Everything in nature exhibits a cyclical rhythm. There’s the inhalation and exhaltation of ocean tides. Starlings rise and fall in their hypnotic mumurations as they form a moving tapestry across the sky. Trees and flowers reach out to the sun, blossom, bloom, and then fold back into themselves to prepare for regeneration once again. Planets too have their cycles in their relationship with the Sun.
Reevaluate, remember and reset
When Mercury goes retrograde, we can give our minds a rest. Even though it can be challenging to move a bit slower in our fast paced, checklist informed, constantly moving culture, just like everything else, we are a part of nature. We function best when we attune to its rhythms. Mercury retrograde is a time of reevaluating, remembering and resetting. It’s a time where the fissures in our lives reveal themselves so we can reappraise where we need to take the pressure off.
Oftentimes, people return from our past and our paths intersect once again. Some of us can find closure now or revisit an issue that needs our inward attention. The point is: we’re not meant to be constantly moving yonder and higher. Sometimes, we’re meant to bring our focus deeper and internally. Life is a dance: like starlings folding in on themselves only to reach back out again.
Key dates for Mercury
Mercury stationed retrograde on Tuesday, May 10th, at 4° Gemini. It will retrace its steps back into Taurus and station direct on June 3rd at 26° Taurus on the Fixed Star Algol. Mercury, now moving forward again, reenters Gemini on June 14th, the day of the Full Moon in Sagittarius. Mercury reaches the point it stationed retrograde, 4° Gemini, on June 18th. Those of us with important placements near 4° of the mutable signs (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius and Pisces) and/or 26° of the fixed signs (Taurus, Leo, Libra and Aquarius) will feel the stations the most. In addition, if your time lord is Mercury, the retrogrades will be more keenly felt. Pay attention to discussions and movements that began the beginning of this week. They will most likely wrap up in some form or other when Mercury clears his shadow in five weeks from now, June 18th.
Jupiter enters Aries
Another important shift on May 10th was Jupiter entering Aries. Sign placements speak to how a planet behaves. In the fiery, cardinal sign of Aries ruled by Mars, Jupiter—our hopes, beliefs and growth principle—is impulsive, enthusiastic and pioneering. Planets in Aries appreciate a challenge and boldly take a stab at them, to use some of Mars’s language.
This is the time some of us will grab the metaphorical rope in the jungle and tarzan our way through a new beginning with a whoop and a howl. Like Tarzan in a loincloth, we may be woefully unprepared for a change in weather or unforeseen circumstances. But Jupiter in Aries encourages us to dream big, vision boldly, and Make It Happen. “Focus on the NOW,” bellows Jupiter in Aries: “We can cross bridges when we get to them!”
It would be helpful to remind ourselves that we’re holding space for two very different energies at the moment. The slower, cautious and pensiveness of Mercury Retrograde and the high octane initiative of a possibly over exuberant Jupiter in Aries. We’d all be wise to give an extra look or two before leaping into anything, and perhaps bring more than a loincloth.