Mercury’s shadow phase begins in Pisces on Monday, and that tells you two things. First, Mercury will station retrograde soon, on March 12, in Aries. The start of Mercury’s shadow, or alternatively, echo phase, also means that Mercury will return to its Monday position on April 4 to resume direct motion. In other words, Mercury entering its shadow phase is an echo from the future with reliable information about what has not yet taken place.
In your life, even a little symbolic information about what to expect could be useful, and that’s the point of working with this astrology. Astrology is a system that observes the motion of Sun, Moon and other objects in the sky, converts those observations into symbols and corresponds the symbols to what takes place in your life.
It is very much like using a map and compass. The symbols on the map cannot predict what will happen as you travel and the compass cannot tell you where to go, but both tools can help you understand where you are and assist your planning should you choose to move from where you are. Traveling from one place to another and the means to get you there are among the things in your life symbolized by Mercury.
Mercury is a hot rock orbiting the Sun. In astrology, its archetype includes transportation, communication, and means of conversion or conveyance. The archetype works pretty well. For many, the gateway into astrology is through their own observation that automobiles, bank accounts and electronic devices become problematic in correlation with Mercury’s retrograde motion. That, in turn, leads to a useful understanding of what retrograde motion actually is.