mythology

Mercury retrograde: Mercury is the toasty planet whirling so close to the Sun that it never appears farther than one sign away. Mercury has 4.15 years, or rotations around the Sun, to each earth year.  Because we’re moving in the same direction, although slower, Mercury appears to rotate around the Sun only three times a year; it can move up to 28° ahead of the Sun as an evening star, then starts to circle back on its orbit and looks, from our Earthly perspective, to move backwards or turn retrograde against the pattern of the Zodiac behind it for about three weeks. (see http://astro.unl.edu/classaction/animations/renaissance/retrograde.html )

When it does, we get a chance to come to a new and deeper understanding, reconnect with our past and bring work to completion, do anything that begins re-, like remember, re-edit, reconnect, retreat, reorganize, but all that Mercury stands for may not work quite like we hope. Mercury retrograde can really snafu business as usual, but it is loaded with its own gifts if we take the time and dance with it well.

Mercury likes to move, so the day at the beginning and end of this retrograde cycle -when Mercury appears to hold still -are the trickiest; so much hold still here on earth.  Mercury disappears into the Sun’s light and reappears on the other side more often than any other visible planet—one reason it corresponds to the magician and the shape-shifter archetypes in mythology.

Mercury: In Greek mythology, Mercury was the God of the crossroads, the messenger of the Gods and the psychopomp that went down to the underworld to negotiate for the release of lost souls. He was also God of thieves; he symbolizes an ingenious quality that is a gift when in the service of the Gods but a source of trouble when used to disconnect us from heart and body or for personal gain.

Image: Pisa Star Goddess Tomb, photo by the author taken in Pisa, Italy, 2006.

The New Moon on January 15 (2:10am est) is the first of new year. This subtly eclipsed moon is yet another cosmic clue that 2010 is a year of continuing change.  This annular eclipse is uniquely visible mainly in Africa and Asia, rippling through the aethers in the way of all eclipses. The special effect of this New Moon is colored by Venus, exactly conjunct the New Moon. The Goddess is fully present, influencing this month's revelation in the collective consciousness.

There’s a wonderful alignment going on this summer as the planets Jupiter and Neptune travel within one degree of each other for almost 11 weeks (5/13/09 to 7/23/09). Jupiter, the planet of abundance, and Neptune, the planet of Higher Love, conjunct for about two weeks once every 12 to 13 years. Only rarely do they move in tandem the way they are now. The last time they spent a sustained amount of time together was back in 1971.

“The seeds of future events are carried within ourselves.”    Lawrence Durrell. The Alexandria Quartet: Cleo

PART I