Affecting January, February, March, and April 2024 – Entering A New Land.

Mercury goes direct in motion at 7:08 pm PST on January 1 and speeds up for the next 10 weeks. This shows a quickening of the ability to coordinate, put things together, understand the whole and the parts, the process and the larger cycles. It is now stationary at 23 Sagittarius, affecting that area in our lives for 3 months to come.

Mercury, or Hermes, "the Guide of Souls," is also known as the Divine Trickster, as well as all lesser models. What does Mercury going stationary direct at 23 Sagittarius mean? Perhaps it would be useful to take a look back on what the last Mercury direct station brought us since September 2023.

You will recall that the last time Mercury went stationary direct in September it was at 9 Virgo, the third of this year’s retrogrades which begin in late Earth and end in early Earth. The one at the beginning of the year began at 25 Capricorn and ended at 9 Capricorn, and the second one began at 16 Taurus and ended at 6 Taurus, which is the exact retrograde span Jupiter is traversing between early September and late December. The themes of 6 and 16 Taurus have been major themes for 2023.

As noted, the last Mercury RX began at 22 Virgo and ended at 9 Virgo, bringing insights about Saturnine lessons and values put into play since 2009. Since September, the themes of 9 Virgo have predominated our Mercurial lessons. That has involved expressing our uniqueness without regard for social values, allowing our individuality to not play into “cultural standards and stereotyped ways of interpreting perceptions.”

So wherever we have 9 Virgo is where we have transformed our personality and where any inner conflict has generated the impetus for us to express our true Self in an original way. We’ve all “released our creative capacities” in some form, and expanded both our understanding and our mental power. Some have seen clearly how to express their uniqueness in a form of service, whether to self, others, the world, or Source.

This retrograde period began at 9 Capricorn, and gave us a review of recent of two things; 1) we’ve now done a review of the entire year, as Mercury went SD in January 2023 at 9 Capricorn. This has given us a look back at the year to see how we’ve attuned to a higher way, or the invisible world, and attained a new level of “fulfilled selfhood.” 2) The second review has been about new developments in our lives related to Capricorn and Sagittarius things and ideas. This retrograde began in Earth and now ends in Fire, signifying a shift in the Mercury retrograde elemental pattern.

We’ve now done a journey through parts of our Capricorn and Sagittarius past, remembered many things about what has and has not fulfilled us, how “tuned in” we are or aren’t, and what promises of the future now stand before us. We’ve taken a new look at responsibility, self-organization on the emotional or social level, with glimpses of past fulfillment or how those have related to current fulfillment and “the harmony of realized Selfhood.” As this station is at 23 Sagittarius, from here we move forward into a new expression of these energies which will echo for many months to come.

We’ve now re-traced ground that we first saw via Mercury’s first pass from November 25 through December 12 and re-examined via the RX from then to now. An important point in time will be when Mercury goes back over 9 Capricorn on January 20/21, because then it leaves its shadow zone and moves into new sections of the zodiac, carrying all its RX lessons forward until its coming April retrograde when it goes SRX at 28 Aries and reviews the span back to 16 Aries, shifting the current elemental pattern to beginning in Fire and ending in Fire.

Now we face 4 months of being guided to our Soul using the qualities of 23 Sagittarius. How we use those realizations to coordinate the qualities of that degree into our lives over the next 4 months will show us a different way of finding emotional and social expression of our renewed view after past losses which now qualify us for “entrance into a new land.” This will help us hold the heart fire of a new truth, a new vision, and a new life adventure.

We should all start seeing, hearing, and understanding things that point the way to some Mercurial fulfillment related to how we have been and continue to be guided to our Soul. The area in our chart where we have 23 Sagittarius will be where the past gives way to the future.

The Sabian Symbol for Mercury’s Direct Station

The Sabian symbol for the 23rd degree of Sagittarius is “Immigrants entering.” In the Astrology of Personality, where Rudhyar uses the original Dr. Jones' class notes on the symbols, 23 Sagittarius is said to be a symbol of “new openings that come to all who are willing to risk self for the sake of greater selfhood,” “reorientation,” and “presumption.”

In The Astrological Mandala, Rudhyar states this degree is about “consciously accepting the ways of a new stage of experience, in readiness for the opportunities it will present.” He says “as we pass any threshold leading to a new realm of existence we have to meet certain requirements and the necessity to adjust to new ways of life – in action, thought and feeling. At times it may seem an ordeal, but it is inevitable. Everything that will follow depends largely on how we cross this threshold, and the spirit in which we meet unfamiliar and perhaps shocking experiences.”

He offers that we now find ourselves in a period of transition. We have to imitate, yet retain our inner integrity.” This degree is said to fall in the Span of Detachment, and is the synthesizing degree of the social-cultural level in the Scene of Transference in the Act of Group Integration.

Dr. Jones, creator of the Sabian Symbols, states this degree is “opportunity caught and held through its effective recognition in advance” as shown by “the creative faith of those who risk their well-being in bringing their skills into pioneer areas of self-expression.” He says “the human soul must be a consistent manifestation of its own special genius, and the individual escapes any major impasse in his life when he is able to transplant his roots.”

He continues “reality is never more sure than when regrasped in a radical reorientation.” He offer us the keyword ENTRANCE, and states when operating in a positive manner, “the degree is courage in crossing new frontiers and skill in repeating or improving on prior achievement.”

From Here We Move Forward

23 Sagittarius is now a launch point for entering into a new (and somewhat familiar) realm in the Gemini and Virgo areas of our chart via Mercury’s placement in the Leo decan of Sagittarius, where it is dramatic and courageous with an added dose of the Saturn. We now move forward, having done our time of going inward to reflect on how we have attained some form of “basic harmony of fulfilled selfhood” through “detached and lofty understanding.” What are these, and how have we attained these in 2023? These are questions we’ve revisited, and can answer using new approaches.

Mercury now begins to chase the Sun toward their next Superior Conjunction, bringing all its reflections and reviews into the NOW. We’ve finished the transition from Earth sign to Fire sign retrogrades, and have new ways of understanding our Gemini and Virgo areas, as well as the early Capricorn and late Sagittarius sectors of our charts.

We’ll close today with a reminder that although Mercury is now direct and won’t be retrograde again until early April, the retrograde we’ve just experienced will affect the coming months until the Mercury retrograde station in April at 28 Aries. At that point we’ll get a look back at what was awakened in our charts in 2017-2018 when Uranus transited this sector, and perhaps even the period between September and December 2020 when Mars crossed this degree three times in that period.

You can find out more about past, present, or future retrogrades by getting your copy of my book A New Look At Mercury Retrograde. Here's the Amazon link to where you can order A New Look at Mercury Retrograde to check out possible ways this Mercury retrograde effect could play out over the next 4 months. That link will also allow you to order an ebook copy on Kindle. Just make sure you get the 2016 2nd edition with the book award on the cover and not the 1997 Weiser first edition.

In part 2, we'll continue to examine what we can expect over the next 3 months now that Mercury is direct.

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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