If you’re following along with astrology these days you might think you are weary of so many retrograde planets, and now Mercury comes along to join the fray. Outer planets are retrograde for much of each year. But this year, 2020 we also have Venus retrograde (now) and Mars to come (September – November). Last month Venus Jupiter and Saturn all went retrograde within days of each other. Astrological front page news! What it seems to mean is that we are on shaky ground (no surprise) and we can’t really tell where we are  headed. As Mercury adds the trickster touch we have two choices (as they often say..) We can panic, feel out of sorts, and worry anxiously about things we can’t control or we can do something else. We can tune in to the fact that Mercury is retrograde in Cancer and that is a sign of security. We can think about what makes us secure and insecure. We can think about what we can and can’t do about this. Most importantly we can do what we can to help those we resonate with feel more secure. That might be about your family but it may also be about people suffering in a particular way that calls to you; homelessness, food insecurity, children, women, refugees; the list is as long as the circumference of the earth. The trick, if there is one is to stay afloat. Not to drown in problems but to reasonably consider what you have available that might nourish someone. Maybe you have heard the parable of the long spoons. In each of two locations people are given access to food, but the utensils are too unwieldy to serve oneself with. In hell the people cannot cooperate, and consequently starve. In heaven,  the diners feed one another across the table and are sated.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegory_of_the_long_spoons

As Mercury journeys through its retrograde phase it will make only one strong aspect to another planet which is a square to Mars on July 8. This is easily a time of contention. Choose your battles. No tilting at windmills. It will also conjunct the Sun as it always does when retrograde, June 30^th. An excellent day to listen and see what messages call to you from the deep. 

Mercury will go direct on July 12^th  as the Sun trines Neptune. A good day to move ahead with a sense of how you can care for those around you as well as yourself. By this time Venus will be moving away from whatever her retrograde lessons were and Mars will be moving into to his. Mercury direct suggests that it’s time to see what gives.

Warm regards, 

Julie