For today only, anger not, worry not, be humble, with gratitude work on myself, be kind to all
— one translation of Reiki Precepts ascribed to Usui Sensei
Mercury begins its Pisces retrograde at 4:41 am EST Saturday. Saturn’s first reversal since entering Scorpio on Oct. 5, 2012, began last Monday. What Pisces and Scorpio have in common is elemental water. Among the ways Mercury and Saturn express in your life, both serve as teachers. Every retrograde, regardless of planet or sign, symbolically takes you back to review, relearn and realize your life.
In the case of elemental water retrogrades, the emblematic journey back is upstream to tributaries of experience. The idea is to better navigate now by revisiting where and what you recently were.
By the time it resumes forward motion again on July 7, Saturn’s retrograde will have reversed course to where it, and you, were during the middle of November of 2012.
That’s a lot of water under the bridge. When Mercury stations direct again on March 17, it will have bucked the current back to Feb. 8, when the Aquarius Sun may have had you more conscious of your crew than your headings.
Now, the emphasis is on water. Today, the Sun, Mars, Neptune and Chiron (to name just the major players) are part of Mercury’s Pisces crew. That circumstance implies a more personal emphasis, with a greater focus on what you feel.
One of the things about revisiting old waters is remembering how you felt, and how those feelings either contributed to or took you away from the now. It is not uncommon to worry about the course ahead. By retracing that course, one of the things you can realize is that most of those worries never came to pass, serving only to scuttle your full appreciation of the present. In the weeks and months to come, you will have the opportunity to learn that worry does you more harm than good.
Of course, there is some hazard in revisiting old shoals, where you were once in harm’s way. It is not pleasant to have been steered wrong or keelhauled. The reason most of us can understand that is that most of us have been through it.
Unfortunately, many cannot bring themselves to be through with the cargo of anger taken on at a port long left behind. That makes it all the more possible to be driven to distraction and founder on the way to the future. The retrograde periods of both Mercury and Saturn will provide an opportunity to go back and unload some of that ballast so that you can float a little higher above the bottom.
That is not to forget that, at any given time, some members of any crew must spend time pumping the bilge. Even if you are not in fact among them, you are best advised to serve with compassion for their predicament, knowing that the time will almost certainly come to discharge that duty yourself. One of the lessons Mercury and Saturn are about to teach is the value of humility even when you are riding high or relieved from obligations altogether, allowing some time for yourself.
Of course, on any long voyage, every sailor must take care of her or himself so as to serve with an able body and learn with a capable mind. Even the most uncomfortable berth is something to be grateful for compared to the alternative of going overboard into an unkind environment. That is all the more reason to practice kindness towards all those in the same boat, as perhaps the most important precept of harmony and healing.
Not everybody realizes it yet, but one of the most important things we are about to learn this year is that all of us really are in the same boat. In all of the vast Universe, there is no proven alternative to Earth. Our planet is our now, and now is all there is. Taking care of now means being here now. Anger and worry only take you away, but humility, gratitude, service and kindness keep you here. More than ever, all of us need you here. Mercury and Saturn are about to help you realize just how important you, and the now, really are.
Offered In Service
Len is available for astrology readings. You can contact him at lenwallick [at] gmail [dot] com.
Thanks Len for your article on retro mercury in the sign of PISCES
This is a video that illustrates this retro mercury that I found by chance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbdVYaafbm8
Also watched the course of the video, she is amazing 🙂
Len: Thank you once again for your explanation so beautifully conveyed. ‘Integration and appreciation’, I am always working to keep myself there. And through your talent you are truly one of the best mentors in this.
I noticed today, along with the Mercury Chiron conjunction, I also have two other conjunctions exact in play Sun conjunct Saturn at 4 Pisces and Moon conjunct my Sun at 24 Cancer. Nothing has changed much from my circumstances of yesterday, yet allowing the ‘light’ perspective – brings a very bright today indeed!
In the commencement of our retrograde and with your lesson here, it hit me. ‘Three times’ — The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, our beautiful gift is Mercury in Trinity.
“The first time, it may be over your head. The second time, things fall into place as familiarity combines with experience. The third time, you have both integrated and appreciated the poem beyond what you could have anticipated in the first reading.”
xps
P. Sophia: Thank you for your important perspective and your question. Please honor what you are feeling now, so as to experience your perspectives fully – the effort will come in andy later. As to your question, the answer is three times. The first time (as it has since February 8 until tomorrow) in direct motion. The second time, in in apparent reverse motion, back to where it was on February 8. The third time, forward again, and on March 17, passing the point where it turns retrograde tomorrow (and moving on). Think of it as reading a poem three times with three weeks between each reading. The first time, it may be over your head. The second time, things fall into place as familiarity combines with experience. The third time, you have both integrated and appreciated the poem beyond what you could have anticipated in the first reading. In the case of your natal Chiron, the first two encounters will be intense (as you are feeling now). Please do not be overwhelmed. Rather, overcome. Please let me know if that does no answer your question in a satisfactory manner.
Paul: My cup, my heart, and my eyes runneth over reading your words. May you be sped by the source of your guidance when you need it, may you find rest when you need it too.
Thank you so much, and please check in with us when you can.
Lyd: Thank you for the beautiful and pertinent quote. It is a pleasure to know that my words have ben useful to you.
Buckets of thanks Len…unloading the ballast…my oh my, just what I needed to hear. Thank you so much for sharing in the manner that is you.
It happens I am reading a novel “About Grace”, by Anthony Doerr. Just a small quote:
” The human brain is seventy-five percent water. Our cells are little more than sacs in which to carry water. When we die it spills from us into the ground and air and into the stomachs of animals and is contained again in something else. The properties of liquid water are this: it holds its temperature longer than air; it is adhering and elastic; it is perpetually in motion. These are the tenets of hydrology; these are the things one should know if one is to know oneself. ”
Lovely to read everyone’s comments.
Hey Musicman…a safe and joyful voyage!!
Thank you for your wonderful comment, be.
Bon Voyage, Paul! (how I envy you!).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05e3gmVoV-0
I am returning to West Africa …I just want to thank you Len for those kind words of friendship……Mars and Mercury are about to bring it on home….to the Virgo full moon….and the metaphor of boats and sailors is close to home ….Clipper ships…..New Orleans…Liverpool and the slave prisons of Isle de Goree, James Island and Ghana not withstanding!
We are all growing at a rate….remember when Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto were the biggest thing since ping pong balls!
Each time I return to the West, it is a joy to search out new realms in both music and astrology! They are both notations and hieroglyphics of expression! Here are Wynton Marsalis and Willie Nelson playing “blues” at the Lincoln centre!
Old Abe would have been truly amazed at how a simple tune can be taken to such places. The astrology is apt at this time!!
Juste a la prochaine…
Paul
Hi Len, thank you for the learning and water visuals. Who was it ever said all these planets in Pisces were a good feeling thing? Rats!…must have been a Pisces.
For me. Cancer, Sun girl I should do well in water, or so i thought. I certainly shed some tears today. Well I guess feeling, lifting and healing has to start somewhere. Although it could be just me, and not a mundane influence? affecting others out there? Currently i also have Mercury conjunct Chiron at 18:30,42.
Len, please may i ask again (think you mentioned before) how many times will Mercury retrograde cross back and forth for us, and same time possibly conjunct my healer in the next few weeks. Well i am sure it’s all part of that same lesson well learned–let go and float effortlessly.
Today was a challenge in worry for me, held on pretty tight with my claws. I am realizing the learning curve was set a bit high for today. Tomorrow (this moment, now on the other hand) is always is a new day!
Lizzy: You are very welcome.
Strawberrylaughter: It brings me joy to know my service lifted you today. Thank you for your kind words.
aword: Thank you. May you be correct about the waters ahead, because we are in the same boat.
be: Thank you for taking us to The Core with its contrasts, paradox and implications of a Middle Way. Thank you also for your perceptive and sensible analysis of the roles of the roles of reevaluation Mercury and Saturn will likely play. What would we do without you?
Dear Dr. Len,
Thanks for keeping us steady as we go. Today, right now, the Galactic Core is being joined by Bacchus and Asclepius at 27+ Sagittarius. I can’t help but compare the reputations of these two symbols to your offering today. Bacchus is a sort of “don’t worry, be happy”, or eat-drink and be-merry kind of god, at least that’s the most positive view, while Asclepius the healer has the knowledge to know what will really make us feel better. Somewhere between them (or their symbolism) is a message very similar to what you are telling us, and, coming from the GC, it’s purpose is meant to keep us steady and on course.
These days, I would take that to largely mean don’t be pulled to far to the yin or the yang, and try to find a balance between the two poles of duality. Water is a very yin kind of element, and one of its characteristics is the ability to blend many things, but not all things. I like what you said about unloading some of that ballast so we can float a little higher. To me that would mean unloading what weighs you down, and with Mercury it would be thoughts, and with Saturn it might mean responsibilities, or the feeling of responsibility. I like to think we will be re-evaluating these issues during their retrograde periods. I mean, how much do we need the anger or resentment we’ve been carrying, and maybe not even totally conscious of it. The fluidity of Feeling could be helpful in that respect. How many times have I said (and you too probably) well if I’d known then what I know now. . .meaning that we had reacted to something in the heat of the moment, before we knew all the facts, or we just couldn’t digest them at the time. Water could be just the element to dissolve those bad feelings.
So I admire your words and anyone who has the wisdom to see the benefits of rolling with the waves. But remember what Bacchus would say and do whatever floats your boats too kids!
be
Maybe Saturn retro over my IC/Scorpio planets Neptune and Jupiter who are both natally Retro – will cause a dialog about freedoms and structure that does not run backward, heh-heh.
I am confident Mercury will have something to add to that conversation as he double and triple trines those in Scorpio with his ride back through Pisces. Hopefully all more like traversing a gentle rapids in a well-built canoe than being caught in a storm with leaky row-boat.
Thanks, Len.
Oh my God, Len, I love you more than I can even say. It makes me almost giddy to think we’ve got a whole year to look forward to your nautical-themed poetry. (And I’m not being even remotely ironic here.) If there’s anything a water year needs, it’s a little levity. With all of our focus on going into the deep, we can forget that water also has the ability to lift us up.
“Anger and worry only take you away, but humility, gratitude, service and kindness keep you here”. Yes, beautiful. This is something to remember every single day of our lives, a guiding light to live by. Thank you for this lovely piece, Len.