Mercury - retrograde, detriment and fall
I’m going to start off talking about Mercury for this Month. Mercury is in a bad way for the month of March, and I will go line by line explaining why.
Like last month, Mercury occupies Pisces right now. But this time, starting on March 4th and continuing until March 28th, he will be retrograde. I’ve explained retrogrades here – the general gist is that a retrograde planet has been swept up by a higher motion and no longer has the power to move in its regular direction – hence why it appears to move backwards. In Platonic terms, the motion that planets make through the zodiac is called the motion of the other, associated with the material world, the body, and the motion that all the planets make every day with the rising and setting of the sun represents the motion of the same, associated with the Forms, Nous, spirit, etc. Planets literally create this duplicitous, many-sided world of 10 thousand things by their secondary motion of the other through the zodiac, with each one of them having domains of rulership, e.g. mercury ruling sales, speech, travel.
Whenever a planet goes retrograde, it loses its grasp of its natural domain and gets caught up in the higher, more spiritual motion of the same, as if the motion of the same takes over and forces the planet to bend to its will. Thus, love affairs don’t go as well during a venus retrograde and things get easily misunderstood during a mercury retrograde: the planet is no longer “there” to manage its significations. I like to think of it as the planet taking ayahuasca: they’re having some profound mystical experiences (caught up in the primary motion), but you wouldn’t want them to drive a car or buy groceries. Coincidentally (or not), retrogrades are a good time for meditation on subjects associated with that planet.
There’s some theory, which I think clarifies anything in astrology and makes it come alive. Some retrograde periods affect us more than others, and there are other factors which will make this retrograde period more noteworthy. Mercury occupies what we call his detriment and his fall when he is in Pisces, since he occupies the sign opposite of his rulership and exaltation (virgo). Like I said last month: when Mercury occupies pisces, the needs for clear communication, clear thinking, and logical analysis becomes obscured by Pisces’ emphasis on emotions, deep experiences, subjectivity, and one’s own inner processes. While Mercury is here, we may all feel like our minds are less clear and focused, and they are prone get caught up in our emotional processes. Introversion, introspection, and one’s own emotional processes can become more pronounced in general. Mercury will also be conjunct Neptune this month, which just brings a lot more haziness, confusion, and malaise to obscure thinking and cloud judgment.
So we have a planet that is weakened through retrograde, in its detriment and fall. This does not bode well, and anyone whose mercury is strongly placed in their chart will feel this very acutely. Be particularly mindful if Mercury rules your ascendant, Sun or Moon. But that’s not the end of the story – there’s are some things that we can do during this period to counteract it, or remediation we can employ to alleviate the energy of certain planets in our lives. One of the easiest remediations to complete is planetary charity, the basics of which I have explained here.
Other Planets - Uranus, Venus, Sun, and The motions of the Moon
Okay! That sums up Mercury retrograde. On to the moon, and then some of the other planets we want to pay attention to this month. In a cruel twist of fate, this month is bookended by the moon being in her detriment – she occupies Capricorn the 1st through the 2nd and the 28th to the 29th. On the 1st and the 29th she will be besieged by Saturn and Pluto, which is a particular kind of maltreatment condition. Expect things to be rocky on these days. The moon will also be in her fall in Scorpio on the 23rd and 24th. Things will be more positive when the moon occupies libra this month on the 21st and 22nd, receiving a sextile from Jupiter – this time, and almost any time the moon occupie libra, is a great time to have coaching calls. The same goes for when the moon occupiesTaurus on the 10th and 11th, but be careful of getting too intense during those days as the moon is conjunct mars in his fall.
The moon becomes new on march 6th, and this sun-moon conjunction will also be conjunct Neptune. During this time, you can expect lots of more intense emotions and maybe some heightened dreams as we;;. Like any new moon, it’s a good time to think about seeds you want to sow and future endeavors, but Neptune could make some of your ideas too idealistic or unrealistic. Nevertheless, it may also help you get in touch with what you really want, even if the first articulation of it isn’t very grounded.
Uranus will be moving into Taurus on March 6th, conjunct mars. The exact mars-uranus conjunction already happened on the 11th of February, so it won’t be as intense as anything you might have felt from it around then, but still of some it. Uranus in Taurus is a big transition. It briefly moved into Taurus last May be retrograded out until now. Uranus in Taurus will involve tearing down old structures, reshaping and reorganizing established routines, and just generally striking the status with quo lightning bolts.
Those are the biggest players this month. The Sun and Venus will be moving into their exaltations in Aries and Pisces later in the month. Think of this as the reward for surviving the Mercury retrograde in Pisces. Venus and her significations of friendship and compassion flourish amidst the waters of Pisces. The deeply empathetic and intuitive characteristics of Pisces provide ample opportunity for Venus to work. The time that she spends here will support any endeavors related to deepening relationship or creating more beauty in the world. Likewise, Aries, as a sign of initiation and dynamic activity strongly support the Sun, which provides the vital life force and represents will and ego.