Mercury Retrograde: Use It to Your Advantage

In both horary and natal astrology, there are two foolproof ways to use a Mercury retrograde period to your (or your querent's) advantage:

1. Take your time.
2. Let delays work in your favor.

Why is this so hard and the retrograde periods so agonizingly annoying? 1) Things tend to fall apart when Mercury is retrograde, often provoking a crisis (or several simultaneously), and 99% of the time, a knee-jerk response to the crisis; and 2) Because we're used to operating in a world of instantaneous results. Waiting and patience, especially in the West, are lost virtues. Hence the struggle. 

This particular retrograde period (6/27-7/21) has plenty of financial difficulty built in courtesy of the   loose and not-so-partile T-square being formed with Mercury in Cancer triggering the Uranus-Pluto square. The outlet leg bearing the brunt of the stress is wherever you have Libra in your chart, doubly so if you have a planet or sensitive point there.

There's a surprise and not-so-benevolent twist at the end of this Merc retro cycle, as Uranus, too, goes retrograde within one degree of a partile square with Mercury while Mercury is stationing direct. The Moon joins in to oppose Mercury at its station, putting an exclamation point on the T-square. It will be a bitter pill to swallow, for sure, and feel genuinely oppressive as your plans lose out to circumstances beyond your control.

Also, keep in mind throughout the year that the solar ingresses into the cardinal signs will exacerbate the Uranus-Pluto square, both in horary and natal charts. The pressure just keeps on building...

Horary: The Astrology of "What happens next?"

One of the fundamentals of chart interpretation (horary or otherwise) is to always have this question in the back of your mind: "What happens next?"

An astrologer has to be able to do more than elaborate on the problem, because by the time the querent gets to you, the problem or issue is already clear. Hence the horary question, such as "Should I get a divorce?" (problem: marital trouble), or "Will I sell the house?" (problem: needing to relocate).

What the querent needs is solutions, not further description of what's already known. They want to know the outcome, not the history they already have a grip on. You'd be surprised how many horary astrologers pump the querent for "background info" in the name of "understanding the question clearly." Anyone in a bar can do that; you don't need astrology for 20/20 hindsight.

The astrologer is an unbiased set of eyes looking at the issue from a detached perspective, and using the symbolism of the chart to find the most likely solutions or outcome. Always asking "What happens next?" keeps you focused on what astrology is all about: prediction. And prediction is a means by which the querent can move forward based on the most likely outcome.

Contrary to popular belief, and despite many querents' expectations of it, horary astrology is NOT about counseling or advice. Why? Because until the astrologer has his or her OWN life in perfect order, s/he has no business doing so, because you end up with the blind selling each other lamps, essentially. And counseling is best left to trained and qualified people, such as psychologists. There's a reason they go to accredited schools and have to pass board exams to practice.

Sometimes querents will have no control over the situation (think outer planets/outer solar system) and will have to live with the result. Planets such as Neptune won't help a querent in a chart regardless of rulerships or positive aspects, because Neptune only gives you the belief that you can, or the doubt that you can't, achieve the objective of a horary chart. Symbolically, it will never lift a finger to help you, like Venus or Jupiter will do.

So keep your eye on the target of unfolding upcoming events to the querent, both by aspects and transits/progressions, to focus on the likeliest outcomes. This will be outlined further in-depth in an upcoming series I'll do about Horary 101, 102, etc., so you can stay focused on what's important in a chart, rather than drown in rules or irrelevant trivia.