Waxing Moon in Aquarius, Mercury Turns Back

This note covers the Moon's transit through Aquarius, Friday through Saturday morning, and the beginning of Mercury's retrograde in Capricorn.

trickster goddess

An Aquarius Moon is cerebral, cool-headed, and radical. Today, the Moon challenges Venus in square, ready to face what emerges from Scorpio's depths and find new ways to think about it. The Moon in Aquarius wears the mask of the trickster, poking into places we're stuck and saying, what happens if we turn this upside down?

Channeling the heavy concentration in Capricorn––Mars, Mercury, the North Node, Ceres and Pluto together in the first five degrees of Cardinal Earth––we might be getting lots of work done, but losing sight of the overall plan. The Aquarius Moon brings in Air, perspective, the long view, saying, let's step back and see what's on the horizon.

That Aquarian perspective, cool-headedness, and trickster humor will be helpful Friday morning, as Mercury goes retrograde. This Moon can help us remember that Mercury retrograde is a gift, one that can frustrate us if we're not prepared, but can help down the road ... Aquarius is all about planfulness and long-term thinking.

Mercury turns back in Capricorn, the last of this year's retrogrades in Earth that offered times to reflect on how we get things done in the world, what's practical and realistic, and how we're grounded in this physical life. As I wrote back in the spring, retrogrades ask us to slow down, take stock, and double- and triple-check everything.

going to ground

Coming as we approach the Winter Solstice, this retrograde in Capricorn brings us back to Earth, reminding us we're entering a sacred time when even the Sun stands still (the meaning of sol stice), so why are we running so fast? This is the time to go to ground, hibernate, recoup, rebuild.

During this retrograde, Mercury will revisit the intense Capricorn lineup, forming a tight conjunction with Mars and Pluto on December 13. Are we walking our talk? Are our actions in the world congruent with our values? On December 15, Mercury meets the North Node. Are our thoughts and actions aligned with our life path?

Mercury slips back into Sagittarius on December 18, allowing us to revisit our connection with that expansive, philosophical, adventuring energy, meeting the Sun on December 19. At the Full Moon on December 21, just hours before the Sun reaches the Solstice point and enters Capricorn, Mercury is three degrees away, reminding us that our journeys are also returnings.

The Moon in Aquarius helps us grasp the paradox of Mercury turning retrograde in this powerful waxing lunar cycle. Just after Mercury turns, the Moon trines Saturn, a reminder of the need for balance, beauty, and responsible action.

The Sun and Moon flow energy in sextile Friday, gathering momentum as the Moon grows in the sky. Here, the retrograde reminds us that the crescent phase also includes one last chance to release whatever stands in our way from previous cycles.

Moving forward while turning back, reaching for enlightenment with the waxing Moon as the Sun reaches the darkest point of his cycle, we are challenged to integrate dark and light, past and future, growth and death.

If we head into this season with frenetic energy, Mercury retrograde may stop us in our tracks. Instead, this year, we might want to slow down, recognizing "the uncertain hour before the morning, near the ending of interminable night, at the recurrent end of the unending" when we know in our bones that "what we call the beginning is often the end, and to make an end is to make a beginning."

T.S. Eliot might have written Little Gidding for such a Solstice, when our felt sense of Earth's cycles are intensified by Mercury turning back in Capricorn even as we move forward into a celebration of light returning. This year, we're invited through the "unknown, unremembered gate, when the last of earth left to discover is that which was the beginning."