Mercury Retrograde

In this Weekly Horoscope from the Astrology Hub Podcast, Astrologer Rick Levine and Amanda ‘Pua’ Walsh discuss the energies coming our way as described by astrology.

You’ll learn…

• About the incoming Mercury Retrograde, and how it’s more auspicious than you think
• How Venus entering Aries is able to pick up the pace of your life
• Why Uranus and dynamic change are such prominent energies this week

✨Timestamps

0:00 Intro

1:22 Week Overview

2:52 Chart Reading Extravaganza

6:36 Mercury Turns Retrograde

14:39 How to Manage the Week’s Energies

23:27 Venus semi-square Uranus

26:34 Venus enters Aries

32:01 Mercury Retrograde Misconceptions

44:23 Mercury sextile Venus

48:44 Summary

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Transcript

This transcript is automatically generated. Some miswording might be present.

Amanda Pua Walsh 0:02
Welcome to your weekly astrological, whether this is your place to get practical guidance for not only surviving, but thriving with the cosmic tides.

Well, hello, everybody, and welcome. It is so great to be here with you all. And I am very, very excited to have Rick Merlin Levine back with us on the weekly weather this week. Hi, Rick. Hello, hello, hello. And we are both traveling. So our backgrounds are different, and we’re in different parts of the country. But we’re really happy to be here with all of you. And Rick, I mean, we can start with a theme. And I just want to ask like an overarching question, because I don’t know about you, and everybody in the audience, but this eclipse was, wow. This eclipse was definitely, definitely felt it like it was definitely it was not subtle. So I’m just wondering, you know, is this week going to be sort of the aftermath kind of week of of such an intense astrology? Or do we have more of that?

Rick Levine 1:22
We definitely have more of that. But I would say that this week, you know, there’s a phrase that I’m not sure we want to use this. We’re working toward the theme for the week. You know, the phrase, the calm before the storm? Yeah, this is like the, like the the little storm between the two big ones. So in other words, in other words, we’ve had a large, stormy period, if you will, with the Eclipse and so on. And I think as we get toward the middle of May, it’s pretty, it’s a pretty, what’s the word I’m looking for. It’s a happening month, there’s a lot going on. And it actually begins this week. But it’s not quite at the level that it will be at later on in the month. And it’s not all bad. It’s there’s excitement wrapped up in this month, this month is there’s there’s a feeling of that thing that change, Ah, got it. Change is in the air.

Amanda Pua Walsh 2:25
That is so good. And I can feel it. And I think for that, I say this, Michael Beckwith quote a lot because I love it. That pain pushes until vision pulls. And yeah, isn’t a good, and it really has been, you know, a lot of things that it’s like, oh, gosh, that doesn’t work. That doesn’t work. That doesn’t work. Okay, what? What’s the what’s the change that needs to happen? Right? Right. Before we dive deep into the weather, let’s talk about the exciting thing that’s happening this week, which is that we are starting the chart reading extravaganza. Part two, focus on timing and transits on Thursday. So if you’re not yet in that course, with Rick, I highly recommend checking it out. And joining us if you want to see Rick, reading charts for students and focusing on timing things, which eclipses are going to be a part of that solar arcs progressions. What else is going to be covered in the classroom?

Rick Levine 3:30
Solar I progressions, and transits are really well, we’ll do some solar returns and birthday charts. We’ll look at Saturn Return, we’ll look at some other things. But those will be the the main things. And I am so excited about this. I you know, as you know, Amanda, I love reading charts. But the timing stuff is what’s it’s the coolest part of astrology. I mean, it’s it’s fascinating to look at a chart and to know that you know something about the dynamics of that person. And of course, to talk about timing, we’ll have to do some of that. It’s not like we’re going to ignore the interpretation of the chart. Excuse me, because, you know, transits don’t happen, unless it’s already somehow in your chart, you know, everything goes back to a chart if you got a strong Saturn transit or movement or progression happening, what Saturn doing in your own chart or in the chart that you’re looking at. And so, yeah, and to say that we’re just looking at two charts a week for eight weeks doesn’t quite do it. Because what happens is that each of those eight charts becomes the curriculum. The curriculum is instead of out of some dry textbook and learning that transiting Uranus means this and whatever. We’re going to be looking at a chart and talking about transiting Uranus with the person that’s experiencing it, and we’ll say so what’s going on? What when done for you in the spring of 2014, and we’ll hear the stories. And then we can kind of clean up and explain what the connection is between the real life and the actual, you know, astrological information, if you will.

Amanda Pua Walsh 5:17
I love that so much, Rick, I can’t tell you how many times I’ll see a post in our inner circle, online community, someone’s going through a transit, and they’re saying, Hey, I’ve looked it up in all the books, and it sounds really scary. And all the books or it just sounds, you know, it’s not really matching my experience, what are your experiences, you know, and then people will start sharing about their Pluto transit or their you know, whatever. And it just comes to life in a totally different way. So I love that we get to do this. I love that you’re doing this with us. Thank you so much, Rick, if you’re interested in checking this out, go to astrology. hub.com/timing. You do not have to have taken astrology foundations, level one, astrology foundations, level two, or our first chart reading extravaganza. You can dive in right here for this course. And then if you decide you want to take the other ones down the road, you can do that. Right? Yeah. All right. So check it out. Again. It’s astrology. hub.com/timing. And let’s talk about this week, Rick. So we have change is in the air. Yes, we’ve already described it as kind of like a mini storm. And between two big storms. I’m assuming we’ve already had the first big storm. Now we’re having a mini mini storm this week or a kickoff storm for a bigger storm that’s coming.

Rick Levine 6:36
It’s almost like it’s a setup. I mean, I can’t tell you all right, I can tell you tell us, I’m bummed that I have to talk about this week, instead of next week. Oh, because this week, is really preparation for Mercury turning retrograde next week, Jupiter moving into Aries next week, and the second of the two eclipses toward the end of the week. And so it’s like, it’s like a major major shift. And, and we’re getting the first taste of it. This week. You know, the eclipse that happened a couple of days ago. Most people know that the Eclipse was about four degrees away from Uranus, the Eclipse was therefore conjunct Uranus, therefore, people talked about how the Eclipse had changed built into it there a surprise there was, you know, Uranus, the pilot of shock and or Uranus the great Awakener. But the thing is, is that if the if the Eclipse itself was more like five degrees away from the sun, that means that within hours after the eclipse, the Moon lined up with the sun, which is why we could talk about how it was such a Uranian Eclipse, because the moon was ready to go right into the sun. However, we actually have on May 5, the sun catching up to Uranus, then I would say that that’s the that’s one of two of the biggest events of the week. That that the sun catches up and lines up with Uranus, it’s very early in the morning. So really, rather than being Thursday, we could probably think of it as Wednesday. But I love the idea, Amanda that we are starting our course on timing with the Sun conjunct Uranus, because this is about change, this is about dynamic change in response to things that come up and you see Uranus is an interesting planet, because it becomes more powerful as how do I want to say this, it becomes more powerful, as the events become less powerful. What I mean by that is that Uranus has a way of finding that which is stuck that which is hidden, that which is buried, and we all have issues in our life. You know, one of the great mistakes that that we make and that psychology counselors often make is that you can talk everything out. Yeah, you got a problem talk about it. Well, I would suggest that everyone, even you, even me, that everyone has some certain things that you don’t talk about with some certain people, because you know that when you do it never goes anywhere. Good. And the more you talk about it, I mean, everyone has this with some issue with with when, especially family stuff, now we have things that we just don’t talk about with our parents, we just know better.

And you see, Uranus loves this kind of stuff. Because the more stress there is that’s buried, the more tension, the more more the more things that are stuffed into, into somatic issues in our belly, in our backs, in our big toe in our joints, the more stuff that stuck away, that stronger the spark, the lightning strike of lightning is going to be because that lightning has to strike hard enough to get to whatever it is that’s buried, so it’s out in the open, so all of a sudden, you do not have a choice, deal with it, talk about it, you know, things happen under under the influence of we’re living under the influence this week, but we’re not under the influence of the psychedelic movement. We’re now you know, the the Neptune Jupiter conjunction, even with Venus there, then as you know, Amanda, I’m here in Tucson, Arizona, at the tail end of the conference for the organization for for for professional astrology. And, and Gemini, Brett, our Gemini, Brett led a group of about 50 of us at 330 in the morning, out into this very dark place out in the desert. And we had our minds blown, because most of us astrologers look at charts. And then we were within a chart. So I go go off topic only a little bit. But that was a Uranian kind of experience, because it breaks through. And Uranus is a breakthrough. So I think that this week, if there’s an underlying theme to this sense of change, it’s don’t wait until you’ve been struck by lightning, and have lost all your hair. Because it singed every piece of hair on your body, and you’re lying by the edge of the road kind of dazed, going, what that hell just happened. Because that’s often that of course, I’m talking in exaggeration and metaphor here. But often when you’re in is when we get Uranus transits, it’s like it’s a wake up call, it’s a wake up call, it’s like getting smacked across the face, like Holy smokes, I had no idea this was coming. But the fact of the matter is that the best way to prepare for the unexpected, which is how Uranus normally works, is to move. And I don’t mean to move from Hawaii to Texas, or wherever one might move, I mean to move the body to your hips. And I use that wiggle your hips. particularly relevant because it has secure implications. But it’s not about sex. It’s about the energy that occurs, insects. And so in a way, there’s that sense of the yogi’s would call this Kundalini or chi or Qi, then what we’re trying to do is to move that energy and to get it circulating anything we can do to do that, whether it’s physically in our own body, or metaphysically, in thoughts and communication in people in our lives, it’s really, really important to stir the pot, or at least get it stir in so that as we move through the period of time, towards Wednesday, Thursday of this week, that we’re already feeling this now, there’s not a lot of lead up from the Eclipse to this conjunction. But the point is, is that if we get lazy, there’s a Rumi poem that something is the morning is blah, blah, blah, blah. Do not go back to sleep. The birds are singing I’m doing this not I mean, it’s not just like the birds are singing in the sky is turning blue, do not go back to sleep. And the poem is not about pulling the covers over your head and going back to sleep. It’s about metaphorically, it’s a Uranus is the planet of awareness. We need to use this transit to become aware and do not go back to sleep. Cool.

Amanda Pua Walsh 14:39
Wow. So good, Rick, so much there. So but with okay when you were speaking, and I totally get the moving the energy and just sort of circulating energy and the thing that I’ve noticed is that because it’s surprising where it comes from, and is bringing up things that are under the surface that you might not be aware of, it’s hard to proactively address it because you don’t really know where it’s gonna come from.

Rick Levine 15:08
Exactly. That’s why movements of any sort. That’s preparation, because we don’t know where it’s going to come from. And often the things that are hidden, you know, there’s two ways to hide things psychologically. One is by suppression, which is, oh, I’m going to visit my parents, I better not talk about, you know, my, my partner who they don’t like, for whatever reason, you know, or, or whatever. That’s suppression. Suppression is when we consciously say, I’m not going there. The other form of, of hiding things is called repression. And whenever someone says, oh, I repressed that all the time I go, No, you don’t? And they will go, Yes, I do. I go, No, you don’t. Because if you know you’re doing it, you’re not repressing it. repression is totally unconscious, than unconscious means that you’re not aware of it. And whether you would like to admit it or not, we all got shit in our lives that we’re not aware of, I don’t care how much work you’ve done. There’s stuff that happens that you’re not aware of. That’s the stuff Uranus likes, then that’s why it’s unexpected. That’s why we can prepare for it. You know, it’s like, I remember, maybe, maybe 25 years ago, there was a lightning strike, there was a storm, and there were several lightning strikes. And Yellowstone Park burned terribly. I mean, hundreds of 1000s of acres, or 1000s of square miles, were just incinerated. And the environmentalists were quite upset because anyone who’s been to Yellowstone I have, it’s like an extraordinary place. And they were saying the park is ruined. I mean, it’s like we’ve lost half the bark, and so on. And well, now 25 years later, the same. ecologists are saying that the flora and fauna in Yellowstone have never been so strong throughout, you know, recent history. But and you see what Uranus does is Uranus, the fire wouldn’t have wouldn’t have burned as intensely. If the forests didn’t need full, tending cleansing the underbrush that gets so thick, it strangles the growth. And so what happens is that once everything is burned, the fire actually energizes things and creates almost like a, like an empty petri dish, you know, for new bacteria to grow on. But it’s not bacteria is life. And the same thing happens in our lives, often with Uranus. And I can think of a couple of examples in my life. And I know in the timing classes throughout this month, Uranus is often the most dramatic of what happens in life, because it’s so sudden, so unexpected. And more often than not, the results are fantastic. If we don’t strive to hold on to what it is that we think we need to hold on to, because of the other the other key word for Uranus is freedom or independence, maybe even better. But often what happens with the Uranus transit is we ended up being more independent than we ever bargained for, or thought about. And that can be frightening in itself. And so often, you know, we have, for example, and Uranus transits are not always tragic. I know that mean, there have been people who were elected president, during their Uranus transit, people win Nobel prizes. During a Uranus transit, it comes out of the blue, it’s unexpected, and it changes their life. But people’s houses burned down under a Uranus transit. In fact, there’s this wonderful piece of writing from an astrologer in the late 18th century, which is when Uranus was discovered thing we’re trying to figure out this whole Uranus thing. And this is something he actually wrote. And I have this really strong Uranus transit today. And I’m waiting to see what it is that might happen to help me understand Uranus. And at that time, his servants broke into the house, then evacuate the house because the house was on fire.

So, yeah, unexpected. You’re right. We can’t prepare for it. But we can prepare for it psychologically, by saying whatever it is that comes up, the worst thing we can do is to push it into further denial. How do we dance with it? How do we work with whatever it is that comes out into the open and again, doesn’t have to be you know, bad at all. You know, you know, one of my memorable Uranus transits was the the You know, the the year that I met, fell in love with married and, and, and had a kid all within, you know a year. And it was great. It was a fantastic year. But it wasn’t what I had on my books for that year. Right. And so Uranus transits can be tremendous gifts. And yet a lot of people live in fear of Uranus transits. You know, it’s, it’s changed, and it’s changed this gotta happen. It’s important. Anyhow, that’s one piece of the week, but it’s an important piece of the week, because it ties the Eclipse from Saturday, all the way up to the event of the Sun conjoining with Uranus on late Friday, it’ll be either late Wednesday night, very late Wednesday night, or early Thursday morning. And, and that means that even by Friday and Saturday, it’ll still only be a degree two degrees, three degrees away. So this is going to be the flavor all week of the oh my god, what next. And so if we’re mentally prepared for that, then that that’s cool. Because whatever it is, that happens, we we roll with the punches, we, we kind of use that energy, I might have said here or somewhere else this week, that we Westerners often live our lives with the metaphor of Western boxing, which is built upon block, and parry. And so any incoming thing, you use energy to stop it, and then you hit back. Whereas in the East, especially with Aikido, but with other martial arts do that if a punch comes in the Masters thinking, this is fantastic, because I don’t have to strike, I can use the energy of this punch, and let it ripple help it ripple through the system and out the other side. And it energizes me. And I’m not I’m not wasting energy trying to stop it. Instead, I’m letting it run through. And that’s a great metaphor for dealing with any difficult situation, but certainly with Saturn and Uranus transits.

Amanda Pua Walsh 22:25
Yeah, I’ve found, especially traveling this week that knowing that unexpected things could happen and probably will happen has made it much easier to just, you know, kind of flow with the things that come up. And there’s been periods of time on this trip specifically where it’s, I’ve felt like I’m in some sort of slapstick comedy show where it’s just like, are you serious? Like, is this really happening? And it’s just, it’s it’s been comical, but I think knowing that, that that’s the way the energy is right now can just help us and then also keeping in mind that it’s a breakthrough. Like this is an opportunity for a breakthrough. If I see it that way. If I work with it that way, then it’s an opportunity for a breakthrough. Okay, so we have this sun Uranus, this is flavoring I mean this whole Uranian energies flavoring the whole week. On Wednesday, Thursday we have Sun conjunct Uranus, yes is going to be a major part of the week. What else astrologically.

Rick Levine 23:27
Let’s, let’s also mention that today, on May 2, we also have Venus making a half square with Uranus. So a square 90 degrees, half a square is 45 degrees. That half square is also an aspect of change of of stress. And here it’s about Venus being pleasant, nice, Bob love, money, things, it doesn’t mean that these things are going to be bad. But because Uranus is already so close to the sun, that Venus is going to excuse me, Venus is going to make it half square to Uranus. And it’ll stir up some of that Uranium Energy today, and then also on May 4, which is on Wednesday, that Mars is going to be sextile Uranus and that too will stir up the energy. The difference is that the that the half square today on Monday is can be difficult to integrate. And it can take energy to actually figure out how to integrate that Venus, Venus, Venus, semi square Uranus because it can be disruptive. Now on Wednesday, the fact that Mars makes a sextile with Uranus. Here’s an easy flood have energy, but Mars and Uranus together. You know, this is fire fireworks, you know, because Because Mars gives a physical energy to that uranium and lightning. And so And here’s a good example of why using good and bad in astrology doesn’t work the way we would like it to Oh, so much simpler if it did. But if Mars is squaring Uranus, that can be an easy, that’s the sextile cooperative, that’s the sex sextile expression physically Mars of dynamic and powerful and sudden change Uranus, it’s an aspect of war. Now, obviously, there are parts of the country, or parts of the world that are always at war. I mean, I don’t mean the same place, but there’s always you know, conflict going on, and that Mars sextile, Uranus can in fact be a an easier flow of energy that allows the conflict to be solved. Or that can be an easier flow of energy that gives me more ability to release more destruction. But the point I’m making, though, is that even though the sun’s conjunction to Uranus is not until Thursday, we’re getting other faster moving aspects against that all week.

Amanda Pua Walsh 26:28
Okay, all right. And what else? What else? Yeah. Is there anything else to pay attention

Rick Levine 26:34
to? A couple of things. I think the next thing is of importance, is the fact that that today, Monday, May 2, if I’m not mistaken, that Venus is changing signs and moving into Aries. This is a bit of a, it’s a funny kind of of Harbinger. Because, you know, we had Mars, I’m sorry, we had the sun already moving through Aries. And now Venus moves through Aries, the sun is on to Taurus. But venus moves into Aries on the second. And then on the 10th. Jupiter moves into Aries. And then, and then at the end of the month on May 24, Mars moves into Aries. Now I know by contract, I’m not supposed to speak about anything beyond this week. But the fact is that this Aries energy, which we had a taste of when the sun moves through Aries, back toward the end of March, and through the early part of April, we’re getting another wave of area and energy. First with Venus, that as venus moves into Aries today, it’s hmm, I like this newness, whatever this new is new Aries. Whatever this newness is that’s going on, I kind of am digging it, I want more change, I want more, more things to be happening. And then by the 10th, when Jupiter makes its big change from Pisces into Aries, that whole energy is going to become even more we’re going to find ourselves in someplace really new, indifferent. But in some ways, even though Jupiter is the largest of these planets, Mars when it moves into Aries on the 24th Toward the end of the month. This is this is a coming home party. Mars is at home in Aries. And so we’re getting here with and that’ll be the end of the month. But what we’re getting here with Venus moving into an Aries is kind of a re stimulation of everything that is Aries like which are things that are new things that are impulsive things that spontaneous things that have to do with being in charge of the moment. You know, Ares is the ROM das line be here now, which sounds easy. But the Buddhists teach when you’re in the present moment, it can be very difficult because you allegedly have no connection or remembrance of the past and no attachment to the future. It’s intense living in the moment. And when venus moves into Aries today, actually in a couple of hours. Will like that idea of being in the moment more than we usually do. I always think of Venus moving into Aries as this sweet, kind of pretty soft Venus in pisces where she’s exalted. Waring’s very sweet. Light like mohair and Gora. You know Gentle, gentle fabrics, and then venus moves into Aries and all of a sudden those fabrics are gone. And she’s wearing red leather. And so Venus in Aries, technically, is not a happy camper. Technically she’s in exile, because she’s as far away from Libra, which is a home side as she can get. And yet it really begins to stir up that energy. So Venus moving into Aries is another strong piece. The third piece that we need, excuse me. The third piece we need to talk about is mercury. And although Mercury doesn’t turn retrograde until the 10th, when everything else that’s happening this month seems to happen. It’s slowing down, it’s barely moving. Mercury is at two and a quarter degrees today, on Monday, May second.

By the end of the week, by May 9, Mercury is in four degrees of Gemini that’s barely to less than three degrees and in taught in an entire week. Last month, Mercury was moving almost two degrees a day, that’s 14 degrees in a week. So mercury, even though it’s not retrograde, yet. It’s its own shadow, that area that it moves through direct, through again retrograde through again, direct and then on that area is being affected. And so anyone who has planets in early degrees of mutable signs because or even in late degrees of fixed signs, because this is mercury shadow. This week, in particular, it’s the people who have Mercury in Gemini, Virgo Sagittarius or Pisces that are going to be most affected by Mercury slowing down and feeling like I’m not making progress where I was. So

Amanda Pua Walsh 32:01
that’s what I was going to ask you. If you have early mutable or late fixed and Mercury slowing down. What what will that mean for you? I mean, that just it feels like what’s happening?

Rick Levine 32:15
Well, it might just feel sluggish, it might feel like something that was moving along really, really well. has now bogged down for one reason or another. And of course, this is the stuff that Uranus likes.

Amanda Pua Walsh 32:30
Right I was that’s an interesting pairing with all this Uranium Energy. Yeah, it is that’s blowing things up and stimulating things and moving things.

Rick Levine 32:38
Well, in a way that some of the theme of this whole month because there’s so much forward moving with with Venus moving into Aries, Jupiter moving into Aries, Mars moving into Aries and yet Mercury’s retrograde.

Amanda Pua Walsh 32:59
Okay, what’s your take? I don’t know if we’ve ever talked about this, what’s your take on signing contracts or, like, you know, launching something new when Mercury’s retrograde and or in the shadow?

Rick Levine 33:13
All right, don’t get me started on this one. I already did. Alright, so you know, there is that thing, you know, don’t sign contracts, don’t buy a car, don’t buy a computer, don’t sell a house, don’t travel. Mercury is retrograde for for almost two and a half months, a year, you know, three times three weeks of time, nine weeks or so a year. It’s crazy to think that you know that we shouldn’t do something for that amount of time every year. If someone calls me as an astrologer and says, We’ve been looking for a house, a house just came up on the market, but Mercury is retrograde. You know, should we wait until it goes direct? And my answer is, is it a good deal? Because if it’s a good deal, you wait till Mercury goes direct, the deal is going to be gone. Excuse me, the danger. With signing contracts while Mercury is retrograde is while Mercury is retrograde because from Earth’s point of view, it’s replaying energy and it feels like we’re not making progress. We tend to be frustrated and want to get there faster. We tend to sign the contract without reading it. Oh, we tend to buy the car at a friend a number of years ago who had been thinking about a new car that Mercury was retrograde and he decided he was just going to go out and you know, look just to see what’s out there. And the first lot he walked into Ted this beautiful Porsche that was a repo Oh, and it was such an amazing deal. You know, it was really a good deal. And everything about it was right. And he bought it on the on the spot. And it wasn’t until he had it at home that he said, What am I going to do with my dog and my wife and my kids? Mercury Retrograde story, because it was a good deal, there was just like the I got to do it right now. And while Mercury is slowing down as it is now. And when it turns retrograde, and later on when it turns direct, you know, Mercury technically moved into its own shadow on April 25. It turns retrograde on May 10. It actually backs all the way up to late Taurus from Gemini, and turns direct on June 3, and then it moves out of its shadow in mid June, June 18. Now, through this whole time, the issues of Mercury Retrograde are cooking, it’s around the two stations that they’re most intense, around May 10. And around June 3. But the deal is not that let me say that the deal is that if you’re going to sign a contract, Don’t sign it like on the moment you see it, read it, read it again, talk to a friend about things that might not make sense in it, get an attorney, talk to your tax accountant, if there’s something that’s financial in it, because it’s the jumping to conclusions. It’s the give you an example of how I had that mercury works. You’re driving along in your car in Los Angeles, you’re in six or seven lanes of traffic, and you have directions as to where you’re going. But you’re not familiar with driving there. And you look down and you see that your gas tank is all of a sudden very low. And you notice that because you’re in stop and go traffic that’s mostly stop. And you freak out because you realize, if I was just driving there, I’d be there no problem. But I may not have enough gas to make it there. Then to get stuck on a freeway that’d be just awful. And so at of panicking, you get over a lane you get over lane, you get over another lane, you’re now in the third lane, you get over two more lanes, and you’re kind of and finally the first exit comes along, you’re there because you need to get off the freeway, and you get off the freeway. And it’s Los Angeles, you find yourself in five lanes of traffic on another freeway. And in other words, it’s what we do things that are thought through out of panic in the moment. That Mercury Retrograde favorite, you know, grounds for making something happen, then, you know, it’s interesting because it takes Mercury about ADA days to around the sun. And it takes Uranus about 88 years to go around, it’s actually 84 to go around the sun. And there’s an octave when

it’s what astrologers call an octave relationship between Mercury and they say that Uranus is the higher octave of Mercury. They’re both intellectual, they’re both dry, they’re both about a process of thought that is that it gives them significance. And the truth is that mercury is about a thought. Uranus is about the nervous system. So in a way Uranus is the the distribution of the thought. But I think it’ll be interesting to see how even this week we might begin to feel the pangs of that Mercury retrograde and the thing is with Mercury Retrograde is to breathe and to watch to observe and to not necessarily push forward as hard as you think that that you should and again that’s going to be tough with planets moving into Aries first Venus than Jupiter then also that sun Uranus which wants resolution in the immediate be here now present, then now we have into that mercury crawling along it creates an interesting dynamic.

Amanda Pua Walsh 39:29
Okay, I love to I think it’s Gemini Brett is is oh gosh, I can’t remember which astrologer but essentially when when things aren’t going the way you want them to during Mercury Retrograde or any retrograde but let’s just use mercury retrograde right now. You can actually ask the planet, okay, what do you want me to pay attention to right now? So your computer’s not working your car you know? It whatever is happening that’s fine. frustrating you instead of just being frustrated and trying to bulldoze through it or get more and more frustrated, taking a pause and going okay, what am I, what am I? What am I need? What do I need to pay attention to here that I’m not paying attention

Rick Levine 40:14
to? Right? Show me? Yeah. Right. And I think that it you see that does two things. Number one, it puts us in touch with the planets, right? But number two, it gives us breathing room, I mean, a great Mercury Retrograde practice is was what I call counting to 10. You know, instead of just reacting, respond, respond, don’t react. And because reaction occurs immediately a reaction is not conscious. And so we want to make that which is not conscious conscious. And so yeah, I think the trap of Mercury Retrograde, though on the other side, is frightening us into thinking that we can’t do anything. And I would say that anything that you would do with mercury direct, is fair game to do when Mercury is retrograde. Even starting a project, which they say don’t start a project when Mercury is retrograde? Well don’t start a project that you thought about in the morning at noon, if it involves hiring 30 people and you know, that is a typical Mercury Retrograde Wow, let’s do that’s such a great idea. Why don’t you start on it. And Joe, you do this and Frank, you do that and Mary do that. Let’s meet again, tomorrow, we’ll make this happen by the end of the week. That’s typical Mercury Retrograde scenario, where all of a sudden, that we got a new plan. Mercury Retrograde, however, is much better for the plan that you were working on last week last month than saying how are we going to take this to the next step. But the idea is that we can push it forward as fast and as far as we would like. Often the way we play Mercury Retrograde is we do the work that we can do on whatever the the objective is that we’re looking at, and we do the work. And then when Mercury turns direct, it’s almost like a New Moon. That’s the time to start something and let it grow to fulfillment. So when Mercury turns direct, that’s when we begin to push forward. And when it moves out of the Chatto now it’s mature enough to become something on its own.

Amanda Pua Walsh 42:30
Love it. Okay, I love also what Caitlin says here, I always increase my meditation and self reflection time during Mercury retrograde. This has helped me to stay more aware and focus and not leap before I look into the details. That’s some great input there. Caitlin. Caitlin, thanks.

Rick Levine 42:49
Good. I think that that’s important. But I also think Mercury Retrograde is not a time to go to sleep. I mean, relaxing and certainly doing your recharging is is okay. But it’s not not necessarily the time to just do nothing. In fact, things that we do when Mercury was retrograde can be the most important things that we’ll ever do. Because mercury will turn direct, then it’s like the it Thomas Jefferson once said, the more I prepare the luckier I seem to get. And Mercury Retrograde is a time to prepare by people in the chat room said that they hope I feel better. I feel great. I just it’s the middle of the night for me just about so. You know. So I find if I seem a little bit stuffed up. I’m not I’m not sick. I’m just still not fully.

Amanda Pua Walsh 43:45
Yeah, so Rex. Rex is serious, late night owl. And he sleeps a lot during the day. So I said, Rick, we kind of need to do this early in the morning on Monday. Can you do that? And he said, I’ll do it. I’ll be there. But yes, for Rick, this is the middle of the night. We basically woke you up at 2am Thank you for your

Rick Levine 44:05
concern, but I’m great. And I’m traveling. I’m not you know, but I’m fine. But so don’t go worry I’m and my brain is functioning trust me.

Amanda Pua Walsh 44:14
Yes. Okay, good. All right. So we have three major things that we’ve talked about, which I will gladly summarize but I wanted to see if there’s a fourth or fifth

Rick Levine 44:23
Well, you know, there’s a toward the end or middle of the week on May 5 and may sevens. We have a couple of things that lighten the load a little a little bit, and they’re worth mentioning because oftentimes we astrologers you know, like like a like a psychoanalytic patient, we focus on the bad, you know, and, and on May 5, which is the first day of the astrology extravaganza, the timing program for the month of May, on May 5, the day that the Sun conjunct Uranus early that morning, we also have mercury making a sextile with Venus. Normally this would be just something that would happen really quickly and then we forget about it. However, because mercury is moving so slowly because it’s coming toward a retrograde, this carries a little more weight. And Mercury sextiling Venus is a it’s a time for communication. It’s a time for mercury, cooperatively supporting Venus that which is sweet. This is a great aspect to start the extravaganza on, because it actually indicates a flow of energy verbally. Intellectually cerebrally that would be mercury, and Venus. That which is nice that which is that which is that which feels good. So that’s on May 5. And it’s later in the in the day, but we’ll be feeling that all day again, because mercury is moving so slowly. Then on Saturday, on Saturday, May 7, the sun makes a sextile to Mars. And what’s interesting now is that between the fifth and the seventh, we have sextiles. between Mercury, what let’s go back, yeah, between the sun and Mars, on the inner and outer, and Mercury and Venus in between. So the four inner planet inner most planets, astrologically, the Sun, Mercury, Venus, and Mars, are all kind of talking with each other in supportive ways. And I think energetically, this is going to feel really good. I think that’s, yeah, that’s the other. And other than that, you know, we have our moon changing. Remember, look, the moon moves fast enough that whatever we talk about on a major basis, the moon is going to run through its stuff. And I mean, it will, for example, by by the 10th, which I know is just a little bit beyond this, although no, let’s come back a little bit more to by by May 8, which is Sunday, the moon will be squaring, making its first quarter square to the sun, but will also be squaring Uranus. So we get a few hours of that Uranian craziness, you know, new, exciting, unpredictable, then so the moon is making these little micro kind of changes all the time, we focused on the major things for the week. But behind that, the moon is stimulating everything for a couple of hours here a couple of hours there. And then I think you get that more in the inner circle stuff where we’re really zoning in on the moon transits day by day by track day to the big focus to the art to the to the to the wider perspective.

Amanda Pua Walsh 48:20
Perfect. That is what this weekly weather is for. Okay, So Rick, in terms of theme, we have changes in the air, but also break through. So you said changes in the air is the overarching theme. And then break through is kind of the

Rick Levine 48:34
breakthrough is just change that happens test.

Amanda Pua Walsh 48:37
Breakthrough is things that happen fast.

Rick Levine 48:40
Breakthrough is change. That happens fast,

Amanda Pua Walsh 48:44
right? Very true. Okay. So it’s the same thing, but different speeds, different speed. All right. Okay, here we go. So the first thing that we’re really paying attention to is Uranus, because we have the sun and Uranus conjunct on the fifth sixth. And this is really extending this Uranium Energy that we’ve been experiencing with this recent Eclipse. So you said some of the keys to working with this energy is that it’s dynamic change in response to things that come up. So things are coming up, they’re being brought up, and then there’s change as a result of those things that are coming up. You’re saying that this is finding stuck, hidden and buried places within us, the more stuffed it is, the stronger the spark, the stronger the lightning, so the more intense the surprise might be. But again, remembering that this is stuff that needs to come up. I love the example you gave of Yellowstone and the forest and the fire and how at the time it was it was the worst thing that could happen. But 25 years later, they’re looking at it going wow, did that strengthen this forest more than anything?

Rick Levine 49:50
Yeah, and remember, Amanda, that’s exactly correct. But the flip side of that is there will be plenty of people who go through the week without noticing anything. And then if anything, that’s just simply a report card that says, you’re on track you’re doing okay? You know, because Because Uranus can’t be upsetting, if there’s nothing to upset.

Amanda Pua Walsh 50:14
I love that. Thank you for clarifying that. You said a couple of ways to work with this energy proactively move the body, especially your hips, that this is circulating energy, this is stirring the pot. And again, it goes to what you just said it, there’s less stuck places, and less places where Uranus needs to actually strike if you’re actually proactively moving the energy itself. You said don’t go back to sleep.

Rick Levine 50:43
The room you said that,

Amanda Pua Walsh 50:45
You reminded us that Rumi said this. And you said that the things that came up with this eclipse, the probably one of the worst things we could do is kind of forget about it and be like, Okay, well, that happened, but I’m not really going to do anything about it. Changes in the air make the changes in a response to the things that came up. Right. Okay. You said, results are fantastic. If we don’t strive to hold on to the old. Yeah, so if we are not so clutching to what we think it should be, then the results can be fantastic. Of this kind of a transit. Yep. How do we dance with it? Let’s see. So Venus half square to Uranus, this is potentially some change and stress around love, money, value, those kinds of things. Today, and that’s today. Okay, so you also today, right? Is Venus moving into Aries? Right? Yes. Okay.

Rick Levine 51:51
For those of you who are geeky, that occurs at 9:10am Pacific Time, which would mean just after noon, yeah, in on the East Coast. And so adjust for your timezone.

Amanda Pua Walsh 52:06
All right, so you said that Venus moving into Aries. I love the examples, you gave a Venus in those like yummy fabrics, so soft and pretty. Then donning the red leather and just like let’s go. So this is be in the moment. This is newness, this is being very present. We’re gonna have this Aries energy amplified a couple other times throughout the month. And Rick, it’s okay that you, you broke your contract today. And you gave us a sneak maintenance in May 24. On May 10, Jupiter is moving into Aries on May 24th. Mars is moving into Aries, you said this is like a coming home party. So we’re gonna have a lot of Aries energy happening. And we’re gonna get our first taste of it here with Venus. That’s the second major thing of the week. The third major thing of the week is that mercury is slowing down. It’s barely moving, it’s in its shadow. It this is going to be felt by people who have placements in early mutable or late fixed signs. They could feel sluggish and bogged down. But so I love the conversation we had about Mercury though. Think it through. Breathe, watch, observe, don’t push things forward. Don’t make those crazy, spontaneous, huge decisions. Look at the contract, read it, have your friends, look at it have third, fourth, fifth opinions. Take your time. Respond, don’t react, do the work and then push forward. And if you’ve already been preparing, right, Rick, so if there’s something in your life that you’ve already been preparing, you’ve already been working through the details. This is it’s okay to sign the thing during the Mercury Retrograde it’s, you’ve already done the work. You’ve already been looking through all

Rick Levine 53:51
the details read the fine print. Yeah. Okay.

Amanda Pua Walsh 53:55
And then the fourth thing is on May 5, we have Mercury sextile unit Uranus or I’m sorry, Mercury sextile. Venus, which is a good communication, good flow of energy. May 7, the sun sextile Mars, which energetic, Lee could also feel really good. And that’s Saturday. And then may 8, you have Moon square, sun, square, Uranus, new, exciting, unpredictable, we have that Uranium Energy again. Yeah. Is that That’s That’s the summary then.

Rick Levine 54:28
That’s pretty good. A couple of things for clean up or just to say. One is that there have been a couple of questions that floated through the chat box, that and any of these aspects are tempered by what your chart is. There are people who have mercury retrograde natively and when Mercury turns retrograde, they kind of remember how they work on a best basis. That doesn’t mean that they can’t function the rest of the year when Mercury is not retrograde. And, but some people are impacted by Mercury Retrograde, especially if Mercury is aspected difficultly in their chart. In fact, I would suggest that if you have a Mercury conjunct or square or opposed Uranus in your chart, that mercury and Uranus together hard stressed that might set you up for being more aware of both the mercury retrograde and the Uranus sun, because there’s some Interplay there. Someone also asked about, well, I already have the I have the Sun conjunct Uranus in my natal chart. And this is something that will actually talk about much more in the transit extravaganza because you have to look at a natal chart to understand how a transit works. And this weekly astrology is transit astrology, I mean, it’s where the planets are going, and how they affect you. So if you have and this is an ongoing discussion amongst astrologers, if you have Uranus conjunct your sun or your Sun conjunct Uranus in your natal chart, and the Sun is conjunct in Uranus in the sky in that moment, Johann is Kepler said this is actually a connection even though they’re not even though there may not be an exact aspect, it’s a connection, because it’s your radio station being played up there. You may not get the same, you might not have the same reaction that other people do. Why? Because you have that radio station playing 24 hours a day seven days a week in your life already. So it’s the cosmos are now playing something you’re familiar with. So you’re not going to be caught as off guard. But that’s something that reminds you of how you have to live your life. Then the same can be said with other planetary transits. You know if we have a transit that is aspected really easily in our chart. Let’s say you have Uranus training in the sun. But now here we have Uranus conjunct the sun or let’s say you have Uranus training the moon to leave the sun out of it for a moment. And now we have Uranus conjunct in the sun, you look at your chart and you go wow, Uranus really flows easily for you. But this is a harder aspect in the sky. So it might actually be an incredible wake up call because you’re used to the easy side of Uranus because you have a Uranus trine. So again, all these aspects affect us all differently. But the weather is the same. I mean, I love to use the image of you know, if it’s sunny out and you got your suntan lotion in your hand and your beach towel, you’re off to the beach, it’s great. But if you have your suntan lotion and your hand and your beach towel ready to go, and it’s raining out, that sucks for you. However, it’s the best possible day if you’re a duck. Why? Because there’s no humans there and you don’t mind the wet you’re already met. So the point here is that a transit is not a one size fits all there are there I

Amanda Pua Walsh 58:12
love that example. That is so good. Okay, and then Christine is wondering, have you already selected the charts for the timing course. And I know we’ve selected two charts for this week. But I know that we have not chosen charts for the other weeks yet.

Rick Levine 58:25
So absolutely not. If you haven’t registered submit your chart, we we will be selecting them early each week for the following week. Criteria, it’s not an issue of person, personality, or whether you submitted first or last. It’ll be based upon the lessons and what we’re trying to teach. So if you haven’t registered, register and submit your chart, the sooner you do that, the more likely that chart will at least get looked at in the pile. But if you register a little late and submit your chart, whenever that is, whatever it catches, we’ll throw that into the hopper.

Amanda Pua Walsh 59:05
Awesome. Alright, so for those on the podcast that didn’t see the link that just came up, it’s astrology hub.com/timing. And that is starting on Thursday. And it’ll be every Thursday in May you if you can’t work

Rick Levine 59:21
at 530 Pacific Time 830 Eastern time.

Amanda Pua Walsh 59:26
Yes. And if you cannot make that time, then you will get the recording within 24 hours. So you can stay caught up with the course as we’re going along. And what else

Rick Levine 59:39
when you when you register when you register. There’s an hour lesson that you get when you register that you can hopefully go through the before the first class and that comes with a magnificent I think magnificent because astrology hub did it I didn’t but they did it from my from my class that You’ll be getting, and you have a handout that goes through the major material. It’s a beautiful end. Thank you guys.

Amanda Pua Walsh 1:00:06
Oh, you’re welcome. We know how much everybody loves and appreciates the handout. So we do put a lot of energy into those. So yeah, that’ll be a takeaway. And that is a bonus for this chart reading extravaganza, the one hour teaching that you get prior to the live chart demonstrations is a bonus for this, this actual extravaganza, and then that handout is also a bonus. So tell it tell them what the bonus with the bonus one hour goes through? Like, what are they gonna learn?

Rick Levine 1:00:36
Well, it’s basically an overview of the techniques that we’ll be applying, you know, it’s the what are transits? And how do they work? And how do they differ from, you know, transits and, and solar returns are the real movement of the planets to your chart. But then a lot of the tools that astrologers use are symbolic, and they’re not based upon where the planets are in reality, and, and that can be a little bit confusing to this lesson has gone into the difference between transits, progressions, and solar arc directions, it does mention a few other things, you know, like perfections, which we’ll look at, but not very deeply, and, and Time Lords. But those three things in particular, transits, transits, secondary progressions, and solar arc directions. The lesson basically explains what they are and how they work. And when we do the actual classes, there’ll be some additional handouts that will be available as the classes unfold, because there are particular tools that I use that really help us move through some of these techniques. And that if you have those handouts that will help you work with them on a regular basis that were not included yet in the handout. So there are some surprises coming.

Amanda Pua Walsh 1:02:13
Yes. Okay. And then Kimberly’s asking, what is the inner circle code, so inner circle members and Rechte Patreon members do receive a discount on this course, if you’re a Patreon member, it was emailed to you by Rick, if you’re an inner circle member, it’s in your membership portal. It’s also been sent to you in email as well. And if you still don’t know what it is, then either go to mighty networks and ask the question there or email support at astrology. hub.com.

Rick Levine 1:02:46
Right. And if you’re a Patreon subscriber of mine, and can’t find it, although you should have it it’s been sent out a couple of times. Just send me an email at our Levine, our Levine at Star iq.com. And if you’re a Patreon subscriber, we’ll make sure that you get your discount code.

Amanda Pua Walsh 1:03:03
Fantastic. All right, everybody, thank you so much for being here. I hope that you feel prepared for the week ahead and that you won’t be the person with the sunscreen and your beach towel and your beach ball for a rainy day. So thank you so much for being here, everybody. Rick, thank you. It’s so much fun to have you here on the weekly weather. We love the Cosmic Connection.

Rick Levine 1:03:29
Good question that came up with someone. They said we’re glad to see that it was touching on some Hellenistic tools. And we’ll be will we be doing zodiacal releasing? The answer is no. That’s a course in its own. It’s just it’s hard to fit that into what we’ll be doing. This is a short and intense course. Maybe in the future.

Amanda Pua Walsh 1:03:49
All right. Perfect. Thank you. Thank you all for being here. Thank you so much for being a part of our community and thank you as always for making astrology a part of your life. We’ll catch you on the next episode.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai