posted December 19, 2010 05:04 PM            

Mercury Retrograde in December 2010 - How Will The Inferior Conjunction in Sagittarius Manifest in the Future?
by Robert Wilkinson

Following up on the general meaning and function of the "Inferior conjunction" between the Sun and Mercury, today we explore specifics of the Inferior conjunction of December 19, 2010 at 29 Sagittarius.

Because this particular Inferior Conjunction is an extremely important event due to when and where it's happening, this is a long article that will pull together a comprehensive overview of what's been going on for the past three years, and why this event is crucial to what's coming as a result of the approaching Lunar Eclipse and Winter Solstice.

The inferior conjunction is when Mercury (mind) conjuncts the Sun (life) while retrograde, indicating that signals, messages, and ideas from either outer sources or subconscious sources will fuse with the life principle, setting the tone for the lessons involving how our minds are relating to our lives during the next four months. Since Mercury is retrograde, the degree of the inferior conjunction shows how our lives will merge with our perceptions and bring forth a new understanding of our light.

This degree is said to be "A fat boy mowing the lawn." Rudhyar says this symbolizes the "desire for fitness inherent in all living beings," as well as "Consciously built, thus dependable determination," and "persistent endeavor."

He goes on to say in The Astrological Mandala that this refers to our need to do whatever tasks we need to in order to "ensure social worth or respectability, and benefit one's constitution." He states here we need to embrace "constructive working habits" to demonstrate and/or improve our "social respectability" (which may or may not mean conforming to what society values, as it could merely refer to our own social values.)

Dr. Marc Edmund Jones, creator of the Sabian Symbols, says this is a degree of how familiar experiences refine our selfhood, and how we must demonstrate "full self-expenditure" if we'd be accepted into a fellowship. He offers that "Social incentives inevitably come to overbalance the more primitive instincts and appetites" as we attend to "immediate needs." He says the keyword is PARTICIPATION, and when positive, this degree "is the calm efficiency which enable man to pour all of himself into the mastery of any situation arising to challenge him."

So this is a degree of how we must pour ourselves into some effort to get fit for our place in whatever social order we feel we belong. The next four months are a time to embrace a physical, emotional, mental, or spiritual "fitness regime," and consciously build, with determination and persistence, a refined Self that can master whatever challenges present themselves. Or conversely, through the retrograde lens see how this has shaped what has happened in your life before now.

Mercury introduced these energies when it first crossed this degree on November 28-29. The Inferior Conjunction now makes this a "hot spot" for months to come. These energies were activated by Mars on December 4-5, initiating the process. We will get synthesized understanding when Mercury again crosses this point for the third time January 11-12, 2011.

We will find that the next 4 months are very important around this set of lessons and challenges. It will definitely have associations to the long wave events and major lessons that sprouted in seed form when Pluto moved across this degree (and went stationary retrograde on it!) between January and June 2007, ushering in transformative fitness requirements. Pluto again crossed this degree December 2007, and finally between July 2008 and October 2008, this time going stationary direct on that degree.

Also of note is that during this Plutonic activation span, Jupiter crossed 29 Sagittarius in December 2007, activating a Jupiter conjunct Pluto at the Galactic Center. When you're done here there's a link at the bottom of this article to several other articles about that extremely important long wave influence. By all means investigate those articles, since they hold clues to how the Galactic Center energies have opened new adventures, truths, and quests for all of us the past three years.

These combined Jupiter-Pluto energies were set into motion when Mars crossed this point in December 2008 and again just a few days ago in early December 2010. Obviously this has been and continues to be a very important degree for everyone for many months (if not years!) to come, so take note of where it falls in your chart.

This is the second step in a two-conjunction process. The first step is when Mercury conjuncts the Sun in forward motion after its retrograde period. Most recently this occurred at 24 Libra in mid-October 2010. As Mercury is faster than the Sun, after this Mind again outraces Life, and explores ideas and perceptions of experiences yet to occur.

Then Mercury goes stationary retrograde, and moves into the second step when Mercury again conjuncts the Sun while retrograde. This is when Mind is being absorbed by Life, or Life takes on the results of subconscious or collective ideas returning to source. Eventually Life gets as far from Mind as it can, Mercury goes stationary direct, and begins to speed up preparing for the first step anew in a different part of the zodiac.

In an interesting "co-incidence," many of the stationary points and the Inferior Conjunction points trine other points in previous Mercury retrograde periods. Perhaps by studying the sequence of retrograde, conjunction, and direct points we can see how Mercury, a.k.a Hermes, the Cosmic Magician and Guide of Souls, is steering our long range perceptions, understandings, and coordinations toward Soul understanding.

We are told by Rudhyar that 29 Sagittarius is the fourth step of TRANSFERENCE on the Individual, Mental, and Spiritual level of experience within the span of DETACHMENT. Here we can find a technique of mental-spiritual understanding that can help us open to giving and/or receiving information that can teach us how to detach while getting spiritually "goal-fit" in some way.

This prepares us for a period of having information transferred to and from us through opening to a new understanding. This understanding is directly related to the transformative seeds planted in 2007-2008 that have been recently activated in new ways.

This Inferior Conjunction of mind "looking back" into life will help us reinterpret experiences we've had which showed us what we needed to do to embrace a new future. This would imply that either a) we can learn or teach techniques of transferring truth or vision in a detached way, or b) we need to get back on track through reviewing what's been transferred to or from us in the past three years that taught us techniques of detachment.

The fact that the Inferior Conjunction falls with the Moon at 12 Gemini would imply that through the "looking back" and alternative views and understandings, we will feel our way through various challenges to liberate ourselves from past patterns and forms of "mental slavery." This is about rising above old conditioning and limitations so that our growth is unimpeded as we open to new discoveries about our individual spiritual Self.

This in turn should lead us to a balance between our social self and our individual self-expression through "speaking out to life with a spiritual impudence" to demonstrate our character. Here the Moon brings growth through refining our personality to become more than what it was, through which we can take advantage of new circumstances and experiences.

The Moon brings forms through reflection. The Inferior Conjunction is about seeing how we have gotten fit to do some social task or assume some social role, or need to embrace some discipline from the past that can ensure this. This would imply that by doing prep work, or revisiting some work we've done in the past, we can find techniques that will show as forms of liberation from old conditions and self-images. As the Moon is in the sign that Mercury rules, no doubt we'll be reflecting back on old ways of doing things and reorganizing our efforts to prepare for these new social roles.

The Inferior Conjunction is ruled by Jupiter, making Jupiter a very powerful factor in coordinating events so we can be led to our Soul. As Jupiter's duality is "Wealth/Poverty," we will see how we are grasping circumstances with abundance or neediness. Perhaps we'll get a new look at how we've been wasting time, energy, or money, or are merciful in ways others can mistake for weakness. This can teach us to understand the eternal abundance of the Universe that gives us what we need when we need it, and accept it.

As Jupiter is conjunct Uranus, this energy will dominate as backdrop for the next 4 months. The unique or innovative forms of achieving closure, a more universal understanding or compassion, and forgiveness practices unique to our style that we've learned since March 2010 will figure prominently in this backdrop energy.

This has shown us how creative visualization techniques allow us to mold outer circumstances, and we've seen visions of how we can do our own thing in our own way without allowing ourselves to be dominated by authoritarian patterns other may have tried to impose upon us.

Forming aspects show future conditions. This Inferior Conjunction has several significant aspects. One is an exact semisquare to Venus. Semisquares are frictional, interior aspects. In our charts there will be some conflict between the areas ruled by Gemini, Leo, and Virgo with areas ruled by Taurus and Libra over the next few months.

Other forming aspects made by either Mercury or the Sun in this Inferior Conjunction are an exact quintile to Saturn, a sextile to Neptune, and squares to Jupiter and Uranus. Even if they are separating from the Sun, they're forming to Mercury, giving us a review of those recent lessons and events.

Taken together, these show a building and specializing energy between Sagittarius, Libra, and Aquarius, releasing through Pisces. This will most impact those with planets between 25-30 degrees of Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, and Pisces. Expect opportunities to restructure a more balanced intuition and idealism, demonstrating these in your own unique ways.

As this Inferior Conjunction falls so close to the approaching Lunar Eclipse at 30 Sagittarius-Gemini just before the Winter Solstice at 3:39 pm PST/6:39 pm EST December 21, you can bet that whatever is set into motion here also will have a heavy influence on the Lunar Eclipse occurring 0:13 am PST/3:13 am EST/8:13 am Greenwich December 21. Many aspects will be similar or close, and with so many cosmic events happening at the end of Sagittarius in an out-of-sign conjunction with Pluto, many of the seeds of the Galactic Center energies will be kicked into major motion! Again, at the bottom of this article I've put links to important Galactic Center articles in the archives.

Other significant aspects in the Inferior Conjunction chart are Moon quincunx Venus, triseptile Mars, and trine Saturn, Mars quintile Jupiter and semisquare Neptune, and Jupiter quadranovile Saturn. Because of the karmic forks in the road we'll encounter through Venus (explained in the next paragraph) we'll be forced to adjust through sacrifices to come to a more balanced synthesized understanding so we can persist in accepting certain spiritual responsibilities while rejecting those that are obsolete, stuck, or toxic in some way.

Of special note is that Venus is again at 13 Scorpio, the degree where it conjuncted Mars in early October 2010. As noted at that time, this puts Venus in the Scorpio zone of the Grand Irrationality, making that very powerful configuration highly active during the time this Inferior Conjunction is influential.

This will again put all of us at critical "forks in the road of destiny" through Venusian events and people, and whatever choices we made in early October set the events since then into motion that have affected our destinies in obvious ways. Times and events related to this were in late October and early November, and this is the point in time when those forks in the road and the choices made then resulting in recent shifts in destiny can be seen clearly.

You can find more about this irrational, obsessive-compulsive hard edged weirdness by going to the articles at the bottom of this one that elaborate on what we can expect due to Venus triggering the Grand Irrationality. These will eventually crystallize in forms of power and authority in early 2013 and Autumn 2013.

Generally, the 11 days before the inferior conjunction (fusion) of mind and life is a good time to take a new look at how you can bring out your inner wisdom by adjusting to a future vision or broader perspective that's opening for you. It's also good for getting a new point of view regarding what your imagination is willing to consider and how to coordinate your life to reorganize it productively.

It's great for intuitive flashes, insights into the larger collective consciousness and unconsciousness, and seeing how you're being led to see elements of your Soul you may not have recognized before now. So think back on what's happened in the past two weeks, and find a new way to view how those things may symbolize the future somehow.

As I promised, here are important articles related to what's happening right now!

Regarding the time when Venus was going retrograde conjunct Mars triggering the Grand Irrationality throughout the past 12 weeks, here's Astrology in October 2010 - A Stressful Time In The Heart of the Storm, containing internal links to the articles on "October 2010 Astrology - An Overview," "The Grand Irrationality Now! - An Early October Wild Ride As Venus and Mars Biseptile Neptune and Septile Pluto," and "Astrology in October 2010 - Chaotic Times As We Move Through the Heart of a Storm." (The second of these elaborates on the specific Venus conjunct Mars triggering the Grand Irrationality, though the others should also be read to get the whole picture.)

Here's the link to the article How Has Jupiter Conjunct Pluto At the Galactic Center Been Affecting Us? In that you will find internal links to the articles on "Jupiter Conjunct Pluto at the Galactic Center - What Does It Mean?," "What Does the Chart of Jupiter Conjunct Pluto at the Galactic Center Tell Us?- Pt. 2," "Previous Jupiter-Pluto Conjunctions at the Galactic Center - Pt. 3," and "Jupiter Conjunct Pluto Pt.4 - How it will affect Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces." Please check these out, since this Inferior Conjunction coupled with the December 21 Lunar Eclipse will put the focus squarely on these energies.

For a more comprehensive look at what was set into long term motion during the years that Pluto conjuncted the Galactic Center, here's Pluto is conjunct the Galactic Center 2006 Through 2007 which also contains internal links to the articles "Galactic Center Conjunctions by Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto - the Newest Influences What's Coming in 2012," "Other Pluto Conjunctions To The Galactic Center In Previous Centuries," "Revolutionary Times Are Upon Us - Parallels in Pluto Cycles (watch for 2012 and beyond!)," and "Why this is the New American Revolution and our Astrological connection to our Founding Fathers."

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