STARFIRE

May 2010

May 2010- Mercury’s Station in Changing Times
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Mercury's Station in Changing Times

Mercury makes its direct station on May 11, but Mercury’s movement isn’t the most important astrological news this month. It’s difficult, in fact, to guess which astrological news will have the greatest long-term impact.

Mercury going direct is not a trivial event. After three weeks of planning and completions and avoiding unnecessary shopping, we take out our plans and move forward again. We move forward after this Mercury station as if we were disembarking in rocky waters instead of landing safely on a sandy beach.

In the astrological chart for the moment that Mercury goes direct, you’ll see small boxes around the symbol for each of the planets. The boxes mark hotspots, and they’re rarely as dramatic as they are in May. Each planet is marked as “hot” this month. While there are daily fluctuations in the faster moving planets, primarily the Moon, all the planets were also “hot” on May 1st and June 1st. There are no trines to ease the conflicts. We have to find our own resolutions, and we have to find the balancing point within ourselves before we can effect harmony in the outer world.

There’s great energy in the chart, which includes a T-square and a yod. The T-square is imbalanced, but it keeps situations moving and changing. The yod transforms, but the process may be as stressful as it is beneficial.

So while each of us is, of course, a model of patience and cheer, we can expect the world around us to be grouchy and difficult. There are great opportunities for those who persist with grace and calm when all is in turmoil around them.

By the end of the month, Uranus will move into Aries, starting a new 84-year tour of the signs of the zodiac. Uranus in Aries favors individual enterprise–but it also favors the development of new weapons and machinery, whether for war or for peaceful development.

In February, Neptune completed its own first complete cycle of the zodiac since its discovery in 1846, and later this year Neptune will move into its own sign, Pisces. As a society, we first became conscious of Neptunian energies, manifesting as spiritual visions, charitable institutions, drugs, mustard gas, and billion-dollar oil profits. Essentially, since 1846, we have ben watching Neptune and learning how it functions. Now we (speaking universally here), have the knowledge to change the world positively with Neptunian energies or sink it.

Jupiter will move into Aries in June, providing some cushion against nuclear proliferation, but not against the increase in war and manufacturing for war. There are no promises of peace this year.

But there are opportunities. And shoals. So what does astrology suggest?
 
Be a problem solver. Take one problem at a time, study it carefully, and take independent action toward its resolution. Jupiter and Uranus in Aries may bring you a windfall. Movement and intention are enormously important now even if you have to take a zigzag course toward your goals.

Avoid sacrifice and imbalance. Give added value. Negotiate until both parties feel as if they have the better part of any agreement.

Be the calm center of a grumpy world. Everyone treasures kindness this year.

When possible, be willing to let another person have his way. Give up small victories in favor of the final outcome.

Use the void of course Moon. If you must take actions you don’t want to take, take those steps when the Moon is void and hope for an unexpected twist of fate.

At the end of the day, review. Reward your best efforts. Decide how to improve your choices another day. Let it go.

Pick your battles carefully. There are abundant opportunities for conflict now, and each will waste your energy unless it offers important lessons or great potential profits (physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually).

Be willing to sit out a game you can’t win.

Give preference to work that involves skills you’ve already developed so that you can focus on changing times.

And above all, judge yourself kindly. If you observe changes accurately, you will be ahead of most of your competitors. Sometimes, in times like these, that edge is all you can achieve and also all you need.

Mary O’Gara, Ph.D.