Mercury Retrograde - August 2016

Okay, I suppose before I get into the nuts and bolts of this station- I should do the standard blurb: Retrograde planets are not really moving backwards, they just appear to be due to an optical illusion. They tend to have sort of, I don’t know, periods of time both before and after where sometimes you can feel the effects still yet. That’s why I decided to go ahead and lay this on out for you- because some of you might have noticed a shift came right around August 10th. The planet doesn’t station retrograde until the 30th.

Now for the non-standard blurb: I have never, ever believed in the fatalistic and scary warnings of woe we usually get with Mercury retrograde in particular. Definitely not for this one! This has to be one of the most positive retrograde cycles I’ve seen, and I tend to adore them, personally. For me, any given retrograde cycle is all about the lessons I didn’t learn or the things I should be working on- depending on the planet involved. Mercury, ol’ trickster psychopomp of the underworld is no different. Still, the old advice about not signing contracts, getting into relationships or getting out of them, giving yourself plenty of time to get things done, and making sure you’re absolutely clear on things is always good and, well, during these cycles: whether I have a positive take on it or not, should still be at play.

With that said, let’s take a peek at what we’ve got here.

Happy Accidents?

That is quite a positive chart for such a maligned event, isn’t it? Let me break it down…

Let’s begin with the big ol’ Greater Benefic himself- Jupiter. Mercury is conjunct Jupiter and if you missed that astrology lesson: conjunctions intensify the effect of both planets. So, you’ve got Mercury stationing retrograde and Jupiter.

Mercury being all about communication- well, there are worse conjunctions than with Jupiter, that’s for sure, even in retrograde. This tends to mean some sort of surprisingly good news, and that you’ll find your life just gets to have a much luckier feel to it. It’s a wonderful time frame to enjoy yourself- and it’s also a particularly weird way to begin a retrograde journey: because it often means that those newer partnerships, both business and pleasure are positive and will increase your joy. Now, because of the retrograde station- what this means is that it probably won’t be a new connection at all, but rather, one from your past that had been put on the backburner.

It gets even better, though, because...check out that other conjunction:

What a fantastic retrograde this is already shaping up to be- and now, you’ve got an aspect at play that is amazing for getting out there, meeting new people, and in general, connecting with others. People will be pretty flattering, social invites will be to fun things and not just Aunt Gerdie’s Terrible Cabbage Dinner, and you’ll be feeling pretty warm all around. Also, any old quarrels? Well, now is an excellent time to bring them up: so that you can resolve them. Contracts that were already being discussed may also be given the green light when they usually wouldn’t be: but, still, make sure you’re going through them very well and are clear on all the terms.

One last conjunction- my, this could only be better if it were trines, but, mmm, wait til I get into what happens when we station direct.

Wow. We hit the jackpot on this one and in some cases- you might, during this time, too.

Quite possibly one of the best aspects you can ask for- if there is such a thing, this one is like, “You’re going to get lucky!” and, well, frankly, that’s with both money and in your love life- so, I can’t say I cringed when I saw it, either. Did you? Newer friendships may take a really romantic turn and things just seem a lot lighter, happier. Anyway, this is a wonderful one while Mercury stations retrograde because it does tend to be less luck- and more the results of your own good actions from the past. Things you may have long forgotten may come back up in the best possible ways, your hard work starts to really show a lot of rewards, and beauty just seems to be everywhere: or, well, batting his or her eyes quite fondly at you.

Rules are rules…

Ah, for every retrograde station there is a direct station, and ours for this lovely trip into serendipitous accidental meetings and luck comes to a close on September 22- again, in Virgo, though the shadow phase will stretch on into the first week of October.

Whenever a planet stations direct- the general rule of thumb is that it’s now time to really put those things you worked on into play, so, this coming to a close isn’t so bad, is it? Nope! Anyway, let’s get to those two main aspects at play that will impact how you do things.

Of course, the first thing that I noticed, was that awesome trine- and I think it’s awesome because I happen to love both Pluto and Mercury.

With this particular aspect, you will find that your intuition is piercing and direct- you’ll be feeling a lot of fate at play, and it can be a little bit unsettling. Usually, interesting meetings occur under this influence- ones that just feel like you’ve known that person forever, or that there’s some sort of fated element at play. Additionally, this can indicate that the relationship I mentioned above, the one that went from friends to something so much more? Begins to show even more depth or a revelation about it strengthens the bond. In business, this can mean that networking bears remarkable fruit- or, well, a partnership that is formed under this influence is one that will in time, become remarkably successful.

So far, so good...and then, well, there’s a square. Always some square being a buzzkill, right? However, bear in mind here- because of the incredibly positive and transformative nature of the trine above: though this one’s a bit emotionally volatile, it can be used to forge much stronger bonds and be used to your advantage. I’m going to go into this one a little longer than the others- one, because it’s more negative, but two: because like I said, it CAN be used to your advantage- so do not read this and program yourself to expect the worst. You shouldn’t.