Playing Gods
...On Mercury stationing direct in Leo
“Creative courage is the discovery of new forms, new patterns on which society can be built.”
— Rollo May
Mercury stations direct today (21º Leo). After a few weeks of perplexing events in the mundane coupled with strange epiphanies in the personal realms, our wizard-in-residence is ready to move forward.
I often talk about these retrograde periods as a time to be on the watch for an Idea that is hunting us down. It’s our role to allow it to catch up with us. This approach to Mercury, when he’s close, often confuses people, but if you put in the time, and pay a little closer attention, it’s not hard to see what is actually happening. Think of it in three steps:
Step 1: to see the Rx as both the end and beginning of Mercury’s synodic cycle
Step 2: instead of thinking it’s just a confusing time without much purpose behind the tricks, try to think of it as a series of opportunities to adjust your focus.
Step 3: allow the Idea in
….now, Step 3 again can be quite confusing—even frustrating—for those just getting started with this way of thinking. It doesn’t need to be. All we are doing is paying attention. We are watching for where our inspiration takes us. We are curious about what books we start reading or want to. We can see it painted all over the news, thus in our conversations, and it pushes us to learn more about that subject. It can be as boring as that or as inspiring as learning a new skill or art form. We never know, and that is what makes these Rx periods so rich.
Wrtier’s block cannot exist if you are tuned into these cycles. There’s no frustration around life direction or what to do next. It’s all there. Always. All that is asked of us is to pay attention, follow the Idea, and commit to following it for the entirety of the cycle. There are no hard and fast rules to this, but it does require dedication, memory, and a little bit of astrological know-how.
Being that this cycle started at 27º of Leo (Aug 19th) we would want to find that degree in our charts. We then ask: What House did it fall in? Any aspects of note? Maybe there are some Progressions to consider? Now, even though the Rx began in Virgo and is now stationed in Leo, the tone of the synodic cycle was still conceived in Leo. For example: The Idea for myself this cycle has been a rescuing of my love for art. It began in my 12th; it was trine to my South Node/Neptune; and the overall feeling is that a retrieval program has been initiated in my mind to bring back online all those synapses and pathways in my brain that I had formed as a kid. It’s been deep and timeless, coupled with the excitement that it’s only just begun. Often, it feels this way. It’s like the first day of school with fresh supplies. It’s an idea that gets us purring like Hermes to the Lion.
One more exciting element to paying attention to the Mercury cycle and reframing the retrograde is the varied education we get about the Signs and Houses involved. It’s always something you cannot get from a book. It’s personal. It’s hard to articulate. And when we think of Leo we think of self-expression, but in truth, it’s Self-expression—we are but the fleshy hand that gets to create something which life cannot. It’s our way of playing god. It’s an old idea, nothing revolutionary about it, but when it hits us from the right angle, it can flip our entire relationship to creativity. Art is for the curious. It’s for those who want to discover something that didn’t exist before. And the greatest villain to fight in the process is the demon of perfection. He must be stopped—no matter what! Mercury can help.
And so, my suggestion to you is to meditate on this retrograde we just experienced. Find out where it happened in your chart and see if you can spot the Idea that has got your attention. The next steps are to follow him from the Morning to Evening sky, all the way past the election, and look back in wonder at what just happened.
Mercury is more than a trickster, he is also a thief of all our bad ideas. He guides them straight down to Hadestown.
Also, if you’d like to go on a Mercury Journey with me this cycle, there has never been a better time than now to begin. These are the best ways to learn about what I’m writing about in regard to the cycle and how it influences you. You can learn more HERE:
-adam
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My little Mercury project that landed just before the cazimi has already taken off in ways I never could have imagined. I think that's one of the most fascinating things about doing this. You start with an idea and then it takes you for a ride. I really wonder if I hadn't started with the whole gratitude project if the clarity around my need to move would have come in. Clearly I'll never know, but it does seem connected in a wyrd way.
“Mercury is more than a trickster, he is also a thief of all our bad ideas. He guides them straight down to Hadestown.”
Mercury FTW.
I’m all for this very necessary thievery and this cycle he really did help me shed some burdened, old, misaligned notions about myself and path. Honestly, it almost felt miraculous- like returning home to myself and my art was as effortless as breathing, rather than the odd mind/heart churning struggle it’s been for some time…Leo is my rising and I feel like Mercury really taught me something about how I am, as well as who, this cycle. Imma steep in this tea until my skin is stained and I emerge a courageous prune.