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.

From 10 February, Mercury will begin to retrograde in Pisces. However, on 27 February, it will enter the Air sign of Aquarius in retrograde motion. I have blogged a little about Mercury in Pisces last year, so I will concentrate on Mercury in Aquarius here.

Mercury is more comfortable in Aquarius than in Pisces. As an air sign, Saturn- and Uranus-ruled Aquarius exudes qualities of the intellect and communication, especially to do with invention, new ideas and the pursuit of a higher truth; as a fixed sign, it is also reliable and resolute. Aquarius can also appear contradictory, in that they may be both social and individualistic at the same time; its intellectuality can appear detached and come from a standpoint of distant objectivity, and at the same time, its need for communication drives it to relate to others.

Mercury’s communicative energies in Aquarius therefore can be expressed thus:

  • Communicates openly, intelligently, idealistically, in a detached manner
  • Needs to establish unique connections with others, relating individualistically with each person, while having strong awareness of group communication processes
  • Urge to express one’s perceptions and intelligence is colored by individualistic freedom and often by extremism
  • Thinks experimentally and innovatively, testing theories on others; future-oriented, likes to explore possibilities for change
  • Independent, inventive, detached intellectual qualities contribute to the learning process
  • Expression of ideas can be erratic — fragmented by unpredictable connections between unrelated concepts

In a sense, compared to Mercury in Pisces, Mercury in Aquarius may communicate ‘better’ and more clearly, but not necessarily sympathetically. As a fixed sign, Aquarius is less adaptable than the mutable Pisces, so while Mercury’s energies can be more stable and concentrated in Aquarius, it can also be more dogmatic, even insistent on its apparent objectivity and originality. Mercury retrograding in Aquarius suggests that communication might be even more erratic and unpredictable, but I will have more on that soon.

Reference
Arroyo, Stephen. Chart Interpretation Handbook. Sebastapol, Ca.: CRCS, 1989.