We’re about to begin the fourth inner planet retrograde of 2012 — Mercury stations retrograde in Leo at 10:16 pm EDT Saturday. This will be an eventful retrograde because Mercury will cover the early degrees of Leo, putting it into aspect with many planets — Venus, Chiron, Uranus, Pluto, Ceres, Jupiter, the lunar nodes and Neptune. Then on Aug. 8 it will turn around and aspect most of those planets again, moving in direct motion.
Many aspects means many points of contact, and where Mercury is involved, plenty to think (and talk) about. With Mercury retrograde, the subject matter becomes inwardly focused and will tend to have an orientation on resolving the past. You may find yourself reviewing the past few months, reconsidering how you feel or what your opinion is, and making some decisions about what you want.
Consider also that Mercury stations retrograde while sextile Venus in Gemini. A Mercury-Venus sextile is said to represent harmony between the mind and feelings, a tendency toward musical and artistic talent, and friendliness. Given the strong pressure you may be feeling from the squares the Sun is making to Saturn and Eris, a little harmony could go a long way. As mentioned Wednesday, Sun-Saturn-Eris (with minor planet Varuna conjunct the Sun) equals tension between independence and relationships — particularly regarding where one locates one’s identity.
You really do want to be free. You’re going to find out who you are in relationship to someone, and take a chance on whether your reality can actually be supported by the relationship. Remember, you don’t need any relationship for you to be you; it’s a matter of priorities, such as authenticity or the question of security.
This is not a dichotomy as much as it represents an order of operations. Anyway, being inauthentic never actually resulted in being more secure on the planet, at least not for long.
If you’re hemmed into a situation you want to get out of, but are not quite sure how to do it, the thing to remember is that this has gone on for a while. Even if you decide you want to take action, it would be better to avoid that the weekend Mercury is stationing; rather than lurch, spend the next few days sorting out the issues, and see where you stand by the middle of next week. Mercury stationing retrograde tends to shake out information, which you will then need to evaluate.