A friend wrote today with this: 

Below is my response. Please feel free to leave comments and send me questions! I’d love to hear from you!

Mercury Retrograde:  well, this one is in Libra, so while it does impact everyone, it will impact people with planets and points in all the Cardinal Signs the most, meaning if you have stuff in Aries, Libra, Cancer or Capricorn, you’ll feel it the strongest. The focus of this Retrograde is around relationships…specifically fairness and balance within relationships. It’s about how we participate in relating to others…not how we feel about it. If we’re typically involved with people on a level that isn’t balanced we’re meant to take a deep look into ourselves and figure out why. And then we’re meant to change it. If in typical Libra fashion we tend to put everyone else’s need s before our own, believing that they must be more important, then this is the time to really see that. Or if we usually think of only ourselves and go through life being a tyrant, making no true heart connections, we need to see that too. The Retrograde is the catalyst. Reflection is the key. Action is the solution (but only take action AFTER the retrograde is past…say beginning around the 20th or so). This is not the time to be looking outside and placing blame on those that we love. This is about what’s inside…self-responsibility. Right now Mercury Retrograde is connecting to Jupiter, so that if there’s any communication break down over the next few days, its likely to center around making our beliefs and philosophies on life understood. It’s also likely that we become overwhelmed by our thoughts…feeling like we’re turning on ourselves perhaps…the voice in our head can get really loud now. This retrograde can also hold us away from elements of all things Libra: beauty, art, design, our deepest and truest values. During the retrograde we might have a more difficult time finding these things…or we aren’t soothed by them as we usually are. That’s because what we love and value is likely changing dramatically, due to something else that’s going on in the sky.

Saturn/Uranus Opposition:  These two planets are completely unlike each other. Saturn wants to maintain tradition and the status-quo, while Uranus will do anything (ANYTHING) to break down the status-quo and change it for what it believes is better for the greater good. Sound familiar? In the political fight for the presidency, we see an uncannily resonating symbolism: Barack Obama is Uranus, and John McCain is Saturn. It’s like the quintessential battle between light and darkness. Luke Skywalker and Darth Vador. Right now these heavy weight sky gods are in a direct face off, with us in the middle. How do we respond? Do we hold on ever tighter to our old ways and traditions, refusing the winds of change? Become rigid in our beliefs and take on a dogmatic attitude? Or do we honor the change that is so needed, and bow to the needs of everyone (not just those who already have), and embrace the innovative, un-tested, wave toward the future that will enhance life on a broad scale? How do we know what’s best? Some scream for the tried and true and dig in their heels (Saturn), and some cry for equality and radical change for the economy, the environment, and for those without (Uranus). This polarization creates a huge rift not only in the political arena but also in our very Souls. We cannot help but be affected. We feel it at every turn in our lives. Saturn is gravity. Uranus is electricity. Saturn is the long-white beard, while Uranus is the brilliant upstart youth. Saturn is experience while Uranus is rebellion. It’s as though we are being pushed and pulled between these very different and opposing belief systems and we are absolutely required to choose. In the best case scenario, we will find a balance. We will be able to keep what is good, solid, sound, and secure from the past, while embarking on the innovative changes that will establish the new way that incorporates more freedom and more independence for everyone…not just those who already have all that they need. The lesson of this dramatically different opposition IS to find this balance. However, before that can happen realistically, the pendulum must wildly swing, first in favor of one way, and then in favor of the other. Since we’ve already experienced the swing toward tradition and the structure of creating boundaries between us and the greater world, it’s likely that we’ll see it swing the other direction by Nov. 4.

Chiron conjunct Neptune:  With this connection we feel our deepest wounds surface around the quest for the sublime…our journey toward God (whatever that means to each of us). Chiron, The Wounded Healer, and Neptune both have a spiritual connotation. When they meet it’s time to allow whatever isn’t healed within our psyche’s to surface, and to put our focus on everything that’s outside our 5-sense world. What lies beyond the physical realm? How can transcendence of mundane reality help us find our way? With this combination, we can almost touch it. And it is probably painful, but ripe for healing if we can suffer the contents of our unconscious selves to step into the light. What happens when this is too overwhelming is the need to escape. Watch for addictive behavior taking precedence over the better use of the energy…which is to deeply connect with your inner Divine and to heal the rift that keeps you divided from a transcendant spiritual awakening.