Mercury begins its last retrograde motion of 2017 at 11:34p PST on Saturday, 2nd December, 2017. This is an interesting retrograde at a very interesting time.
Let’s start with the fundamentals of Mercury Retrograde in Sagittarius.
Mercury is the planet of information and communication. It’s also the planet of swiftness, often accelerating the pace of anything it comes in contact with. It is known as the messenger planet, and its effect on our communications and our exchanges of ideas and information can be profound. Primarily a mental-intellectual energy, it tends to approach matters with logic, reason, and emotional detachment. As the ruling planet of the sign of Gemini, Mercury also tends to have a student or child-like quality about it – full of energy, inquisitive, and playful. It loves to play mind games and challenge popular ideas and beliefs.
Opposite the sign of Gemini in the Zodiac, Sagittarius is the sign of growth and expansion, but also of knowledge and wisdom gained through first-hand experiences. It tends to be adventurous, expansive, and eager to share what it has learned with the world. Sag is known as the truth-seeker and truth-finder of the Zodiac because it isn’t satisfied with theory or concept – it needs to go out and experience those theories and concepts for itself. When it speaks, more often than not, it speaks from actual experience and has actual facts to back up its claims. Though it can be intellectual, its energy is actual more inspirational. It shares its passion and knowledge with others openly and without bounds.
Retrogrades bring feedback energy, do-over energy, second chances, and opportunities to receive to the energies of the planet(s) in retrograde motion. This could be a time when opportunities once passed up come around again for a second look… or you may receive feedback on a project or a long-awaited response to a communication you sent. You may need to revisit an agreement that was made before, or something you thought was done and over with may come back into your life.
In regard to Mercury Retrograde (generally speaking), it is especially important to note that it is NOT a time to push your agenda! This is NOT a time to be assertive in your communications unless an opportunity presents itself for you to take action in alignment with factual truth.
The mistake many people tend to make during Mercury Retrogrades is that they still believe what they have to say or do is most important and must be communicated right this minute. They will spend hours trying to send an email after their wi-fi signal is down, their hard drive fails, and their server crashes because they have to make their voice heard. It never occurs to them that while they’re waiting to the wi-fi to come back up, they might want to proof-read the email because there’s a crucial typo that could actually do more harm than good to their cause. Or maybe there’s a better opportunity about to be offered that you won’t be able to take once you commit to the one you’re trying to accept. Sometimes, delays and obstacles occur because it’s not about you the way you think it’s supposed to happen – maybe the Universe is trying to help you out a bit by not having things go according to your plans.
That said, we’ve been experiencing an abundance of expansive exchanges of ideas and information. These exchanges move ideas and information very quickly, and in a very large-scale way. Yet these ideas and exchanges may missing some details in their haste, and the retrograde motion gives us the opportunity to go back and recover (or uncover) what we may have missed.
In light of many accusations of guilt and wrongdoing in various different circumstances on the collective level and around the globe, a clear and deep desire for factual truths to come out and for long-unpunished wrongs to be righted is being revealed. Sexual harassment claims, genocide claims, religious persecution claims, racial persecution claims, etc. – they all reveal hurtful and harmful practices going on for many, many years and affecting many, many people.
However, due to the sense of urgency around the gathering of information and knowledge right now, many details have been overlooked yet also over-exaggerated. As amazing as it has been and continues to be for people to come forward and speak up for their right to justice and bring these horrible deeds to light, those who have been accused of perpetrating those behaviors and deeds may find that this Sagittarius Mercury Retrograde now provides them with an opportunity to make their voices heard in response. We can expect to see them being more vocal as they stand up to challenge the accusations against them.
For those of you who have taken great pride in bringing factual truths to light over the last few weeks, be aware that the tables are now being turned. In these next few weeks, you may find yourself becoming the target of accusations of unseemly behaviors and deeds – accusations by those who have been recently exposed and now have their private truths made public knowledge. They want to make your private information public like you made theirs public. They seek to expose your missteps and misdeeds as a way of proving you to be a hypocrite or as bad as they are, even if in a different or lesser way. Their assertive or aggressive acting-out sparks a backlash that could very well inspire a large-scale reversal of the social and societal progress that has been made. (This will likely come to a head during the Mercury Retrograde – Aries Uranus Retrograde trine that is most exact on 10th December, but will be felt 7th-13th December.)
This eye-for-an-eye approach is not fair nor is it just. Yet it will also not exonerate anyone… or at least it shouldn’t. What it will do (and is intended to do) is blur the lines about how we collectively define good and evil, or rather, who we define as good or evil. And as those who have accused others of certain behaviors or deeds begin to be exposed for their own wrongdoings and shortcomings, sadly, we may find that some very bad people will end up getting away with some very bad deeds. Again.
Most of their table-turning will be simple acts of lashing out in anger as the facts against some of the accused are pretty undeniable and unavoidable. There won’t be much in the way of debate to be had with some of these matters. In fact, remember what I said about not pushing your agenda under Mercury Retrograde? Their outbursts of frustration may end up working against them in the long run, compromising their defenses and in some cases, possibly proving their guilt. Let them rant.
Yet we must acknowledge that there are some people who are making false claims against others. Though we absolutely do NOT want to discredit someone’s individual or collective experience, we do get to recognize that actual facts must back up the accusations being made (or at least a pattern of behavior must be demonstrated and proven). We also must recognize whether or not the motivations for the accusations are personal, or if they have a larger agenda (a.k.a. – political, professional, financial, etc.) to forward. This 2017 Mercury Retrograde in Sagittarius will assist us in applying logic, reason, and discernment to these situations, not just acting on the emotions we personally feel. It gives each and all of us an opportunity to review the details of the matters at hand, and a chance to learn more about where we may be allowing our personal emotions to influence our stances on the matters which are shaping our societal, professional, and institutional standards, morals, and values.
On the societal, professional, and institutional levels, long-held institutions rarely go along with their own demise. Since some of these atrocities are ingrained in their structures, don’t be surprised to see those in positions of power and influence creating policies and procedures to protect themselves from (further) exposure and accountability for their misdeed and missteps. (Mercury Retrograde conjunct Saturn, most exact on 6th December). There is no doubt – we will see the accused making it harder for accusers to hold them responsible and accountable…
…but it will be a temporary delay (Mercury Retrograde semi-sextile Capricorn Pluto, most exact on 14th December). So, rather than getting yourself up-in-arms over their efforts and attempts, allow yourself to wait out the storm. Pay attention to the words and beliefs being presented. Take note, and take notes. Notice what they are really protecting themselves from, then call them out on it when an opportunity presents itself to do so, or once Mercury is direct again in about three weeks.
Just because those accused are now on the attack doesn’t mean they’ll be successful in their efforts to exonerate themselves of wrongdoing. In fact, they may make things worse for themselves by trying so hard to defend or deny. Yet, it would be wise for the accusers to let these people incriminate themselves with their own excuses and explanations.
Trust that the facts will always prevail.
Meanwhile, there is one more thing for both sides of these matters to consider.
The opportunities for the revelation and assessment of facts that this 2017 Mercury in Sagittarius brings are NOT just about the accusations we see in the news everyday lately. These are also relevant to the matters going on in our personal and private everyday lives. Let’s bring it home for a moment.
- Where in your life are you accusing someone of any sort of wrong doing against you or someone you care about?
- Where in your life are you being accused of any sort of wrongdoing?
The afore-mentioned dynamics apply to these situations as well.
We often look outside of ourselves, judging and criticizing others – especially those in positions of power or influence. We often fail to recognize that they are only mirrors for what is happening in our personal and private life experiences. It’s easy to look at them and judge them as those who employ us or who create our laws – it’s much harder to see ourselves in them.
That said, how is your personal assessment of the public events occurring affected by your own personal behavior?
- Are you guilty of the same behavior, and defending some of these people because you are vicariously defending yourself through them?
- Or are you defending them because you love or like them and don’t want to see them for both their light and their darkness?
- Do you believe someone is guilty because you didn’t like them from the start?
- Do you believe an accuser because you may share their experience and are living vicariously through their courage to come forward?
These are all questions to consider over these next few weeks of the 2017 Mercury Retrograde in Sagittarius. There’s plenty to think about as Mercury in Sagittarius will be retrograde until 22nd/23rd December 2017 (13.00°), followed by the completion of its direct motion run through Sagittarius on 10th January 2018.
Thank you for reading and sharing Signs and Numbers. Until next post…
~ Light, Love, and Blessings,
Grace
