This Mercury retrograde will be more particularly profound, because this retrograde is in the water sign of Pisces. Mercury has been transiting, or moving through, the energy of Pisces since February 10th, and hit the degree he will retrograde, or move backwards by perspective, to at 16° on February 20th. This means our thoughts, actions, contracts, and words are under the energy of Pisces until April 16th. That's more than two months of Pisces influence. Normally, Mercury moves a degree a day, and so we feel the specific zodiac sign energy for only a month, then it shifts.
With this retrograde, we are feeling. Just that...feeling. We are feeling sentimental, foggy, tired, sad, wistful. Our boundaries are lacking when it comes to being around others. Our energy can be low, or pulled away by needy people. We can be the needy people, as Pisces brings us into the cuddly, moody realm of the seas. The oceans are ruled by Pisces, and that is an apt metaphor for the emotional life we feel now.
This particular transit is profound, as I've mentioned earlier, because it is not only in the last sign, but the last 14 degrees of that sign. Mercury went to the bitter end of the sign, 29°, before he retrograded. He wants us to focus on the old story. The past. Pisces feels more comfortable in the past. Influence of Pisces in a person's chart can bring a sentimental outlook for times gone by. Pisces rules the archival keeping of information, through expression of energy. This can make strong Pisces planets in one's chart help that person to become a fabulous artist. Pisces is the keeper of the information in that this sign implores us to record and deal with the past. It is the sign of genealogists, photographers and filmmakers. The documentarians of the zodiac. Folk music sees a resurgence under Neptune in Pisces. The arts are coming into their own, now, and handmade crafts are sought after.
The specific affect of Mercury retrograde in the late degrees of Pisces is to bring up old, past issues, people or events we have an emotional attachment to. We are meant to re-experience the people, places or experiences in order to release them. We are about to embark on a new energy soon, and the process of planets moving forward, then retrograde gives us the opportunity to truly be done with the past, and release the baggage. This is the theme of most retrogrades, but can be accented with specific planets and signs as the planets interact, and combine. As an example, last year Uranus transited into Taurus in May, but then retrograded and went back into Aries on November 6th. While there, he brought the collective consciousness back to the need for male power. This is a concentrated encapsulation of the energy, but this give an example of the need to understand energy of a planet before it moves on.
This particular Mercury retrograde in Pisces can also bring endings of the time on Earth for loved ones. We already have seen Luke Perry unexpectedly leave this plane. A quick look at the wikipedia page on recent passings, and we see a cross section of artists: "American guitarist, TV writer, actor, sculptor, filmmaker, Belgian philosopher, French singer, Russian singer, American glass artist. It is like a who's who of artists. Those were just the artists who died on March 16th.
We are entering the second week of this transit. At this writing, the Moon is about to transit into Virgo overnight March 18th, and the 19-21 can bring more passings around teachers and educators of all sorts, military folk, and water and cold-related deaths. It may seem morbid, but death is part of life, and Pisces has a particular connection to the other side of the veil. Pisces can talk to the deceased, usually with a trip to dreamland. Pisces can also make us more emotional about endings in the news, such as New Zealand and Ethiopian airlines tragedies. (Not that they weren't emotional under any circumstances...) but Pisces punctuates the connection we all have. Religious entities and storylines are a combination of Mercury, Sun, Neptune all in Pisces, and a square to Jupiter in Sagittarius... higher spiritual seeking. These kind of events can bring us to a place of questioning our belief systems. That feeds into a shift we will be making at the end of this transit, Mercury in Aries. (More on that in a later post, or podcast).
To commiserate, so far this retrograde I have had my daughter's anxiety increase, and she has missed many days of school, my rental home has been sold to a new owner, and I will be looking for a new place over the summer, and my car air conditioning went out. Not to mention countless annoyances with transportation and electronics, i.e. 2 traffic jams in a couple days, mail problems, podcast problems, etc. You get the idea. We are all in this same Piscean boat.
The takeaway is that transition happens, it will ALL be okay, and sometimes, cliché as it seems, sometimes things that are falling apart are actually falling into place. I hope that encourages you on your journey to greater soul understanding.
Until next time, my best wishes and blessings to you!
P.S. Be careful of your electronics around water, and home damage from water.
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©2019 Shelley Overton/AngelicZodiac.com