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.


My post on Mercury in Scorpio may be found here. Libra is a cardinal air sign, exhibiting the mental and communicative energies that Mercury is more comfortable in compared with the emotional intensity of Scorpio. Libra is the diplomat of the zodiac, always seeking harmony over discord, balance over disarray. In Libra, Mercurial energies are expressed thus:

  • Communicates intelligently, personably, diplomatically, and elegantly
  • Urge to express one’s perceptions harmoniously — in a fair-minded, objective mode — to balance all polarities
  • Needs to be impartial and tactful in order to establish connections with others
  • Verbal expression is colored by an artistic, aesthetic sense
  • Seeks balance and objectivity in personal interactions, and needs feedback on ideas to clarify them
  • Awareness of all points of view can hinder the ability to come to a decision (Arroyo 64)

People born with Mercury in Libra are natural diplomats, always seeking to smooth over misunderstandings with kind words. For people with more action-oriented communicative styles, however (like Mercury in Aries, for example), Mercury in Libra can be frustratingly indecisive, because the need for balance means that they are either constantly changing their minds, or refusing to come down on one side at the expense of another — a balanced scale doesn’t stay balanced when the platform it is standing on shifts, so the scale needs constant adjusting. Now if that were the case, it wouldn’t be half as frustrating as their equal propensity to argue against you, just for the sake of it! According to Cafe Astrology:

Mercury in Libra looks for compromise. Middle ground is constantly sought. In fact, they are extraordinarily uncomfortable with extremes of opinion! This makes them excellent counselors and go-betweens, but it also gives rise to plenty of indecision in their personal lives. In their desire to find the best, fairest, most just choice, they can swing from a pro to a con, and back to a pro again — but we can’t forget another “con” just to balance the last “pro”. It can be dizzying for others to observe! They simply can’t help but see the other side….
…
Mercury in Libra often has to turn to others for opinions when making a decision. The maddening part of it is this: Give these people an answer to their question, and they’ll probably take the other side. For example, if they are deciding between two different restaurants, and you give them an answer, they are almost sure to suddenly see the other restaurant’s merits. These natives play devil’s advocate far too often. Many times they don’t even truly believe the side they have taken — they are simply engaging in an intellectual argument. Mercury in Libra would be wise to look inside themselves to do a check on what they really feel every now and again. They can get so caught up in trying to win an argument and correcting the (perceived) biases in others’ beliefs and actions that they totally lose sight of what really matters to them.

The coming retrograde into Libra from Scorpio suggests to me that issues of diplomacy, harmony, balance, following from issues of emotional intensity, integrity and passion (Scorpion traits) will need to be (re-)assessed.

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