Forecast for Thursday 1 September 2016

Thursday 1 September 2016; and the DHE; and Mercury Retrograde

\Through the Looking-Glass/

Moon in Virgo

|Karmically difficult or sobering third| of this week continues (until Friday forenoon)   ** |
New Moon (and eclipse) at 2:04a PT | 5:04a ET | 9:04a UT

Mercury turned retrograde on Tuesday August 30 at 6:05a PT | 9:05a ET | 1:05p UT (until September 22); but the Dark Hermetic Epoch of which the retrograde period is the center continues until October 6

I failed to indicate the fact of Mercury's retrogradation in Tuesday's and Wednesday's report, although I had been mentioning the fact that we are in the Dark Hermetic Epoch until October 6. The retrograde period is ALWAYS in the center of the DHE. I emphasize this because from some of the questions I receive, it seems that some do not understand this. The DHE begins when Mercury slows down; then when Mercury appears to be going backward (retrograde) we have the three-week retrograde cycle--this time from August 30 through September 21--and then we have two more weeks of the DHE while Mercury is slowly gaining speed, until October 6. 

|{Dark Hermetic Epoch begins 8/10  -  (Mercury Retrograde 8/30-9/22) -  DHE ends 10/6}|

The whole of the DHE covers 56 days; the center of it, Mercury Retrograde, covers 22 days.

I insist that what astrologers have always considered typical "Mercury Retrograde" syndromes and behaviors are actually prevalent through the whole 56-day DHE. It is just that they are even more pronounced during the Mercury Retrograde period of 22 days, which began Tuesday this week. And did you notice?--on Tuesday evening Donald Trump, in Everett, Washington (a few miles from where I live) announced that on Wednesday he would be going to Mexico to discuss immigration with the Mexican President. Trump is a Gemini, and it has been noted by astrologers that Gemini and Virgo individuals (or those with those signs rising, or the moon in one of them, or a significant number of planets in them, which means probably 80 per cent of the population) seem to respond even more to the Retrograde cycle than others. Trump felt he had to confront his rhetoric about Mexican immigration by doing something tangible. Mercury Retrograde often "calls us up short"-- asks us "Are you walking your talk?" 

Since Mercury Retrograde has just begun, and lasts another three weeks (until Thursday September 22), let's consider it seriously. Here is part of what I have learned by observing what happens to me and others during these periods:

1. Old people are back in your life. On Tuesday, the day Mercury turned retrograde, I went to an event attended by people I haven't connected with in a few months and considered whether or not I belong with them, or to what degree. It is evident that I have some link with them, and yet it is not a perfect one--far from it--and I need to confront the problems involved, somehow. "Old karma." Also, I felt impelled to write to a friend I haven't seen in two years, or written to in months. You will find such things happening. It can indeed be "old karma," or things which need to be completed. 

2. Some people move, or make other major changes in their lives. A friend wrote me today saying that while he has spent a few years in another country, and a few months in a mountain town in Colorado, he wants to move back to the town where I originally met him. "Re"-turn----you will find that the "Re" words all make sense while Mercury is retrograde. Review, recompense, repentance, removal, recollection, regeneration. This man, who so far as I know does not put any stock in astrology, sent out a letter to all his friends on the second day of the Mercury Retrograde cycle requesting that any who knew of rental possibilities in his old town get in touch with him. This is very typical Mercury Retrograde behavior. It is not wrong--and not necessarily right--but typical. (In general I recommend that one not make such major moves or decisions during the Mercury Retrograde period, but if one has made such a decision well before it, one can complete the move during it.) This may be "old karma" calling him back to his old home town.

3. Review of information, knowledge, studies, and life-orientations you have already explored but need to explore again more deeply. I am finding that I want to re-study Hegel the philosopher, who is a major teacher in my life, and that this is very helpful to me. Am I really going back to the early 1800s when this amazing teacher lived and wrote? No, but what he did then is as alive as when he did it and I am reaping the benefit of that. We can "reap the past" during these times. We can revisit the past, or past accomplishments, and glean from them something everlastingly valuable. 

4. If there are any new people in your life, consider this: Does it feel that they are old friends, perhaps from a past life? Maybe they are. 

5. Have you felt you owe a letter or phone call to someone? Maybe this is the time you will feel impelled finally to do that. Old connections are still alive and may need to be enlivened further through such contact. 5a: If that person is gone from this world, you may connect with her or him in consciousness on the inner planes. 

6. Some people leave their positions, resign. Others consider that, and decide to stay on, but with a differing or better orientation. Other are forced out: such as Dilma Rousseff, the President of Brazil, ousted on the same day Donald Trump felt compelled to visit Mexico. It is a time when, often, "the s... hits the fan." 

7. "The crunch" is here. A football player on the San Francisco '49ers team has decided to sit down during the playing-singing of the National Anthem before each game. This takes courage, whether one agrees with it or not. He is feeling "the crunch": Now or never. 

8. Allied with that, we are much more thoughtful about a lot. About people, experiences, opinions, principles, hopes, and intentions. We are reviewing what our life means. What do we believe in; on what do we take our stand? Mercury is moving more slowly than the sun (from our geocentric perspective) and so the sun, our own Sol or soul, takes precedence over flighty superficial feelings and opinions (the profane side of Mercury). We want to align ourselves with Sol, soul, and it is not easy because our minds go in a thousand other directions. But we are pulled back into that seeking.

9. Seeking. For what are we seeking? We can put words to it, and that is good and helpful, yet we realize that it is also beyond all those words which point to it. But we are the "manomaya purusha," the mental being, so we can use the words, even as mantras, to take us beyond ourselves. What is your mantra, or mantras? 

10. All this is pretty heavy. It is a heavy time. It is an opportunity to get beyond the blandness and boorishness of our usual selves. 

11. On a more superficial plane, it is conundrums. On the day Mercury went retrograde, the European Union ordered Apple to pay 15 billion dollars in taxes to Ireland; yet Ireland says it doesn't want it. Huh? If the EU ordered Apple to pay me $15 billion, I think that, despite the burden it would be to me, I might consider saying, "Ok, despite the burden, you can lay that on me." What does all this mean? I haven't consulted a lawyer, but during Mercury Retrograde times it appears that gain is loss and loss is gain? Or am I missing something? 

12. The past gets deeper. As of today, the second day of Mercury's retrogradation (backwardness), the New York Times reports: "Geologists have discovered in Greenland evidence for ancient life in rocks that are 3.7 billion years old. The find, if confirmed, would make these fossils the oldest on Earth and may change scientific understanding of the origins of life." The past gets pushed further and further into the Past! While Mercury dithers. Quite wonderful. How far back into your own past can you go? Into another lifetime? The Scientologists claim they can do that for you, as well as some hypnotists using regression methods. 

13. All of this makes an Alice in Wonderland world, "Through the Looking-Glass." It can, at times, be drift, indifference, apathy. When you get in such a mood, maybe re-reading what I just wrote here could lift you out of it into other more interesting possibilities. I hope so.

And please retain these words for the next three weeks, because I cannot repeat them every day.

{Thursday, and DHE, and Mercury Retrograde}  /Through the Looking-Glass\

Cosmic Piper

And, 14. Weird technological glitches happen more often, such as above, where I cannot change the size of the type here for some mysterious reason known only to Blogger and Google or some obscure sad programmer somewhere in Silicon Valley. Happy DHE, programmer!