Mercury meets Sun in Aquarius

On February 17th Mercury comes into superior conjunction with the Sun, from the earth-centered view.
This conjunction is the beginning of a gesture which culminates on Easter Sunday. How can we come to
a spiritual scientific understanding of this gesture?

The image at the end of this post depicts the dance of Mercury with the Sun over the period of a bit less
than one year (348 days). Mercury comes directly behind the Sun oriented to the cosmos of the stars
(superior conjunction, see B) and then loops towards the Earth coming directly between the Earth and
Sun, oriented towards us on Earth (inferior conjunction, see B1). The gesture occurring on February
17th is a superior conjunction (B) and occurs just as the Sun transitions out of the stars of Capricorn and
enters Aquarius, (see previous post on Sun enters Aquarius). Mercury inaugurates this journey of the
Sun through Aquarius, reaching out to pick up, so to speak, the cosmic substance of Aquarius, which it
will then hand off to the Earth in the gesture of inferior conjunction on Easter Sunday (B1) in the stars of
the Fishes.

So we can picture for the moment a few cosmic gestures around this day. The new Moon on Thursday
between Sun and Earth as the Sun steps into the stars of Aquarius and meets Mercury in superior
conjunction: beginnings of receiving cycles. The new Moon is the empty chalice starting its swing out
around the Earth away from the Sun and towards the stars taking in cosmic sidereal substance toward
its fullness, at full Moon. Mercury conjunct Sun now out beyond the Earth starts receiving, or because it
is Mercury the messenger of the gods, we could say starts actively taking up the cosmic sidereal
substance. This all begins around the start of Lent..the season of roughly 40 days in preparation for
Easter week. Also we find on this day of the superior conjunction that Mars is square to Neptune in
Aquarius and over the following week, both Mercury and Venus conjunct Neptune and are square to
Mars. So Mars is quite engaged in this configuration with these inner planets of transformation all
meeting Neptune square to Mars. But let us now move on to loop and its completion in inferior
conjunction on Easter Sunday.

What is this sidereal substance that is being taken up by Mercury during this loop from superior
conjunction and on until Easter Sunday? It is first the angular relationships just described, but also the
substance of the stars of Aquarius as well as Mercury's meeting with the planet Neptune now in
Aquarius. It is also the substance of the southern Fish of the two fishes of Pisces - that fish which swims
towards Aquarius. Just before the start of Easter week, with Palm Sunday, Mercury begins that part of
its sweep around the Sun that directs it towards the Earth, meaning it goes retrograde. Then on Easter
Sunday it comes into inferior conjunction with the Sun, meaning directly between Earth and Sun. It is at
this moment, one can say, that Mercury hands over to human beings the cosmic substance, the cosmic
intelligence, it has picked up in its journey since superior conjunction.

Let us take a look at the time of the inferior conjunction. It occurs a day after full Moon, on a Sunday,
Easter Sunday. The superior conjunction occurred just after a new moon. The inferior conjunction
occurs in Fishes, the southern Fish, below the star Alpheratz, which is that star which is both the
forehead of Andromeda (the third eye?) and the tip of the wing of Pegasus who is arising out of
Andromeda's head. This inferior conjunction also is in a square relationship to Mars and Saturn which
come into conjunction at the same time. You may recall as said above that the superior conjunction also
has this square relationship with Mars, but now Mars joins Saturn in this square aspect at inferior
conjunction.

What are we to do with what Mercury offers us? What can we make of these starry relationships? As
you can imagine, the potential for contemplation of meaning is quite complex. To use a phrase by
Steiner about the cosmos of stars, this complex of star gestures can fill us with "holy awe".

But let us attempt some imaginations and thoughts which can lead us to an understanding of this
particular looping gesture of Mercury, which is one of three different loops to occur this year. After the
Easter inferior conjunction, the culmination of the current loop, we are tasked with taking up the
substance offered us and applying it to transformative deeds in the Earth. It seems important that this
occurs on Easter Sunday which is also both a completion and a start of the new Christ experience in the
Earth. This is our return offering to the hierarchies of the stars. It is our work for and with them for the
future of the Earth. Mercury will then come into another superior conjunction (June 10), initiating a
new loop cycle, new questions/offerings from the stars. One way to work with these Mercury loops
which cannot be developed in this article, is to create a diary in which one can follow them over the
years in ones own biography study. One can also work with the specific loops associated with one's own
incarnation stars. On a non-personal level, for a deeper study, one can follow this particular loop in
history as it will re-occur in almost the same location and dates after 20 years. This loop we can trace
back to its prior ancestor in 1998 and beyond to see its deeper significance. However this would take us
into a whole other realm that is best not to enter at present.

For this article, let us take three perspectives into account as tools to find ways to take up this loop
consciously and offer something to the cosmos. They are all related to each other and take us to a
deeper working with the substance of Aquarius.

First, as mentioned above, these loops can be traced back over time. Part of Willi Sucher's great work
was to go back to the Three Years of Christ's bodily incarnation. His research led him to discover a
relationship between the loops of Mercury and the so-called Seven Signs or healings presented in the
Gospel of John. Because Mercury makes so many loops in varying locations of the zodiac, not all of the
loops historically can be traced back to one of these healings. However, this particular loop is a direct
descendent of the 1st of the Seven Signs, the Marriage at Cana, (there is a slight adjustment but it will
not be gone into in this article as it becomes too complex). Rudolf Steiner speaks about this Sign in his
lectures on the Gospel of John and Willi Sucher also speaks of this sign in his Cosmic Christianity. For the
sake of space here, we will just touch on this healing. To begin with, John states that there were 6 stone
jars for water for the rites of purification. Already we have a picture of Aquarius, who is shown in the
heavens usually with a stone jar pouring out cosmic water from the heavens to the earth and perhaps
we can see in the 6 stone jars a reference to the 6th cultural age, the Aquarian Age. So in some ways,
this healing points us towards the future, the time when we have transitioned into a conscious
experience of the etheric realm, and of the Christ in that realm. The time of
blood/physical/national/folk ego identity will be gone and the time of the new I AM working from the
etheric realm can become a reality for those who choose the path towards the spirit. So one
"interpretation" of this Mercury loop can arise from living with this healing in the gospel of John as an
archtype for what we are called upon to do now to speak to this Mercury conjunction. Much more
could be developed about the Marriage at Cana and the Mercury loop than can be included here. For
those interested, go to Willi Sucher's work on it and what Rudolf Steiner offers in the Gospel of John,
Lecture IX.

A second perspective on this Mercury loop can be seen in the position of the inferior conjunction as a
kind of culmination, both an offering and question to humanity. In the stars of Pisces we have in
imaginative form the challenge of this age and the consciousness soul: polarity and a coming to the self
out of a living between two worlds. Our spatial consciousness has divided us between poles both
physically and spiritually...above/below, earthly material/heavenly spiritual; before/behind, past/future,
etc. The Fishes reflect our age and the challenge we face in uniting this polarities through the power of
the third element, the I AM. Rudolf Steiner has also addressed this by speaking of how we are haunted
by the ghosts of the Aries age and the concepts, social forms, mode of thinking that arose in that age
and we struggle to find new concepts, new social forms, new living thinking that can carry us out of the
past and into future evolution. This Mercury conjunction has picked up the substance of Aquarius and
culminated in the Fish which strives to swim towards Aquarius. To add to this, this conjunction is near
and below that star in the forehead of Andromeda (an image of the human soul) out of which Pegasus
arises, that symbol of winged intelligence, or new thinking. It calls to us to develop the star in our
forehead, to give birth to Pegasus in our age in order to enter the Aquarian age rightly.

As a last imagination for this loop, we have this relationship to Mars at the superior conjunction, during
the loop with the inner planets conjunct Neptune in martian relationships to Mars and exactly again
with the inferior conjunction in a martian relationship to Saturn conjunct Mars. My friends, a book
could be written on this complex of relationships, so forgive the brevity of this article. But they all point
to the ongoing consequences and challenges of our present age built upon Mars: aggression,
confrontation, separation and power as physical might. (There is of course more to the Mars sphere
than this and of course it has served its purpose in bringing us to freedom.) Neptune carries both the
potential for humanity's breakthroughs to a spiritual perspective of life as well as the shadow realm of
Ahrimanic attempts to mechanize and materialize life and separate humanity from its evolutionary goals.
Thus it works either for or against the impulses for the Aquarian age, but this depends on how humanity
takes up Neptune. With the multiple martian aspects to Neptune described above with this entire loop,
let me just say that we are being asked to "work through" and in ways that will not flow easily, these
social and spiritual Mars challenges. In the inferior Mercury conjunction square the Mars and Saturn
conjunction, we have a powerful statement. We are challenged to address world karma from the past
(Saturn) as a product of Mars object consciousness in order to start the transformation needed to
develop those qualities that prepare for the Aquarian Age (see my previous article on Sun in Aquarius).
This is what Mercury has picked up in this loop and offers to us in this Easter inferior conjunction. The
gods await our efforts.

I hope this article with its magnitude and diversity of pictures around this Mercury loop is not
overwhelming. It is most important not to try to "figure it out". I would suggest simply to choose one of
the star images that speaks to you, build it up clearly in thought and just as in a meditative process,
then remove the picture, empty the space and listen. We must learn that a truly new star wisdom is a
path to cognition. It cannot be just a cookbook of definitions of aspects and signs arranged together to
produce answers. Rather astrosophy is a process of knowing which requires that we build the pictures
out of a real knowledge of the stars, then we listen and wait for grace. Understanding will arise.

Jonathan Hilton, on behalf of Astrosophy. All articles are posted on our website under Current Articles.
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