Today Mercury stops at the final degree of Pisces, sign of the Dreamer and the Mystic. 29 degrees of Pisces...we might consider this to be the edge of the zodiac, if this wheel has an edge. This is the final space all of the planets must move through before they reach the newness that is Aries, the rebirth that is signified by the sign of the Ram.
But Mercury will not pass into this realm until the 17th of April. Mercury moves back, through the soft waters of Pisces, regressing into this pre-natal portion of the zodiac where imagination and merger reign, where the self aims to dissolves into the oneness.
This can be a foggy time for all of us.
Mercury is a planet that likes precision. Clear insight, orderly thought, and quick thinking are Mercury’s specialities and, in Pisces, Mercury finds himself traveling (backwards) through a world filled with soft edges, ambiguity, and emotion.
Every Mercury retrograde will bring us face to face with our communicative process. With the intersections of words and our thinking, with the means we use to relay information, with the processes we rely on for decision making. Every Mercury retrograde is a chance to learn something new that will help us break out of habitual patterns of thought and analysis. But Pisces exists in dimensions words cannot reach, where our analytical nature is truly a feeble navigator. The waters of Pisces flood through the clear definitions and perceptions we hold about ourselves, about life, and about reality.
What will we find as we move into these soft edges? This is not a time of black and white, of straightforward thinking or action. It’s not a month where direction is obvious. In fact, this Pisces season will be more otherworldly that usual, extra indecipherable, filled with the feelings and notions that come from something unseen.
It’s a time to listen. A time let this misty otherworld speak. It’s a time to be at peace with the disintegration, to be ok with the pause and the not-knowing. To allow the vague edges to exist and to learn our lessons about the discomfort we feel when faced with what is indefinite. Caution must also be used when dancing into the otherworld. Care must be taken to protect against those who use these soft spaces to mislead and manipulate. The mind is easily muddled by this dreamy state and, while this time can be a beautiful opportunity to engage the heart and to follow its guidance, the mushy chambers of the heart can also be easy targets for those who play the game of deception. When in doubt, let the belly take the lead. Move into the deep, strong core of yourself and be with the wisdom that lives there. And listen, really listen throughout this retrograde.