Dear Friend and Reader:
As the long-anticipated Jupiter-Chiron-Neptune conjunction reaches full strength, we are in the midst of some meaningful short-term astrology: the current Mercury retrograde has reached its midpoint. You can tell this by Mercury’s conjunction to the Sun, which was exact yesterday. This was the interior conjunction, with Mercury coming directly between the Earth and the Sun. Both remain in Taurus; the Sun has about two more days in this sign. Currently the Sun/Mercury conjunction in Taurus is square the triple conjunction in Aquarius. Mercury will be there for a while, and spend all of that time talking to the conjunction; this brings both events into full consciousness and the two processes activate one another.
Mercury is retrograde for about 23 days, three times a year. But there are warm-up and cool down periods before and after that in effect make the phenomenon last about half the time — about eight weeks, three times a year (for a total of about 24 or 25 weeks per year). I consider this a pause time, on making new commitments or major purchases. I also don’t have things repaired during this phase; waiting always proves to be profitable because the problem is not usually what you think it is.
Though I’ve seen such things go strangely under Mercury retrograde (a good reason to avoid signing or buying, or to be ready to have to do it over when the retrograde ends), I use it to help me organize my time; for example, by restricting my purchasing activities to half the year, which in effect saves money. This is in part by buying less, and by purchasing at more appropriate times so the what I do buy has a higher value.
This discussion, however, is worth filing under routine astrology. Mercury is one of those things that you need to be able to navigate like a good driver can get someplace safely when it’s raining. You have to negotiate the same roads under slick conditions, while other people are being careless. So it’s interesting that we have this particular weather leading into the conjunction of Jupiter, Chiron and Neptune. The conjunction peaks the last week of May, while Mercury is still retrograde, and then after Mercury goes direct, all within days three planets involved in the conjunction turn retrograde at once.