Retrograde energy is all about experiencing life and learning about yourself from the ‘outside-in’. External events are intended to give you pause – to have you look at your own positions and perspectives to figure out how you truly feel and where you truly stand on matters of importance to you.
This call to pause – which is actually a call to listen and learn – is often the reason why Mercury Retrograde are such difficult times for some people. Those affected are often trying to force their agendas rather than paying attention to the information and insight they are being given.
That said, Mercury has been retrograde in Virgo since 30th August, and this 2016 version has been all about listening and learning to assess what you believe will work with what is actually working (or not working) in your life. There have been many opportunities to see how others have aspects of their lives which are either enhancing or simplifying OR compromising or destroying the practical functionality of aspects of their day-to-day existence. There have also been opportunities to recognize and adjust the impact of their everyday behaviors and beliefs upon their goals and objectives.
Over the last three weeks, we’ve been fortunate to learn from the people around us and our interactions with them. And some of us have noticed that this 2016 Mercury Retrograde in Virgo has been particularly intense.
That may be because it isn’t just Mercury that’s been retrograde.
Mercury Retrograde in Virgo has been one of SIX planets/bodies which have been in retrograde motion since the end of August 2016. Yes. Six.
Here’s the five other current retrogrades and their effects:
Chiron Retrograde in Pisces (latest retrograde since 27th June 2016) – A call to assess your emotional-spiritual wounds and seek ways to transcend them in loving and compassionate ways. You become (more) aware of your own wounds when you witness and/or experience the wounds of others. You may also be inclined to play victim or be more sensitive to how others around you are playing victim to their circumstances, often of their own making in some way.
Ceres Retrograde in Taurus (retrograde since 31st August 2016) – A call to assess your personal values and learn about what drives you to seek the lifestyle you seek, especially on the material-physical plane. You become (more) aware of your own personal values and priorities when you witness and/or experience the lifestyle and resource values and priorities of others.
Uranus Retrograde in Aries (latest retrograde since 29th July 2016) – A call to assess your unique place in the world and figure out where your individual self-expression makes the greatest contribution to your community or humanity-at-large. You become (more) conscious of how and/or what you can proactively contribute to the larger whole of humanity through your unique individual self-expression. This embracing of your individual self-identity actually helps you find your place in your community. Yet you find your place through listening and learning about what your community needs – by learning which actions need to be taken and recognizing how YOU can take those actions in ways no one else can.
Neptune Retrograde in Pisces (latest retrograde since 13th June 2016) – A call to assess your ideals, dreams, and visions to figure out what your visions are for your own life and for the world around you. On the challenging side of things, you may become (more) aware of where and how you deceive yourself and/or others, how you escape or avoid challenges, and/or how you may be approaching certain areas of your life unrealistically. On the positive side, it may reveal where you are most able to be compassionate, loving, and philanthropic and/or most spiritually-transcendentally attuned. Events around you may also make you more aware of a Higher power – something which connects everyone and everything in Oneness.
Pluto Retrograde in Capricorn (latest retrograde since 18th April 2016) – A call to assess your personal power and influence as it relates to your societal position. You may become (more) conscious of how much power and influence you have in your societal structure…or you may realize how little power and influence you have. You may also notice how much power and influence other individuals and institutions around you have, and how that may affect your own personal power and your ability to exercise or demonstrate it.
When we consider all six of these active retrogrades (which are mostly asteroids and outer planets), we may begin to understand why this particular Mercury Retrograde in Virgo has felt so intense. Mercury, being the closest planet to us has been the most obvious influence over these last three weeks. Yet it hasn’t been Mercury alone as the other five planets have also making their reflective retrograde presence known and have been increasing their influence upon us through Mercury.
Thanks to this collaboration of retrograde energies, we’ve been called upon to look at all of the events and changes happening in in our relationships, in our communities, in our societies, and in the world as a whole around us. As result, we’ve found ourselves having to deal with what it means to us on a personal and individual level to face and deal with these large-scale changes.
At 10:30p PDT today, Wednesday 21st September, Mercury returns to direct motion in Virgo (14.82°) to bring our latest “listen and learn” session to an end. Yet Mercury is still in Virgo, and its direct motion means that after three weeks of reassessing and adjusting our everyday plans and processes (or recognizing the need to do so), we now get to respond to the feedback we received and apply the lessons we have learned. We now get to communicate and implement our ideas for practical changes in our everyday life experience.
For many of us, it’ll feel like we have our voices back…and our voices now get to be used in implementing important pragmatic changes so our lives can work or work better than they did before. However, the plans that we were revising and that now get to be set into motion are still being revised and adjusted as we implement them. Many major shifts and changes are still occurring, so we have the challenge of implementing a plan that is very much in flux.
To reflect the actively-evolving nature of the matters at hand, the 2016 Mercury Direct in Virgo makes only a few major transits before entering the sign of Libra on 7th October. Here’s the most significant ones:
- Virgo Mercury square Gemini Moon is virtually EXACT at the time direct motion begins (less than 1° orb) – This indicates challenges in communicating the problems we are facing as we begin to implement our lessons learned. The biggest challenge we have may be in opening our minds to a new way of thinking and speaking about the way we live our everyday lives. The difficult conversations that many of us have avoided are now being brought into the open to be had.
- Virgo Mercury trine Capricorn Pluto Retrograde, most exact on 23rd September (14.94°) – This transit gives Mercury’s voice power and influence in the face of resistant feedback from the powers-that-be in any ‘power struggle’ situations you may be dealing with. With Pluto being retrograde, you may notice that this is a case of the “empire” striking back, trying to preserve its power and influence over you. Their pushback only reveals that your message really does have power and is making a difference. The words and actions at this time will speak volumes about where the parties involved stand. You’ll be especially aware of the messages being communicated if you’re trying to transform the circumstances, especially as you become more aware of how those in power may be trying to transform or overpower you.
- Virgo Mercury sextile Scorpio Juno, most exact on 27th September (17.20°) – By communicating what you believe are basic or practical thoughts, you may actually be revealing the depth of your emotional investments. Your communications may carry a deeper message than even you realize about your commitment to certain practices in your everyday life or in the way you move through and interact with the world on a daily basis.
- Virgo Mercury quincunx Aries Uranus Retrograde, most exact on 2nd October (23.02° ) – You may begin to feel a shift on your individual everyday experience as result of the collective shift happening on a larger scale. The assertive or aggressive actions of many are likely to become harder if not impossible to ignore or avoid around this time, and you may need to deal with their impact on your daily way of life.
Mercury Direct in Virgo (14.82°) will also be within 1° orb of a sextile aspect with Scorpio Black Moon Lilith (14.02°) when it makes its turn. These two energies will work well together, and give Virgo Mercury’s pragmatic ideas and communications an opportunity to tap into a deep desire for transformative change that has gone largely unaddressed for a very long time. These desires for transformation may be in the world around you, but they may just as easily be found within you. This is a prime time for you to look as how you can use this power to transform yourself and your own life.
Thank you for reading and sharing Signs and Numbers. Until next post…
~ Light, Love, and Blessings,
Grace
