Mercury Retro on this one’s Mars-Uranus
Oh, happy blessed opportunity to recognize and express heretofore-unseen-yet-necessary boundaries!
When Mercury was rxing right over my 1st-house Mars yesterday, I was aflame with the need to express some statements of fact about my constitution, limits, boundaries and the particular contours of my developing sense of personal will to a few folks. I was, admittedly, a little emotional about it. A friend who was present said, “You were sort of off the charts, emotionally speaking.” And she was right - I felt filled with fire, the need to assert my boundaries.
The charge melted away significantly when I reminded myself a bit later that it’s one’s ongoing (& evolutionary) job (argh, but I mean opportunity) to gain and maintain awareness of Martian issues, especially if one has the red planet with Uranus, the planet of sudden change, disruption and differentiation in the 1st house…and square the nodes (indicating that there is a new way the energies must be understood, which is done through making different choices than are habit). Some folks see this conjunction in Libra and think it’s probably toned down in the sign of the diplomat, but it’s toned down only when it’s afraid to really express itself, when it’s hesitant to make waves - and only until the pressure to express has reached boiling point, and then it seems to need to explode.
The user’s manual for this conjunction includes a chapter on preventative maintenance, a proactive scanning of the contents of the closet into which some self-assertion urges are sometimes stuffed so that a much-desired Venusian sense of social harmony, balance and proportion may be maintained. The evolutionary challenge of the placement, then, is to learn moderation of self-assertion and -individuation, to experience directly the cliche of enlightened self-interest while staying within relationship - no slashing and burning is healthy for one with this combo.
Keeping this in mind, I connected telephonically with the friend of mine who runs the group I was participating in, my experience in which triggered my need to assert the ol’ boundaries. I did what I could to frame what I was saying in the interests of the fact that I’ve appreciated the space she very intentionally creates the group to offer, and have benefitted from greatly - that I appreciate the opportunity she through it has offered. And my need to assert boundaries has nothing to do with her or the group - it simply offers the opportunity for me to see something about myself that can use some attention.
I may not return to the group, but I seem to have communicated in a fairly reasonable way what I needed to say. And this is the work of Mercury retroing over a 1st-house Mars. Between you and me, I’m giving myself a little gold star for coming out of the emotional imperative of the angry response and recovering my sense of honoring the opportunity I’ve had and have, and not making anyone else wrong for the parameters and feel of my experience.
Also, I’m having a Juno return today, the asteroid being natally less than a degree off my 2nd house Scorpio Sun-Lucifer conjunction. I’ve been working on the chapter on Hera (the earlier, Greek version of Juno) in Christine Downing’s fullyexciting and rad book about the mythological feminine (The Goddess: Mythogical Images of the Feminine, Continuum: 2000), in which she treats (among other things) the projections of Hera onto Zeus, her husband. With the Sun in Scorpio, Mercury retroing in late Libra, and Juno in mid-Scorpio, it seems an appropriate time for any of us to evaluate our projections and take back some shadow self stuff. This is an oportunity for anyone, yet especially anyone with strong Libra, Scorpio or Juno placements.
Tom is available for consultations and lessons. See http://tdjacobs.com for more information and to book a consultation.
Leave a Reply
October 28, 2007 By Tom Jacobs