Mountain Leo

Some of you might remember that Apple launched the iPhone during Mercury retrograde and there were a few glitches at the time.

Well, Apple just released its new operating software, Mountain Lion (Leo!), and yes, there have been a few glitches.

I’d wait till mid-August at least if you are thinking of getting it.

 

Spell-binding

Another thing not to do during Mercury retrograde: get a tattoo!

This woman went to a tattooist to commemorate her contribution to the Olympic torch relay and he put the “y” in the wrong place…

I’m glad she saw the humour (Mercury) in it and decided to keep it for its uniqueness (Uranus). Choosing to celebrate an occasion with a visual display is also a rather Leonine thing to do (note the flame and the halo on the torch).

 

Silent Spring-steen

In the light of the metaphor I used yesterday about shouting at a rock concert and not being heard, this news article today made me laugh. 

Bruce Springsteen’s concert in Hyde Park, London had the sound turned off by over-zealous bureaucrats after going over the three-hour limit. The mischievous nature of the incident is very much in the spirit of Mercury and Uranus rules electricity… :D This description totally describes a Mercury-Uranus retrograde moment…

‘It made for a slightly bizarre, anti-climactic end to what had been a fantastic show,’ said Stephen Robb, a BBC reporter who was at the event.

Incidentally, I had a quick glance at Springsteen’s chart. Retrograde Mercury is transiting over his 3rd house Mars (which will be fuming), and transiting Uranus is opposing his 5th house Libra stellium, which may be feeling even more off balance than usual…

 

Mercury retrogrades in Leo, with Uranus in the picture again

Mercury is now retrograde in Leo (12+° to 1+°) and will continue until 8 August 2012. The last Mercury retrograde was in conjunction with Uranus in Aries. This time, Mercury stationed retrograde in Leo close to the time Uranus stationed retrograde in Aries, which is in a long-term square with Pluto.

With Uranus in the picture there is always the possibility of something sudden, shocking, or unexpected, although with so much craziness in the news these days, one wonders what else could shock us. Because the Uranus-Pluto square is long term (until 2015) and collective, and Mercury retrograde is short-term (three weeks) and personal, any disruption during this period can feel like shouting in a very loud rock concert — your voice adds to the general noise, but who can hear you, and would it matter? You can hear you, if only inside your own head, and that’s still important.

Rather than see any delays or disruptions during this Mercury retrograde as less significant than the larger changes around us, it may be worthwhile paying attention to how the lessons of any personal disruption (Mercury) in this period may allow us to cope with the wider disruption (Uranus) happening around us.

 

Mercury stations direct in Pisces

So how are people feeling? This Mercury retrograde has been a bit of a ride with Uranus involved, and doubly frustrating with Mars retrograde in Mercury-ruled Virgo.

When Mercury was retrograding in Aries, I still felt the urge to revisit and revise things; when it moved back into Pisces, however, I just felt like staying in bed.

The Mercurial energy for rationalising, organising and making lists doesn’t do that well filtered through the hazy Piscean mist, as I mentioned before. But more subtle messages may filter through as our propensity for doing slows down. Mercury in Pisces calls softly, subtly, almost like a whisper from time — we just have to listen closely.

Here’s an excerpt from an article from Planet Waves about what to pay attention to as Mercury stations direct in Pisces: 

Mercury stationing in Pisces will have an impressionistic or emotional quality. Notice your environment, in all forms of that word: the people and things around you, what you eat, the energy fields if you’re able to perceive them. ‘Energy fields’ encompasses anything from the emotional vibes to the tone quality of conversation to what you may notice on the subtle planes. With Mercury swimming around in Pisces, your dreams may be particularly revealing. As we often suggest, keep a notebook handy.

 

Notice, as well, your relationship to the past. Pisces is famous for its relationship to everything that we tend to forget, or want to forget. However, you may be remembering, so — remember. Notice what ‘comes up’.

 

 

Here’s excerpt from an article from Aquarius Papers:

In Pisces, Mercury’s energies show down to rethink in a movie-watching or witness mode. It is over-attracted to the past and re-examines endings and universals that may be beyond words. It is in an intuitive mode, and not quite sure of what it is seeing, hearing, or knowing.

There may be visions from the distant past, as information is constantly coming in from the collective consciousness or Collective Unconscious. This position is highly receptive to subtle signals from the subconscious, whether one’s own or that of another. There is often a lack of clarity about these signals and their meaning, resulting in ambivalence or an inability to decide anything with certainty.

There may be feelings like being lost in a fog, pressure drops into sorrow, as the mind is shifting in empathy with its environment. Mercury here is able to become a living conscience witnessing the universal human experience.

This position reasons intuitively, sees whole situations, but may have a hard time communicating satisfactorily. There is an atmospheric sensitivity and an environmental impressionability. In Pisces, Mercury retrograde can offer a gift of visionary poetry, and use a subtle sense of humor to communicate universal truths.