Mercury – Joan Porte

A Cosmic Lesson in Mutual Reception

This week the universe will demonstrate one of the basic tenants of Astrology, mutual reception.

This is when one planet is in the sign ruler of another and vice versa. This week Mars (which rules Aries) is in the sign of Gemini (ruled by Mercury.) At the same time, and Mercury (Gemini’s ruler) is in Aries (Mars’ ruler.)

This criss cross flow of energy enhances both of the planets with increased power. With the boost of Martian aggression, there is the chance of finding yourself exchanging harsh words with someone even if you are unsure of the source of that anger. Mercury and Gemini have domain over through process and speech, while Mars and Aries like to dwell in the more aggressive arena of personal expression and the flow of anger and unrest.

Those people with a high amount of Mercury/Gemini and Mars/Aries in their birth charts will feel this more readily than those who don’t.

It is best to harness the Mars energy and use it to have those “difficult” conversations. Being aware that this is a time for verbal aggression, you can make the concerted effort to arrange in advance what you want to say. Mars does not always lead to battle – Mars can give you the courage to say those things that you have kept bottled up. It just needs a bit of planning. Breathe, think, speak should be your motto.

Summer Party!

With a Venus, Mercury and Jupiter conjunction in the eleventh house, that of social and group activities, it is time to have a summer party! Venus can bring you love and adventure, Mercury the gift of gab and Jupiter – endless potential. Things won’t get too out of hand, however, because they are all in the rather sedate sign of Virgo.

Use the Earthly energy of Virgo to host a garden or harvest party? Print out a few pictures of Virgo holding her sheaves of wheat to get people into the mood.

Just be sure this doesn’t become an all-work party. You know how Virgo loves to be fulfilling some duty! Let Jupiter allow you kick back and have some real fun.

Getting the Most Out Of Our January Retrogrades

OK our time of direct action is over. This week both Jupiter and Mercury will turn retrograde. Here is a little Mercury tidbit for you. Mercury is going retrograde now because he is having a New Year as well. A year on Mercury is only 88 days because he is so speedy and close to the Sun, so during his normal three retrogrades a year he “loses” 21 of our days. Anyway, this is the time of take stock of your words, your appointments, your travel plans, and your inner thoughts. Are they disconnects between your thoughts and words? Do you speak your truth of hide behind the masks of lies? Do you mean what you say and say what you mean, as the old saying goes?

Jupiter, being larger and slower will be in retrograde until May 9. I am afraid he will bring out the more fundamentalist beliefs from zealots and, with his squaring of Uranus on and off all year – we need to be on our toes for some deep seated nonsense surfacing. The best use of a Jupiter retrograde is to pull inside and examine our beliefs. Why do we know what we know – what is the basis for our belief systems on the bigger issues of life? Prepare yourself now for the ability to come out of the gate in May ready to learn, explore and expand your philosophies.

All retrogrades are time for inward growth. Don’t waste these two opportunities.

Don’t panic – Mercury goes retrograde on September 17.

I say this every time but Mercury goes retrograde; I get a ton of emails and calls about all the horrible things that will happen. I admit that depending on where your natal Mercury is doing, you could have communication issues, computer glitches and phone blow-ups but it does not happen to all of us every time Mercury gets sleepy! If you want to know where this retrograde is in relationship to your birth chart, drop me an email at Joansastrology@gmail.com and I will send you a free chart pointing out the dance of Mercury.

For the good news, Saturn goes direct and moves firmly into Sagittarius. A Saturn retrograde, which can bog us down with feelings of duty or give a sense of lack of joy, is much more potent than a Mercury retrograde. Yet, we worry about Mercury all of the time! This is a time to feel the energy of Sagittarius. It calls us to explore, grow and learn. Take a class or read a book in a topic that is foreign to you. Feel the release of Saturn and let Mercury go on his merry way – he will go direct soon enough – he moves that fast!

NO – Mercury Is Not in Retrograde But……………..

it might feel like it. I have gotten several calls from people complaining about blown circuits and miscommunications and computers getting Biblical on them. The repeated refrain is, “Is Mercury in retrograde again?” Nope. Actually the answer is just the reverse, we have too much Gemini energy roaming around and it is overloading the circuits.

Right now we have Mercury in it’s natural ruler of Gemini as well as Lilith, Jupiter, Venus and, of course, the Sun. That is a lot of quick, verbal energy flying through the air in very close in, personal planets. If ever the adage, “Think before you speak” is beneficial it is now. Slow down, calm down and remember Mercury is fast and will be moving out of most of these signs by the end of June.

Full Moon Tonight

Tonight, February 25th is the so called “Ice Moon,” the February full moon. Of course, if you live in the D.C. area you get no snow or ice or winter…but I digress.

A moon is “full” when it is furthest from the Sun. As you can see in the chart below, the Moon is tucked away in the 12th house and all the way across the chart, the Sun is in the 6th. When the Moon escapes the light of the Sun it can shine most brightly over us.

The Moon is in Virgo in the 12th, the house of secrets. Remember too the we are in a state of retrograded Mercury. So please, please watch for communications missteps, words not said or words expressed in anger instead of peace. This is the time to think twice before criticizing and bringing up old hearts and to really, really think before you speak!

What’s going on with Giza and the planets tomorrow?

courtesy of Arlenew.com

The past few years we have had some interesting planetary shifts – Neptune into Pisces, Pluto into Capricorn, etc. Tomorrow night is another unique planetary alignment – one that allegedly happens only once every 2700 years. On the evening of December 3 – tomorrow night – local time, over the pyramids of Giza, Venus, Saturn and Mars will align directly over each pyramid of Giza.

Frankly, I have a hard time believing like some folks that the pyramids were built just for this once every two thousand year occurrence. I have no doubt these ancient structures like many in other parts of the world were built to track the planets but I don’t place any special emphasis on this.

It is interesting however to know that this is happening. Closer to home, however, These three planets are all in Scorpio and on the East Coast are in the 5th and 6th houses – the houses of creativity and health. This would be a perfect time to use the expressiveness of Mercury, the artistic talent of Venus and the tenacity of Saturn to go inwards (a Scorpio thing) and find how you can work on these areas. I mean pyramids are cool but I like working on things I can relate to a bit more!

You Either Got It Or You Don’t – The Astrology of Charisma.

The air suddenly seems to stop and the room crackles a bit. We have all been in that situation. Someone has walked into the room who literally has sucked the air out. That person has IT – charisma. Is there an astrological signature that would indicate a person born with that little something extra? You have to ask??
Of course, there is!

Take a peek at Mercury and how close it resides next to the Sun in a chart. I mean really close. They must be in a conjunction for a person to even have a hope of charisma. A conjunction is when two planets appear to us here on Earth to be sitting next to one another in the sky. On the chart, a conjunction is when they are within 6 degrees of one another.

Take a look at Frank Sinatra’s chart. The Sun (the little circle with the dot in the center) and Mercury the sign for the female with a funny little hat on top) are in Sagittarius.

Another person noted for her ability to wake up a room was Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis whose conjunction was in the fire sign of Leo. She had the energy of Sun adding further fuel to her charisma fire. Her husband,
President Kennedy had an interesting Mercury/Sun combination – they are not that close really. BUT right between them he had Jupiter – the planet of expansion and reaching out to people – especially those beyond our borders and hope – How could he not have had people flocking to him?

The charts of Princess Diana and Madonna bear this out as well. However, you don’t have to be a president or superstar to have charisma. I remember doing a chart of a man I didn’t know and he had that conjunction. When I spoke to his wife about the chart, I asked her what he did and how would the charisma play out. She then told me he was a chaplain on an Army base and everyone is always flocking to his door. “He can’t get away from them. The minute he walks on base they are following him.” Yup, he’s got it!

Blame it on Mercury

Cell phones on the fritz, Blackberry not working right? Yes, I have heard the news reports too – which made me run to my trusty astrology software to confirm what I assumed….. Mercury is back in retrograde position.. When a planet retrogrades, whatever area it influences goes a little haywire…Mercury controls communications – and thoughts and education (good luck to anyone taking a final exam this week.) Hang on — it will be straightened out on Jan 4, 2010. Happy New Year ALL!

Wherefore Art Thou Mercury?

“My computer is crashing and I am losing my work!”
“I can’t complete a phone call – it keeps cutting out.”
“Everything I say is coming out garbled – my thoughts are all loopy.”

I have been hearing a lot of that lately and lay the “blame” for these little life events at the quick little feet of Mercury. It happens to be in retrograde right now – meaning that is appears to us Earthlings as we peer out into the universe to be going backwards in the sky. Of course, it isn’t going backwards but sometimes – because of how planets are spinning around the Sun – they appear to be retrograding back. It is that motion – that makes the area influenced by that planet to go a bit goofy. Retrogrades make us find a new and different path for our work.

When Mercury, which influences communications and the thought process, spins backwards a bit – we find ourselves not getting our words out the way we want, or misunderstanding others, or losing our written words. Instead of getting aggravated try to find a different way to express yourself — back up your computer and then take time to go for a walk.

Mercury will right itself on September 29 and move from airy Libra into Virgo. Libra, the sign of the Scales, adds to our mental confusion – “should I shouldn’t I, will I won’t I” but solid Virgo with its feet on the ground will make it all clear to us again.

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