This Mercury retrograde period may be more challenging than some, especially during the first week (beginning around now until the 18th of December when Mercury retrogrades back into Sagittarius.

Mercury is in Capricorn now, where it wants to organize things and achieve something important.  Capricorn is all about goals and success, and it is not well-suited to the retrograde periods of Mercury which require reflection and a more inward focus that stimulates the subtle mind rather than the mental realm.

Mercury turns retrograde at about 5 degrees Capricorn, tightly conjunct Pluto.  Mercury has been conjunct Pluto since the New Moon a few days ago, and this influence remains as long as Mercury remains in Capricorn.  The combination of Mercury to Pluto brings intensity and passion to any ideas or thoughts that come to mind, and generally forces (because after all, it’s Pluto) us to face something secret and dark that we have been hiding from, if any such thing is lurking about anywhere.

Mars will be entering Capricorn shortly after this post is published, and it will then move into alignment with both Mercury and Pluto.  Mars rules aggression, rage and warfare, along with the simple energy that motivates and inspires us.  But when Mars aligns with Pluto and begins to radiate Pluto’s intensity, our desires become more urgent and power conflicts can result.

The North Node is also tied into this drama, pulling us relentlessly towards personal evolution and ensuring that we won’t fall backwards into the abyss if we fail to take the right steps.

This is a powerful combination of planets, and even though Mercury and Mars are usually fast movers, Mercury is moving slowly now as it prepares to change direction, and then after the retrograde moment it will take a few more days to pick up speed.

So what does this all mean for us?   It depends a great deal on your own chart, but the next two weeks will be very important times for communication and organization, and yet it may be difficult to implement the kind of communication (Mercury) structures (Capricorn) that are required and desired now because of the retrograde motion of Mercury which makes it necessary to continually look backwards and re-evaluate, re-negotiate, and re-new things from the past that we may have thought were complete.

As always, awareness is the key to getting the most out of this period.  There is a lot of power available now for sharing information and setting goals for the future, but the motion is blocked.  Patience will be required, and a sense of humor!

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