Reflection, Retooling, Recalibration
At the beginning of each calendar year, I try to plot my major projects and obligations for the coming twelve months. But I always forget to factor Mercury’s retrograde periods (the current one begins Nov. 25, 2024, 6:42 pm PST, and lasts through Dec.15) into the equation.
It’s not that we need to shut down and stop doing everything while Mercury appears to move backward in his orbit. But overscheduling and moving at a hectic pace is not even close to being the best use of Mercury’s retrograde times. Ideally, we’d schedule retreats during those three weeks, three or four times each year, the better to do Mercury’s best retrograde work: reflection, retooling, recalibration.
Maybe Mercury retrograde is best imagined as naptime. It’s when our brains thumb through all the bits of information we’ve been cramming into them for the past few months, categorize what’s useful, and delete what isn’t. Ideally, we would slow down during these times and let our brains do their work. It does take some planning ahead, though, so put the next Mercury retrograde period (March 14-April 7, 2025) on your calendar now, and make sure you schedule your retreat – or least a lighter schedule – for then.
Out of Context
Let’s say you fantasize about moving to a dusty little adobe hut in the middle of New Mexico, setting up your own little home, and living alone in a place where nobody knows you and you’re free to be whomever you please. In your imagination, this version of yourself would be brave, blunt, and unapologetic, embracing adventure and new frontiers.
The problem with that fantasy is that you probably like your life and yourself enough that you don’t really want to run away from home. But maybe you could take a couple of days for a retreat, or even just take a long train ride by yourself. Out of your usual context, who knows what you might learn about who you are and what you want?
As the Sun in Sagittarius trines the North Node in Aries (Nov. 26, 2024, 10:32 am PST, 4º59′ Sagittarius-Aries), an adventure, however modest, offers the most heartfelt and creative way to move in the direction of your best new frontier.
Cricket
The Sun trines Mars this week (Nov. 27, 2024, 12:06 am PST at 5°34’ Sagittarius and Leo). Put this one on the calendar, because it’s a tremendous aspect for promoting yourself and anything you do that’s creative.
The combination of the Sun and Mars brings confidence and creativity together in a burst of energy; we want to take on the world. The trine aspect that connects the two is something of a mixed blessing, suggesting that matters flow so easily that we may become complacent. But Mars – always working, striving, determined – counteracts this tendency, making this an especially rewarding day for sharing yourself and your gifts.
However, the Sun’s Sabian symbol degree brings a message of friendship and sharing: 6 Sagittarius, A game of cricket. Enjoy this moment, with Mars standing by to support and encourage (literally, “fill with heart”) you – the real you. Gratefully welcome the good ideas that pour in effortlessly, and the energy and courage it takes to make something of them.
Winter Birds
In the Northern Hemisphere, December tends to be one of the coldest months of the year. For most of us, its weather is better suited for bundling up in front of the fire with cocoa, safe and warm, than for taking off into the unknown. Even our winter holidays shine with a slightly desperate brightness, their songs and parties a kind of spiritual CPR meant to coax us into staying alive through the long, cold season.
Perhaps it’s the faint karmic memory of some recent Scorpio lifetime, but Sagittarius is better equipped than most to handle December’s cold, dark solitude. He doesn’t scare easily. He is exhilarated and dizzied by the long, dark nights; their stars are proxies for the faraway lands he may never see, silent and twinkling assurances that no matter how much of the world he explores, there will always be new lands waiting to be discovered.
At the Winter Solstice in late December, the Sun enters Capricorn and falls to its lowest point in the midday sky. There is, we feel, nowhere to go but up. The calendar year is almost finished, and we begin to plot our resolutions for the new one that lies ahead.
But at the Sagittarius New Moon (Nov. 30, 2024, 10:21 pm PST, 9º32′ Sagittarius), we’re not yet ready for resolutions; we’re still exploring possibilities. We stand beside a frozen lake in the flat, white winter light, wearing a scarf knitted for us by some tender, Cancerian sort of person, pondering questions big and small. What happens after we die? What happens if we forget to live? Overhead, a few straggling winter birds fly in formation; we wonder where they’ll end up, and whether it might be worth following them on their journey.
Writing and images © 2017-24 by April Elliott Kent
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