Mercury Direct & its Post-Shadow Phase
Named after the mythological Messenger, Mercury in Astrology rules rational thinking, communication, problem-solving, and the way we process and exchange information. This planet has to do with how we make sense of our surroundings and put our thoughts into words.
When retrograde, Mercury asks us to turn our attention inward, reconsider how we think, communicate, and make decisions, and look at situations from a different perspective. This is a time to revisit, reassess, and reflect on our habits and patterns rather than continuing to move forward on autopilot.
During the past days, the Messenger has been gradually decreasing its speed of motion until coming to a standstill from our perspective on Earth. From now on, the planet will slowly begin to appear to move forward again. As Mercury changes its direction of motion, projects, conversations, and situations that felt stalled or slowed down during the retrograde can now move forward with greater ease.
The recent retrograde began at 20º58’ of Scorpio, and until Mercury reaches this degree on November 29, we will be navigating the post-shadow phase of this transit. This period consists of Mercury’s third and final transit on the degrees that were activated by the retrograde, in this case, the area between 5º02’ and 20º58’ of Scorpio.
The post-shadow phase of a retrograde is a time focused on integration and digestion of the recent experiences and offers us an opportunity to see them in a new light. During this time, we have an opportunity to gain a new, more profound understanding of everything that happened and its deeper purpose.
Mercury direct in Scorpio: Facing Truth and Making Necessary Changes
As Mercury stations direct in the Yin, Fixed, and Water sign of Scorpio, we are able to access deeper insights into the nature of the emotional and psychological journey we just underwent. In Scorpio, Mercury retrograde invited us on a trip to the underworld, to realms we don’t usually visit or spend much time in. We had an opportunity to retrieve content from our unconscious and bring to the surface thoughts, feelings, memories, and realizations that were not accessible to us before.
With Mercury now direct, we begin to make sense of what we encountered in the underworld. We are now being asked to act according to the new emotional and psychological self-awareness we unlocked, and make changes in our lives in alignment with that.
What felt confused, unresolved, or unclear during the retrograde will slowly begin to make more sense. Awareness is the first step toward transformation, but it is not enough on its own. We also need to act on what we have come to understand, and now is the time to start doing so. This is a time to make changes that may have been necessary for a while, changes we perhaps knew we needed to make but were afraid to face before. Once we become aware of what is really happening, we can no longer unsee it.
Mercury direct in Scorpio can help us find the honesty and courage to face these realizations and make necessary choices. Nevertheless, we shouldn’t expect everything to suddenly become clear. Some things may still need time to unfold, and some of the insights we gained during the retrograde may take time to fully land.
Mercury direct in Scorpio & Venus direct in Libra: Emerging from the Underworld
As Mercury stations direct in Scorpio, Venus too is stationing direct in Libra. Both inner planets shift their direction of motion almost simultaneously, fueling a clear change in momentum and inviting us to move from a period of reflection, reassessment, and reevaluation to a phase more focused on action and forward movement.
For the past few weeks, Mercury and Venus retrograde have asked us to reconsider what we think, what we value, what we desire, how we communicate, and how we relate with ourselves and others. As both planets start moving forward again, we have an opportunity to apply what we learned and take action from a new level of awareness. New information is likely to come to the surface and help us access a clearer meaning of what we went through in the past few weeks.
Moreover, the Messenger is stationing direct while squaring Pluto in Aquarius, reminding us to be very intentional with our words and thoughts, as they are more powerful than we imagine. This alignment adds a new layer of depth to our insights and realizations, as well as a certain amount of friction as we are faced with uncomfortable truths and the need to make some changes.
Mercury going direct in Scorpio reminds us that it is one thing to recognize a pattern, and another to stop participating in it. It is one thing to intellectually understand what we need, and another to choose it and accept the discomfort and the losses that come with making a change. However, this is where the real work begins. The purpose of going into the underworld was never simply to see what was there, but to return and change the way we live.
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