Mercury Retrograde in Taurus
An astrological, mythic, and practical examination of this spring’s Mercury retrograde
Mercury and Argos, Abraham Danielsz Hondius
Mythical Mercury, Guide to Duality
Mercury is our celestial messenger. Known as the mythical right hand of Jove, Mercury saw to it that messages, prophesies, and orders from Mount Olympus made it out and into realms both mortal and divine. His wit and humor made him the patron of poets, scribes, clowns, and thieves, and mischief was one of his favored pastimes. Mercury is a flashing grin, a twinkled eye, the flash of light that plays on water’s surface.
He is, as his Orphic Hymn notes, variously skilled, and his multifaceted nature was best expressed in his roles as both day-world messenger and escort of souls to the underworld. Traversing realms of light and realms of darkness, Mercury was both translator of intellect and psychopomp guide.
Contemplating Mercury’s flexible, protean mythic identity helps cue us in to how Mercury may work in our natal charts, and in our psyches. Not only can Mercury reveal an individual’s intellectual, communicative strengths, he can also suggest at how we engage with the psychic, hidden realms, how we seek inspiration, and how we traverse our inner underworlds.
Mercury is much on my mind this week, as on April 21st, around 1:35am PST, he stationed retrograde at 15° Taurus, the sign of the fixed, Venus-ruled, bull. Mercury goes retrograde three times a year, but his retrograde station this week felt a bit more pronounced, more of a jigsaw than usual. At the time of Mercury’s backward spin, he hovered in a conjunction with the Moon and Uranus, all gathered between 15° - 17° Taurus, conjuring the image of our lord of language taking a step back with his arms flung jovially around Luna and Uranus. This suggests to me that his retrograde will incorporate elements of those two planets’s themes—our emotional core, and our sense of innovation. From now through May 15th, we’ll see Mercury slip backwards from 15° - 5° Taurus, giving us ample time to see if my theory pans out.
Exploring Mercury in Taurus
Each planet in the natal chart describes a different piece of our psyche, like light filtered through a prism reveals a spectrum of seven unique colors. Mercury, as noted above, brings us into the realm of the mind, both externally expressive and internally imaginative. When Mercury is in Taurus, the mode of speech, thought, and inquiry, is influenced deeply by the qualities of the earth-bull.
Taurus cares so much about what is right, and what may physically endure. The solidity of the bull itself is a powerful reminder of this zodiac sign’s forthright, powerful nature. Stubbornness abounds here, but that’s because Taurus wants to take her time considering each option, each possibility, in search for what is most harmonious, and again, what will yield the most stable result.
Also prized by Taurus is the experience of the body, as Venus heightens the senses here. Much information, when Mercury is in Taurus, will be filtered through sensory experience. Mercury in Taurus wants to engage with and understand matters first-hand, and this sign placement is rigorous in their philosophical engagement. All of this to be able to endorse, explore, and explain the world with a sense of personally held confidence.
Taurus is the sign of dedication, and in spite of a slowness there is a sense of duty and responsibility here that is unmatched by other Mercury placements. Having this placement in your natal chart may suggest an affection for practicality, and a sarcastic wit. Interestingly, one of the characteristics of this placement is having a beautiful or otherwise notable voice for speaking and singing. The artistic impulse of Venus courses through you in your communication style.
Mercury Retrograde and Magical Sympathy
Image via Vox.com
When Mercury stations retrograde, there is always a tidal wave of online chatter about the pitfalls and dangers of this astrological time. In a way, I understand—so much of our world functions and flows as a direct result of Mercury. Living in a highly technological, information heavy age, Mercury tends to dominate in terms of the energetic focus of our days, where we spend time texting, emailing, posting, reaching out, inquiring, traveling in big and small ways, delivering information to one another at work, receiving information constantly, buying, selling, and perhaps most Mercurial of all, meme-ing. Mercury really is everywhere.
From an astrological standpoint, Mercury and his fellow planets are perceived as moving retrograde, or “backwards,” at certain points in their cyclic interaction with Earth. At particular points in the Mercury-Earth cycle, due to planetary speed, it appears to us that Mercury is actually moving backwards in the sky, rather than forwards. This is an optical trick, but is nevertheless relevant to astrologers.
The concept of sympathy, the idea that there are inherent connections between the macro and microcosm, governs our astrological doctrine. We are all likely familiar with the phrase, “As above, so below, as within, so without,” a quote from the Emerald Tablet, a famous Hermetic text. Put simply, astrologers posit that what we observe in the macrocosm, in the sky and starry firmament, mirrors, suggests, and influences that which occurs “down below,” here on Earth.
To be an ancient astrologer gazing up at the night sky, and observe that Mercury was positioned slightly behind where you last observed him, may have presented cause for concern. Based on the doctrine of sympathy, this may have reflected that matters under Mercury’s purview— commerce, travel, and message transmission—would also move “backwards” in their own way. It was an unlucky time for those matters, and that is still the belief we hold about Mercury retrograde today.
Working with Mercury Retrograde in Taurus
I invite us to imagine, while Mercury is retrograde in Taurus, that we are all gardeners tending to our raised beds. Rather than this being a time of seed planting for the future, we are doing a bit of foundational work, using our tools to turn over and aerate the soil that we laid down in anticipation of spring.
We’re pulling back the earth, in search of things we may have missed, things that might impact the health and vitality of our future garden beds. This Mercury retrograde, in the earth sign of Taurus, is an opportunity to go back and weed out anything lost or forgotten, so that when Mercury moves direct, we can plant proper seeds and watch our fruits and flowers go wild.
In particular, I invite us to return to old conversations, thoughts, ideas, conclusions, arguments, around material matters. Topics of security via money or security in relationships may come up. This might be a fortunate time to return to old art projects, pieces of writing about aesthetics, or other creative endeavors left to languish on hard-drives or forgotten easels.
Mercury retrograde in Taurus gives us the chance to remember important pieces of our earth-perception, to reconnect with neglected expressions of embodiment. Yes, our texts and emails may go a bit sideways, and if that happens, we should take this as a sign that it is time to slow our pace, deepen our breath, and strive for a more Taurean earth connection.
Questions for Contemplation
Observing your own natal chart, what house has its cusp in Taurus, and what topic, therefore, may be activated? Take note of themes that pop up around this house for the next few weeks.
Do you have planets between 1° - 20° Taurus? If so, Mercury retrograde will directly activate this piece of your psyche. Planets that are in fixed signs in those degree positions will be squared (or opposed, if in Scorpio). Take note.
What is one way you wish you could more gently, but directly, express your sense of values and personal truth?
What does it mean to be present in your body, and how does your own mind-body relationship either support or perhaps hinder that presence?
What is coming up for re-evaluation at this time around the topics of security, sustenance, and dedication?
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