Mercury in Leo, July 31st to August 14th - "An Eloquent Mind"

Tarot's card for Leo (of course) comes from
"Steampunk Tarot"© by
Barbara Moore and Aly Fell

Mercury in Leo is an eloquent mind, so pay attention, my friends, because this is an important transit for moving your life forward. Mercury’s intellect and communications skills combine with the lion’s charismatic leadership, making us virtually unstoppable. There’s a boldness, a passion and a natural presumption of success accompanying this transit. Mercury foregoes pure analytical thought to go with gut instinct. Idealism is our friend and we seek each and every one of our opportunities with a dramatic zest for living.

Leo loves center stage and Mercury in Leo is the consummate performer. People born with this transit prominently in their chart have a pleasing personality, effortlessly drawing people to their side. The next two weeks is an optimal time for presenting yourself if a favorable way. Schedule appointments with those tough clients you’ve been avoiding. Send out your resume. Dust off your portfolio and get your presentation ready. You have the answers to people’s dilemmas so get out in front of them with your knowledge and your creative approach. Persuasion is your middle name right now, so what are you waiting for?

As with everything, there is a yin to this yang and Mercury in

The Magician represents Mercury. Shown
here from "Wizard's Tarot" by Corrine Kenner
and John J. Blumen

Leo can influence us towards arrogance if we are operating a little left or right of center. Leo’s ‘performer’ gene can cause us to become opinionated and devalue the contributions of other members of our family or team. We have lots of planetary influences in Leo currently (Sun, Jupiter, Mercury, Lilith See blog: Sun in Leo), so guard against Leo’s confidence mutating into less desirable attitudes such as arrogance, or egocentricity. We all live on this planet together and no single person or group of people is the ‘whole show,’ regardless of their opinion on the matter.

Mercury’s transit of Leo it an excellent time to push your goals to the next level. Think of it as that summer growth spurt before things start bearing fruit for autumn’s harvest. Opportunities are what you make of them and when properly used, transits like this one give substance to your hopes and dreams.

LADY ORACLE

Mercury Retrograde in Scorpio, October 21, to November 10, 2013 “Taking the Sting Out of Retrograde”

#13, Death or Transformation is
Scorpio's tarot card. From
"Wizard's Tarot" © by Corrine Kenner and
John J. Blumen

There’s been lots of online discussion about the ‘shadow periods’ for Mercury Retrograde (two weeks before and two weeks after the actual retrograde period) and some speculation that we’ve been feeling the effects of this Mercury Retrograde in Scorpio since October 1st.  Some experts say we’ll continue to feel these effects all the way through the end of November.  Is this a particularly strong retrograde cycle for Mercury?  Perhaps, but also a great deal of the buzz may come from the fact that both Mercury and the Sun will be in Scorpio for most of this timeframe.

People get a little jumpy around Scorpions. No doubt its that whole stinger thing.  Cross a Scorpion and prepare to be stung to death, or so the story goes. That’s not necessarily true, but if that’s what you perceive as truth, then definitely a retrograde in Scorpio is going to freak you out.  Here’s the reality. We have so much other stuff occurring this October (see blog: Astrological Trends for October 2013 ) that Mercury Retrograde is just a blip on the GPS. Shadow or no shadow, we’re in a major ramp up for the Uranus Pluto Square going direct on November 1st and in my opinion Mercury Retrograde has just become one of our best friends.

Mercury Retrograde in Scorpio (hereafter referred to as MR

#1, The Magician, is Mercury's tarot card.
He controls all the elements of his world.
From "Wizards Tarot"© by Corrine Kenner
and John J. Blumen

or MRS, because typing all those letters is getting annoying) offers us a chance to reexamine motivations – ours and everyone else’s.  Scorpions fly by the seat of their pants and MR is handled best with spontaneity.  Also the effects of MR are caused by a general slow down and reversal of Mercury’s energy.  Mercury controls communications, transportation, as well as intellectual pursuits.  With the energy from this lunar cycle ( see blog : Full Hunter's Moon in Aries  )  and the UP Square (can’t use UPS for obvious reasons) we need a breather and MRS fills the bill as long as we use this time to review, revise, revisit and restructure our plans, our strategies and our lives.

The 8th House of the Zodiac is ruled by Scorpio.  While many would say, ‘enter at your own risk,’ others would tell you that this is where the serious transformation energy is stored. Come on in – the water’s fine.  MRS is about rechecking the trajectory of your goals and retooling what doesn’t work.  You want to be a new and shinier you?  This is where it happens, folks.  You can use MRS to revise and retune the grand plan for your life and Scorpio can help.  Will it be a challenge? Sure.  Saturn is in Scorpio right now, but you can still use that great transformative energy from Scorpio and the downtime you get from Mercury to go over your internal notes and make revisions.  MRS says let go of grudges and projections now and 2014 will come in on a high note.   

Here are links to my past blogs that gives you good information on dealing with the effects of Mercury Retrograde.

Mercury Retrograde, Tarot and You

Mercury in Scorpio September to December 2013

LADY ORACLE  

"Wizard's Tarot"© is available for purchase through Lady Oracle Tarot.