Astrology Ahead: Equinox, Mercury Retrograde and Hebe

Dear Friend and Reader,

IN THE MIDST of all the intrigue the past week or three, I forgot to mention that Mercury is about to be retrograde. Blame Mercury retrograde for me neglecting to mention it, but we are now in what some call the Mercury storm phase of the extravaganza, which are the five or so days that surround Mercury changing directions relative to the Earth.

What makes matters more interesting is that the Libra equinox happens today, Sept. 22, in the midst of the storm. That’s at 11:44 am EDT, with the Moon in early Cancer. Equinox is one of the ‘quarter days’, when the Sun enters a Cardinal sign and a new season begins (autumn in the Northern Hemisphere and spring for our friends who have endured a long winter in the Southern Hemisphere). The change of seasons is always palpable. After this week, night is longer than day in the Northern Hemisphere, and we approach the next two major points in the Great Wheel, six weeks till Sahwen (Halloween) and six more weeks till Capricorn solstice. Here is a little diagram that shows the solstice and equinox to confuse you a bit more.

When we pile on the big events, we get a kind of ripple effect. Things seem of greater magnitude, or they actually are. Lots of Libra is square lots of Jupiter in Capricorn.

For those new to the discussion of Mercury retrograde or those appropriately confused by it, I will offer one paragraph of technicality. Mercury takes 84 days to orbit the Sun. The Earth takes about 365. So three times a year, Mercury passes by the Earth, and that is how we get the retrograde. Because Mercury is passing us, there is an effect where its position seems to go backwards, which is disorienting, like looking at a moving train out of the window of another moving train. (There are days when I can visualize how this works and days when I cannot. If you feel like hunting around the network for an animation, I will post it.)

The sprawling Caloris basin on Mercury. Credit: NASA, Johns Hopkins Univ. APL, Arizona State U., CIW

Now, Mercury is famous for bungling up contracts and things electronic. It is also famous for things seeming to be wrong but not really being wrong. The caveat “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” would seem wise, but things darned may well seem broke and they seem like they need fixing. Hold off. I could tell you a lot of stories, some of which ended well. Avoid doing what you don’t have to do. Avoid spending money you don’t have to spend and signing things you don’t have to sign. If MGM offers you a movie deal and you want to know when to sign, hire me on to do the electional chart and I’ll find you a window (that was not an ad, it was a public service message).

As for the dates, the retrograde actually begins on Sept. 24 at 3:19 am EDT. It goes through 4:05 in the afternoon of Oct. 15, thankfully missing the election by about three weeks. But it does not miss the peak of the campaign; some of the debates; and it doesn’t miss the $700 billion to $1 trillion Big Business bailout package. Oh, I envy these people, trying to hash this thing out just during the Mercury storm. The reason I envy them is because it’s gonna be just so gosh darned easy to skim a hundred billion here and a hundred billion there, you would think it was eating lemon sorbet.

There are some extra fun aspects to this week’s Mercury retrograde. For one thing, Mercury as it stations is conjunct the asteroid Hebe. She’s the young goddess girl who was the cup-bearer to the gods. Her symbol is a wine glass, but the top of the triangle is closed, suggesting her involvement in codependent situations; in Libra, this relationship theme is accented. Just two degrees away is Eros. So this is going to be an intriguing time for some in the neighborhood of love, perpetration of love, victimhood of love and stiff love with a twist.

Ethics prevents me from predicting things will go well, but duty requires me to say they will be interesting. Common sense calls upon me to mention that in any situation where there are substances or love triangles involved, be careful of distortions and keep reality checking, in particular for the way that truth and lies are mediated in any relationship to either a third person, a substance or both; that is Hebe. Keep a notebook so you can refer back on Wednesday to what had you feeling whatever you were feeling Monday.

I forgot to mention that Mercury has just made an exact conjunction to Mars, and it will station retrograde quite close to this aspect; that is passionate, it has a flavor of imbalance, and anyone with a shred of sensitivity will want to be left alone with a lover or two for a few hours and live their personal life rather than getting dragged into the kind of collective madness that we have witnessed since the nominating conventions.

But there is something distinctly public about how personal this chart is, indicated by the connection to the Aries Point. The Aries Point is this little audio booth that broadcasts what is private into a dimension of collective awareness, and which also takes vastly public matters and instead of having them coming in through the television, they tap on the window, come up the drain or mysteriously appear in the refrigerator.

Relationships ARE collective, and we’re going to discover this particularly watching the news the next few weeks. They all involve at least two people; and those two people have many relationships to others and together we form families, communities and societies. The entire collective sphere involves relationships and we’re all just a few degrees separated from one another. Or is it a few degrees separated from ourselves?

This weeks aspects were written by Genevieve Salerno from calculations by Tracy Delaney’s minor planet ephemeris at Serennu.com, and Raphael’s Ephemeris.

Yours & truly,

Note to Readers: Beginning the evening of Sept. 24, we will be repeating a photo and essay series I did based on a visit to the Auschwitz concentration camp in September 2006. This will run for about two weeks as an evening feature.

Ritual Space 4. Photo by Eric Francis.

22 Monday: The Sun is in the final degrees of Virgo, taking its place on the Aries Point. Venus sextile Pluto. Mars trine Neptune. If you find that you hit a wall today, and you seem to no longer be happily blipping down the path of what you imagine to be the best thing for you, take a moment to absorb the stillness. Progress is as much rest as it is work. Maybe your mojo has stopped working because its time to apply a new kind of mojo, or perhaps it’s time for rest. Rest is crucial for healing.

23 Tuesday: Mercury conjoins Mars in Libra. Venus enters Scorpio. Communication and the wisdom it develops will take on a whole new meaning now that Mercury is fast approaching its retrograde. Today it conjoins Mars, like an old friend saying goodbye before it goes on a powerful journey. Mars responds with a little advice: Take heart, have courage.

Venus enters Scorpio today. This benevolent lady in the land of transformation, surrender and regeneration (Scorpio) says: Nothing you can learn is new to you, it is all just a process of remembering; remember from your body, not your mind. The next few days are going to present some profound options for change and learning. This is a good thing.

24 Wednesday: Moon enters Leo at 5:13 am EDT. Mercury stations retrograde in Libra. See Eric’s discussion above for more details about Mercury retrograde.

25 Thursday: Sun sextile Hylonome in Sagittarius. Hylonome is a lot like Psyche in that it has to do with personal pain, though both have the ability to reach vast numbers of people. While Psyche addresses the sense of a wound that cannot heal, usually a wound to faith, Hylonome has to do with grief, typically over something self-inflicted. There is a lot of common ground between these two points here. Today’s sextile tell us that when grief comes to the forefront of our minds, sharing the experience with another can be powerful medicine.

26 Friday: Moon enters Virgo at 9:52 am EDT. Ceres sextile Rhadamanthus. Ceres, the nourishing mother, is enjoying the company of Rhadamanthus, the judge of the dead. I would suggest that this aspect has to do with being comfortable with yourself. Especially with the Moon in Virgo today, try not to be too critical of things you have done that turned out to be mistakes. Life presents us with many ways to make good on old transgressions. It is important to be honest with yourself, but not to use truth to cut yourself down. If telling yourself the truth seems a bit hard right now for whatever reason, change “truth” to “acceptance.”

27 Saturday: Tomorrow Mercury will trine Neptune for the second time this month. Get ready for your dream states to take on a whole new eloquence, and get ready to reckon the difference between what is true and what is not, for you. Eros sextile Pholus, a lot of energy that you can direct where you want, in particular, the energy of sexual (Eros) curiosity (Pholus) and where it leads — in particular, it leads outside of our main boundaries.

28 Sunday: Moon enters Libra at 4:05 pm EDT. Mercury trine Neptune for the second time this month. The first time was on the 20th. Chiron opposite Ceres, asking questions about what nourishes and what does not. Venus conjunct Deucalion: be prepared; think ahead; save some for tomorrow.