Affecting January, February, March, and April 2023 – A Third Look at How Tuned In We Are.

Mercury is going direct at 5:12 am PST January 18 and will be in its shadow zone through February 7, after which it enters its next phase of moving through "unknown zones" where the themes of this retrograde will be played out in forward motion. So for the next 2 weeks expect some very productive intersections of past and future, giving us a chance to show how willing we are to update our perceptual files, moving from Capricorn personal power into group service.

Themes related to the span between 9 and 25 Capricorn will be prominent until Mercury enters its next shadow zone at 6 Taurus on April 6. While all Mercury retrogrades give us “a look back,” some give us “a look forward.” This one has occupied a span which includes all of the 2020 long wave Capricorn conjunctions which set cycles into motion lasting many years.

We’ve now taken a look back at the Jupiter/Pluto seeds planted in 2020 to see how those opportunities have manifested in the life area where we have late Capricorn in our charts. This will lead to major triggers when Mars transits this span in Jan-Feb 2024, showing this retrograde also has been a “back to the future” type of experience.

As noted in part 1, last year all Mercury retrograde spans began in early Air signs and retrograded back into late Earth signs, helping us start with ideas and finish with practical grounded insights. This year we have three Mercury retrograde spans which begin and end in Earth, showing we’ll begin with practical approaches, and finish with practical approaches.

This Mercury direct station falls at 9 Capricorn. It is said that the first third (decan) of any sign deals with the actional and material levels of life, and as this falls in the first decan of Capricorn, it has a sub-influence of Capricorn with an added dose of Jupiter. Because Mercury was in Capricorn, it has been and continues to be ruled by Saturn in its home sign of Aquarius. That gives this Capricorn experience an Aquarian backdrop, specifically in the individual spiritual phase of management.

Aspects in the Shadow Zone

Mercury will transit its “shadow” span of 9 to 25 Capricorn through February 7, with residual echoes for the next 13 weeks as well. Mercury going direct will re-activate many of the aspects it's made over the past few weeks, including its long term trine to Uranus, stabilizing our understanding of how to be innovative in practical, simple, obvious ways.

As Mercury moves forward from its station, it stays in trine with Uranus through January 31, harmonizing our understanding of moving forward with maturity and tenderness with an eye to detail and plan. At this direct station, it makes an exact quincunx to Mars, still on its stationary direct degree at 9 Gemini. This quincunx will be close through January 25.

All quincunxes indicate “expansion through sacrifice” energy forcing some sort of adjustment, in this case in the plan due to Mars’ issues, or in the execution due to Mercury’s issues. Focusing emotional intensity to manifest beauty, as well as repairing decay are the most productive things to do.

During the period between this station and Mercury leaving its shadow zone, Mercury makes a novile, semisquare, and septile to Venus. These show what’s been cooking since their second conjunction in December when Mercury went SRX is beginning to stretch out about as far as it can, leading us to internal decisions and changes in our relationships.

Mercury makes two contradictory aspects to spiritual heavyweights through late January. It continues to make both a long term semisquare with Saturn and a quintile to Neptune through late January, and then makes a novile to Saturn. It sextiles Neptune the entire first week of February, and quintiles Jupiter at the end of the shadow zone transit. This is the end of the old Capricorn cycle relative to last year’s Aquarius cycles, and prepares us for new and unique ways to understand our interdependence.

Of course there are other aspects as well, which I’ll go into in the coming New Moon articles.

The Moon and Sun at this Station

The Moon at the station is a 3rd Quarter Moon, said to be future oriented, inventive, and focused on building something to preserve the harvest of the cycle to come. We are told this phase is one of applying universal principles to everyday situations. As the Moon is at 11 Sagittarius, it’s extremely powerful as the entry to the Bowl on a degree of launching a vision, announcing a new law, and seeing the future clearly. As it biseptiles Neptune and triseptiles Uranus while quintile Saturn, this will be a disciplined expression of the vision at a crucial fork in the road wherever it’s active in our chart.

At this station, the Sun is 29 Capricorn exactly conjunct Pluto, showing many things have ended or will end in the next few weeks. As the degree is one of being able to “read the tea leaves,” look for seeds of seership to come forth which were latent before now. The good news is that the Sun/Pluto conjunction is tredecile Uranus, bringing serendipity into play in hidden ways.

Looking Back, Looking Ahead

So from here Mercury moves forward! We can now take what we reviewed, got a new understanding of, or found new information about that helped us remember and/or reevaluate some things and move forward with a larger view and contemplation of what has been and what will be, especially in the houses where we have Gemini and Virgo, since Mercury rules Gemini and Virgo.

As it was retrograde between 25 and 9 Capricorn, those house(s) in our charts have been the areas where our review, reflections, returns, reconsiderations, and/or rehearsals have taken place. I gave you some of the possible effects of Mercury in the houses in the article Mercury Retrograde in Capricorn in December 2022 – January 2023 - What It Means For Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces.

Since it is now direct, if there have been misunderstandings or delays these past 3 weeks, it's all moving forward from here! We can begin to get a lot more accomplished, after a period of slow downs, turnarounds, review, reflection, reworking, undoing, and re-planning. We’ve been offered a chance to rethink many things, and experienced new ways of seeing how to organize or reorganize something, or make something more efficient. Now we move forward into a new life knowing we’re traversing familiar ground before we leap into the future in early February.

So things should start moving forward anew fairly quickly. Right now, it’s a good time to use the different information, views, and approaches we’ve been examining through the retrograde lens these past several weeks to find a new understanding of the larger global process of innovation and the need for new approaches and freedom of thought thanks to the favorable trine to Uranus. We now have an alternative take on some things, as well as a more organized approach to making things work better or more pleasing, and having taken a slight detour through the past, can move forward into a time of attuning to our invisible helpers to get a greater practical spiritual effectiveness and social skill.

Now that we've done our rehearsals, reviews, revisions, and/or research on those inner and outer experiences showing us the need for practical actions leading us to tune into our angels, we can be responsible in moving into a more effective and powerful life. Here we again face the future, knowing a different sense of Being and a new vision of our wisdom. Despite the tensions of the coming weeks from Mercury quincunx Mars and semisquare Saturn, the trine to Uranus encourages us to think outside the box and do our own thing in our own way. And even if it seems like you’re not going in the right way, see what good there is to be done, since as Spirits flying freely in the direction we choose, remember the immortal words of George Harrison, “if you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.”

From Here We Speed Up!

Things related to Mercury will speed up considerably for the next three months, so flow with the new YOU you’re experiencing! Meditate on the symbol “An angel carrying a harp,” since it’sthe Sabian symbol I gave you in part 1. That sets the theme for the next three months, and helps us be clear about our most effective technique when in social situations which require responsible behavior. This will open up the means to cooperate with our invisible helpers, and the ability to take on challenges with a more easy-going approach with an eye to detail and priorities.

There are tremendous spiritual rewards for being more volitional and less reflexive in our responses. This station allows us to go forward, resuming many things put on hold during the last Mercury retrograde in September. We now have a new way of seeing to the core of things, as well as “the transforming power of beauty.” When we get a clear vision or understanding, as we act on it we’ll be flooded with feelings which will lead us to a newer understanding. While this begins a period of high mobilization, it also will be a period of opening to a deeper vision and deeper understanding than we’ve had before as we move through a time of Transfiguration in late February and early March.

A New Look at Mercury Retrograde

In a final plug as Mercury moves forward in its shadow zone, if you want to know more about the qualities of Mercury retrograde in all the signs and houses, please consult your copy of the expanded 2nd edition of A New Look At Mercury Retrograde, available on Amazon. It's a handy reference for everything you could want to know about Mercury retrograde people and Mercury retrograde in the signs and houses. It explores how Mercury retrograde people think and work through things, and why roundabout or delayed interpretations aren’t necessarily a bad thing, whether in kids or adults. Here's the link to where you can order your paperback copy of A New Look at Mercury Retrograde. The ebook is available on Kindle and Nook. (Again, just make sure you get the 2016 edition published by the Fifth Ray rather than the 1997 edition originally published by Weiser.)

Reprinted on crystalwind.ca with written permission from Robert Wilkinson. Copying this article to other blogs is strictly prohibited. It is copyright protected. 

© Copyright 2023 Robert Wilkinson

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