So what happens when you mix quicksilver and gold — Mercury and Leo — together, and direct it inward? How about an opportunity for some retrograde alchemy of the values-and-self-esteem kind? Mercury stations retrograde in Leo on Saturday July 14, at 10:16 pm EDT.
Since it spends its entire retrograde (including both the pre- and post-retrograde echo phases) in this sign, we’re in for an opportunity to get very well acquainted with how Leo’s themes have (or have not) been manifesting in our lives. If your sense of presence and value in the world could use some consideration, adjustment or a spotlight, you’re in luck.
This weekend’s station is occurring in the context of the Sun’s conjunction to Varuna and squares to Saturn and Eris — plus the Mars-Pluto square (see yesterday’s Daily Astrology). That astrology may feel like some kind of emotional squeeze. Mercury’s reversal adds both reason and opportunity to slow down your mental processes and emotional states, observe them carefully, and make sure any action taken is responsive, not reactive. Alchemy makes for a great metaphor, but shaking things up, hammering them together and adding fire can be even messier in our daily lives than in the alchemist’s lab.
One theme of a Mercury retrograde, no matter the sign, is to be extra patient. As always, be ready to check your logic, to pick up the phone if you think an email has been ‘ignored’, and to leave yourself extra time to travel. Multi-tasking and knee-jerk reactions could prove to make extra work and require extra energy and time in the long run.
Mercury’s apparent reversal happens in a moment amidst strong inner forces, but the entire retrograde lasts until Aug. 8. That’s over three weeks in which to consider what is really important to you, and whether you actually act as though it is. What is your gold standard for how you feel about yourself physically and spiritually? If your decisions and actions fall short, why is that? What steps can you take to ferret out the reasons and cast some sunlight on them? Do you need to adjust your actions to fit your values, or rather reconsider your values to reflect where you actually put your energy?