After sleeping on it (I just woke up about an hour ago...yes, I'm lazy on the weekends!), I read a post on another platform from someone who does do a lot of mundane work, and she was saying that the influence of Merc entering Aquarius will help to calm the rhetoric a good bit. Her take is that:
1) Merc is primary ruler of its own air sign, Gemini, and rules communication - and conveniently, the Orange Man himself as a native of that sign. Gemini is mutable (changeable) air and thus much less prone to outbursts, rather merely dissipating and distributing the energy of the communication. That may not seem to fit what he's been doing all this time, but remember that he also has very prominent Leo (ME! ME! ME!) energy strongly in his chart.
2) Aquarius is also an air sign, and although it is a fixed (immutable) sign, the similar energy will help calm the waters. In addition, because of it's fixed nature and the fact that Aquarius also opposes his ascendant in Leo, communications are much more controlled and confined to truth and provable facts (to wit: the Orange One got booted from Twitter and several other platforms yesterday).
3) The Merc retrograde will be an investigative period during which we are able to go back and piece together what happened, after which the formerly secret supporters/organizers/planners will be exposed.
4) Although Merc will not retrograde as far back as Saturn's position, it will be within orb of influence and therefore close enough to activate its energy of justice, karma, and the rule of law.
5) It's likely that whether the Articles of Impeachment are passed and process moves forward or not, the Orange One may try to pardon himself. When he is told he can't do that (once again, control and confinement of communication - not to mention that other C - the Constitution), he will try to do it anyway along with pardoning his family members, but those pardons will be challenged during the retrograde and probably reversed by the courts.
@ana I had to sit down and meditate on your last question for a good while to try to jumpstart my intuition about this. While I do agree with a good portion of the information from the other person that I summarized above, I would like to provide a little more detail about what my meditation has uncovered, which doesn't seem to be much - at least to me.
Would you expect it to facilitate communication and action on the Saturn/Jupiter energy fronts, or what?
I think it will facilitate more discussion (Mercury) from the the collective (Aquarius) toward the lesson (Saturn) that small-d democratic (Aquarius) government (Saturn) is not a spectator sport. It requires active involvement using truthful communication (Saturn/Mercury). It will also highlight the need to expand (Jupiter) the protections (Saturn) for both the people and their representatives (Aquarius) that must be in place to keep that government (Saturn) operating for the good of all (Aquarius).
The retrograde period of Mercury in Aquarius for about three weeks beginning on January 30 will be an opportunity to explore, investigate, and discuss in depth (Mercury) the reasons why the security (Saturn) failure happened, and what needs to be done to fix it. I suspect that there will be a lot of new security legislation (Mercury/Saturn) passed to address the issues, as well as to more clearly define electoral (Aquarius) processes and protections (Saturn). There may also be discussion about possibly adjusting the removal process.
Not forgetting that Pluto is still in late Capricorn exposing the seamy underbelly of politics, I expect this Mercury passage (direct/retro/direct) to begin - as the summary above notes - to lay bare to the public (Aquarius) the extent (Jupiter) of the lies and corruption and how deep and/or high it goes.
An curious but interesting side note: the chart of the R party (founded 20 March 1854 in Ripon, WI) has Jupiter at 22 degrees Cap, which point was steamrolled by successive transits of Saturn, Jupiter, and Pluto in the last 6 months.
The retrograde period of Mercury in Aquarius for about three weeks beginning on January 30 will be an opportunity to explore, investigate, and discuss in depth (Mercury) the reasons why the security (Saturn) failure happened, and what needs to be done to fix it. I suspect that there will be a lot of new security legislation (Mercury/Saturn) passed to address the issues, as well as to more clearly define electoral (Aquarius) processes and protections (Saturn). There may also be discussion about possibly adjusting the removal process.
Not forgetting that Pluto is still in late Capricorn exposing the seamy underbelly of politics, I expect this Mercury passage (direct/retro/direct) to begin - as the summary above notes - to lay bare to the public (Aquarius) the extent (Jupiter) of the lies and corruption and how deep and/or high it goes.
An curious but interesting side note: the chart of the R party (founded 20 March 1854 in Ripon, WI) has Jupiter at 22 degrees Cap, which point was steamrolled by successive transits of Saturn, Jupiter, and Pluto in the last 6 months.
I think you've put all the astrological bits into a pattern that make a lot of sense! Thanks!
@ana I want to do another small addendum here. The transit of Mercury into Aquarius would have occurred regardless of whether the events last week happened, so I think it's necessary to also view the transit without those events in the lens to see what they may have obscured.
The transit of Mercury over the point of the Saturn/Jupiter conjunction would still have initiated conversation and dialogue (Mercury), but had the events in DC not happened, the topic of conversation would have been more along the lines of how to use government (Saturn) and legislation (Mercury = the words of the law/Jupiter = the spirit of the law/Saturn = the letter of the law) to create/expand (Jupiter) a more fair, balanced, and equal society (Aquarius) for both the long term (Saturn) and the short term (Mercury). Those discussions will still happen, and there is apparently some back-channel discussion already beginning to happen - and likely to get more traction as we approach the beginning of the Merc Retro shadow period next Sunday - about delaying (retrograde Mercury/Saturn) the impeachment/trial (Mercury) until after the first 100 days so as not to impede or overshadow (Saturn) the expansion (Jupiter) of the relief package efforts and the rest of the Biden agenda (Aquarius).
@ana I want to do another small addendum here. The transit of Mercury into Aquarius would have occurred regardless of whether the events last week happened, so I think it's necessary to also view the transit without those events in the lens to see what they may have obscured.
The transit of Mercury over the point of the Saturn/Jupiter conjunction would still have initiated conversation and dialogue (Mercury), but had the events in DC not happened, the topic of conversation would have been more along the lines of how to use government (Saturn) and legislation (Mercury = the words of the law/Jupiter = the spirit of the law/Saturn = the letter of the law) to create/expand (Jupiter) a more fair, balanced, and equal society (Aquarius) for both the long term (Saturn) and the short term (Mercury).
Yes-- makes sense-- also this is a US-centric group and sometimes we forget that the rest of the world is going on while we focus on our own "stuff". Perhaps someone from a non-US country can tell us whether this seems to relate to any events in their regions last week and weekend? (I thought that you are in Europe, or am I mistaken?)
As I noted elsewhere, the Orange One's acquittal came as no surprise to me given the current transits. Although Mercury (retrograde), Jupiter, Saturn and even little Venus are in opposition (negative) to his ascendant (by sign), they are not close enough to that aspect by degree to have had any real effect. They made him "look" bad, perhaps (ASC = appearances), but that's the extent of it. The fact that all of these planets are currently transiting within just a few degrees of being in trine (positive) to his natal sun was an almost overwhelming indicator that he would face no justice in this situation.
Given that the two big "threats" here (Jupiter and Saturn) will remain together in Aquarius for the next ten months and that both will remain within orb of that trine for most of that time, I expect more of the same - no real punishment - for any of his other crimes. More will come out about Orange's influence in this situation in the next couple of months as Mercury turns direct and moves into Pisces to square his natal sun, but the strong guardianship of that heavy Saturn trine to his Sun will still be in force and will protect him further. Will he ever face any justice for what he has done? In my opinion, probably not. He will be long dead before any of the transits indicate that.
Having said that, those who have supported him (McConnell, Graham, Hawley, Cruz, Paul, et al.) don't necessarily have the same protection. I haven't looked at any of their charts, but I strongly suspect that there will be some consequences coming for them. There's a good chance that Graham will be the most heavily harmed, while McConnell will likely read the winds and skate before any real consequences come looking for him. Hawley and Cruz will be the least affected in the short term, but even they will have to answer for their misplaced priorities. In the next several elections, particularly in 2022, I expect that the power and influence of the R's generally will be diluted to the point that they are simply crying voices whispering in the winds.
As I said in another post in this forum topic, progress will be slow, and there will be many setbacks as we move forward with a lot of "two steps forward, one step back". However, we must take heart, because this is only the beginning of the march, and a net gain of even one step is still forward movement. We will get there, but we must not give up.
there will be many setbacks as we move forward with a lot of "two steps forward, one step back". However, we must take heart, because this is only the beginning of the march, and a net gain of even one step is still forward movement. We will get there, but we must not give up.
yes. Yes. YES!
FYI today (March 13) is the final day of the Mercury Retrograde shadow. Mercury is back to where he was before he started moving "backwards". So in astrological terms the retrograde can now be considered completely done and we can more easily start new things. I notice this is about coincident with the passing of the US COVID relief bill.
Next retrograde takes place May 29. (I find this calendar useful: https://www.astrologyhoroscopereadings.com/2021-mercury-retrograde-calendar.html)
Thank you, @ana...you just saved me a bunch of writing. ;-) Now, re: the feeling of being "stuck" (in other posts), and why things have slowed down so much (Part 1):
Saturn (restriction, karma, justice) is making its final approach to its retrograde station mid-Aquarius (representing "the people", fairness, and equality), so yes, things will begin to slow down. By the middle of May when the retrograde actually begins, things will seem to stop completely and go into reverse. While we have made progress on many things, there will likely be a resurgence of opposition in the next several weeks, continuing on through summer and fall. Saturn will make its direct station in October, but will still be within the shadow period until the end of the year, after which progress will slowly begin again.
The next section applies to the US primarily (since that's where I am! ? )
It's likely that the federal elections bill (HR1/SR1) will be stalled in the Senate until the end of the year at least, and while much will be said about those opposing it and their apparent reasons, the truth is that there are things in the bill that do need to be fixed/reinforced to protect it as much as possible from legal challenges. Compromises will have to be made to get it through at all, and it may be somewhat weakened both by those compromises and likely challenges in the courts once it passes. Grass-roots efforts will need to intensify significantly through the retrograde period to hold on to what has already been gained and counteract as much as possible the effects of any attempts by states to utilize restrictive state election laws. The federal bill will pass in the end, but it may not be as effective as hoped, and more laws will need to be crafted both to refine and enforce it.