This week, two inner planets change signs within a couple of days of one another, Mercury and Mars.
Wednesday night, Mercury ingressed Sagittarius, after spending a bit more than two months in Scorpio. The reason that quick-moving Mercury was in one sign so long was because it was retrograde there, so its ingress into Sagittarius is a final release point of the Scorpio drama that ensued in October and November.
Mercury is an important planet because its domain includes communication in many forms, as well as all the digital gear that now surrounds us. In 1980, your desk may have had a telephone, a typewriter and a clock on it. By 1990 you might have had a PC and a fax machine. Today your desk probably has more microprocessors humming along than NASA had for the Moon landing. There are 10 different ways to reach you.
So today, in our era, Mercury makes a difference. Mercury also describes many facets of state of mind, emotion and awareness. In Scorpio, we get a world of intrigue, and not necessarily as friendly or easy to resolve as a Nancy Drew mystery. That Mercury retrograde came along with an eclipse in Scorpio that was conjunct Saturn—it was all a pretty big deal as astrology comes.
Mercury moving into Sagittarius, changing signs for the first time since late September, will arrive with a change of color and tone. But the first major event that happens to Mercury is a square to Neptune (exact Friday), which describes a need for high-focus on integrity. This is a perfect environment for denial, self-deception and lying to others—I suggest you remember the whole 'correct speech' thing, meaning that your words and what is true must align. I say this in part because Mercury soon makes a series of stops in aspect to points in Virgo and Pisces that will extract the truth whether anyone likes it or not.
Next, Mars ingresses Libra. This is another placement involving a retrograde, this time one that's about to happen. Mars enters Libra on Saturday and will be there until late July. That's because it makes a long retrograde between March and May, and in so doing, takes up a starring role in the heavens.
Ingressing Libra, Mars makes an opposition to the Aries Point—the mysterious first degree of the zodiac that acts as an intersection between all things public and all things private. When something hot goes over the Aries Point (such as the ruler of Aries) there is always an effect; let's see what it is. Even as I write, protests are heating up in many cities around the world, for a diversity of causes, though I think there is something else brewing.
By late December, Mars will be part of a grand cross aspect that will light up the Uranus-Pluto square, the 2012-era aspect that has been influencing every facet of our lives for the past several years. Mars will be square Jupiter, square Pluto, Mercury and the January 1 Capricorn New Moon, and opposite Uranus. This is as a volatile arrangement that will have everyone on the edge of their seats.
This will be no ordinary New Year's Eve, and we are about to get the first scent of what is brewing with the entry of Mars into Libra and its contact with the Aries Point.
Amidst all of this, there is one especially useful aspect that has been in long development—Jupiter in Cancer trine Saturn in Scorpio. While this one deserves a book chapter, I will offer this interpretation. This is an aspect about accessing some emotional stability. The two largest, heaviest planets, in a cooperative aspect (a trine) in the water signs is offering a level of stability that you may be taking for granted.
I suggest you make the best of use of this one—it is helpful, it's happening now, and it reaches an exact point of focus on December 12. As it is we are living with the constant sensation of our daily schedule, our society and the world running out of control. Imagine what that would feel like without such a powerfully stabilizing influence. Be grateful it's there.
Listen to the Planet Waves weekly podcast.
