Mercury Retrograde in Taurus
Revaluation
Mercury Retrograde in Taurus 2023
At 9:59 am EST on Friday April 21 2023, Mercury will station retrograde at 15 degrees 35 minutes in the sign of Taurus. This particular retrograde season will allow us to assess and rethink our embodiment and our relationship with the material plane.
Taurus, being the fixed Earth sign, finds us firmly established in the material world. It is ruled by the Planet Venus. As such, it highlights what is most precious to us in terms of material things, our relationship to wealth, comfort and beauty. When Mercury retrogrades, our communicative impulses are invited to turn inward. The storied “miss communications” typical of Mercury Retrograde, arise from a lack of internal communication between our mental and material bodies. We can not communicate clearly with others if we are confused within. Mercury, being a lord of commerce and exchange as well as communication, instructs us to look within, take stock of our thoughts and beliefs before communicating these to others. This is especially important with regard to what we value in the material world. Mercury understands that resources: food, money, “valuables”, even time, exist in a context of exchange. But since we are in a Venus ruled sign, we can focus on what we truly value, in our selves and in the world around us, in order to strike the best possible “deal” within the “market” of embodied existence.
When Mercury stations retrograde this time around, it will be squarely in the middle of the second decan of Taurus. This decan is ruled by The Moon. The Moon governs long term patterns, memories and our relationship to the past. Values form over time. What we long for and what we dread are ruled by experience. Through repetition, our experiences crystallize into habits. We are willing to “pay” more for what we have come to think of as vital to our lives. But sometimes we might come to over value something that no longer serves or undervalue things that render services and goods that we fail to recognize. At such times we are called to form new values, literally reevaluate what we feel to be best and most beautiful. This retrograde season is a perfect time for this process occurring just after the New Moon.
Each of the 360 degrees of the zodiac is represented by Sabian Symbols. The symbol at 16 degrees of Taurus is an old teacher attempting to impart wisdom to indifferent students. The “old teacher” who stands at the retrograde station is our past, specifically, those moments when our values were formed. In Tarot, this decan as a whole is represented by the Six of Pentacles. In this card we see a wealthy person dispensing coins into the hands of kneeling beggars. He holds in his other hand a scale. Our lives are filled with “beggars”, things that demand a share of our resources, our families, jobs, spiritual practices, even the needs of our own bodies are in constant competition for our material resources: our money, energy, time, attention. All of these resources are limited by virtue of their materiality. We use a “scale” to weigh the demands of each thing against our general store of wealth. But sometimes our scales must be re-calibrated. Things that did not seem worthy of much of our resources in youth may be being under served now by decisions we made then. The opposite might also be true. During this Mercury retrograde, let us take time to test our scales and see if they are true to our present situation.
Mercury will station direct on May 14 between 5 and 6 degrees of Taurus, in the middle of the first decan. In Tarot, this decan is represented by the five of Pentacles. We see two ragged beggars making their way through night and snow. Behind them we see a church with golden light passing from within through windows decorated with pentacles. We see this church but the beggars either do not, or do not care to. Now WE are the beggars, in need of something. One of the deep teachings of this card is that the value that resides in material things is ultimately spiritual in nature. As it has been written, “Man does not live by bread alone”. Anything that we posses that can be counted as true wealth must ultimately answer our spiritual needs as well as our physical. If we do not use our treasure, our money, our time, talent, attention, to enrich our spiritual well being and that of those around us, our treasure becomes a burden that must be hauled around, hidden and protected, all at great cost. Yet far from being an influence that obscures and distracts us from the light of the spirit, that part of the material world which is ours to steward can become a vessel and vehicle that allows the spirit to become incarnate in the world.
It is said that the Suit of Pentacles has to do with the material conditions of our lives, our money, food, shelter, health, etc and it does represent all of these things but, at a deeper level, this suit is about structure. Structure is the pattern by which we understand and influence the distribution of material elements through space and time. This pattern can and does exist apart from any material elements. A patent, for example, dictates not only the specific tools and processes of an invention, but also, who will benefit from this pattern becoming manifest in the world. Contracts, even simple promises made between individuals, are specifications that structure and limit how things will play out in the material world. Marriage, religion, even corporate by laws are non material patterns that have the power to effect change in the material world. These ideas are spells, when we found a family, company, rock band or nation, we must first have in our minds a pattern which will bring elements of material reality into a specific alignment. Even money itself derives its value from a story we tell about it. Nothing has value apart from a story which situates things in relation to one another. A tradition is also a pentacle, even the “traditions” we form and call personal values are Pentacles in this sense, they structure the give and take we will have with the material world.
But sometimes these stories must be retold. All of our values were formed out of need. Perhaps we were in dire straits and needed money or security or status and were either ignorant of, or not in a position to haggle over the cost associated with fulfilling these needs. Or perhaps we struck a good bargain, a symmetry between meeting our needs and what we were willing to expend to meet them. Either way, times change and we grow. Our needs change and what we are willing to spend to meet them do likewise. During this mercury Retrograde season we can restructure our internal economy, examine our current needs and reassign value to those aspects of material reality which we expect to meet those needs.
We are assisted in this task by the fact that the first decan of Taurus is ruled by Mercury himself. Mercury is an interpreter of meaning and a master of commerce. Let your inner Mercury make a clear eyed assessment of your relationship with the material world and determine what aspects of it are worth your treasure, your time, energy, money, etc. Remember that Taurus is all about making and conforming to patterns but also about comfort and pleasure. What things bring comfort and pleasure? What do comfort and pleasure mean to you? Do they bring comfort and pleasure to your soul, the place whee spirit comes to dwell in matte? This is the perfect season to ask, and hopefully answer these questions.
Before I conclude I want to do a bit of house keeping. As I said, Mercury will station direct at about 6 degrees of Taurus on the 14th of May but it will not return to the place where it started (16 degrees of Taurus) until May 31. this period is known as the “post shadow” phase of the Mercury Retrograde season. I plan to take a little break from this “news letter” until then. This season finds me busy with gardens and other projects and I look forward to cultivating some Pentacles over the coming weeks. When I return, I will have a few more “Tales of Magik” to share.
Some of you may have noticed that I have not written an astrology of Tarot since my Pisces entry. I am considering doing a book length piece about this subject and, since there are so many interesting other things to talk about, I thought I’d hold off on any more such essays until I decide about the book. If anyone would be interested in reading such a book, please let me know.
Meanwhile, use this Mercury Retrograde season to as full an extent as you can manage. Mercury Retrogrades get a lot of bad press but they are, in reality, a precious gift – a chance to develop insight in key areas of life.
Take care
See you in June.