We could call this a fairly quiet week astrologically but for one thing: Mercury will station retrograde in early Pisces on Thursday, Feb. 6, at 4:43 pm EST, putting us in the ‘storm’ phase right now. Mercury’s station occurs the same day as the first quarter (waxing) Moon, and of course there are all kinds of aspects among the minor planets. But in terms of high drama, bold messages or simply the kind of astrology the average human can relate to, Mercury stationing retrograde is the star of the show this week.
Mercury spent most of its pre-retrograde ‘echo’ or ‘shadow’ phase in late Aquarius, where it will be returning while retrograde. (The pre-retrograde ‘echo’ or ‘shadow’ phase is when a planet travels in direct motion the section of zodiac it will cover again in apparent reverse motion.) As of Friday, however, Mercury has been in Pisces.
Pisces is where Mercury spent the entirety of its first of three all-water retrogrades last year. This year, Mercury is merely wading in just far enough to whisper to Neptune before it heads back to the air of Aquarius. Or as Eric described it in conversation, Mercury is bringing back some water to the water bearer (Aquarius is symbolized by a youth pouring water from an urn back into a stream).
Mercury does not quite make it into an exact conjunction with Neptune before it stations — rather like how Venus, while retrograde, also came within a couple degrees of conjoining Pluto in Capricorn before stationing direct on Friday. Even without the exact contact, the planets’ energies will blend, magnify each other, or possibly feel like a blind spot in your awareness — something you can feel but might not be conscious of enough to articulate.