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.

Eclipses in Natal & Horary Astrology: The Harbinger & the Hammer

Eclipses make powerful statements in astrology charts: by transit in natal charts, and affecting the event or situation in horary. Again, it's that darn "personal" luminary, the Moon, causing most of the ruckus.

The old rule of thumb (by Debbie Kempton-Smith, I think) is "three days before, and three days after" eclipses, describing when the situations are at their most intense and pronounced, so to try do actually do anything about what arises usually only creates a bigger, reactive mess. So in other words, it's about waiting through the applying and separating orb. And as most astrologers know, events usually happen BEFORE partile, not on exact partile.

The characteristics of eclipses are as follows:

• the issues that arise are usually unforeseen,
• they are crisis-oriented; things rarely go smoothly and pleasant during an eclipse, because that's not its purpose,
• creates an intense and anxiety-producing "malfunction" that will force change to be made to the situation,
• can bring projects and plans to a screeching halt to deal with underlying issues,
• does not resolve quickly; the emotional anxiety passes within a few days, but then you are left with...
• ...rubble. It takes time to dig out from the mess and figure out what to do next
• they are usually reactivated as "reminders" or "progress reports" of the issue during transits to the eclipse point, particularly squares and oppositions.

The solar eclipse on the 9th of May at 19 degrees Taurus on the South Node was a doozy. (For the traditional astrologers brave enough to read this site, it opposed the fixed star Serpentis; and Venus, its dispositor, had just passed up Algol for the Pleiades.) Anytime an eclipse affects the Nodes, it is especially powerful and intense. For example, one querent's natal chart had the solar eclipse in his 2nd house of money, and what seemed like a simple project bid award quickly ran into cost overruns with the contractor, and escalated into a major dispute with the escrow holder (8th house/North Node outlet). It will probably be revisited, reworked, or resolved when the Sun and other planets transit Saturn at the North Node in Scorpio later in the year. So I told him to hunker down for the long haul.

The 24th of May brought the lunar eclipse at 4 degrees Sagittarius (non-Nodal). For another querent, it happened in her 9th house of legal matters. In the days leading up to the culmination of the eclipse, a false and defamatory (Gemini/Sadge) article was published about her and her business, and she was forced to seek legal advice. The day of the eclipse, an attorney advised her that it wouldn't be worth it to move forward, because those kinds of cases are hard to prove--she'd have to live with it.

Sometimes other planets can mitigate and provide a way out of the mess eclipses create. Venus was still in rulership in Taurus for the solar eclipse, and Venus and Jupiter (eclipse dispositor) were conjunct (within 5 degrees) for the lunar eclipse. In the first case above, the unhappy contractor agreed to continue the work in good faith until resolution could be reached with the escrow company. In the second case above, the apparently sage legal advice was given for free by the attorney, and saved the querent a small fortune in litigation fees against a very large corporation.

So look for the unresolved, recurring patterns eclipses use as a monkey wrench in the best-laid plans when interpreting eclipses in charts.

An Unfortunate Example of The Saturn in Scorpio-Pluto in Capricorn Mutual Reception During the Uranus-Pluto Square

The Wall Street Journal recently published an article that perfectly reflects the current planetary transits, particularly the Saturn-Pluto mutual reception in Capricorn during the Uranus-Pluto square. Greed always rises to the top when it comes to solutions to crises (see: Iraq War), and in the aftermath of the Newtown, CT massacre, it's no different:

"Ian Sobieski, founder and managing director of Band of Angels in Menlo Park, Calif., said he hopes to support firms such as Mountain View, Calif.-based ShotSpotter Inc., whose technology helps police pinpoint where shots are fired to respond faster to crimes. 'There is money to be made,' said Mr. Sobieski, whose firm invested in ShotSpotter. 'Gun violence is expensive to society, and there is a big potential market for solutions.'"

Got that? There's money to be made off of other people's pain and suffering, particularly via the country's completely out-of-whack gun policies.  I'm sure the irony is lost on both WSJ readers, and Mr. Sobieski. Remember, with Saturn in Scorpio and Pluto in Capricorn, it's profits over people every time.

To add to the irony, it turns out the only person addressing the issue seriously and rationally is a comedian: Jon Stewart. See:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/17/jon-stewart-nra-limiting-atf-law-enforcement_n_2495301.html
http://www.businessinsider.com/jon-stewart-nra-atf-gun-control-obama-2013-1
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/09/jon-stewart-calls-out-gun-control-opponents_n_2439275.html

The Saturn-Pluto Mutual Reception Only Strengthens Plutocracy—And It's Only Going to Get Meaner

Saturn, currently retrograde at 10 degrees Scorpio, is still in the Via Combust zone (15 Libra to 15 Scorpio), which brings out the worst of Pluto and Scorpio (namely, plutocrats love to spend your taxpayer dollars, and their tax evasion is largely ignored). Saturn will leave the Via Combust zone in late November of this year.

The Saturn-Pluto mutual reception is simply overpowering the Uranus-Pluto square grossly in favor of Pluto, much like a 2-on-1 barroom brawl (and with essentially the same results). Someone's going to get hurt really, really bad, and it's not Saturn or Pluto.

Therefore, Uranus needs help, bigtime, to gain a foothold against The Establishment. And it's going to get it in two ways:

1) Just before Christmas in December 2014, Saturn enters Sagittarius, which is a horrible place for Saturn to be, especially after all the fun and games with the Mutual Reception. Jupiter, which will be in Leo, will be within 4 degrees of a square with Saturn in Scorpio for most of the Fall of 2014, as well as trining Uranus much of that time. The trine will be separating, and the square doesn't perfect before Saturn ingresses into Sadge. But Jupiter will be retrograde during the ingress, so progress will fall apart, and Saturn's dispositor will mitigate much hope of change or reform. Any gains at that point will be stalled and put on hold.

2) Uranus will conjoin Eris in early June 2016 at 23 Aries, forming a T-square  to the US Pluto-Mercury opposition in the Sibley horoscope of  the USA (7/4/1776, Philadelphia,  PA, 5:10 pm—see below). The transiting Uranus-Eris conjunction within three degress of the US natal Chiron will quincunx the US natal Neptune. The outlet leg for the T-square will be in the 10th house. Translation: The problems at home will be too big and troublesome for the government to ignore any longer, and the fight will be on for economic justice. The wounds of the people will be too deep to ignore.

Saturn in Sadge will put a HUGE damper on all the excess the plutocrats have been hoarding for themselves. Note that this occurs one month after the midterm elections.

So where is all that promise of revolution the Uranus-Pluto square was touted as being the harbinger of? Why haven't the masses, enjoying their escapist comas of movies, television, booze and drugs (thanks to Neptune in Pisces), gotten mad as hell, refusing to take it anymore, and poured out onto the streets in rage and revolution? 

As Bill Herbst pointed out in his November 2011 newsletter: 

"So, during the nine months from  September 2011 through May 2012,  we  are betwixt and between, moving steadily away from denial and toward  the reckoning with breakdown and revolution"" Herbst continues. ""No, this is not “critical mass” yet---that doesn’t  initially occur until  June 2012, and then amplifies,  morphs, and shifts over the three years  that will follow, until it  reaches tidal wave proportions  around the globe  by 2016."

Find out more next month when I post, "Look Out America--Eris is Coming!"  Part 1 of 3: A Look KBOs and the Eris-Uranus Conjunction Square Pluto in the USA Sibley Chart Now and In 2016.