October 31st marks the eve of Samhain and, at the same time, Mercury stations retrograde at 27° of Scorpio. It will station direct at 11° of Scorpio on November 20, 2019. You’ll find rituals and suggestions for how to mark Samhain and a reading for your sign on how to work with this Mercury Retrograde in A Workshop for the New Moon in Scorpio, Full Moon in Taurus, and the Astrology of October 27 – November 25.
It is said that at this time of year the veils between the worlds grow thin. A space between the material and the mysterious opens up. Known as a cross-quarter day (or time), in the Northern Hemisphere, Samhain falls between the Autumnal Equinox and the Winter Solstice. It is neither one, but a mid-point of both. A place where life and death meet.
A third space.
Binaries forced upon us rob us of our connection to the creative power that moves through all life on the planet. Nature knows all kinds of manifestations of itself, never limited by either/or.
Nature is but/and.
White-supremacist patriarchy wants to convince us that anything that can’t be proven by its narrow, limited, fear-based theories is without merit. It has always sought to condemn and destroy our connection to the wild and untamable. Within and without. Historically, most cultures understood that all things in nature were animated with the same energy as us. Plants, planets, stars, seas, and every creature on earth was in relationship to us. In conversation with us.
Eternally.
We sometimes forget, but celebrations like Samhain remind us that even in death those that loved and cared for us in life can be called upon to help us. Our altars, offerings, prayers, and petitions become the bridge between us and them. Our ask becomes an invitation. Our lives an extension of their own. This kind of connection is power. This kind of access is our birthright. This gateway is threatening to the systems and institutions that profit from us being disconnected from our past and bank on it staying buried.
Witch work done with integrity is radical because it will always bring us back to our roots.
Mercury’s retrograde is as much of an underworld journey as Samhain. Traditionally known as a psychopomp, Mercury ushers us into the liminal space between the past and present, reason and intuition, the material and spiritual. Traditionally, a psychopomp is a spirit guide that helps souls transition from the living world to the afterlife. A spirit that guides us on our journey from the known to the unknown, Mercury helps to bridge to gap between the conscious mind to the unconscious realms. Mercury’s retrograde is blamed for many a malfunctioning laptop, missing text, misconstrued meaning, and lost password (and rightly so), but it’s often forgotten as a journey into our own unconscious motivations, memories, and past selves.
In Scorpio, this Mercury retrograde runs deep. Unfazed by horrors and harrowing journeys, the pieces of the past that this transit is sure to exhume will be startling, but necessary. Scorpio keeps privileged information on lockdown. Secrecy is sacred to this sign. When we are privileged enough to be privy to its safes, we can be sure that we are getting the goods. Because Mercury’s retrograde also asks us to reflect on the past, retrieving aspects of ourselves and the energy that got stuck there, there is a double emphasis on connecting the present to our roots. In the process of doing so, in the liminal spaces, we may be able to see another option, another route, or a third way that we hadn’t before. Helping us unlock our minds from the this/that, here/there paradigms we get stuck in, this Mercury retrograde is able to help us connect with an ancestor, an aspect of self, or an email long-lost in our inbox. Whatever it brings back to you, this Mercury retrograde is sure to resurface the perfect piece of information at exactly the right time.
Trusting in your process is the liminal space to situate yourself in now.
Samhain blessings,
Chani
You’ll find rituals and suggestions for how to mark Samhain and a reading for your sign on how to work with this Mercury Retrograde in A Workshop for the New Moon in Scorpio, Full Moon in Taurus, and the Astrology of October 27 – November 25.