Did you know that two of the most important things to do when sailing** through a storm on the ocean are also key tactics for sailing through a Mercury storm phase (the 2-3 days on either side of its station) in Pisces? Okay, it might not be an exact correlation, but hear me out:
1. The first thing is to manage your speed. On a sailboat, that means reducing how much sail area is available to catch wind, so you don’t go faster than your boat can handle.
With a stormy Mercury, this equates to narrowing your mental focus, such as: by being patient and present with delays and complications, not multi-tasking, re-reading the email or text before hitting “send,” and actually paying attention to what you’re doing. The idea is to avoid moving faster than your mind can handle — like rushing out the door while thinking or talking about something unrelated, only to realize you’ve locked your keys inside.
2. The other top priority in a sailboat is to manage your angle of approach to the waves. You want to avoid hitting them broadside, which could capsize your boat.
With Mercury in its storm phase, particularly in Pisces, I think this translates to things like: being careful to discern intuitive nudges from fears and other feelings, especially any that are based on stories around your reactions to past events; awareness of your sensitivity to others’ emotions and needs; and checking facts (especially whether you have them all) against your emotions.
In other words, not running headlong into important decisions and conclusions. Rather, ideally you want to take a more oblique or circumspect approach as you gather and assess information.
All of this said, I do want to note that if I am reading the astronomical map of Mercury’s retrograde path across the ecliptic correctly, it looks like its station direct on March 20, at about 3:33 pm EDT, actually begins one of the two more volatile phases of this current retrograde. That potential sense of choppiness may last through the end of the month. (The other phase of higher volatility appears to have been the couple weeks prior to Mercury’s station retrograde in February.)
No need to fear any of this, especially if you’re a seasoned sailor who reads your environmental signs and responds appropriately. You might even find that this storm phase and the next couple weeks offer more insight than expected or help you to trust your intuition better, as you use what you’ve been (re)learning these last three weeks.
Yet as my first astrology mentor often cautioned, it’s essential with Mercury retrogrades, and especially approaching its station direct, to recognize when you don’t have some essential piece of information. Particularly in a sign like Pisces, which tends to be “impressionistic,” it can be easy to feel like you know, and overlook the fact that you don’t actually know certain key details about a situation.
Stay alert on Friday for previously hidden or unknown information being revealed to you, particularly in the area of your life represented by Pisces in your birth chart. I have had personal experience of this phenomenon, and it completely changed my choices in the situation I was navigating at that moment.
Mercury is changing its apparent direction in close proximity to the lunar North Node. (The change in direction is an optical illusion; planets only orbit the Sun in one direction.) I’ll let you google what the lunar nodes are and simply offer this: in modern astrology, the North Node relates to the unknown that we are stepping toward: the promise of our own becoming, possibly a sense of deep purpose or soul evolution, and the ways we “act as if to hold the world together,” according to one definition of dharma.
Furthermore, stationary Mercury and the North Node are occupying a degree of the zodiac, 9 Pisces, whose symbolism relates to what astrologer Dane Rudhyar described as moment of “self-quickening,” during which unnecessary concerns must be dismissed in order to move actively toward one’s goals. The original version of the symbol by Dr. Marc Edmund Jones is a bit more explicit, indicating an imperative to rise to the occasion of using whatever one learns about oneself, or risk squandering its gift of potential.
Bottom line: there seems to be a gift of awareness and evolution being offered. You have some amount of choice in whether and how you use it, though it might not be fully obvious or conscious, and your personal circumstances will shade its visibility and accessibility. Sometimes what looks obvious in an astrology chart moves through an individual’s life with surprising subtlety or unconsciousness.
[Note: you might want to reread the horoscopes I wrote for March with this in mind to help you tune the antennae of your awareness. Those horoscopes weave together interpretations of the March 3 eclipse and Mercury’s retrograde — especially its March 20 station direct — for each of the twelve signs and rising signs.]
All of that said, one potentially challenging thing about managing any Mercury storm is that it is not the only environmental factor at play. This includes your actual lived experience, which might be in bare survival mode as you struggle to keep your boat afloat, as well as other astrological aspects urging or describing different energies and impulses.
And what a week for additional astrological influences! (Also: talk about burying today’s lede…oops!) Between a New Moon, aspects by Venus and Mars to Jupiter, the third and final conjunction between Chiron and Eris in Aries (the last in that sign for several centuries), the Sun entering Aries for the equinox and an immediate meet-up with Neptune (and Saturn next week), and Mercury doing its thing, we have a curious mix of low-energy and high-energy indicators.
It might feel a little like riding the brake and the gas pedal at the same time while driving (sorry to mix my transportation metaphors). Though I suspect you’ll sense when to lean a little more on one or the other if you keep to your basic Mercury storm protocols as outlined above.
Tonight (March 18) at 9:23 pm EDT, we have a New Moon in the next-to-last degree of Pisces. Most notably this New Moon is exactly aligned with Uranus in Taurus, in a supportive sextile.
Although a New Moon can feel low-energy or introspective (especially in gentle, sensitive Pisces), Uranus describes an opportunity to express yourself creatively and perhaps unusually. To me this New Moon contact with Uranus looks instinctual, the kind of thing you can trust your intuition on despite the Mercury cautions I’ve articulated. It might feel simultaneously meditative and enlivening, or come to you as a burst during a typically quiet practice.
Notably, this is the first New Moon since our recent eclipses! As you look around you and look within, what has shifted?
What process from last month is coming to a close?
Out of any messes or uncertainty, what is feeling ready to take new shape?
How can you tweak and update your environment to reflect and support this?
Accompanying the Pisces New Moon is Venus in Aries square Jupiter in Cancer. This might be one of the least “tense” squares, yet it still speaks of action, fueled by a need to do things you enjoy. Hopefully you’ve been watching today for “over-indulgence” and extravagance (especially when it comes to money, with Mercury stormy). Seeking the people and activities that bring you pleasure and bring out your generous and caring side may be calling to you strongly.
Sticking with Jupiter in Cancer: Mars in Pisces is moving toward a lovely trine with Jupiter, exact March 21. I’m mentioning it before I touch on the equinox because Mars transits often manifest more clearly as they approach.
Mars is the action planet, and its harmony with Jupiter describes optimism, ease of movement, and available energy for any work that can help you grow. With Cancer and Pisces involved, that includes growing your intuition and emotional intelligence, your creativity or spiritual consciousness, your ability to cycle through emotions without getting stuck in them, or growing healthier internal boundaries.
Mixed with Mercury’s storminess, the New Moon energy dip plugging into the erratic opportunities of Uranus, and the pleasure-seeking Venus-Jupiter square, this Mars-Jupiter trine might simply describe the wisdom and benefits of going with the flow for the next few days (assuming due diligence is part of the process).
With the Sun entering Aries on March 21 at 10:46 am EDT — roughly five hours before Mercury stations direct — we get an image of storm clouds and fog being burned off. Except, just like sailing at sea, we’ll still need to contend with substantial waves, no matter how much the clearing sky beckons and teases us with the desire to GO. FASTER. NOW.
This is especially true for the start of this particular new astrological year, as foggy, idealistic Neptune is waiting for the Sun in the super-sensitive early degrees of Aries: that slice of the zodiac where political and collective concerns merge with our personal experiences. And holy heavens is our sense of how we as individuals intersect with “everyone else” being exploded, dissolved, merged, and reshaped these days.
It is overwhelming. A Sun-Neptune conjunction often describes a need or desire to withdraw from the world and escape, but I feel like most people I know are making a regular practice of shifting between “staying informed and engaged” and retreating into less emotionally and mentally demanding states.
Given the insane, violent, and frighteningly destabilizing actions of certain governments (ahem…) and this week’s quirky astrology, I feel like the downsides of escapism need an explicit caution as we approach this weekend. Mindfulness practices and activities that help you get clear, unadulterated feedback from your inner guidance systems are distinctly different from numbing out.
Reread the themes above for the degree where Mercury is stationing. Consider that the symbol those themes come from is a jockey racing a horse, and you get some idea of the level of alertness, engagement, and clear direction that Mercury’s lessons this time around may be trying to help you find — or recover.
The Aries equinox is a turning point (from longer nights to longer days in the Northern Hemisphere; the opposite Down Under). It’s also THE major astrological starting point.
What corner are you ready to turn?
What do you need to begin?
Is some part of who you are dissolving and resynthesizing?
If you’re not sure how to answer those questions now, perhaps an insight, some missing data, or even a truth you’ve been hiding from yourself in plain sight will emerge on Friday to help you see how the puzzle pieces fit together. If it does, trust you’ll know what to do with it as the skies clear and the seas smooth out as we enter April. At the very least, we’re all in the same boat.
With love,
Amanda
**Note: I am not a sailor; those top two guidelines for sailing in a storm come from asking Google. Experienced sailors are welcome to make any corrections or additional correlations to navigating a Mercury storm in the comments.
If I can support you through the current changes and uncertainty with an astrological consultation or some soul work sessions, please get in touch. And if you enjoyed this, please consider leaving me a tip here. I offer this writing as a gift, but it does take time and energy. Thank you!
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