Mercury Retrograde, the Solar Eclipse and Me

Everyone seems to be talking about it so I will throw in my two cents as well. The world is abuzz with excitement over tomorrow's total solar eclipse scheduled to occur about 3:17pm (peak time) where I live in western Pennsylvania. Being the astrology nerd that I am, I tend to look at these phenomenons from a different perspective. Sure, I am looking forward to watching the moon step in between the earth and the sun and I have my "smoky glasses" as Virginia Woolf called them almost a century ago, to survey the event safely, but I'm more interested in how this eclipse will affect me, my life, and the people I love. So naturally, I look at my birth chart.

The inner ring shows my natal chart and the outer ring shows the planet placement at the time of the solar eclipse. Notice the 3 glyphs in the lower left portion of the outer ring - each at 19 degrees. That's the Sun, Moon and Chiron.

Tomorrow, at the time of the solar eclipse, we will be experiencing the New Moon in Aries blocking the light of the Sun (also in Aries) for a short period of time. This eclipse is further pronounced by another planetoid, Chiron (the Wounded Healer) occupying the same degree as the Sun and Moon....19 degrees 24 minutes of Aries. This is significant to me personally as this stellium of Sun, Moon and Chiron is stationed directly opposite my natal Libra Sun.

So what does all this mean? To me, it means that my energy (the Sun) is being diminished by the Dark Moon only to be magnified by Chiron, the Wounded Healer. Think of Chiron as the Therapist of the Universe who is here to announce that self-care is of the utmost importance right now. Do you think it's a mere coincidence that for the past week I've been nursing a cold virus in my body and I actually feel a bit worse today, the day before the eclipse? The way I see it is that my energy, my life force is being eclipsed. I feel tapped out. Yes, I know that this too shall pass and my get up and go will return, but for now, I can't ignore this relationship between how my mind and body feel to what is going on in the cosmos.

This is how my mind thinks. It makes connections between that which we believe is outside of us (sun, moon and stars) to what is happening inside of us or to us here on earth. Perhaps what we see as other-worldly is merely a reflection of humankind.

With respect to Mercury Retrograde (or Rx in astrology talk), I have learned to pay attention each time this event comes around, occurring 3-4 times per year and lasting about 3 weeks or so. Mercury is the planet of communication; therefore, I do anticipate snafus in my personal communications with others. I expect my computer to not obey my directives and we both have tantrums over it. I expect travel delays and being late for appointments. I'm learning to just roll with it and laugh when Mercury, the Trickster makes his mischief.

Additionally, I am welcoming these few weeks as a time to take a step back and look at my life. What in my life needs my attention? Where in my chart is Mercury traveling? This can also help me to ascertain where to place my focus. For me, Mercury is currently traveling through my 2nd House. So this would be a good time for me to review my finances and what I value including my own self-worth.

Mercury Rx always invites us to go within, to not force life to go the way you want. In the last few years, I have adopted a practice of re-reading books that I love. I've noticed with the second or even third times reading a book, I find new information, something I missed on the first go-round. If you're a writer like me, Mercury Rx is a great time to review and rework a piece you've forgotten about or stuffed in a drawer because you were frustrated and didn't know what to do with it. The other day I found a poem that I wrote years ago but never finished. All it needed was an older version of me to read it with some newfound wisdom that helped finish the piece.

Mercury is also in the sign of Aries right now. Aries wants to be first. It's energy is immediate, right now. It's impulsive, direct and bold. With Mercury in Aries in its retrograde phase, we are being asked to take a moment. Just wait. Don't send that email or post that photo before thinking (Mercury governs the mind) about it one more time.

As I was finishing up this post, my computer flashed a message that it "encountered a technical issue." Then it asked me to reload my browser. I held my breath and prayed that my text would still be intact. All is well. Autosave is turned on. Whew! This was a true Mercury Retrograde moment.

If all of this talk about the eclipse and such has dulled your shine, take heart. The total solar eclipse will last for literally a few minutes tomorrow and Mercury will station direct on or about April 25th.

The Long and Short of It

I've been experimenting with writing longer poems lately. While I still enjoy writing a poem using the Magnetic Poetry Tiles, those poems take a long time to create even though they are rather short. One of the groups I belong to regularly features a writing portion of our meetings where we are given a few writing prompts to choose from then 15 minutes to write. Afterward, since we are on Zoom, the facilitator places us in random groups of 3 or 4 people and we read our writing to each other. I love hearing what the other group members write especially when we use the same prompt. These particular writing sessions leave me writing prose, but most of what lands on the page wears a poetic cloak so to speak. The prompt "I remember..." resulted in the following new poem.

I Remember

 I remember like it was yesterday.

The first time I saw you

I was walking down Market Street

And you were walking into the bank

Dressed in a suit and a top coat.

You said Hi to me and I replied,

Good morning!

It was afternoon.

I remember how embarrassed I felt afterwards

Hoping you didn’t catch my mistake.

I remember the first time we had a real conversation.

It was at the coffee house.

A local musician was strumming his guitar

And singing something I can’t remember, but

All I can remember is your black track pants

With white stripes down the sides.

You had just come from the gym.

I remember that we knew some of the same people

Or their siblings because

We went to the same high school, but

You were six years older than me.

I remember being curious about you.

You had your own business in town.

You also liked espresso, Italian food and traveling.

And music.

You liked Jazz, Latin and Big Band.

I remember that you were a drummer and a percussionist.

I was always attracted to musicians.

I remember not admitting to myself that I was attracted to you.

But like a stalker, I drove to your house one Tuesday night and

Discovered you lived in the nicest house on the street.

I remember not telling anyone I drove to your house,

Not even my best friend.

I remember one afternoon in March 2013.

I was at a funeral home with my mother when I got your message

Inviting me to a group dinner at Lidia’s.

I remember being excited to go out with the group, but

On that night, March 22nd, the other 4 people bailed

Divinely orchestrating our first date.

I remember saying in the car how nice we both looked.

I wore a new dress from Macy’s and

A Donna Karan raincoat I got for Easter that Spring.

I remember meeting Lidia Bastianich at the restaurant and

You even took our photo!

I remember that our table wasn’t ready and

You asked me if I’d like to try some grappa.

I remember it burned as it slid down my throat,

Italian moonshine, you remarked.

I remember excusing myself during dinner and

Texting my best friend

That I was on the best grown-up date of my life

And I hope it never ends.

True story, by the way.

March 2013/Photo of me with chef Lidia Bastianich taken at her restaurant which is sadly no longer in Pittsburgh. I had her autograph the photo during

a later visit to the restaurant.

Still Not the Ocean

The other day I had all my Magnetic Poetry tiles laid out before me hoping that I'd be inspired to write a new poem. I stared at my blank cookie sheet for quite awhile when I was happily interrupted by a call from a friend. I told her of my writer's block and she suggested that I close my eyes, point to a tile on one of my surrounding cookie sheets (there are many, I must confess) and choose a word to use for a writing prompt. After we finished our phone call, I took her suggestion a wee bit further and blindly selected a few words. My imagination took off.

The photo below depicts the resulting poem, Still Not the Ocean. With closed eyes, the words my finger pointed to were still, protect, dance, peach, green, use and metaphor.

Today, with the Moon in Pisces and the Sun in Aquarius, I wanted to share this particular poem. The sign of Pisces governs the ocean, art and poetry while Aquarius embraces that which is artistic and unique.