Mercury Retrograde Oct 4 - 25: a survival guide

To effectively communicate, we must realize we are all different in the way we perceive the world and use this understanding as a guide to our communication with others.

Tony Robbins, Motivational Speaker and Teacher

"A word to the wise is enough. The old proverb is, forewarned, forearmed."

©AstroActivator by Kathryn Andren 2001

Now that the recent Lunar Eclipse day has had its day in, or really "out of the Sun", I want to move on to Mercury Retrograde. I'm sharing this information because this particular Mercury Retrograde carries a stronger intensity than usual. Yes...MR can be more intense than its usual craziness!. That intensity mirrors Mercury Retro occurring amidst two eclipses in October.

I must laugh too. Visiting Sri Lanka during Mercury Retrograde has amplified the quintessential  "lost in translation" experience. The nuances of communication here exist in a world unto themselves. Head nods of varying angles say more than words. Thus...I've readily learned to be alert, pay attention to what feels easy or hard, and more than anything else, laugh and go with the flow. For example...my daughter and I are traveling north tomorrow to visit the ancient temple sites of Anuradhapura. Yesterday we learned the trains are not operating in the North due to a train strike. So now we're driving north. Going with the flow. And, I ask myself (good Mercury Retro strategy) "what wonderful spontaneous adventures await us?"

With that out of the way...please read on:

Eclipsed Aries Full Moon Oct 8: Awakening The Shadow

"Shadow is the obstruction of light. Shadows appear to me to be of supreme importance in perspective, because, without them opaque and solid bodies will be ill defined; that which is contained within their outlines and their boundaries themselves will be ill-understood unless they are shown against a background of a different tone from themselves." Leonardo da Vinci

"There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere, and many of us will have to pass through the valley of the shadow of death again and again before we reach the mountaintop of our desires." Nelson Mandela

For the second time this year, the Full Moon will glow blood red. Just 6 months since the last eclipse in Libra, this eclipse will grace the night sky as the Moon transits Libra's opposite sign of Aries. Breathe in...breathe out.

I'm in Sri Lanka now. Africa adventures fade...Japan adventures await. Near Colombo, I'll see the waning moments of this eclipse. The rising Full Moon will be emerging from its shadow journey through the Earth's Umbra.  And just like the counterpart eclipsed Full Moon of last April, this Full Moon comes with very strong planetary aspects portending further continuation of

Libra New Moon Sept 23: Resetting the Balance

"If you're interested in 'balancing' work and pleasure, stop trying to balance them. Instead make your work more pleasurable."  Donald Trump

 

Fish River Canyon Sunrise

Those who intimately know me would be absolutely surprised to find me quoting Donald Trump. Yet forgetting the messenger while focusing on a message in resonance with the Libra New Moon, speaks to the shifts and changes unfolding around the globe in cultural practices and rules, and human opportunity and new beginnings. 

 

I am now in Namibia in Southwest Africa. This is a land of extreme beauty and silence, stark deserts, majestic dunes, deep canyons, desert Elephants, brilliant starry nights, and compassionate, loving people. I am here on a 14 day Landscape Photography Workshop with Trey Radcliff and his team from Stuck in Customs. And yes...pleasure and work have become