Greetings faithful Pyschicbabble(sm) readers! Hopefully USED KARMA readers will have joined us once again, but I won't be too optimistic about that, with Mercury, Uranus and Neptune all retrograde this month. Retrograde Neptune has interesting consequences, especially in order-preserving Capricorn. Stay tuned to this exciting channel!
Mercury's actual retrograde period is from August 19 through September 11. The effective period, however, runs from the end of July to the end of September. The effects of the current Mercury retrograde began to really kick in hard on July 31. However, with the Sun in Leo, this is not necessarily a bad thing. Though miscommunications and heated arguments are likely (Sun in Leo), especially over meaningless details (Mercury in Virgo), the end result is beneficial because the air is cleared of energies that have been held and have needed to move. With both the Sun and Pluto in fire signs (Leo and Sagittarius, respectively) any lingering resentments or uptightness get transmuted through conflicts and misunderstandings brought on by retrograde Mercury, because Pluto is the planet of transformation and reorganization.
Remember, retrograde planets interfere with the direct action of the planet in which the retrograde occurs. Therefore, planetary retrogrades are the time to go internal with the matters ruled by the retrograde planet. Since Mercury rules communications, Mercury retrograde is a time of mass transit delays, strikes, arguments, computer problems, and information mix-ups of all kinds. Since external communications are not as they should be, Mercury retrograde is the time to communicate internally. Thus Mercury retrograde is an excellent time be begin a course of any kind of physical and/or mental/emotional healing work, meditation and other forms of inner nourishment.
Uranus is the planet of eccentric genius, flashes of brilliance and unexplained, erratic behavior. According to Myrna Loftus, writing in her excellent book A Spiritual Approach to Astrology, 1 writes that Uranus is the great awakener, "represent[ing] the unconscious urge to become aware of your true inner individuality (the sun). It is your intuition awakening you to a world beyond our social structure." 2 Uranus rules Aquarius, the sign of social conscience, individuality and unabashed self-expression. Currently Uranus is retrograde in Aquarius, its own sign. Planets transiting their own signs have an added power. There is a synergy when the energy of a particular planet is bathed in and synchronized with the energy of its own sign. Uranus is a powerful planet for the forces of social change. Uranus rules technology, television and media, as well as social justice. Thus the forces of Uranus in Aquarius are mobilizing to ultimately transform mass media into vehicles of fairness, equitable wealth distribution and social and political equality.
Uranus retrograde is a time when our individual and collective ability to awaken into "a world beyond our social structure" is experienced primarily in an internal, not an external way. This is the time when individuals will meditate on and believe in the great universal oneness of all things. In order to change society, the individuals comprising that society must first believe that change is possible, and then visualize how to bring those changes about. The Aquarian energy assures that such changes will be made in the most loving possible way. Then when Uranus goes direct, the powerful flash of the Uranian energy will spark even more powerful and rapid worldwide changes of power and social participation than we have seen since the start of 1997.
Uranus turned retrograde on May 15. Uranus will turn direct on October 15, though the effective period will last until mid-November.
Neptune is a mystical planet, a planet of illusion and deception - thus it rules film. Myrna Loftus says that Neptune is the great dissolver, "the unconscious urge to dissolve the boundaries of your ego-centeredness in order to 'lose yourself' in the 'Kingdom of God' within...our Superconscious. It dissolves life's patterns in order to teach new meanings in the quest for universal wisdom." 3 Neptune rules Pisces, that intensely psychic sign of deep and profound feelings, insights and intuitions. Both Neptune and Pisces are about connectedness.
Currently Neptune is retrograde in Capricorn, that stodgy earth sign of established social order and love of tradition for its own sake. So if Neptune's mission is to show people their internal direct connection to the great All-That-Is, this is in direct conflict with Capricorn's mission of preserving social control. After all, if people knew they all had a direct link to the interconnectedness of all things, would they put up with so much hard work at large corporations for subsistence wages while the corporate officers and directors rake in millions year after year? Of course not. During retrograde Neptune in Capricorn, individuals begin to realize that social control is an illusion, that each of us are Christ-like in our potential, that all of us are capable of experiencing the divine oneness of consciousness, and that we can apply this knowledge to transform our social structures.
Neptune turned retrograde on May 2. Neptune will turn direct on October 10, though the effective period will last for about a month after that date.
I know this column has been beating Pluto in Sagittarius to death during the past year, but it is such an important societal transit with such powerful effects that we are hearing about them through our heavily censored, slanted and totally propagandized commercial news media. It is particularly important to pay attention to this transit in connection with current planetary retrogrades.
For those of you who do not know, Pluto in Sagittarius is a time of long-hidden truth being revealed and made public. For example, in August the CIA announced that half of the UFO sightings in the 1950s and 1960s were secret government spy planes. (Of course, the government has yet to tell us what the other half were! And the article in The New York Times did not make clear whether these secret government spy planes were illegally spying on nations the United States has alliances and/or treaties with. It makes one wonder, doesn't it?)
Recent evidence of Pluto in Sagittarius are the unfolding scandals in Peru. At long last President Fujimora is being revealed as the corrupt dictator he has been all along. Recently it was revealed that he was in fact born in Japan, and is therefore ineligible for the Peruvian presidency. There is evidence that documents showing Fujimora to have been born in Peru were faked. Accusations have surfaced that Fujimora routinely placed opposition candidates under surveillance and tapped their telephones. He even spied on a former UN Secretary General! Don't expect Fujimora to hang on to power much past the end of 1997, if that long.
So right now, people are processing internally. They are getting in touch with their own selves, and are establishing meaningful dialogues and relationships with their own souls (Mercury retrograde) through the clarity of analytical Virgo. In addition, folks are starting to understand that change is possible, and that we can be the architects or our own new societies (Uranus retrograde) in order to benefit everyone (socially-minded Aquarius). In addition to understanding that change is possible, people are realizing they can strive for utopian dreams and incorporate those ideals into their actual societies (mystical Neptune retrograde in Capricorn).
Planetary retrogrades are interesting in that nothing appears to be moving forward, while in actuality a great deal is happening. Planetary retrogrades are about reversed energy. The energy is still dynamic and active, but it is moving in another direction. With Mercury, Uranus and Neptune all retrograde from mid-August to mid-September, a great deal of activity is taking place on an internal human level that will be expressed on a societal level when all of those planets are once again direct. The social and political landscape of the last two months of 1997 will look substantially different from the form it took in the first ten months of that year.
Finally there is a Secretary-General at the United Nations who is clear-headed, sensible, hard-working, compassionate and actually interested in getting something important accomplished during his tenure. His name is Kofi Annan, and he will be an increasingly important player on the world stage in months to come, so keep watching him. The greatly mismanaged UN has certainly not benefited from the United States' continuing refusal to pay nine figures worth of back dues (ouch!), but political exigencies will force the US to pay up before 1997 is out. Responding to worldwide pressure for improved fiscal management, Kofi Annan has slashed UN budgets for everything EXCEPT disarmament, where he has actually increased the budget. Clearly this man understands our planet's priorities!
It will be interesting to see where Secretary-General Annan will be on Saturday, September 20, 1997. There is a massive demonstration scheduled to take place from noon to 8 PM in front of the United Nations in Manhattan to protest the launch of a satellite known as Cassini. This lame-brained scheme, launching 72.3 pounds of plutonium (the deadliest substance known to humankind) via satellite into orbit around our Earth, could result in the total destruction of life on this planet in the event of a crash or other malfunction. In addition to this horrible and foolish plan going forward, there has been a massive conspiracy in the mainstream media to keep this information out of the popular press.
To learn more about the Cassini insanity and what you can do to stop it, visit www.lovearth.org, or call (718)426-5361. (If you're coming to Manhattan for the demonstration, I'll see you there!)
It is critical to world survival that we as humans develop a peaceful mentality and endeavor to solve our problems with our voices, hearts and minds instead of implements of mayhem and destruction.
Copyright 1997 Marcy J. Gordon. All rights reserved. The author wants you to know you are free to copy and distribute this article for noncommercial purposes, provided you reproduce it in its entirety and credit the author. For quotation permission, please contact the author at mgordon@pipeline.com.
1 CRCS Publications, Sebastopol, CA, 1983.
2 Ibid., p. 26.
3 Idem.
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