Both a new moon and a Mercury stationing retrograde are moments that ask us to halt. This month we get both within a day of each other. On January 20th the new moon in Aquarius will occur at 8:13 am EST and Mercury, also in Aquarius, will station retrograde on January 21st at 10:54 am EST.
A new moon gets us to prepare for it by emptying out everything that precedes it. A Mercury retrograde tends to stop us in our tracks via communication breakdowns and plans gone awry.
Both of these events, like all astrological occurrences, are cyclical ones. In preparing for the next go around we can lay down what we think we should do in order to make space so that we might be more attuned to what our lives are asking us to do. We lay down our small will in order to reconnect with the larger one that guides our life.
It’s good to put the ego on hold.
Actually it’s completely necessary. And what better sign to teach us this than Aquarius? The opposite sign and the antithesis of sometimes self-centered Leo, Aquarius comes to cool the fires of identity and moves the attention towards the collective. This month there will be not one but two new moons in Aquarius. The water-bearers among us get extra opportunities to kick-start their vital signs and rededicate themselves to all they wish to bring forth this birthday year.
Aquarius is a sign that is after clarity of thought, innovative ideas and distinguishes itself by its ability to articulate the most difficult of concepts. Aquarius is brilliant, concerned with the collective and a little unwilling to do warm and fuzzy. Aquarius wants to know how the masses will get the collective machine moving but doesn’t necessarily need to stop and get emotionally enmeshed with the personal details of all involved. This is a big picture sign that wants to understand the intersecting realities of life and how to make manifest a fair and just world for all.
A new moon (let alone two) in this sign is the cracking open of our own personal innovation. This moon is asking some poignant questions about how we view our lives, how to review them and how to make the necessary changes without getting too emotionally messy. We can thank the addition of Mercury’s movements for this.
When Mercury stations retrograde or (appears to) stand still in the sky and then (appears to) change directions for a three week period, there is a reversal of how we want to have our communications go. Our meager minds tend to think that life should flow in a linear fashion, that things should work out in the ways we expect them to and set them up to do. But they don’t. Mercury retrograde likes nothing more than to point thisout, but don’t let the heckling fool you.
There is magic in the cycle.
Don’t forfeit your fortune just because the road is frustrating. Don’t spend all your time whining just because the road is winding. Don’t let Mercury mislead you into trying to fix what isn’t broke. Remember that Mercury is a trickster. There may be nothing as entertaining for the gods/spirits as setting us up and watching us chase our tails. They don’t live in material reality, they have all the time in the world and no Facebook or Twitter to occupy their days and nights.
Mercury rules thresholds, doorways, liminal spaces and in-between places. Manifestation happens when we transition energy into matter or when we effect our physical space via an energetic shift. Mercury retrogrades may not be the time to forge ahead but they are powerful times to re-wire our thinking so that we can be better in line with what our life has in store for us. Sometimes we need to be tricked into our fate.
Mercury is The Messenger and has many a meaningful memo for us come its retrograde period. My advice is to pay close attention on the day it stations retrograde (January 21st), the day it conjuncts the sun (January 30th) and the day it stations direct (February 11th) for what this particular period has in store for you. Your horoscopes for the week of January 19th will be focused on these events as well. This Mercury retrograde cycle will have the Mischief Maker connecting with the revolutionary Uranus and the self-disciplined Saturn via friendly sextiles. These are helpful hints that the next three weeks will feel more constructive and less constricting to our daily schedules as long as we have the foresight to roll with the ebbs and flows and be on the lookout for Mercurial messages. Mercury will also remain exclusively within the bounds of the air sign Aquarius, giving us another clue that this cycle is about our cognitive reconstruction with extremely creative energies helping us to see things differently.
If you’d like to work more closely with this cycle and make the most of its energies please join me on January 19th at 8 PM EST for a special Aquarius New Moon/Mercury Retrograde Magic Tele-Class.
New moon and Mercury retrograde blessings and best wishes!
Chani