The Way to Wisdom

Mer­cury turns ret­ro­grade in the sign of Sagit­tar­ius, (@29 degrees, 18 min­utes) on Decem­ber 2–3, and will turn direct in Sagit­tar­ius (@13 degrees) on Decem­ber 22. It is that time once again to turn your mind around, to be more inward­ly atten­tive and pen­sive. Mer­cury ret­ro­grade is a won­der­ful oppor­tu­ni­ty to re-con­sid­er your per­cep­tions, assump­tions and thoughts; it is time to clear your mind of clut­ter once again.

As always, since every­one else will be sim­i­lar­ly altered in their bal­ance between out­ward atten­tive­ness and inward con­scious­ness, it will be even more impor­tant to care­ful­ly lis­ten to one anoth­er and to com­mu­ni­cate with them more care­ful­ly. Though mis­com­mu­ni­ca­tions hap­pen every day, Mer­cury ret­ro­grade can often fos­ter a mul­ti­plic­i­ty of mis­un­der­stand­ings. The result can be a series of mis­steps and mis­cues that can turn small errors into big­ger and big­ger mis­takes, and it can lead to great dam­age for your rela­tion­ships. The stress of errors builds with­in you, and between one anoth­er, and you (or they) may find your tol­er­ance and com­po­sure erode as you stum­ble into conflict.

Dur­ing Mer­cury ret­ro­grade, you will cer­tain­ly need to adopt a more for­giv­ing atti­tude for your­self (and for one anoth­er), as these mis­steps mul­ti­ply and frus­tra­tions mount. With Mer­cury ret­ro­grade, it will be even more impor­tant for you to prac­tice self-for­give­ness, and equal­ly extend your for­give­ness towards others.

Remem­ber, all of this is not the “fault” of Mer­cury, it is mere­ly because most of us do not remem­ber, per­ceive or under­stand what is hap­pen­ing; we tend to car­ry on each day as we did the day before, unaware of the changes that are con­stant­ly unfold­ing through the Ener­gy-Forms of Mercury.

Tru­ly, Mer­cury ret­ro­grade should real­ly be under­stood as a pre­cious gift of the spir­it, as it encour­ages you to become ever more self-reflec­tive and self-cor­rec­tive. It is one of the prin­ci­pal means by which you will move towards greater self-mas­tery. You will know this self-mas­tery is real when your growth in Wis­dom is pro­por­tion­al­ly matched by your deep­en­ing sense of Humil­i­ty too. Mer­cury ret­ro­grade brings you an oppor­tu­ni­ty to make improvements/corrections in your con­scious­ness, which is essen­tial to your forg­ing a bet­ter under­stand­ing of your­self and of one another.

The entire ret­ro­grade takes place in the Sign of Sagit­tar­ius, so the focus of your renew­al of aware­ness will most cer­tain­ly be upon the very nature of Truth and Under­stand­ing. You will need to re-con­sid­er the ves­sels of mean­ing that shape your beliefs, that form and inform your “facts”. Whether by Reli­gion or Sci­ence, Faith or Rea­son, the real­i­ty you are attempt­ing to nav­i­gate depends upon your lev­el of spir­i­tu­al con­scious­ness, and then you must align your under­stand­ing with those with whom you journey.

Most mis­un­der­stand­ings arise from an incom­plete foun­da­tion of shared prin­ci­ples, foun­da­tions and essen­tial truths. As a result, the very “facts” that each par­ty may hold can­not be aligned or agreed upon. The ques­tions boil down to what is real­ly “real”.

To help to over­come these mutu­al mis­per­cep­tions, fol­low the lead offered in Sagit­tar­ius and expand your per­cep­tion­al frames of ref­er­ence. Look first and fore­most to the Ancient Wis­dom found at the heart of every Reli­gion; and the Log­ic and Rea­son in the vast trea­sury of Philoso­phies and Sci­ences. Be hum­ble, as you walk upon an ancient road; count­less oth­ers have come this way before you. Many ques­tions have been asked, and answered. So, look to the Wise Ones for inspi­ra­tion, guid­ance and peace of mind.

With these ancient cer­tain­ties pro­vid­ing some com­mon base of con­text, it is best to step back and re-con­sid­er the present source of dis­cord. Try to start from some fun­da­men­tal truth or prin­ci­ple and build upon that. Estab­lish com­mon cen­ters and bound­aries to hold your thoughts in con­cert with one anoth­er. Then see where the mis­un­der­stand­ings arise in the areas of your unshared con­sid­er­a­tions. Bring mat­ters to a fuller illu­mi­na­tion by reduc­ing the fog of false assump­tions or false facts.

You are here to help one anoth­er in so many ways. One way is by shin­ing a light upon one another’s blind-spots, those self-cast shad­ows which often ensnare one or both of you in bub­bles of self-con­firm­ing errors of assump­tions. You are here for one anoth­er, and your aware­ness and wis­dom come pre­cise­ly through your pro­vid­ing a lit­tle more light, by illu­mi­nat­ing what is real­ly “real” for one another.

This is pre­cise­ly how you lift your aware­ness for one anoth­er. Remem­ber, the very word “Con­scious­ness” means “Togeth­er-Know­ing”, and it is only by being a light to one anoth­er that you can lift one anoth­er up to a more inclu­sive under­stand­ing. Only togeth­er can you advance upon the Path of Wis­dom, as you dis­pel the shad­ows and fogs of fear and bring one anoth­er clos­er to the ever­last­ing Light.

Give thanks to Mer­cury, the mes­sen­ger of the gods, who reminds you that your jour­ney requires that you con­stant­ly strive to illu­mi­nate the dark spaces in your own mind, and that you can only do this by help­ing one anoth­er too.

Remem­ber to first ques­tion your­self; then ask ques­tions of one another.

Be what you are, be a light for one another.

Remove the shad­ows of fear, those dim-lit echoes of your past misunderstandings.

Bow to the Wise Ones who came this way before.

Fol­low their exam­ple of Humil­i­ty and Grace.

Be open, be hum­ble and you will per­ceive the Light.

And togeth­er you will move along the Path of Wis­dom and Love.