its Taurus exaltation. Mercury will know the lunar characteristic of vulnerability when it stations direct, while the Moon will feel an assurance commonly associated with the intellect. Seeing yourself reflected in another puts you in their shoes, supporting compassion. It can also put you in your place, which may give rise to some inner discomfort.
Inner discomfort is often indicative of a square aspect. When Mercury opposes the Moon at its direct station on Monday, both will be square to the asteroid Damocles. Like most asteroids, Damocles functions for astrologers in a manner serendipitous with its name.
The name Damocles refers to a story. It is the legend of a would-be king who traded places with a real one, only to be humbled by the perils that go with privilege, represented by a sword suspended over his head by a single hair. From an Aquarius position suspended between Mercury’s direct station and the Moon, the story of Damocles symbolically becomes yours in common with everybody else. The meaning is that you need to have the courage to ‘go there’ as it were, and come back humbled.
Humility is not humiliation. Humiliation is the disgrace you allow others to bring upon you. Humility is the grace you have the courage to bring onto yourself. To do that, you first need to get to the bottom of your own being and find everybody else already there, equal both in privilege and in peril, but concealed from one another in the murky depths.
It will not do, however, to remain at the bottom. Following your discovery you must resurface to share it at the level where we do see each other, but are concealed from ourselves. If you can do that, you will be invested of humility, and informed of compassion. You will be prepared to move forward, even as Mercury does. You will be ready to grow, even as the Moon does. Most of all, you will be capable of helping others to do, and be, the same.
Offered In Service
Len is available for astrology readings. You can contact him at lenwallick [at] gmail [dot] com.
The sword of Damocles just live this afternoon, the asteroid Damocles and mercury are square now and because I dared to say what annoyed me and it was step the first time that my article was copied wildly without respect for its author. Write them = mercury, we can still not all accept. When I searched in the map index which could trigger this event, I found nothing, but Damocles speaks to me much.
Under the conjunction Venus/Saturn education will certainly left a trace of the error does
Thanks Len m “have permitted to highlight a situation or I had been the victim.” Damocles arrives on my South node = karmic lesson…
Excellent Moon Eclipse at all 🙂
be- Yes indeed, JFK was assassinated on Nov 22, 1963. Eric chewed through some interesting ideas around this event a few weeks ago.
Len- Thank you for focusing attention on this important event.
The central word in both comments by Karena and Len is the word words. Sometimes we are beyond words and sometimes all the words in the world can be expressed and won’t make a bit of difference. The beautiful quote from JFK speaks to, ultimately, what is truly important. What we do and how we live.
Thank you, Len, for another meaningful work of art.
Len, I am so grateful for this …..I have no words that can express what I want to say……it is in the space beyond words…. Thank you.
Wow Len, you blew me away again.
You give external validity to my path.
so grateful <3
Thank you, dear Len. Needed this…
len & be — great tag-teaming on this one. i’ll be keeping my ears (inner and outer) peeled. thanks.
Well, surprise, surprise! I thought you were taking the day off Len but I see it is merely Mercury retrograde living up to his reputation. Awfully good of you to focus on the Moon’s opposition and square as her aspects usually get lost in the shuffle of the more potent astrology of the moment. As you point out, it is a balancing act between the mental and the emotional. The reflection may be murky but it is stationary which will add definition I suspect. All the more to appreciate the danger of wishing you were someone else.
Because the Moon makes no other major aspect before entering Gemini (undisputedly Mercury’s sign and the one where the Moon will be eclipsed), I believe your focus on this brief aspect is prophetic and worth contemplating. The Sabian Symbol for Mecury as he stations is of a parrot repeating a conversation he has overheard. Dane Rudhyar points out that “all birds in symbolism suggest spiritual faculties or forces” which leads me to believe that what one “hears” at the time of the station change in Mercury’s direction, especially when the Moon is directly opposite, could have a profound message, no matter the danger.
In the brief moment in time Moon does oppose Mercury (and square Damocles), the Sabian Symbol for the degree she occupies will be A New Continent Rising Out Of The Ocean. Rudhyar refers to it as Virgin SPACE, where life can emerge in a new release. Doesn’t that just make every “single hair” stand up on your neck Len? “The Moon will feel an assurance commonly associated with the intellect.” I would think so. Considering that her next major aspect will be square Neptune, followed by a sextile to Uranus and then a disappearance from sight as she opposses the Sun in Sagittarius, one must assume the message surely reveals a spiritual clarity that will be challenged. Possibly by fear, or common sense, the Moon could be challenged to go beyond what a connection to inner planets would provide; familiarity.
Thank you also for quoting John Kennedy Len. I believe today was the anniverary of his assassination, wasn’t it?
be
Beautifully expressed, Len, as ever, and comforting on this dark, rainy night. Thank you.
Len, this is wonderful instruction in the opportunities of the moment. I hope that I can see well enough through the murky waters to get the most out of them.
Thank you.
Amanda: Please, there is no need for you to apologize. There is only need for me to thank you and everybody else in the Planet Waves community, both those involved in the writing and production, and those who are kind enough to read and comment. While the American holiday of Thanksgiving is justly controversial, there is no controversy in giving thanks. Amanda, and all of you, please accept my thanks.
Please allow me to add a quote especially suitable for today.
“As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.”
-John F. Kennedy