Tracking Mercury Retrograde 1/11 - 31

[Ontario99]

Tracking Mercury Retrograde
01-11-09 at 8:37 am – 8 degrees Aquarius.
01-31-09 at 11:11 pm – 22 degrees Capricorn.

Part of the intensity of this Retrograding Mercury regards a focus on the future – where the mind is drawn. The focus of this chart isn’t a whole lot different from the chart of the Full Moon about 13 hours ago.
(see blog on the full moon - The VIBE).

There are some notable differences one related to mood and karma. Moon in Cancer is at 29 degrees of that sign and is by degree karmic. Twenty-nine degrees of any sign is karmic because it represents all the good, bad, ugly and supremely beautiful stuff of that sign fixed at the end degree.

The best of Cancer is about Mother Earth nurturing our lives. I need not say the worst because Global Warming represents the worst for us. Other karma about Cancer that is under our control is a death-grip from extreme terror on the past for our security whether that is right or not.

I am about choice. When I am alerted to the fear I experience I work to let go and surrender to Spirit – therein lies my true security and miraculous answers to impossible questions.

Plan on working on your mastery in this retrograde period and prepare for a big boost as it ends on 1/31 at 11:11 pm

The following days are times when we may rise to the challenges of honing thinking, communication, business savvy and legal issues to name a few when Mercury retrograding is especially intense. (How you respond depends on the impact of Mercury and other planets transiting your natal chart - below is an English version of how the planets and moon affect each other.)

Wed, 1-14 - You may have to speak-up today with your boss your parent to any authority figure (may include your significant other). This is a time of dealing with adversity with equanimity. Aquarians and Virgo take care.

Fri, 1.16 - Meet the challenge of disrupted communications with a flexible stance and you may find delight. Remember life is filled with disruptions and changes of plan. There may be a chance encounter or a silver lining. Plan on making space for a surprising miracle without getting into expectation about it.

Sat, 1.17 – Today is a good day to hone your speaking/persuasive skills to land that deal – as long as you’re in alignment with your highest good and you feel motivated.

Sun, 1-18 - Are we being served? Service is a fine line. When I expect a certain kind of service and don’t get it I am sometimes okay with that and sometimes I get bent out of shape. When I allow myself to see the bigger picture, I’m breathing and I feel compassionate – bad service can be just a bump on the road. Look for intensity of emotions at odds with thinking / listening / conversing so with that in mind try going slowly so your understanding is full and rich. Be careful that you don’t go out of your body to the La-La planet or blow things out of proportion. That caution aside it’s a good day for expansive thought and grand talk as long as you remain grounded and on-purpose.

Mon, 1.19 – This could be an explosive morning if you don’t find a way to vent your frustrations – a trip to the gym, a run or shouting in the car with the radio turned up. Given that you’ve calmed down in the am, you could have romantic play in the afternoon. Zow!

Tue, 1-20 – This is day when you could get spacey with your talk so practice grounding. It could be fun especially if you take a long lunch or go home early and let yourself put your foot-in-your-mouth outside the workplace. Look out for karmic slips around your partner or the opposite sex. Around bedtime your thinking gets grounded and practical.

Thu, 1-22 – You could have disruptive thoughts and/or exciting dreams- take note. If you’re awake around 12 am working on letting go – thinking problems out especially late at night doesn’t work if the result in the morning is exhaustion. In the morning on your commute or at work it may take a bit of minor adjustment to get your mind onto the practical.

Sun, 1-25 - If you find yourself feeling all your burdens today make an effort to get a good laugh and then get back to...

Mon, 1/26 – This is an excellent time for flirting with a potential lover or with your current partner. Any art or beatification project can get the “go” today from within you and from the world at large.

Thu, 1-29 - This is an excellent day for forgiveness and reconciliation of any kind especially in the afternoon.

Sat, 1-31 – Mercury is close enough to Uranus and Saturn today to make a difference and what a way to end Mercury in Retrograde!!! This is about crafting magic – making space for an “Ah-HA” event to occur while thinking, planning, communicating through writing or talking on whatever project that you have been working on. If you have been meeting the challenges since 1/11 then a sense of momentum can be created towards mastery at 11:11 pm today. (The numerology of 1/11/09 is 13 number of transformation and 1/31/09 is 7 the number of luck and rapid change. Look at the number “1” in the date 1/11 and the time 11:11 – 11 is a number of mastery.) (also there is a Septile of note here - for more see my posting on this Transforming your Dreams - The VIBE part one)

[Sciguy]

What a load of crap! Have you actually convinced yourself that the piece of rock and gas making up the planet Nepture gives a damn whether you go to the gym on thursday? Why don't you grow up and learn something worth knowing?

Sciguy

Tracking Mercury Retrograde
01-11-09 at 8:37 am – 8 degrees Aquarius.
01-31-09 at 11:11 pm – 22 degrees Capricorn.

Part of the intensity of this Retrograding Mercury regards a focus on the future – where the mind is drawn. The focus of this chart isn’t a whole lot different from the chart of the Full Moon about 13 hours ago.
(see blog on the full moon - The VIBE).

There are some notable differences one related to mood and karma. Moon in Cancer is at 29 degrees of that sign and is by degree karmic. Twenty-nine degrees of any sign is karmic because it represents all the good, bad, ugly and supremely beautiful stuff of that sign fixed at the end degree.

The best of Cancer is about Mother Earth nurturing our lives. I need not say the worst because Global Warming represents the worst for us. Other karma about Cancer that is under our control is a death-grip from extreme terror on the past for our security whether that is right or not.

I am about choice. When I am alerted to the fear I experience I work to let go and surrender to Spirit – therein lies my true security and miraculous answers to impossible questions.

Plan on working on your mastery in this retrograde period and prepare for a big boost as it ends on 1/31 at 11:11 pm

The following days are times when we may rise to the challenges of honing thinking, communication, business savvy and legal issues to name a few when Mercury retrograding is especially intense. (How you respond depends on the impact of Mercury and other planets transiting your natal chart - below is an English version of how the planets and moon affect each other.)

Wed, 1-14 - You may have to speak-up today with your boss your parent to any authority figure (may include your significant other). This is a time of dealing with adversity with equanimity. Aquarians and Virgo take care.

Fri, 1.16 - Meet the challenge of disrupted communications with a flexible stance and you may find delight. Remember life is filled with disruptions and changes of plan. There may be a chance encounter or a silver lining. Plan on making space for a surprising miracle without getting into expectation about it.

Sat, 1.17 – Today is a good day to hone your speaking/persuasive skills to land that deal – as long as you’re in alignment with your highest good and you feel motivated.

Sun, 1-18 - Are we being served? Service is a fine line. When I expect a certain kind of service and don’t get it I am sometimes okay with that and sometimes I get bent out of shape. When I allow myself to see the bigger picture, I’m breathing and I feel compassionate – bad service can be just a bump on the road. Look for intensity of emotions at odds with thinking / listening / conversing so with that in mind try going slowly so your understanding is full and rich. Be careful that you don’t go out of your body to the La-La planet or blow things out of proportion. That caution aside it’s a good day for expansive thought and grand talk as long as you remain grounded and on-purpose.

Mon, 1.19 – This could be an explosive morning if you don’t find a way to vent your frustrations – a trip to the gym, a run or shouting in the car with the radio turned up. Given that you’ve calmed down in the am, you could have romantic play in the afternoon. Zow!

Tue, 1-20 – This is day when you could get spacey with your talk so practice grounding. It could be fun especially if you take a long lunch or go home early and let yourself put your foot-in-your-mouth outside the workplace. Look out for karmic slips around your partner or the opposite sex. Around bedtime your thinking gets grounded and practical.

Thu, 1-22 – You could have disruptive thoughts and/or exciting dreams- take note. If you’re awake around 12 am working on letting go – thinking problems out especially late at night doesn’t work if the result in the morning is exhaustion. In the morning on your commute or at work it may take a bit of minor adjustment to get your mind onto the practical.

Sun, 1-25 - If you find yourself feeling all your burdens today make an effort to get a good laugh and then get back to...

Mon, 1/26 – This is an excellent time for flirting with a potential lover or with your current partner. Any art or beatification project can get the “go” today from within you and from the world at large.

Thu, 1-29 - This is an excellent day for forgiveness and reconciliation of any kind especially in the afternoon.

Sat, 1-31 – Mercury is close enough to Uranus and Saturn today to make a difference and what a way to end Mercury in Retrograde!!! This is about crafting magic – making space for an “Ah-HA” event to occur while thinking, planning, communicating through writing or talking on whatever project that you have been working on. If you have been meeting the challenges since 1/11 then a sense of momentum can be created towards mastery at 11:11 pm today. (The numerology of 1/11/09 is 13 number of transformation and 1/31/09 is 7 the number of luck and rapid change. Look at the number “1” in the date 1/11 and the time 11:11 – 11 is a number of mastery.) (also there is a Septile of note here - for more see my posting on this Transforming your Dreams - The VIBE part one)

[Mallory]

What a load of crap! Have you actually convinced yourself that the piece of rock and gas making up the planet Nepture gives a damn whether you go to the gym on thursday? Why don't you grow up and learn something worth knowing?

Sciguy

Wow,

Quite a charge on that answer.

Are you really saying that celestial bodies have NO effect on human beings?


Solar flares -- cannot say "change the interaction of molecules, ionic bonding, electrical fields?"


And solar systems are not "systems" of which we are a part? Uhmmm: Systems Theory


And, let's see Cutler Cutler, W.B., 1980a Lunar and menstrual phase locking. Am.J. Obstet. Gynecol. 137:834-839 must also be wrong (in your opinion?)


Are you aware of how these celestial bodies ACT on you in subtle ways? whether you approve or not?


I could post more but it's just TOO easy to offer you a pin to pop your head.


Mallory

[Zeno Swijtink]

The excitement about "retrogrades" goes back to a pre-Copernican astronomy and was explained by the solar-centered, Copernican, worldview as a merely apparent, illusionary phenomenon.

One would expect that a 21th c. astrology had caught up a little, no?

[Mallory]

[I did decide to repost this public so that the dialogue is visible for anyone interested.]

--- On Wed, 1/7/09, Paul Palmer wrote:

Mallory:
Have you actually ever studied any science? Or do you just view science as a fertile field for lifting arcane words out of, which you entirely fail to understand or put into any context that has any meaning?

Solar flares indeed. Yes we do have ions and protons and other particles shooting past the earth and raising havoc with our radios and sometimes worse. Big deal! Does that tell you whether to propose to your girlfriend on friday? Or whether to wear red shoes today? Or whatever other crap the Pop Astrology column writes (tongue in cheek of course - you don't really think the writer believes that junk he is paid to shovel to you, do you? He's laughing at you.) Why don't you grow up?

Systems theory indeed! Do you get a charge from rolling big words and ideas that you don't have a clue about on your tongue? And in your emails? Give me a break! Yes things are complicated. So what? So things get interrelated. So what? That proves that the Dog Star cares about my lovelife? Didn't they have public schools when you were born?

You are the second respondent to invoke the moon as the proof that Betelgeuse affects my choice of mate or whatever else you think it does. Of course the moon, the closest celestial body affects us. So what? It shines directly on us. It changes dark nights into moonlit nights. This can make us happy or romantic. It can prevent us from tripping over roots. It can illuminate the ocean for sailors. And it drags the ocean away from the shore so we can find clams. Wow! What a successful putdown you found. How can I ever oppose astrology again, especially when the moon shines its light on me alone depending on the hour I was born?

What a load of crap you do put out. Easy to pop my belief systems? Sure it is. It's been done by many people, sowing doubt in what I thought I knew, but it will never be done by you or your ignorant astrological colleagues. Mostly it's done by scientists, who understand the limits of their own certainty. Physicists don't understand gravity, or know what dark matter is and certainly neither do I. I am thoroughly awed by fetal and bodily development. I have no idea how it could be possible. My mind boggles at such complexity and assures me, in the face of all evidence, that humans cannot possibly exist because there is no way that the interplay of DNA and its products can control development to such a fine degree. Go to school and you will learn about real problems but please, give up on inventing explanations that make no sense, never did and never will . Understanding nature is hard work, not the stuff of juvenile fantasizing.

Paul Palmer

PS: if you published your comment publicly then I will copy this reply as a public comment.

[happy to accomodate the public posting Paul - my answer below]

Hi Paul,

Much of our current biological problems are due to people unwilling to see connections between everything, nature/planet wise. Earth is a microcosm if extended celestially. We can certainly document direct sun to human effects RIGHT NOW meaning the systems ARE connected.

Your point is - how does winter or trees or a volcano in Asia affect your dating practices. Good question. As part of the system AND with tens of millions of years of evolution from within the system you are informed by everything. Winter 'tends' to slow reproductive activities, trees 'tend' to affect instinctive responses to the potential of food sources or other materials necessary for life (like the presence or absence of Mycorrhizae) and activity of a volcano sends signals all across the world as well as changing weather etc. Do these affect you and your dating habits - probably. With systems theory so new the interrelationships are still being guessed at in many ways. We no longer have the hubris to assume that burying the land in concrete will not have a consequence or harvesting the rainforests will not devastate our future.

With planets and other celestial bodies affecting plate tectonics and pressures why would it surprise you to consider that these forces act equally as much upon you and your body. Your dating practices emerge from your biological (connected) systems as much as your intellectual or emotional systems and all of these are also related both to this world and to everything contributing to what you experience as life here.

Obviously you read the citation I noted (not) and leaped forward to damn the idea that a near celestial body is now well known for strong effects on female reproductive cycles which, probably affects if your potential date (if that is female) would even be interested in sexual activity.

So, let's look at astrology. Why is it so pernicious when so many learned scholars have so strongly damned its lack of evidence?

On the soft side it can be viewed a bit like the stock market - value doesn't need to exist to be believed to exist and for that belief to CAUSE change as if it DID exist.

On the harder side it can be viewed as a practice with an enormously long arm (historically) outdating a vast number of entrenched religions. Now, humanity may be comprised primarily of fools - or - if something didn't work or wasn't effective, it does tend to be discarded. This merely means that for a large number of people this ancient practice continues to deliver in ways that are both useful and important.

I am certain, with the strength of negativity and posturing you have chosen to respond to my earlier message that you have personally placed yourself objectively in a many year study of this ancient practice and that your words emerge from knowledge and direct experience, evaluation and careful study. You wouldn't just dismiss something because you can't imagine it being possibly useful or to suggest other truths? That would be like insisting the world isn't flat and there is only one true path - yours.

Tsk

Mallory

[Dynamique]

About two years ago there was a program on the Science channel about astrology. There was one segment in which a bunch of mathematicians and statisticians did a study of supposed birth sign traits and strengths and correlated them with the careers of a large pool of people. Their intent was to debunk astrology. Instead they found a statistically significant correlation and had to admit that there was validity to it.

One person on the show made an interesting analogy: if a person who did not understand how trains work spent a week at a train station and observed that every day at 10:00AM a train arrived, that person could conclude that the clock reading 10:00AM was causing a train to arrive.

Similarly, the position of the planets and such could be coincident with whatever causes changes in energies, probabilities, etc., much like the the reading on the clock is coincident with the arrival of a train. His conclusion was that it is entirely possible that the planets are not causing these trends/events, rather they are indicators like the hands of the clock.


It never hurts to recognize that you don't know what you don't know. (Remember Don Rumsfeld's famous monologue on the subject?)

[podfish]

Wow,

Quite a charge on that answer.

Are you really saying that celestial bodies have NO effect on human beings?

......
Mallory

Yeah, right - like the moon's just going to suck all the water out of the bay, leaving boats dry on the sand....

'course, that being said, I don't find astrology particularly convincing either, no matter what the fish in the Bay of Fundy think.

[igor]

Hi Dynamique,

Thanks for the post. Do you happen to have a link to the Science channel program? I'd love to find it. Thanks.

Igor

About two years ago there was a program on the Science channel about astrology. There was one segment in which a bunch of mathematicians and statisticians did a study of supposed birth sign traits and strengths and correlated them with the careers of a large pool of people.

[Dynamique]

You're welcome!

Alas, I don't have a link or any specific references/citations on the astrology program. That's a real problem with getting information from these TV shows as opposed to written magazines and such: they are not cataloged and available for search and later reference.

The Science Channel does have a web site at Science Channel: Space, Technology, Earth Science, Geology

While you're at the site, check out the video called "The Search for the Star of Bethlehem."

Hi Dynamique,

Thanks for the post. Do you happen to have a link to the Science channel program? I'd love to find it. Thanks.

Igor

[Ontario99]

Such strong reaction.

I used to be totally into "my will be done" kind of thing too. And astrology was all bunk.

I'm still a big proponent of I set my intention and I use my will to get things done and push myself up against the parameters of the astrological rubric. Astrology can be used as a way to look at trends and form what's happening, but certainly we provide the content. Wall Street Astrologers have long predicted the downturn of the economy that we are now experiencing.

I used to think that Astrology was a big correlative system based on observed myths as tracked by ancients and still in use today. However after extensive reading and the use of planting by the phases of the moon I've come to see while the correlative mythology may hold water EM (electromagnetic) fields and gravity are also at play. I don't know the exact issue, but I will do a search for an article written by a physicist / astrologer explaining the subtle EM and graviton fields in the Mountain Astrologer a few years back. Regarding planting by the new moon phases. Farmers have long known that by planting seeds and seedlings close to a new moon that the roots develop faster than at other times in the cycle of the moon.

When I lived on Mt Veeder I'd plant live Christmas trees under the Taurus New Moon and they took off growing as high as 30 feet, while others I had planted nearer to the Full Moon under similar conditions didn't do as well. Of course that's ancedotal, and hardly conclusive but there you are.

[Ontario99]

A Footnote.

All planets that retrograde:
Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto

APPEAR to go backwards against the zodiac (constellations) and is an optical illusion. And when a planet is in retrograde is is as close to the Earth as it will get thus increasing its gravitational effect on Earth in subtle ways.

[danejasper]

Isn't it time we evolve beyond superstition?

-Dane

[Yubajeff]

Isn't it time we evolve beyond superstition?

-Dane

That is a common sentiment among scientists, atheists, humanists, and almost all psychiatrists (nothing personal intended, I have no idea if you fall into any of these groups, and I myself have come close). I'm not a physicist either, but one of the few useful post-Einsteinian theories (Einstein himself was a non-denominational theist by choice-spiritual but not religious, as we now say) is "chaos theory" (or may be "fractal theory" applies here) which would not only allow for an astrological influence on physical events (including matter and energy) but actually REQUIRE and PREDICT some such events. After all, we can't accurately predict the weather much more than a week in advance, no matter how many supercomputers we run. I also maintain there is more computing power in any human brain then there is in all the supercomputers in the state of California. If anyone is interested, I have literally done the math to show this. I usually carry it in my backpack, along with one other crucial bit of science: the origination and migration of the human race, as proven by the recent completion of the Human Genome Project-probably the most important medical event of the last 50 years.
A close second is neuroimaging ( I don't carry these with me; more spectacularly seen at many websites). It follows that a great study would be attempting to do human neuroimaging for an astrological effect such as that under discussion (I'm no astrologer either,although I've had a few readings). Anyone know of any funding source? Problem is neuro-imaging requires exposure to carcinogenic radiation (CT, PET) although MRI may be safer (not known to be carcinogenic, but uses powerful electromagnetic pulses so I would view with caution). These modalities also have limited temporal resolution, which I believe is where the real action is, rather than the spatial dimension. MagnetoEEG has much better potential for tracking temporal events, and progress is rapidly underway in refining ultrasound technology (cheaper, safer, much better of course for timing events, uses only mechanical energy rather than electromagnetic). If anyone has an interest in this area, or access to the technology, I would love to hear from you. The only persons who I have found that comes close to my interests is Prof. Daniel Levitin at McGill
YourBrainOnMusic.com
Forgive my rambling on, but I just checked on his website, and he will be at UCB next week for a talk! Jan.23 at 11:00 AM.
Home
He is a former musical producer from SF who went to Stanford and studied neurobiology with the best people in the field. This first book, This is Your Brain on Music, is fantastic. I stumbled on it last year in the aisle of a supermarket, of all things! His second book, The World in 6 Songs, is at my bedside. But get this: I just picked it up to doublecheck his academic affilliation, and I discovered the 10 x $100 bills I had hidden (I don't trust banks) but couldn't find! And I have been cashless for 1 week, having lost my PIN number for my Debit card (nearest WaMu branch is in SR, and I'm in Sebastopol). Is that serendipity or what? Is Sebastopol/Sonoma the best place to live? OK I'll stop now.

Yubajeff/Scout
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]

[danejasper]

I ran across an article and thought I'd share it in this thread. Here's the link:

Guruphiliac: Folk Theories Of Guru-Based Spirituality

Excerpt:

"A folk theory is any set of "common sense" beliefs about something we experience together in our lives. The idea that our personalities can survive death is a folk theory. To a great majority of folks, the idea that we'll survive death—going to heaven, hell, or who knows where—is simple common sense. But there is no proof of life after death beyond personal anecdote, and neuroscience is now showing us that these experiences of the supernatural can be reproduced in a lab with magnetic fields, deep brain stimulation, and simple tricks of perception."

The list is kind of cool, and the "harmful technology" reminds me of some of the concerns about wireless communications.

Here's the list:

The folk theory of the transmission of enlightenment
The folk theory of enlightenment being the culmination of something
The folk theory of powers, that being God means having some or all of "God's" powers
The folk theory of manifestation (a), that because you are God, you can affect things by thought alone
The folk theory of manifestation (b), that because you are connected to everything, you can affect things by thought alone
The folk theory of everything being connected
The folk theory of ancient wisdom
The folk theory of holiness
The folk theory of karma, that you'll get back every good and bad thing you do
The folk theory of sex being a loss to the spirit
The folk theory of harmful technology
The folk theory that only the heart knows what is true
The folk theory that the mind is an enemy of the spirit
The folk theory that personality survives death

[Ontario99]

I never thought an astrology topic would draw this much attention and I am glad the discussion was so lively and rich.

I hadn't looked at the posting for 4 days. And when I read the postings - it made me laugh that some people got so worked up about astrology. But then I was grateful and thankful for this forum where we could disagree.

So thanks to everyone.

Frank Ontario

[Braggi]

[SIZE=3][FONT=Verdana] .. But then I was grateful and thankful for this forum where we could disagree. ...

Disagree? How dare you suggest we disagree! Of course we all agree! Hmmf!

-Jeff