Anything Could Happen If You Don’t Give Up
I’m sure you’re feeling the chaotic energy swirling around. Mercury is stationing, preparing to return to direct motion on Sunday. The New Moon in Aries also happens Sunday, at 9:57 pm EDT USA. At the New Moon, the Sun and Moon will be in a two-degree conjunction with Uranus, the planet of sudden, sometimes shocking change, revelation, and enlightenment.
Not only that, but Chiron leaves Pisces – the sign he has transited for the last seven years – and enters Aries on Tuesday for the first time since 1977. And Saturn stations retrograde on Tuesday, as the Sun is moving toward exact conjunction with Uranus early Wednesday.
Chiron is, of course, the archetype that connects or mediates between Saturn and Uranus. Chiron enables us to ground the innovative, revelatory insights and energy of Uranus into the the structure and density of Saturn.
So there’s a lot of possibility amidst the chaos. As John Sandbach says in his notes on the Chandra symbol for the 29th degree of Aries (where Uranus is hanging out this week): “No running away here, rather an embracing of the unknown and a complete willingness to try something just to see what happens. ”
Year of the Dog
I’ve been hanging with my daughter in New Orleans while her mom is out of town on business. I’ve also been watching her dog during the days while she’s at school. I’m amazed at the ability of dogs to keep believing that what they want to happen is going to happen. Every night at dinner, Booch (who turned nine earlier this year) bounces into the kitchen like a puppy. When we sit down to eat, he looks up at us with earnest, hopeful eyes. “Surely,” his expression says, “this is the night where you share your people food with me!”
Most of us humans would have given up eight and a half years ago. But dogs have this amazing ability to forget the bad and focus on their desires. And you know what? Sometimes it pays off. Many times it doesn’t – you end up eating the same old boring dry dog food because you’re hungry and you have to eat. But sometimes you get the delicious treat.
One thing I want to remind you of, regarding the mechanics of a Mercury retrograde. It’s not uncommon for us to get stuck on (or in) a ‘problem’ while Mercury is retrograde. This can feel intensely frustrating. We find ourselves obsessing about exactly what we don’t want more of and it’s hard to break free of those depressing thoughts.
But what Mercury is trying to do is force us to stay inside the problem state so that we can fully understand it. Then – once Mercury has returned to direct motion – we will be empowered to implement corrective strategies.
By showing us how often we think the same negative thought, or how often the internal dialogue repeats the same limiting belief statements or energy-taxing complaints, Mercury retrograde reveals the impact these mental habit patterns have on our lives. While simultaneously showing us the structures that have built up and calcified in the mind in order to create the negative outcomes we are so sick and tired of.
Let’s face it: as long as we can buy into the parasitic rationalizations – “it’s not so bad; there’s nothing I can do about it; I’m a victim of fate; I guess I’m just doomed to suffer with this” – most of us will tend to keep generating the negative outcomes.
Mercury retrograde is showing us that we can change our reality by changing the thoughts we empower with our emotional energy.
Since this retrograde is happening in Aries – the sign that is seeking its true identity (the sign that asks “Who am I?”) – this weekend is a great time to tune in to what has been repeatedly bothering you about yourself.
Whatever you have felt most frustrated about; wherever your inner self-talk has been most negative or abusive or fatalistic; whatever you’ve found yourself just hating about your identity: this is the aspect of your identity you can transform in the coming weeks.
Just allowing yourself to say what you want and don’t want can be so powerful right now. Even if you don’t believe you can change it. There’s such a power in acknowledging that (a) you’re sick and tired of a habit, behavior pattern, or way of (not) showing up in the world; and (b) that you do desire to be free of that pattern, to be who you really are.
Oh, and remember – the parasitic thoughts are not who you really are. And they are not your fault. They’re the symptoms of a hereditary disease. But the disease is curable.
The cure – as Chiron always reminds us – is awareness. I hope that remembering that the self-destructive, fearful, shameful thoughts about yourself are NOT your Self will give you the courage to stay aware and to allow yourself to feel and energize your heart’s desires for your life.
In this Year of the Dog, we could all probably learn a little something from man’s best friend about refusing to give up hope and about being faithful to our desires.