Mercury entered Cancer at 11:52a PDT on Wednesday 8th July 2015. When it did, Mercury moved out of its Zodiac home and ventured into the sign next door to begin its next full journey around the Sun.
Cancer is a cardinal water sign, making it the energy from which we initiate our emotion-based actions, experiences, and responses. Our emotional experiences of our lives originate from the sign of Cancer.
With Mercury – the planet of intellect, information, and communication – now in the sign of Cancer, we need to be prepared for our ideas and words or means of communication to truly reflect and affect us on the emotional plane – both on the personal-individual level and on the public-collective level.
The primary job of Mercury in Cancer is to help us articulate the emotions we feel within ourselves so we may become more mindful of what we are expressing to others. That means we get to feel our feelings, then intellectually figure out the words which capture the essence of what we want to say, and then make sure we say those words in ways that are clearly understood by others while maintaining the integrity of our emotional truth.
The other job Mercury in Cancer has is to help us understand how and why we feel the way we feel (a.k.a. – where our feelings come from), and to provide us with opportunities to learn new and/or different ways to experience and express our emotions. This is a time during which we may recognize just how much our intellectual beliefs influence our emotional responses.
Both of these jobs are the reasons Mercury is not an easy fit with Cancer. On one hand, we are being asked to exchange or debate emotionally-charged ideas and information with others by providing intellectual explanations for the emotions we feel. On the other hand, we are being asked to bring intellectual logic to emotional matters in our lives – ideas and approaches that are much different than our own, and we are being asked to share our emotional responses differently than we ever may have shared them before.
The challenge in this is that we often look to others for our emotional validation. Many of us seek agreement or assuagement from others, wanting other people to make us feel okay about how we feel or what we think or believe. We seek their validation of our emotional “truth”. We want to know that we’re right and others are wrong.
Yet what if you looked within yourself to figure out how you really feel about yourself and your life? And what if you figured out what makes you feel good on the inside, regardless of what anyone else thinks about it or feels about it? What if you found an emotional truth within you that is so strong, it really doesn’t matter if anyone else agrees with you or not – that you could stand alone without the agreement of others in how you feel?
The power of Mercury in Cancer is in realizing that it’s not about what others think of you or how they feel about you. It is about how and what you think about yourself. That said, it’s also about listening and learning about why others feel the way they feel, and using your intellectual logic to see if they have a valid point. It’s easy to say you’re against something just because it’s different than what you know. Yet will you feel the same way about them once you truly listen to and consider what they have to say? Is it possible for you to allow your heart to change once logical understanding is achieved?
This also brings up questions about how much we allow others to influence or define us emotionally. What if how you feel about yourself is based upon societal expectations of what family or service should be? What if how you feel about yourself is based upon your ability to satisfy the emotional needs or insecurities of others? What if your emotional responses are due to beliefs and experiences that are prevalent in your environment? What if you chose to step outside the box that you are in or have been in?
What if I told you that their joy and pain are not your responsibility but theirs? What if I told you that your only emotional responsibility is to make choices that bring you joy and to not make choices that bring you pain, regardless of whom else may be involved? What if it is their responsibility to make choices that bring them emotional happiness and fulfillment?
The latter is the theme is likely to come up during this 2015 version of Mercury in Cancer. Many of us will be getting back in touch with our real feelings about certain intellectual topics. We will be figuring out what we think, what we believe, and what we are willing to say about our own feelings.
Through this process, you may realize that your feelings and emotional responses are rooted in the past. You may find that they are rooted in the way you were raised or the way you experienced something in your life before now. The question is…are you willing to feel differently once you are intellectually informed with a different perspective or understanding of a matter? Are you willing to learn a new way to think and feel about a matter or aspect of your life?
The major 2015 Mercury in Cancer transits occurring in the next couple of weeks may help you answer these questions.
- (Cancer Mercury conjunct Mars) opposite Capricorn Pluto Rx (14°), most exact about 7:00p on Wednesday 15th July – This is certain to be a fiery transit as people may receive emotionally-charged communications and may be pushed to take emotionally-confronting actions in the face of collapsing societal or institutional structures. Things have been a certain way for a long time, yet on and around this day (14-17 July) there may be realizations that the old structures and the beliefs that supported them no longer have a place in the world and are being cleared away for good. It is a significant change-or-die moment, and some will accept this balancing better than others. Those who fight the changing tide may fight a hard and heartfelt fight, but they may also finally realize the futility of their efforts on this day. Those who accept or embrace the institutional changes may find themselves finally getting the push they need to begin moving forward on a new life path in earnest. What’s even more amazing is this transit is most exact on the day of the 2015 Cancer New Moon – the bearer of new emotional beginnings. At its most exact (at 6:24p PDT), the Sun-Moon conjunction is out of orb (23.23°) from the Mercury-Mars-Pluto Rx opposition. However, the Cancer Moon does join the Mercury-Mars opposition to Pluto for about 13 hours on its way to its maximum phase – from about 7:00p PDT on 14th July until about 8:15a PDT on the 15th. This brings even more emotional charge to a transit that already holds a LOT of powerful emotional energy. It’s sure to be an amazing yet intense ride both personally and collectively, yet it has the potential to be a fresh start in many ways for all who have carried emotional burdens of the past long enough.
- Cancer Mercury square Aries Uranus most exact at 6:07p PDT on Saturday 18th July – You may be faced with challenges from public opinion, whether you’re being asked to change your heart and go along with the crowd, or you’re being confronted by those who are still stuck in what you’ve chosen to move on from. It can be one of the hardest things to do to stand for your truth in the face of opposition, yet you can learn how to feel the way you feel without taking the bait to engage in intellectual or physical combat. Just because they bring the fight to you doesn’t mean you have to fight back. On the other hand, when you experience a major change of heart – one which brings about major life change(s) – you may find that those who were comfortable with you the way you were must also change. You are no longer who you were for them, and now they either have to accept and adjust to your changes or they have to try and get you to be the way you used to be. It’s up to you whether you allow them to have this pull over you.
- Cancer Mercury trine Scorpio Saturn Rx most exact at 10:51a PDT – Emotional understanding gives you a second chance to change your emotional boundaries, either taking down your defenses and allowing yourself to be vulnerable…or finally putting up and enforcing some boundaries and no longer allowing others to emotionally control or manipulate you. If you speak your emotional truth with clarity, there will be no mistaking your message.
It’s an important time to claim your emotional power and to speak your emotional truth. It’s also an amazing time to take on a new emotional experience. Be compassionate and patient with others and most of all, be compassionate and patient with yourself. It’s not easy to change the way you’ve always believed or felt about matters in your life – it’s rarely an instant shift as you’ve been conditioned to do things “the old way” for a long time. But if you’re committed to making the change, now’s the time to let go of the past to receive a new emotional experience now and for the future.
Thanks for reading and sharing Signs and Numbers. Until next post…
~ Light, Love, and Blessings,
Grace
