Mercury station retrograde (in Gemini) precedes sun ingress Gemini by approximately 31 hours. That’s close enough to consider them as a single event, or rather the onset of a temporal window. Sun ingress Gemini is the start of an Astrological month, a month which, this year, is dominated by Mercury retrograde.
Via the analysis described in yesterday’s post (Retrograde and Return), I have an idea of at least one lesson I’m learning via Mercury and Saturn retrograde. Looking at the Mercury station charts (below) tells me that we’re all here to learn through Mercury and Saturn.
First up is the Mercury station retrograde chart from yesterday evening:
Gemini covers the cusp of the 7th house—the descendant. Opposing the stellium there is Saturn Retrograde rising. Mars is only arc-minutes from the Descendant, so he is actively involved as well.
I guess I’m not as unique as I thought. This Mercury retrograde period starts off as a lesson in relationship for all of us.
Given Sagittarius rising, we must also look at Jupiter, who sits high in the 9th house (where he likes to be). Since the sun is below the horizon, Jupiter takes the place of the sun, shining light down on the rest of the chart. This year, he is here to teach us about self esteem [see Jupiter (Ge)station]. In fact, Jupiter is tightly sextile to the Mercury station.
With Mercury sitting in the 7th house, I’m inclined to look at Venus—ruler of the 7th. She sits just above in Cancer in the 8th. That combination looks like love and affection within the context of intimacy. Cancer as cusp of the 8th softens the typical intensity of Scorpio.
As an intuitive, I always “notice what I notice.” One thing I noticed is the numerology. Check out Vesta’s coordinates: 22o Pisces 55’55”. Vesta’s dedication is supporting the chart from below. She opposes Lilith—the queen of the shadow—so her work is cut out for her.
Varuna, who is conjunct the Vertex in Cancer in the 8th house, has interesting coordinates as well: 26o Cancer 12’22”. Varuna/Vertex thus form a Water Trine with Vesta.
As a Gemini man, I have learned a lot about the strengths and weaknesses of Gemini. Gemini is logical and contains mental prowess. Gemini learns quickly and loves to share his/her ideas.
Young (immature) Gemini can think that s/he knows it all. I was there and surely annoyed my whole family. But logic cannot explain feelings and emotions simply because no one mind has access to all of the data. A person cannot remember every moment in his or her life well enough to fully understand his or her own emotional reactions. And no one can know the complete history of another person. Thus, in my opinion, Gemini is called to learn about feelings, emotions, intimacy, and relationship.
Every Gemini who lives an average life-span will progress through Cancer. Dipping a logical mind into an emotional pool like that is a journey indeed.
So for the next 30 days, we all get to be honorary Geminis and we all get to rethink what we know about feelings, emotions, relationship, intimacy, and love.
Let’s see what the end of the journey looks like, when Mercury stations direct:
First off, take a look at Venus’ coordinates: 5o Leo 55’55”. Now come on! What are the odds of that? (There are 3600 arc-seconds in each degree, by the way.)
In my opinion, Mercury—in retrograde—is escorting Saturn—in retrograde—back into Scorpio via opposition. Saturn doesn’t quite get there when Mercury turns forward, but notice that the Ascendant does move from Sadge (in the first chart) to Scorpio (in the second).
Mercury and Venus remain in the same respective houses in both charts, however, so their purpose stays constant for the entire 24-day period. The sun and Mars move from the one to the other (7th to 8th). And the moon nearly completes her cycle.
Although Jupiter is not the ruler of this second chart, look at where he sits: exactly on the MC to the arc-minute!
In Jupiter (Ge)station, I spoke of Psyche and the spiritual wound she indicates. Notice that in this second chart, Psyche sits just above the Descendant.
The Descendant and Ascendant are aligned and thus always work together. Our self-image, self-esteem, self-identity is always and constantly challenged by our relationships. In reality, the 7th house is helping us grow. It gives us that outside perspective we need.
Venus retrograde, which is typically more relational than Mercury retrograde, occurs not too far down the road. My thought is this: during the month of Gemini (Mercury retrograde), we will revisit our thoughts around relationship. Then, when Venus backtracks, we’ll get to put our new ideas into practice. People will come back around and maybe we’ll find better ways to relate to them.
And let me leave you with this image (to the right). Astrologically, Venus is traveling in Cancer, but Astronomically, it is crossing the constellation of Gemini. On June 2, 2015, Venus will align with the twins (Pollux and Castor). For a few days, she’ll make them triplets! You should be able to see this 40 minutes to an hour after sunset.
A Fool's Inclination 