My favourite astro blog, Planet Waves, has a story today about the coming Mercury retrograde…. titled “The Goddess Foretold“. Len Wallick writes that Mercury is entering the echo phase of its regular retrograde cycle, and will precisely conjunct the asteroid Isis as it does. Not only this, but during the retrograde cycle Mercury will cross the Isis-Transpluto point three times. This is a hypothetical point “a place Eric has referred to as the sphinx point, where the Goddess energy is strong ”…. Len suggests that the archetype refers to a sudden or seemingly chaotic release of energy leading to rebirth or transformation.
Signpost for La Serpent
In the south of France exploring spiritual sites with Wendy we repeatedly met signs of rebirth and transformation. Feminine energy in snake form flowed across the land, pictured in the lines of ridged stone winding through the Pyrenees, in the naming of the road and village La Serpent, in our dreams, and visualisations as we sat in stillness in the landscape. Snake symbolism speaks powerfully of life, death and rebirth, renewal and transmutation. Just as the snake sheds its skin and emerges anew, so we continuously renew ourselves, shedding old thoughts, ideas, beliefs, old ways of being, so that life can flow through us fresh and bright. This is time on the Earth when old wasteful or selfish ways must pass so that we can move into a future that will support us all. The snake joined head to tail into a circle reminds us that we are all one, on one planet, one Earth, all together.
Butterfly feeding
While visiting Hans’ land we were surrounded with butterflies. The flowering meadow plants attracted them, but one particular butterfly became very attached to us. She landed on my hand, which was behind me, in the grass.
Butterfly on my hand
I carefully brought my hand around to the front to photograph her, expecting her to fly away at any moment. She remained, using her proboscis to touch my skin as she moved up and down my left hand ring finger. She explored several fingers and thumb, flew away a few times, only to land on me again. After about 20 minutes she flew over to Wendy and sought out her 4th finger too. She spent at least 45 minutes with us, but then we had to leave the mountain side, so reluctantly the butterfly left us.
We wondered if we had learnt what it was she was so patiently telling us …. and what it was we needed to pay attention to in our lives and work. Butterflies teach us about cycles of life, change and transformation. Maintaining faith and grace as we undergo change, emerging beautiful …. we all hope for this …. to be ready to fly!
There is one more sign of the Goddess linked to the Mercury retrograde cycle this time …. on 26th August Mercury moves direct again, the very day that Sirius reappears on the eastern horizon. This was a sacred day to the Egyptians, foretelling the rains and annual floods, ascribed to the tears of Isis. And while Mercury is repeatedly drawing our attention to Isis, the dwarf planet Ceres is stationed on the Aries point. Ceres (Demeter) lost her daughter to the underworld, and to recover her, she had to agree to a compromise, to share the thing she loved most. When Ceres’ daughter Proserpina (Persephone) returned from the underworld life returned to the earth, crops could grow, and people thrive.
Thus the mythology about life and death, drought and rains, famine and abundance, is highlighted in astrology at the moment. Personally we need to consider whether we could share the thing we love most, in order to allow life to thrive. And we need to pay attention to the Divine Feminine. As Len says “The message is not yet fully revealed but we can be as clear about two thematic points as we are about the point of return that Mercury occupies today. We can be sure that the quest of the goddess will complement and complete that of the masculine Sun. We can also be certain that we will have a role in shaping the outcome.”
dadirridreaming 