Poor Mercury – every time there is a retrograde, he gets all the blame. Technology is on the fritz, Mercury is in the microwave again! So much so there are memes telling people to stop blaming the planets for what’s happening here on Earth. Well, both sides are right…kind of.
How can I come up with this? Well, we gotta look to Tarot to understand why. Mercury is the coolest to show how Tarot and Astrology combine because of all the imagery. For this, I still think hands down the Rider Waite-Smith’s The Magician card shows this the best.
In Tarot, The Magician is pure potential. On his table he has all the elements: sword (air – mental), cup (water – emotional), wand (fire – spiritual), and pentacle (Earth – material). The Magician has all the tools he needs to manifest his needs and desires, to manifest the life he wants. What is most important is the way his hands are positioned. One is pointed to the sky (as above) and the other toward the ground (so below). What happens in the universe (or the stars) affects us here below.
Mercury is associated with The Magician in Tarot. Since Mercury is a planet, Mercury is a teacher and thus The Magician is our teacher. The lesson is that we have all the tools we need to manifest the life we want for our basic needs. As we grow to each new level, the tools we have increase because we’ve learned more and gained more experience. Of course the tools available to us would increase.
As a teacher, The Magician is positive and filled with hope of what can be created. He is the epitome of manifestation and knowing there is more to this world than what is just seen. When Mercury is stationed direct, The Magician is upright. However, when Mercury is retrograde, The Magician is upside down. What is up is down and what is down is up…The Magician becomes The Trickster, the Magician’s shadow side.
Things are supposed to go wrong during this time. Specifically, The Trickster is asking for you to prove that you have actually been putting the work in on issues. For instance, The Magician (Mercury) is in Temperance (Sagittarius). Temperance is all about finding balance. The Magician is here to teach us about communication, commerce, and technology. In Temperance, The Magician is here to teach us about finding balance in the way we communicate, do business, or how we use technology. The Trickster wants us to prove that we are actually working on issues.
Granted, Mercury stationed direct on Sunday and The Trickster transformed back to The Magician. However, Mercury will retrograde 3 to 4 times next year. Meaning that The Magician will transform into The Trickster 3 to 4 times next year. Each time, situations will arise where it feels like everything is going wrong and everything is on the fritz. The point is for us as mere humans to decide how we will handle the situations we’ve been faced with. When communication between you and another person is on the fritz, are you going to get upset and refuse to push through because it’s better to handle after the retrograde? Or will you take a breath, think about what tools you have and beat The Trickster at his own game by taking control of the situation?
So yes, we need to stop blaming the planets for what’s going on in our lives. We are responsible for our own actions regardless of the situations we are put in because we still have a choice. At the same time, we must also recognize that the planets are our teachers and when they transit to different signs they have new lessons to teach. So maybe next time, we won’t throw Mercury under the bus to blame him. Instead, we can start to take responsibility for our choices and actions in the situations that arise.
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