OK, I am holidays at present, so here is last years Pluto retrograde post updated…

In my younger less married days I used to love doing the Cleo and Cosmo sex quizzes on the train to work. Learned some interesting things from them too… but obviously that is not for here… I would make sure that I counted the score in my head so no one reading over my shoulder could see my answers and therefore know what I really thought about doing _______, or whether I really would be likely to________ or indeed had done_______ where? Really? There?

Recently I have been having some fun with a series of Outer Planet point scoring quizzes that Donna Cunningham has been running on her Skywriter website. Just like the Cleo & Cosmo sex quizzes I have learned a lot, but this time the things I have learned have been about myself and are therefore possibly more useful in everyday life- or so I would hope.

Obviously I am so much more mature now too, so am going to publish my results for all to see- the results are possibly not as interesting (to some) as the sex quiz stuff, but some things are best left to the imagination.

First up was How Plutonian are you? Being so Piscean, I always knew that I was pretty influenced by Neptune, but the Pluto result blew me away. Using her system (check it out here), my Pluto score was a massive 74 points. Anything over 25pts is seen as being very Plutonian, with association with all the good and bad sides of Pluto and Scorpio  (see Donna’s article for more explanation- Donna is the expert on all things Pluto): power, control, trust, holding on to things & feelings, revenge, obsession, healing, transformation. Looking honestly at myself, I do have to say it is all true- the good & the bad. With most of my Piscean planets in opposition to Pluto & with Pluto sitting right on my Descendant, the struggle with trust & power & control- particularly in relationships has been constant battle.

Anyways, Pluto is now retrograde through until 19 September (or thereabouts). As with all retrograde planets, the retrograde motion makes Pluto act, well, more Plutonian and Plutonian people even more susceptible to Pluto.

As with all retrogrades, the energy is directed inward rather than externally. In Plutos’ case, it acts sort of like a planetary detox where the crap (for want of a better term) in our lives is eliminated (a very Pluto word). This can be emotions we have been holding onto, attitudes or values which should have changed or evolved, vendettas we should have let go of, revenge fantasies we are just waiting for the right moment to act upon (ooops, that’s me!), secrets that you have been keeping under wraps.

For those of you who are strongly influenced by Pluto (see below) or currently experiencing major Pluto transits (especially anyone with the Sun, Moon or ascendant at or around 12-8 Cancer, Capricorn, Libra or Aries), this will be a big thing. Now is the time to get rid of those photos (you know the ones at the back of your drawer of X with Y), or, alternatively do some internal Pluto work on yourself- a physical detox, heavy meditation- anything that is regenerative and gets you back in touch with the innermost core of you. Pluto retrogrades often bring sudden expansion or loss of power, manipulation, obsession and power struggles are the order of the day.

As with all retrograde cycles, the critical points are the station degrees- in this case 11 Capricorn 35’ where he is stationing retrograde and 8 Capricorn 59’ where he will station to turn direct. These are points of pretty huge transformation and metamorphosis if they happen to fall on a sensitive point in your natal chart. I’m not talking orbs here- when it comes to station points I’m talking direct hits. To the degree.

I have a friend who has the Midheaven at 11 Capricorn 25’. That’s close enough for the impact of a Pluto station…

Pluto’s a little like that- because he moves so slowly, the orbs of influence are very narrow. If he turns retrograde even a degree before exacting an aspect, you may get just a passing glance…this time. The thing with Pluto though, is there’ll always be a next time…and usually a next, and a next.

Now, this is the bit where I have to have a good hard talk to some of you guys- Pluto does not necessarily equal bad, so don’t look for negativity where there may be potential. Sure it may be like that- there is no denying. It will also be hard, challenging and all those words where it does hit your chart, but a Pluto transit can also be healing, manifesting and transforming ie ultimately powerfully cool. And that applies to the shittiest of shitty Pluto transits- although you mightn’t want to hear this until a few years down the track.

Whatever happens there is no escaping the effect…Pluto is like that…but trust me, hanging onto those photos, revenge fantasies and whatever will not help. Let em’ go…if you can…

There’s this massive belt of garbage floating somewhere in the North Pacific Ocean.

If you wiki it, you’ll get a heap of technical and scientific words, but in essence, it’s mostly plastic crap.

I have this image of all of these bottles floating with messages in each of them. Bottles cast by people sitting on deserted island just hoping someone will pick one up.

This last Mercury retrograde has been a little like that- like casting a message out and hoping that somehow it will get through the garbage, and somehow make it’s way to the right person who will somehow understand the contents.

Hmmmm.

Many of these bottles have contained flashes of brilliance, sparks of inspiration. The only problem is, real life doesn’t involve most of us sitting around on our butts waiting for a bottle to get washed ashore.

This retrograde has involved the usual Mercury mess, and the usual re words. It’s brought more than the usual share of creativity and dissolution, but being Mercury, the trick to recognising this has been slowing down, going within and resisting the call of business as usual.

With the Moon today in social Gemini, with supportive links to Mars, Uranus and Jupiter, the urge to expand is strong. Like now.

The thing is, Mercury might be technically direct, but he’ll be hanging around this point for a few more days yet. And he won’t be out of the shadow phase, ie the point at which he turned retrograde, until April 7, so keep your eyes and ears open for hidden messages until then.

An email was sent home from school on Monday evening.

Miss T has a science experiment/assignment due in the next couple of weeks and the email was worded in such a way to say that she hadn’t yet done something that she should have.

My husband got all worked up over it and did the intensive questioning thing that Scorpios are so good at.  She did the Mars and Mercury in Aries thing. I did the peacemaker thing.

I asked her to dig out the assignment, worked out that she was on track, and asked her to talk to her science teacher to make sure that her understanding was on the same page as theirs. Peace reigned once more.

Last night she told me that the email had gone out to every student, that one girl had been grounded as a result, and that the teacher’s intention had simply been to remind us parents that an assignment was due on the 22^nd. The message had been badly written, but the intention was good.

Whatever. Mixed messages, unclear communication- Mercury is, after all, retrograde in Pisces.

On Tuesday Miss T had an excursion to the Art Gallery. On Tuesday morning I received an SMS from the school advising me that she wasn’t at school. I then received an email from school requesting an explanation for her absence.

As I’d delivered her onto the excursion bus I wasn’t too worried.

Yesterday we received an apology stating they there had been a glitch in the attendance system. The same email and SMS had been sent to every parent whose child was on that excursion.

Mercury is retrograde.

This morning Miss T bought a note back from swimming to advise changes to the coaching staff and timetable. No biggie. 5.30am is still 5.30am. By midday I’ve received emails from the swimming club, the representative of a delegation of parents, and advise regarding a special extraordinary meeting to discuss the changes. Seriously?

Mercury is retrograde.

I’m writing this at a local coffee shop, and when I signed into the free wifi, all of my emails re downloaded. All of them. Twice. I laughed out loud.

Mercury is retrograde.

The thing is, as frustrating as it all is, I’m not that phased. It will all be over in a couple of days. Besides, knowing that Mercury is playing tricks helps me just go with the changes when they occur. Besides, creatively, this has been a great few weeks.

Mercury retrogrades can be like that.

The other thing is, the first few days and the last few days of any retrograde period are always the most unpredictable. With Mars newly energetic in Aries, and the Moon void of course in Aries, the potential for irritability and frustration is seriously high at the moment, so as much as possible try not to let molehills become mountains.

It will be over soon, but Mercury will still be in Pisces for another month, so my advice? Use pencil in your calendar, don’t sweat the small, annoying stuff and as far as you can, let it be.

What about you? Any Mercury war stories to share? Are you over it already?

I knew I loved you before I met you, I think I dreamed you into life…

Venus has just moved into Pisces. This means that (except for the Moon) all personal planets are now swimming happily in the big fish tank that is the Universe.

This news is not being met with dancing girls and hallelujah choruses from everyone though…for fire and air types, it’s a little like having a fog descend across your eyes and your boots covered in mud…or quicksand. You might feel as though you’re treading water when you want to be lapping the opposition. You might feel like you’re driving in the rain and your wipers aren’t working.

For those of us receptive to this energy, it’s absolutely beautiful.

Standing in the customs queue at Sydney Airport on Sunday afternoon I had the best idea for my next manuscript.

Waiting on the Help Line today for my bank, I had an idea for a pitch I can make to a travel magazine.

Yesterday while waiting for the internet to recover from an unscheduled “pause” I called an old friend I hadn’t spoken to for too many months.

Mercury Retrograde brings these little moments of creativity and reconnection. It’s like the Universe is giving us a chance to slow down and revisit those thoughts and ideas and dreams that would otherwise flit right on through your brain.

I know that people are told what not to do in a time of Mercury retrograde, but even these issues can be mitigated if common sense is used. Mercury is a Trickster, but he shouldn’t be blamed for everything bad that happens over the next few weeks- although obviously you can if you wish.

Sure anything to do with appointments, computers, messages, communications, travel, contracts may be upset- this is all Mercury stuff. For anything other than this, I’d suggest looking for something else going on in the chart.

Yesterday here in Australia one of our major banks systems went down- both in branches and online. Given that all customer identity and balance verification is based on the information these systems provide, the result was pure chaos.

It wasn’t an accident- these things never are. I don’t know the details behind this one, but apparently it had something to do with a change that needed to be backed out.

In all of my years as a Change Manager, the one unbreakable rule was unless it can absolutely be avoided, don’t implement an IT based change during a Mercury retrograde. Not because it won’t work, but because often times the procedures, implementation instructions, test plans or operational communication aren’t followed completely by someone. Short cuts are unconsciously taken.

Whilst I would never put “Mercury Retrograde” in the root cause analysis field of any Post Implementation Review, the point is most of us persist in fighting the influence of the retrograde motion and proceed as we normally would- rather than slowing down and ticking the boxes. I get that- we’re all busy.

The thing is, life doesn’t stop a few times a year for Mercury. People get married, buy houses, phones and cars. They book flights, hotels and appointments. They implement software changes.

Strangely not all of these end in disaster. Luggage arrives, mail arrives, planes arrive and changes work.

Although there are always examples where they don’t. Where the messages don’t get through the system properly. Where the appropriate checks and common-sense balances aren’t taken into consideration. Where the procedures aren’t followed. This type of thing tends to be more prevalent when Mercury is in reverse.

This Mercury retrograde is in Pisces, a sign where Mercury is in both his detriment and fall.

Pisces is a sign of illusion, delusion and head in the ground hope for the best. It’s also a sign of great imagination and creativity.

This retrograde, try, if you can, to go with the flow a little- a little how this post started to be about Venus and morphed into something about Mercury. Slow down and employ all those re words we use. Finish unfinished projects. Make notes of creative flashes, reconnect with loves from the past- and leave them there in need.

And, if you need to do any of the things that you’re told not to under a Mercury retrograde, check the fine print- at least a few times over. Or, do nothing…until it’s over- that one’s your call.

Oh and yesterdays Bank debacle? They issued a press release to the newspapers that spun the story from the days chaos that it was into reading like it was a temporary blip. Now that’s Mercury in Pisces at work.

If you want to know how Pisces is in love, check out this post…

And the song is by Savage Garden…check it out and listen to the lyrics here.

It is often said that planets become more emphasised when they are retrograde ie appear to be going backwards from the perspective of us here on Earth. Personally, I find that simply terrifying when it comes to Saturn- although many of you won’t share that fear.

The reason their action is emphasised is because it is internalised. We therefore feel it more. And if you have planets or chart points at 11 Scorpio, 11 Taurus, 11 Aquarius or 11 Leo- you will feel this one even more as Saturn stationed retrograde at 11 Scorpio for what has seemed like forever. His energy focused on this point for longer than usual…and Saturn never does anything by chance.

So, what can we expect from a Saturn retrograde? Well, more Saturn stuff of course, but with the prefix “re” inserted in front of the word eg re-structure, re-commit, re-focus, re-calibrate, re-trench.

Saturn rules the supports, structures, rules and responsibilities in our life. In theory, Saturn is the fun cop who says “no, it is time you went home young lady,” when every part of you is crying out to say yes. When Saturn is retrograde, he is sending you back to your room to think very carefully about what you are doing, goals you have started working towards and the commitments you have made. It is sort of like a planetary cooling off period when it is OK to re-assess and change direction or re-assess and say “no”. This is not the time to make new commitments or start new projects, but great to sort out just what you want out of existing goals. Re-prioritise.

Saturn retrogrades give you time to sort your shit out, get rid of any frustrations and re-think the viability of any promises you have already made. It’s a little like having a building inspector come through and checks your foundations and support structures. Yep, I’ve been watching a lot of The Block on tv lately.

The area of life Saturn is retrograde in is emphasised and needs defining. If it is the 7^th, relationships will need to be defined. If it’s the 1^st, you will be wanting to define yourself- this is generally a nice skinny transit- if Saturn transits can ever be described as being nice, that is. If it is the 2^nd, money issues and values will come to the forefront. With Saturn in Scorpio in 2013, goals and ambitions will be looked at intensely. Anything below the surface that is holding you back will demand attention- as will the skeletons that are in your closet. Saturn will demand that you look with maturity at this part of your life.

Regardless of where this is happening in your chart, Saturn, with a natural association with the 10^th house and the ruler of Capricorn, will see most of us trying to define, or re-define career goals.

The structures that are built during a Saturn retrograde will stand you in good stead once he starts to move forward again.

Check out what is in your chart on or around 4-11 Scorpio- this is your area of focus. This is 8th house for me so my focus is around the assets of the relationship, other peoples stuff & the really deep base things of life- you know: death, sex & taxes.

In terms of aspects:

• If you have a planet or chart point (such as Ascendant, Midheaven, Descendant or IC) at 4-11 Scorpio, Saturn will conjunct this planet/point during the retrograde period.
• If you have a planet or chart point at 4-11 Taurus, Saturn will oppose this point during the retrograde period
• If you have a planet or chart point at 4-11 Aquarius or Leo, Saturn will square this point during the retrograde
• If you have a planet or chart point at 4-11 Cancer or Pisces, Saturn will trine this point during the retrograde
• If you have a planet or chart point at 4-11 Capricorn or Virgo, Saturn will sextile this point during the retrograde