Mercury Retrograde in Sagittarius: Refresh your Ideas

1) Mercury Retrograde in Capricorn and Sagittarius

2) Triggering the Aspects

3) Is Mercury really that Bad in Sagittarius?

4) Reflections on Sagittarius

5) Fictional Sagittarians

6) Famous Sagittarians

 

1) Mercury Retrograde in Capricorn and Sagittarius

Here comes the merry-go-round again and Mercury is about to go retrograde on December 13^th. 

Retrograde Mercury is so frequent we should be used to it by now, but it is still better to check the time line as it looks like a double down review and where we need to click refresh on all our ideas. It starts at 8° of Capricorn on the 13th December,  and then moves back to 22° of Sagittarius by January 2, 2024. That means it crosses the Galactic centre. Time to revise plans and projects is always useful but this time could be an audit of which ideas and beliefs are real and which are ‘disinformation-filled’ junk. This retrograde is time to offload the inauthentic and counterfeit selves that are layered upon us by tradition and society, and are not really ours. Be your honest self as Sagittarius would suggest, but we need to do it carefully sifting through the stew of influences from the media that present how we ‘should’ be, yet still we could learn to be more flexible and fluid in what we believe- just keeping the mind more open rather than closed. Fixed ideas are difficult to dislodge until the universe comes to kick us into action.

On the more personal level, check also where Mercury conjuncts any of your personal planets in Capricorn and Sagittarius as a story will be activated with each one which could be on the one hand serious and determined to use that executive function (Capricorn) or be more about the drive towards inspiration and the upliftment (Sagittarius). Any plans may have to be reviewed, but different perceptions are possible in this phase. You might entertain a few new ones that surprise you. Or you may revisit an idea from a book of philosophy or Metaphysics (Sag rules the Ninth House of higher learning and beliefs) that you only get the full realisation from it by revisiting and rereading on a deeper level.

With Mercury returning to Sagittarius too, pick up that blank-paged notebook and just start writing which I do annually around this time. Writing in any form is a useful therapy as the power to articulate any residual trauma is the first step towards healing. But get some other opinions before you make up your mind on any big decisions. And as always be discerning in filtering through the information – take a 360° viewpoint.

But also you could stare into a burning Yule log and you’ll soon be in a trance watching the flames reach upwards and the wood flakes disintegrate and all your dreamy thoughts will surface. This is similar to candle gazing.  If you have a notebook handy, ready for you to start writing, then all the better.  It is a way of catching up on thoughts when life goes so fast to capture it well.

• Was there any splitting with anyone during 2023? That could be very common now.
• Have you fully absorbed the impact of any change to your circumstances?
• Did you have access to all the information? Probably not with a retrograde- it will only emerge once Mercury goes forward again in January so wait until then for big decisions.
• Do you have a different perspective now that you have taken on board all that you have learned?
• Are you so embedded in your beliefs that to change them is too painful? Maybe now is the time to  review slowly and take the more accepting Taoist attitude of it is what it is.

What you discover you thought through writing it out could be the very insight you need to take you forward once January comes. It will at the very least deepen our understanding of all that’s happened during 2023. Check the timeline for the dates when all this happens.

The last decan of Sagittarius 20-30° through which Mercury traverses in the modern triplicity is ruled by the Sun, but its ‘Face’ in traditional/Chaldean order is ruled by Saturn. The Sun is our monomyth, the personal story that urges us to develop and it takes us through the Winter Solstice period where if we are not too distracted by the food, drink, parties and family goodwill that turns to bickering, should be a time for deep pondering anyway. Neptune in Pisces has been squaring this decan for almost the whole year which may have resulted in energy draining away and feeling off centre for those with planets in the last ten degrees of Sagittarius.

The solstice on December 22nd is a major pivotal moment – a death and rebirth of the Sun as reaches its final point in the cycle and shifts backwards towards the equator. It is a very powerful archetypal time of year where in the Northern hemisphere we experience prolonged darkness and we go into hibernation mode and ancient stone circles resonate with these cyclical shifts.

This can mean that people born in this last decan from the 14th- 22nd December take on some qualities of Capricorn as well as those of Sagittarius and many of these would have planets conjunct the Galactic centre at 27° of Sagittarius, so for example Jean Genet, Edith Piaf and C.S. Lewis and Syd Barrett although he was a Capricorn.

The first decan of Capricorn covering the end of December is also ruled by Saturn in the modern and Jupiter in the Chaldean and bestows great organisational skills and an overlap with the expansion energies.

2) Triggering the Aspects

Mercury always moves so fast it’s hard to keep up with him, but here he does a ping back zipping across two signs. Plans will no doubt shift and be revised during this time- watch those flight and travel plans- as Mercury here affects all these areas: emails and communications lost or delayed, words misunderstood and so on.

But Mercury also aspects Saturn in Pisces and Jupiter in Taurus. While on its back track, it traverses the Galactic Centre at 27° of Sagittarius. That’s revisiting news that’s really ‘out there’ and challenges the old fixed viewpoints of what the universe is.  It does that on December 24^th. That happens with asteroid Psyche being just two degrees away at 29.°

December 2^nd Mercury in Capricorn sextiles Saturn in Pisces at 1° degree. That could bring a more disciplined mind for deep study with a determined edge to get the work finished.

Mercury Trines Jupiter at 6° on December 8th which brings a good feeling of being supported by hidden forces that we are meant to trust and that stays around until December 18th. That’s good for Taureans to be more expressive and articulate better. They are both in Earth signs at this point so it can lead to workable solutions and projects that are realised. But Jupiter is still retrograde in Taurus till Dec 30th.

Also, Mercury squares Neptune at 24° three times so watch for the story that unfolds. We never have all the facts and they take time to emerge. The final hit is in January when we might finally be done with that story and we’ll know the full details. Be aware of being deceived as Mercury here is the trickster along with the master of obfuscation Neptune. A lot of tall tales may be told masquerading as the truth. Be flexible and wait it out, don’t put your bets on anything until full disclosure is possible in the new year. so you won’t know about the truth, there may be more illusions to strip away as it returns to this point on January 8th

Neptune goes direct December 6^th so that is a big energy shift – and more confident access to our intuition, less confusion. The subtle influence of Neptune is very strong for the whole month. The new moon in Sagittarius  on December 12th is a time for Sagittarius natives to celebrate and make plans for 2024. But everyone can find where Sagittarius is in their personal charts and check the degree at 20°. It is super charged with the energy of visions and ideals yet there’s a caveat with Neptune square Mars, as there could be trickery and deception afoot and it is good to develop eyes that see through the fog.

Mercury conjuncts Mars on December 28th and if there is anything that points to a polarised argument it is this, with each person believing their point of view to be the only one. So much force and drive from Mars makes Mercury have the sharpest of tongues.

Jupiter goes direct on same degree as the eclipse 5° Taurus on December 30^th  and so the feeling of opportunities growing might begin to shift in your favour again, especially anyone with a strong Jupiter placement. It charts a course towards its meet up with Uranus in Taurus in April 2024.

 

3) Is Mercury really that bad in Sagittarius?

This is a whole other discussion, but relevant here since it’s a review of all that Sagittarius means and those born with sun in Sagittarius are most likely to also have Mercury there. The short answer to the question is Mercury really that bad in Sagittarius is ‘No’. But there’s a long answer too that defuses the common mantra which is trotted out with regularity.

Astrologers say that Mercury is in ‘detriment’ – they make it sound like a ‘bad boy’ scenario- or at least that it suffers there. And anyone with this placement might be jinxed into thinking this is fated. In quantum terms, nothing is ever that fixed, but it is probable, potential, depending on various mitigating factors. The word ‘detriment’ comes with a lot of negative associations. Astrological lore is that Mercury is out of its ‘domicile’ which is the opposite sign Gemini. The analogy used is that it is in a foreign land which is exactly the terrain that Jupiter loves, the joyousness of roaming around the world, bringing good will and seeing the ‘holistic’ picture. But Mercury – Hermes in his original Greek guise- was pretty adventurous, mischievous, extremely resourceful, he could steal or lie as needed like it was a fun thing to do.

He could walk backwards to cover his tracks, and is not afraid to go anywhere, even into the underworld and back in his ‘psychopomp’ aspect, so it always seemed to me that, unless there are other configurations pointing to a depletion of its energy, Mercury performs just as well in Sagittarius as it would in any other sign. But it might just be inactive through lack of effort to develop potential, or Mercury is pressured to bring out a few of his tricks and demonstrate his dexterous skills.

It all depends on what the Sagittarian native does with the energy, how they make use of its presence and the way with words that works best in that sign. If you say that a person with Mercury in Sagittarius will be challenged to be a good writer, perhaps they rose to that challenge anyway. Among the list of writers born late November and in December there are several great Satirists and wits: Horace, Jonathan Swift, Laurence Sterne, Mark Twain, Noel Coward and Winston Churchill was known for his mastery of word delivery but in his case that Mercury was in Scorpio so it had added sting. There’s Jane Austen, Gustave Flaubert, George Elliot, C.S. Lewis, Shirley Jackson, Philip K. Dick, and even Bram Stoker.

In Stoker’s case his sun was in Scorpio so not a Sagittarian, but his Mercury was in Sagittarius. It is true that he did have a prolonged difficulty with writing that could have been related to dyslexia- the Mercury was square to Saturn. The drafts of ‘Dracula’ were confused and revisions were numerous, but the power of the book once it was published is indisputable. Jane Austen had Mercury in Sagittarius and she is number one author most beloved by the British reading public. She has a moral tone, but with a light comedic touch, revealing a fondness for her incorrigible characters  who are not judged, just chastised. People adore that but the skill in the writing is evident, crisp and cool with no wasted words on the page.

I have this placement too and feel there is definitely a bit of cognitive dissonance here and struggle to be understood when the attempt to say the impossible begins. Wasn’t it the Queen in Alice Through the Looking Glass who practised thinking of at least six impossible things before breakfast? But there’s something reductive in saying that Mercury is badly placed in Jupiter’s house.  When challenged to express to left-brain centred listeners the voice of the right brain, people pull out the stops to overcome the difficulties with words and phrases, and their deeper qualities eventually shine through. What natives with this placement have to do is not let the  message be lost in the words, or by jumping around from topic to topic. It’s the triumph of wisdom over intellect and integrating all that you know which the Mercury retrograde of 2023 may allow you to do,, with more revision time.

To say Mercury is automatically ‘bad’ to a client is moot, as he is so equivocal. Plus words have incredible power – they act as spells to create illusions in the mind. They are the essence of what’s ‘Mercurial’ which by its nature is hard to pin down. He just keeps slipping through the fingers. Every placement has some benefits, but they do need to be strategically activated. They just may not be so obvious and may need as in every hero’s journey, to be called upon  like a magic sword in the hour of need.

So whether Mercury is challenged or not, depends on the effort of the native to see their way through the obstacles. As they say with jokes  ‘‘it’s the way you tell ’em‘ that matters, not the joke itself.

Those who struggle harder to express themselves work harder, for longer, and eventually reach greater heights. One perfect astrological example is the work of Johfra Bosshart, born 15/12/1919 with his sun in Sagittarius, Saturn in Virgo lending an industrious ability to toil, Jupiter and Pluto in Leo but he had his Mercury in Sagittarius at 2°.  But it was square to Uranus.

He described his own work as “Surrealism based on studies of psychology, religion, the Bible, astrology, antiquity, magic, witchcraft, mythology and occultism.”

He belonged to a group of ‘Metarealists’ who were not that popular for a long time, but what’s fascinating is that he had a triple conjunction of asteroids Psyche and Eros the eternal lovers together and Pallas Athene, the strategist, all in Aquarius.

Mercury conjunct Venus in Sagittarius produces explosions of fiery virtuosity as with Jimi Hendrix playing guitar like no one else ever could.  Others like George Elliot, Georges Seurat had this conjunction near their sun in Sagittarius as well as Nicki Minaj who uses her physicality as a female with enhanced breasts and butt to deliver the message.

And Mercury conjunct the Galactic centre produced a singer like Edith Piaf whose guttural and emotional delivery of songs spoke to the entire world. The Galactic centre taps in to all that is transpersonal and super charges it with energy aligned directly to the centre point of the Milky Way that is beyond this solar system. Non, Je ne regrette rien would be a good anthem for the Sagittarian as they sometimes blame themselves as much as others, but this song packs a punch.

4) Reflections on Sagittarius.

As with all zodiac signs, if you hold a mirror up to a particular sign’s qualities and attributes there’s a spectrum from light to dark. But Sagittarius is generally a positive energy: they have goodwill extended to all, the fiery restlessness, wanting to go somewhere, the love of learning and adventure, their sense of fun, their vigorous grasp on life and on worldly matters equal to their knowledge of spiritual matters. They have generosity of spirit, a sense of fairness and justice and don’t usually judge people too harshly unless the Sagittarian native is overly ideologically minded and have not developed beyond that yet. They are as likely to tell you a raucous story or rude joke  as to tell you off, so you are in  good company with a Sagittarian as a friend.

 

But on the other side of the spectrum there’s the ‘foot in mouth’ reputation, the occasional bluntness, the social awkwardness, the proselytising, moralising, holier-than-thou attitude at times, which is the shadow side of this archetype. Sagittarians can be the wiseacres, the ultimate know-it-alls who have been-there-done-that,  and even some of them tend towards fundamentalism. But most have achieved some sense of balance in this regard -their symbolic Tarot card is Temperance – and have the measure of their youthful excesses and age well if they draw from the wisdom of vast experience. The reason they are honest is that they respect the truth above all else, and can’t stand any fakery, so to most that is an ideal and those around them who are less authentic can be burned by being too close to the fire. Truth to them is a fragile thing in the empire and industry of lies.

But the worst thing you can do to a Sagittarian is to tell them what they already know as if it is new, and thereby expose how little you understand the way their minds work. There’s always a few books nearby on their fully stacked shelves as they tend to be voracious readers.

They are fast so it’s hard for others to keep up as their minds ruled by fire which is instant intuition. It’s masculine Yang style. They have Jupiter on their side. They are multi-faceted and on the the ball long before others get there. And when others do catch up,  the Sagittarians have already taken a great leap forwards into something new, something else preferably far in the distance. They have this visionary quality too where they can be prophetic about the future. So, while they can be fun to be around, they can also be alarming as this is turbo-charged energy that sees around corners.

There’s a new moon in Sagittarius on December 12^th which is time for Sagittarians to make your wishes for an ideal world. Everything germinates in the imagination. Whatever you think of now could push you forward in what inspires you as Sagittarius always is mind-expanding and brings the higher perspective and Mars is there just behind the sun to provide the energy. You could have your best ideas now if you have faith in them. But Mercury is square to Neptune at this point  so watch out for feeling foggy and weird.

5) Fictional Sagittarians

While there are no natal charts to study, it can still be a fun thing to do to speculate on what sign a fictional character is. They often bear very clearly cut traits that match a zodiac sign. But by its nature opinions could vary widely and involved educated guesswork. Bear in mind that some characters from fiction have their very own museums like Sherlock Holmes.  Fictional characters can appear more real than imaginary in the minds of readers- they take on archetypal form and move in the deeper realms of the mind. The fictional characters who embody Sagittarian qualities have that ‘larger than life’ spirit. Here are a few candidates:

• The gigantic appetite of Pantagruel in Rabelais’s master work Gargantua and Pantagruel can be gross and over the top which is very Sagittarian.
• Shakespeare’s Falstaff, the  hugely popular friend of Prince Hal, must have been a Sagittarian with his fondness for hanging out with petty criminals and love of buffoonery.
• Gulliver, the ultimate traveller-seeker, in Gulliver’s Travels -and Jonathan Swift the author was in fact a Sagittarian, who better to write a satirical quest narrative.
• The character of Candide in Voltaire’s satire of the man who believed in ‘The Best of all Possible Worlds’ but never finding it is most likely a Sagittarian being such an unshakeable optimist.
• Elizabeth Bennett in Pride and Prejudice is a probably Sagittarian just like her creator Jane Austen and Elizabeth is even shown feisty with a bow and arrow- doing some archery, the classic Sagittarian symbol of aiming and firing towards a goal – in this case a rich husband.
• Mister McCawber with his cod-philosophy of money and debt, in Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield, is he a scoundrel or a good friend, it is hard to say?
• Tom Bombadil, who welcomed the hobbits into his home, nourished them and set them up for their first steps on the hero’s journey, is very Sag-like in Tolkein’s Lord of the Rings.
• Herman Hesse’s Damien has Sagittarian qualities in his youthful quest for gnostic and theological truth through real life experience that challenges morality.

We can recognise Jupiter acting like some fairy godfather in each of these characters as Sagittarius is ruled by the larger than life planet. Jupiter brings many blessings, a good deal of laughs, some opportunities to grow  personally along with a few tears of excess.

6) Famous Sagittarians

It is well known that Sagittarians make great teachers, lawyers, performers, comedians, artists, philosophers, leaders and musicians.  One of the fathers of modern ‘art history’ was a Sagittarian – Johan Joachim Winckelmann. And even with Mercury in Sagittarius, they make great writers too. So that runs the gamut. So this is a comprehensive round up just in case you missed how multi faceted this zodiac sign actually is, its range is wide. Top of the list are the giants like William Blake who straddles poetry, art and mysticism, and Ludwig Beethoven whose work is monumental and will still be listened to in hundreds of years. But there was  also Oliver Messiaen who composed music  La Constellation du Sagittaire which was his zodiac sign.

But Sagittarians are known as clowns and make good comedians perhaps because they know life is so serious.  There’s Noel Coward whose wit was sharp and worldly wise. Then there is Sammy Davis Junior and Rodney Dangerfield.  Whatever you think of Woody Allen, his films have made the ultimate statement in comi-tragedy. But also there’s Bette Midler, Margaret Cho, and in the UK, TV personality, Miranda Hart. Bill Hicks has that edge in humour as he spoke out beyond the matrix- his monologues pushed the boundaries of what was funny incorporating philosophical thoughts. See the quote below.

Sagittarians make great magicians like Franz Bardon.  He was much less known than Aleister Crowley, but nevertheless regarded as one of the most important occultists of the 20th Century, and still we have Dion Fortune, let’s not forget, who was actually Sagittarian and an acute psychologist. Also the person who taught Crowley how to do yoga and brought Buddhism to the West, Allan Bennett. For a modern Sagittarian ‘magician’ look to Uri Geller. Needless to say Sagittarians also make great astrologers like Robert Hand, Nik Kollerstrom and Karen Hamaker-Zondag and these are only the known charts.

Dec 2nd, is the birthday of Britney Spears, who in spite of her wobbly personality is still much loved and, when on form, delivers the goods as a performer. But so many Sagittarian singers. Note also Christine Aguilera, Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, and Nicki Minaj- who all love to perform. But before them some of the greats of old include Frank Sinatra, Dionne Warwick and thunder thighs (Sagittarius is linked to the thighs) herself, Tina Turner who became the ultimate Buddhist fulfilling the yearnings of her spiritual nature.

There are also some oddball singers Little Richard, Frank Zappa, Ted Nugent and Tom Waits, and there are two outstanding opera stars Maria Callas, whose voice no one can match, and Jose Carreras.

Sagittarians can even be great hedonistic crazies who go off-piste from time to time, but are still entertaining. There’s Jim Morrison of the Doors, Ozzy Osbourne of Black Sabbath, Jay-Z and wild man Billy Idol. Some Sagittarians in this category can come across with a certain edgy swagger like Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones.

Then there are philosopher teachers, scholars, leaders and gurus like Osho, Bruce Lee and B.K.S. Iyengar also embody many quintessentially Sagittarian traits as ultimate teachers all offering some form of physical practice- yoga and martial arts-which marries the higher and lower self. Iyengar said ‘my body is my temple and the asanas are my prayers’ but he also as a true Sagittarian said ‘honesty is essential’ in teaching. With his Mercury in Sagittarius, he can be sometimes difficult to understand when speaking. But there’s also classic wiseacre, Noam Chomsky, who functions in dual areas as linguistic philosopher and political activist; and there’s the author who popularises ‘Life School’ philosophy, Alain de Botton.

Then we have the artists and painters from Masaccio, to Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Jan Toroop to Lucien Freud and the ever controversial, Marina Abramovic. But one mention must go to French artist and teacher of painting, William Adolph Bougereau, His name was tarnished as being too traditional, not  being ‘modern’ enough by Picasso and the art gallery owners who ganged up against him and cast him into the margins of art history as an old fuddy duddy, but he was was as skilled and technically accomplished as any of the Renaissance painters, ran his own school and more hard working and prolific than any of the Impressionists or Post-Impressionists or Cubists.

Then we have the visionary Sci Fi writers  Philip K. Dick author of the stories that made it into film: Blade Runner, Minority Report and The Adjustment Bureau. Dick spoke of visions of the future that have if not come true, then are resonating widely. His imagination was as fertile as any and he worked at top speed even bringing downloads of Gnostic wisdom into novels like Valis. Also Arthur C. Clarke and C.S. Lewis were both Sagittarians. These are the big names in the field whose legacy remains strong.

And the film directors can’t be bigger: Fritz Lang, Stephen Spielberg and Ridley Scott who has directed some of the best known films in past decades and has just directed Napoleon. But working on a smaller, more intimate scale we should not ignore Woody Allen, John Cassavetes, and the lesser known Argentinian film director, Marco Berger.

And who is the most loved actress in the UK?  Yorkshire born, Dame Judi Dench as talented and versatile as any actress can be. But world renowned actors include Liv Ullman, John Malkovich, Christopher Plummer, Brad Pitt, Kim Basinger, Julianne Moore and Jake Gylenhaal, most of them known around the world not just in their home countries.

Finally the athletes. Sagittarius is a fully developed physical sign – the hybrid centaur- so we have runner Florence Griffiths-Joyner, Donovan Bailey, and Oscar Pistorius, and football player Kylian Mbappe, along with Tennis players Boris Becker and Monia Seles.

See who else you can recognise in the collage of famous Sagittarians and in the list.

And now to end with comedian Bill Hicks, a Sagittarian, capturing the essence of a daily thought in the minds of these fiery, idealistic spirits:

“The world is like a ride in an amusement park, and when you choose to go on it you think it’s real because that’s how powerful our minds are. The ride goes up and down, around and around, it has thrills and chills, and it’s very brightly colored, and it’s very loud, and it’s fun for a while.

Many people have been on the ride a long time, and they begin to wonder, “Hey, is this real, or is this just a ride?” And other people have remembered, and they come back to us and say, “Hey, don’t worry; don’t be afraid, ever, because this is just a ride.” And we … kill those people. “Shut him up! I’ve got a lot invested in this ride, shut him up! Look at my furrows of worry, look at my big bank account, and my family. This has to be real.” It’s just a ride. But we always kill the good guys who try and tell us that, you ever notice that? And let the demons run amok …

But it doesn’t matter, because it’s just a ride. And we can change it any time we want. It’s only a choice. No effort, no work, no job, no savings of money. Just a simple choice, right now, between fear and love. The eyes of fear want you to put bigger locks on your doors, buy guns, close yourself off. The eyes of love instead see all of us as one. Here’s what we can do to change the world, right now, to a better ride. Take all that money we spend on weapons and defenses each year and instead spend it feeding and clothing and educating the poor of the world, which it would pay for many times over, not one human being excluded, and we could explore space, together, both inner and outer, forever, in peace.”

If you think the world is accelerating towards a collective psychosis, you are not alone but it could be a  magnified reflection of our own fears. According to author Paul Levy to recognise that there’s a dream-like quality to reality is the first step to activating your creative higher self, and to use the Daimon- the inner genius or ‘higher’ self- is a way to counter the wetiko mind-blindness that appears to have become virulent in the world. This means taking a ‘quantum’ perspective and Sagittarius is at home with the quantum world and the weird and multiple perspectives and dimensions it brings to bear on the old solidified way of seeing reality.