Highlights for Nov. 2-8, 2020: Join the Choir

Join the Choir

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Quiet, but consequential

It’s a quiet week, astrologically, although our minds and hearts may be anything but. And it will not be a week without consequence.

On U.S. Election Day, Mercury slows down to end its latest retrograde and turn direct (Nov. 3, 2020, 9:50 am PST). A notorious example of a similar Mercury stationing election day was on Nov. 7, 2000, the Bush v. Gore contested election with the hanging chads and what-not. I’ve been guilty on the podcast, and possibly elsewhere, of saying this is the last time Mercury stationed on a presidential election day. However, it actually was stationing retrograde on Nov. 6, 2012, and that election went about as smoothly as these things ever do.

Still, a planet is particularly unpredictable when it’s stationing, so the usual Mercury retrograde warnings apply: (1) If technology, communication, or logistics can fly off the rails, they very likely will. (2) Have contingency plans. (3) Double-check – in this instance, your voter status, how and where to vote, even if you think you are certain. And needless to say, a thorough review of the candidates and measures.

Given this Mercury station comes right on the heels of a very Uranian Full Moon (see last week’s column), it’s exacerbates an already unsettled time. I’m writing this on the day of that Full Moon, which was exact here just before 8 am, and I’ve had a devil of a time settling down and getting focused, with a stream of interruptions and distractions slowing me down. I only see that increasing over the next few days, with a time change in the U.S. confusing both our timekeeping and biological clocks, and the Moon entering Mercury’s own sign of Gemini on Nov. 2.

Mercury, having just stationed to turn direct, is as wriggly and excitable as an energetic kitten. So if you have important work to complete and need some focus and discipline, be grateful for Mercury’s square to Saturn (Nov. 6, 2020, 1:12 am PST). Nothing will focus a scattered Mercury quite like a hard aspect to Saturn, the planet that keeps us on task and with our eyes on our own work.

This is the last in a series of three squares between Mercury and Saturn. The first was on Sept. 23, and the other was just last Sunday, Nov. 1. I know I found October a very hard month for getting my work done. I’ve been developing two new lectures and a workshop during this time, and the ideas have not been flowing. I’ve finished what I have only through sheer determination. Saturn, the God of Grit, is the friend of scrivener and scholar, helping us organize our thoughts and commit them to permanence.

Mercury is the planet of perception, processing information, and sharing ideas. We’re learned something, over the past month, about how well we’re handling these processes. Now, Saturn hands us our report card.

Last Quarter Moon at 16.37 Leo (Nov. 8, 2020, 5:46 am PST) invites to review, reassess, and come up with a plan. Leo Last Quarters Moons, in particular, want to frame our individual journeys in heroic terms. In this long, punishing calendar year, how have you been heroic? Have you shown an example of positivism, persisted in creating beauty, shone your warm light on others who needed shoring up? This very Capricornian year has been rough for the Leo spirit in all of us; sunniness and joy have been in short supply, and seem naïve even when we can summon them. Depression and despondency have ruled the day. And Uranus in Taurus has been squaring any planets in the first decan of Leo, destabilizing the normally unshakable lion.

But the Leo Last Quarter Moon, of all the lunar phases in the year, is when we’re asked to decide whether we’re going to give up, demoralized, or whether we’re going to move ahead and live with our whole hearts. The Moon is on the Sabian Symbol, A non-vested church choir. As Blain Bovee writes about this symbol, “The vested choir fulfills a role defined by long standing standards. A non-vested choir can bend the rules somewhat and, brought together in communion and the pure joy singing hymns divine, lift the energy of many…. Sing whether you carry the credentials to do so or not.”