Mercury in Aquarius, 2008

Mercury will next retrograde on 28 January to 18 February 2008 from 23° 52′ to 8° 19′ Aquarius.

Here are my posts on Mercury in Aquarius and Mercury Retrograde in Aquarius from last year.

More on Mercury retrograde in this humanitarian sign in the next few days.

 

Mercury in Libra

Mercury retrogrades in Scorpio and then back into Libra from 11 October to 1 November 2007, the back-end shadow beginning 22 September and the front-end shadow ending 17 November. This will be the last in the cycle of retrogrades in the water signs.

 

Mercury in Aquarius

This is the fourth day into the latest Merc Rx shadow period, and I’ve already lost a credit card and had to drive home from the supermarket to get another (a bit embarrassing trying to explain at the till), so I am taking it as a cue to start blogging again.

 

Mercury in Scorpio

Mercury retrogrades in Scorpio, the third of the Water signs, from 28 October to 18 November 2006, the back-end shadow beginning 9 October and the front-end shadow ending 4 December. (Am I the only one thinking I’m still recovering from the last Rx?)

The qualities of Mercury in Scorpio are:

• Communicates powerfully, deeply, and passionately (often non-verbally!); can form deeply intimate bonds through communication
• Urge for communication comes from the depths of one’s being and is never superficial
• A profound need to learn by penetrating and probing to the core of reality; very thorough in all research and interested in detection
• Use of skill and intelligence are influenced by powerful desires, deep passions, and the urge to discover others’ hidden motivations
• Ability to establish connections with others can be inhibited by the need for secrecy and silence (64-65)

This is Cafe Astrology’s description of people with Mercury in Scorpio:

Their intelligence is absolutely instinctive. Strategies are their specialty. Their idea of constructive criticism can be interpreted as destructive criticism, depending on their audience. It can be very hard to win an argument or debate with Mercury in Scorpio. They are absolutely driven to win, not just for the sake of scoring intellectual points, but simply to come out on top in general. Besides that, it is hard to deny that their thinking is really quite lucid, at least in presentation. You may be gritting your teeth, but it will be hard not to concede.

They’ll staunchly support and defend anyone they care about. And, their energy in speech (or sheer intensity) can be motivating….
…

They are naturally suspicious, expecting bad intentions first. Mercury in Scorpio people love intrigue, mystery, and hidden motives. If they don’t channel this interest into mental pursuits, they can end up creating their own mysteries. Others might start wondering if they are paranoid.

So with Pisces we had adaptive intuition, with Cancer initiative emotion and now with Scorpio, which is a Fixed sign, we have determined passion. Something tells me this may be our most exciting Mercury Rx yet this year. More soon.

References
Arroyo, Stephen. Chart Interpretation Handbook. Sebastapol, Ca.: CRCS, 1989.
Cafe Astrology. ‘Mercury in Scorpio’. Accessed 12 September 2006.

 

Mercury in Cancer

Mercury next retrogrades in Cancer from 4 July to 29 July. Stephen Arroyo sums up the qualities of Mercury in Cancer as such:

• Communicates emotionally, instinctively, and sensitively; is protective of one’s own thoughts
• Learns through absorption, relying on feelings to make connections between bits of information
• Nurtures new ideas until they blosson as creative skill
• Good memory and retentive qualities contribute to learning abilities
• Subconscious prejudices and fears can interfere with objectivity and attention to new ideas (63)

Cafe Astrology offers this take on people with Mercury in Cancer. I would like to draw attention to two points:

The truth is, these people remember the mood surrounding all the moments they have stored in their memory. This is because they “feel you out” when you are talking to them. The words are not as important to them as the emotions behind them.
…
Mercury in Cancer retains a lot of information, and learns best when they feel emotionally balanced. They prefer to focus their concentration on subjects, and approach problems in a step-by-step manner, “feeling out” an answer.

As a Water sign, Moon-ruled Cancer expresses itself emotiionally and emphatically. However, where Pisces’ mutable nature makes it adaptive, Cancer’s cardinal nature makes it more reactive. Cardinal signs initiate projects, events and actions, and although Cancer generally avoids confrontation, you can be sure you’ll notice it is hurt, upset, or displeased.

The need for emotional balance coupled with the ability to empathise with another makes people with Mercury in Cancer sensitive, and reactive, to other people’s changing emotions. Positively expressed or experienced, this makes for a generous, supportive listener; negatively expressed or experienced, can make for defensiveness, and since Cancer is not a confrontational sign, the Crab can ‘clam up’, sulk, or internalise the negative emotions. This withdrawal is necessary for Cancer’s self-preservation, though it may frustrate other more active signs, such as Aries or Gemini, who are wont to perceive Mercury in Cancer’s behaviour as ‘passive-aggressive’.

In the next post, I’ll be having look at what it means for Mercury to retrograde in Cancer, and whether the retrograde means that Cancer’s emotive equilibrium is thrown off-kilter.

References
Arroyo, Stephen. Chart Interpretation Handbook. Sebastapol, Ca.: CRCS, 1989.
Cafe Astrology. ‘Mercury in Cancer’. Accessed 13 June 2006.