Mercury Retrograde July 2019: Reflections of Shadow & Light
Posted on July 8, 2019 in Announcements
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By Leslie Benson for ASTROGRAPH Horoscopes
Mercury’s retrograde journey from July 7th – 31st, 2019 marks a time encouraging each of us to reflect inwardly upon our beliefs, creative expression, healing, and emotional wellbeing. Mercury stations retrograde at 4º : 28 of the fixed fire sign of Leo, and in a very close conjunction to Mars, and will then move backward into the cardinal water sign of Cancer on July 19th. With Mercury’s station so close to Mars in Leo, we may find an increased internal awareness around themes of masculine energy, creative expression, sense of agency, and primal urges. Mercury Retrograde also encourages us to slow down and re-evaluate. As such, we could be confronted with outer events that elicit internal processes and contemplation around such themes. This Mercury Retrograde also begins just two days before a First Quarter Moon that marks the midpoint between two eclipses. This is significant, as Eclipse Season is a time when intensified currents of change and transformation are in motion, and, combining with Mercury’s retrograde, gives us the opportunity to completely reconfigure patterns and habits that no longer serve.
Mercury Retrograde happens about three times per year for three to four weeks each time. While it has become notorious for missed connections, miscommunications, malfunctioning electronics, travel snafus, fender benders, and so on, it is also a time when greater awareness and mindfulness can be employed to connect with a more esoteric level of information. This period of time can unveil rich potentials for reflection, renewing, slowing down, and resting in meditative silence in order to attune to inner realities. Such themes are encouraged now, during this retrograde period, along with anything beginning with 're.' During Mercury Re-trograde we Re-organize, reflect, relax, re-communicate, re-prioritize, rewind. It is a time when it is highly beneficial for us all that we pause and take stock of the tremendous growth and evolution that has been happening within and around each one of us. It is generally not a good time to start a brand-new project, make impulsive purchases, or sign a new contract. The astrological thinking is that the matter will dramatically alter once Mercury turns direct, or even longer: perhaps only after escaping its retrograde shadow period on August 15th.
At the time of the retrograde station, and continuing through the First Quarter Moon of July 9th, we find Mercury, as it moves backward, in closer and closer conjunction with Mars, and with both personal planets in a hard square aspect with Uranus in Taurus. On Tuesday, July 9th, the first quarter happens in the early morning hours for the west coast, later morning for the east coast and Europe. This promises to be a significant lunation, with the Sun closely opposite to limiting and frustrating Saturn, also signifying long term lessons to be learned. Because Jupiter in his square with Neptune is quite closely aspected by the Sun and Moon, there is also the notable presence of an optimistic and even a spiritual response to any difficulties that might arise. This is of course an entirely desirable and practically quite useful way to frame our perceptions through this important turning point. Uranus is the great awakener, jolting us to clarity where we’ve fallen asleep or wandered astray. His influence in this configuration may create unexpected openings for you to see with more clarity where you may be out of alignment with Spirit, inviting you to innovate and move forward with a better evolved (and evolving) awareness. We are all encouraged by these intense cosmic currents to step more fully into our own unique brilliance and our contribution to the social matrix that surrounds us, and to the whole of humanity.
Another element of importance for this retrograde is the presence of Chiron in Aries, which is itself stationing at the moment of Mercury's retrograde station, while Mercury makes a close trine to Chiron. This can be considered to represent a turning of awareness towards the process of inner healing. The painful aspects of our experience may be beckoning for more of our attention during this retrograde time period. We do well to welcome the stories and experiences of those places within us that feel scared, angry, ashamed, or hopeless, listening with curiosity and an open ear for what function they’ve been performing to try and protect us. As we listen and welcome them, the simple act of being present and loving with those parts of ourselves transforms them. It is through this kind of process that we can harvest the hidden gems that lie within the shadowiest corners of our psyche, and come to greater inner peace.
As we make our way through the transformative portal of eclipse season, and the time of reflection and reassessment of the Mercury Retrograde, we could feel like we are in a churning cauldron of metamorphic stew. This can be challenging, or joyous, and everything in between. This intense time period is calling us step up and become an expression and conduit of our pure essential nature. We might also be inspired to take refuge in the beauty of Nature itself, and to respond to our physical bodies and to our earthly location. Throughout this time, may we have courage to be vulnerable, authentic, and honest in facing our inner shadows. May we be kind and caring as we tend to the needs of ourselves and our loved ones. And may we have the clarity and presence to consciously choose our actions and words in each moment, opening our ears and hearts to receive the infinite wisdom and guidance of the Cosmos.
Important Dates:
July 7 - Mercury Stations Retrograde at 4:28 Leo; a time of reflection, rewind, and re-commitment.
July 8 - Mercury conjuncts Mars precisely; the peak moment of a two- or three-day period (see above).
July 9 - First Quarter Moon in Libra; Sun in Cancer opposite Saturn in Capricorn, and inconjunct Jupiter in Sagittarius.
July 16 - Lunar Eclipse Full Moon in Capricorn; Sun and Moon in perfect T-square with Eris, encouraging individual initiative.
July 19 - Mercury Enters Cancer; feelings become paramount in introspection or in conversation.
July 21 - Mercury Conjunct (Cazimi) the Sun; one peak of the retrograde, emblematic of missed connections and miscommunication.
July 24 - Mercury Conjunct Venus; relationships and aesthetics come into sharper focus.
July 31 - Mercury Stations Direct at 23:57 Cancer; another peak moment in the Mercury Retrograde, not really over just yet.
August 14 - Mercury Escapes its Retrograde Shadow; the all-clear signal has sounded.
What is in store for you in the next few months?
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