Thursday, February 13, 2020

The Cosmic Story: Mercury retrograde in Pisces, 2020.
A Deep Dive Into Many Dimensions




This week's Mercury retrograde in Pisces deals with accessing and healing ancestral wounds and focusing our will to release old karma to free us up to live a new story for ourselves and the world. Although Mercury doesn't meet up with Neptune (April 3) until after the retrograde is over (March 9), Neptune's influence is strong, as strong as the wild currents that move and shift in the ocean. 

 Mercury in Pisces assumes his most sacred role of Psychopomp/ Guide to Souls and in Pisces, Neptune can open the portals between dimensions and times. 
 
Mercury is the Messenger God, the god of travelers, thieves, traders and communications. He's all about how we use our voice, how we express ourselves, how we think about things. As Hermes Trigmegistus, thrice-greatest Hermes, he rules the alchemical transformation process. And when it's important, Hermes/ Mercury is the Guide of Souls, the Psychopomp who leads us through many dimensions.

 
Hermes Supporting the Tree of Universal Life

When Mercury is retrograde, it gives us a chance to go back and recover things we missed in our rush forward in life. So slow down your mind and let it watch as the images of the collective unconscious arise within you. 
 
So use these three weeks of Mercury retrograde to do some inner traveling and find the truth of who you are and what you need to do in this most beautiful, dangerous time.

Pisces is the sign of the oceanic collective unconscious, the great repository of our collective memories, hopes and dreams. Our whole ancestral lineage as well as our soul lineage is contained there for us to access. It is the realm of the archetypes, especially the place we can access our Higher Self, since it is our unique connection to Source. 
 
We have the opportunity to use these three weeks to access our connection with Source, with our guides, with past lives as well as with our DNA ancestors. (I'll suggest a few ways to do this later on.)

Pisces rules the Arts, the creative imagination, agape love, compassion, sacrifice and mysticism, as well as addiction and delusion. If we use our Pisces energy well, instead of being upset over delusions running amok in the world, be creative and come up with some solutions to what is going on in the world! Don't be afraid of the word 'sacrifice' -- it means to 'make sacred'.  We have forgotten that sometimes we have to sacrifice something in our lives for the new life to appear.    Just be a light to the world.


 
During the next three weeks, be creative! Play with your imagination and see what you discover.  We need to be playful to discover new visions.

With the recent Saturn/Pluto conjunction in Capricorn, we are at the very beginning of a new form of society. I believe this conjunction signals the end of patriarchy and the beginning of a partnership society, where not only men and women are equal but also where the masculine and feminine qualities of life work together. That means listening to our intuition and feelings and using our logical minds to make decisions based on them. 
 
We are facing an unknown future. We can't go back to our old ways of living – it's not sustainable. And patriarchy so needs to die! We need a new imagination of what life can be like for all the peoples of the Earth connected with the Earth herself. We are the grandparents of the future. So, don't freak out because the future is in our hands.

The Eye of the Collective Unconscious

The next three weeks are a great time to meditate, dream and journey into this mystical dimension to access our connection to our Higher Self and face what needs to be healed and left behind.
 
With Mars just entering Capricorn, we'll have the executive energy to get things done. We'll get down to work as he joins the South Node (Feb. 25), Jupiter (March 20), Pluto (March 22) and Saturn (March 31 at 1* Aquarius) cleaning out the old so the new energies can blossom in the Spring. When Mercury turns retrograde, Mars in Capricorn and Uranus in Taurus help each other manifest a new Taurus reality, and they both sextile this Mercury retrograde, opening up our minds to new possibilities and therefore new connections in the outer world. 

Mercury turns retrograde on February 16, 2020 at 4:54pm PST/ 7:54pm EST/ and on February 17 at 12:54am GMT.

 Mercury retrograde chart
 
The Sabian Symbol for Mercury going retrograde at 13* Pisces is: An ancient sword, used in many battles, displayed in a museum. The sword of the King, the sword of truth, justice and mercy. A fitting symbol for Will Power. It is our will power that chooses and determines how we live our lives. It is the energy of Source working through each of us. It is how we develop character and live our values. It gives us the courage to stand up to oppression and lies, hypocrisy and cruelty. And it gives us the courage to face and embrace our own Shadows.

Anduril -- Sword of the West

Mercury retrograde squares the Moon at 12* Sagittarius: A flag turns into an eagle;the eagle into a chanticleer saluting the dawn. This symbol asks us to go beyond identifying ourselves with one nation. It is a call to a higher truth – that we are all in this together. The eagle is another symbol of the spiritual will and the power to rise our consciousness to its highest potential. And the chanticleer announces a new day, a new Dawn for us. We each have to bring about that new birth within ourselves so we can birth a new order in the outer world. (and here is the energy for our travels – Moon in Sagittarius wants to travel far and wide to learn the Truth.)

It's time to face the Truth. Don't let yourself be deluded by fake news, whether in the outer world or from within. Our ego can refuse to see the truth or twist the truth to suit its needs. We see this projection everyday in the news. This is the time to let your Soul guide you.
True solutions . . . can only be found in the dimensions of timelessness where the core meanings of life originate. Accessing the timeless realm is a journey into the great mystery,where veiled Truths are revealed through surrender of our ego. The lesson is to transcend time and space and see beyond the various attachments of our egocentric identity.
Truth appears when we are in a neutral state, when we see what is and relinquish our wishful thinking. Happiness lies in accepting life as it is, the parts we like and those we don't.
The choice isn't whether to choose Truth or not, but whether to accept it when it reveals itself.” (Maurice Fernandez, Neptune, pp. 375-76)

We live in an immense universe which, while orderly and perfectly balanced, is mostly an unknown to us. Our ego just can't see beyond our human perspective. Unless we go within and use our native ability to connect with Mother Earth and her other children as well as spirits from other dimensions and realities. You could call these spirits ascended Masters or archetypes or Master Guides. 
 
If we call on the highest good, we can find our place in the Universe. We can live consciously in that immensity. If we can harmonize with what is, we can find the joy in Life that seems to be missing from our lives.

Back in the early 80s during my last year at the C. G. Jung Institut-Zurich, I had a series of tidal wave dreams. Tidal wave dreams have played out in the psyches of many people, from Tolkien to me. A lot of my clients have had tidal wave dreams. If the ocean symbolizes the matrix of life, the source of our collective being, than tidal waves symbolize a great up-swelling of the collective unconscious. Often these waves can sweep us away.


 My tidal wave dreams were a bit different than those I heard from my clients. In mine, I am often standing on a boardwalk or on the sandy beach and I see giant tidal waves rising up out in the ocean. People are swimming in them, and the waves just hang there. Nobody panics. Nobody gets swept away. There is curiosity but no fear. I had dreams like this often, changing a bit but never bringing devastation or destruction to me.

After I left the Jung Institut-Zurich and started studying astrology, I realized that while I was having those dreams, Neptune was on the Galactic Center and on my priestess, Vesta (24-26* Sagittarius). After three years of Jungian dream analysis, I was an open vessel for the life of my unconscious. Jupiter was in Scorpio opposite my Taurus planets, helping me dig deep into my unconscious in therapy, while Saturn and Pluto were conjoined in Libra, seeding my liberation from the old paradigm of patriarchal marriage and relationships. Uranus was in early Sagittarius opposite my Mercury, my chart ruler, opening me up to new ideas. And with all my personal planets in the 12th house, I became a transmitter for the messages Neptune was transmitting from the Galactic Center. 
 
I dreamed of tidal waves. I dreamed of a great up-welling of all those things we have rejected and made outcast from collective consciousness. And our ego consciousness. The Divine Feminine, social equality, young children and elders, financial security, kindness, community, respect and responsibility, freedom and spiritual awareness. I came to understand that those tidal waves symbolize the great uprising of the collective unconscious – not to sweep us away but to carry us into the future. 
 
And the future is now!

Right now, people are feeling overwhelmed, as if a tidal wave has hit them. Health concerns, the death of loved ones, loss of a job, divorce, the state of the world. I just want to let you know that you can handle this. These tasks are your initiation, an experience that your soul has chosen to learn from. 
 
After the January 12, 2020 conjunction of Saturn and Pluto in Capricorn, the collective energy is available to rebuild our lives and our society. We just have to take responsibility for it. What is our highest good and our highest desire? Magic happens – but it also takes a lot of hard work.

What kind of world do we want to live in? 
 
Everyone wants to know, “What's my purpose?” thinking that it must be some job and activity. But the secret is, our real purpose is to learn how to live Life in the best possible way that we can. To reconnect to Nature and to realize our connection with everyone in the world. To listen to our hearts and to do what is right, despite what the old dying patriarchy would have us do. To be happy with the life we have, with both the good times and the hard times. They are all our lessons and we can't escape them. Our purpose is to meet them as initiations into higher consciousness, to discover their meaning for us and to integrate that knowledge into wisdom.
Mercury is retrograde from February 16th until March 9th-10th, turning direct hours after the Virgo Full Moon. It travels back from 13* Pisces to 29* Aquarius. See where Mercury is traveling in your chart to understand the lessons it wants to teach.

Here are a few ideas for working with Mercury in Pisces.
      1. Pay attention to your dreams for these three weeks. Keep a dream journal next to your bed and ask for information about what you need to access or release.
      2. Do Shamanic journeys to work with an ancestor or spirit guide, by yourself or with a guide.
      3. Meditate on what you've learned and see where it goes
      4. Create some art to express what you're feeling.

All shamanic journeys are sourced in the imagination and in your intention.

Gratitude recognizes truth, transmits love and enhances energy. Seeing tells the truth, generates love and liberates energy. Blessing acknowledges the truth, radiates love and releases phenomenal energy.     (Hank Wesselman)


Journey back to the American Revolution

Here is a specific journey for those political activists who are working so hard not to freak out about what's going on. Just a reminder, astrologically, America is at the end of her empire. In just 2 years we're having our Pluto return, so of course we're seeing the bottom of the barrel of our democracy (for people living in other countries, America needs to re-do her revolution for everyone, since we have been the model for most modern democracies). 
 
Well, the first corporations helped settle and take over America. Our Pluto in Capricorn is all about the power of corporations, since it was a corporation – the East Indian Company – which was the cause of the Taxation of the colonies which sparked the American revolution. Remember – taxation without representation is tyranny! It's happening again today with the government tax giveaway to the wealthy and to corporations. 
 
If you feel it's time to take back the reins of democracy like our fore-bearers, take a journey to a colonial time just before the American revolution. Here are some pictures of my New England village that was founded in 1640 and was around during those turbulent times as well.  (I made some videos but I can't download them onto my computer.)











1755  A.D.







1768 A.D.

Imagine walking into one of the houses and find an ancestor who participated in the Revolution. See what you can learn and perhaps what you can do about our times.

 






Water Journey with Mercury


Imagine walking to a point of land overlooking the ocean and dive in. Let Mercury as psychopomp, in whatever guise he comes, lead you down into the depths of the ocean. See what he has to show you. He might lead you to an ancestor or to a past life. Or a portal to another dimension might open for you. Follow him and see what's there.


Journey for your soul's adventure.  
Walk in the Light!
Cathy

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