Mercury Retrograde in Scorpio: Embracing Shadow

As we enter November we are in that especially potent time of year when the Sun travels through the shadowy depths of Scorpio, bringing up all sorts of phantoms from the corners of our awareness, and the waves of our inner oceans begin to swell with intensity. So, too, will our thoughts, communications, and inner contemplations take on the depth of Scorpio, as Mercury runs retrograde in the mysterious waters of this powerful sign. On Oct 31st, 2019 Mercury stationed retrograde at 27º Scorpio, and now it journeys back to 11º Scorpio, where it will station to direct motion again on November 20th.

Mercury Retrograde has become synonymous with the miscommunication, travel issues, and technical difficulties that tend to arise during this time; in its more spiritual and subtle dimension, however, the Mercury Retrograde period presents a beautiful time for slowing down, becoming more conscientious of our words and actions, and an opportunity for respite from the increasingly rapid pace of our modern world.

Each retrograde period of Mercury, which happens three to four times each year, has its own special flavor and dimensionality to it, from which we can make certain meaning. This November, since it spans a large of portion of Scorpio, we can expect to encounter some facets of our psyche that are normally in our blind spot or otherwise obscured from being seen and experienced clearly. As we come into contact with these aspects of ourselves, we may feel confronted as we face our own shadow. Yet it is in these times when the places we fear and avoid grab for for our attention, that we can choose to continue to avoid, or to get curious and endeavor to accept these aspects of our being.

For even further insight, also, we can look to the Sabian Symbol for the degree at which Mercury Stations. For the 28th degree of Scorpio, we have “The king of the fairies approaching his domain.” Regarding this symbol, Marc Edmund Jones speaks to the way in which our inner world and perspective shapes the potentials of our outer reality. This symbol marks “a capacity for internal awareness, and therefore effectiveness in the outward expression of consciousness.” When negatively experienced, this degree might translate as “capricious self-indulgence.” If we take this as a piece of wisdom to journey with and contemplate over the course of this retrograde, a valuable area of inquiry can be around where and how we bring out internal world – rich in stories, beliefs, and meanings – and project that out onto the world around us, most of the time unconsciously, believing it as absolute truth. By contrast, in this Scorpionic Mercury Retrograde, we may all receive potent and stinging reminders of where we have not embraced and accepted ourselves, recognizing that these can appear to us through our aversion, judgments and dislikes of external events and people.

As C. G. Jung wrote in Psychology and Alchemy: “People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own souls. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.” May we each have the clarity, courage, and hunger for truth to encounter and accept ourselves in the fullest spectrum of our human experience.