Sept 2 2009 Mercury watch

Moon in Aquarius sweeps conjunct the Jupiter/Chiron/Neptune trio between noon and 10:20 pm PDT when she goes Moon Void of Course till tomorrow morning. Also of note, besides the usual cast of characters such as the grand cross, Saturn is inconjunct the trio ( and the Moon today). And Pluto is inconjunct Venus/Vesta. Both of these point to some uncertainty, "dunno what it is", give and take without resolution. Today, values may be of importance, possibly a give and take along the lines of disappointment versus universality. What are your ideals?

On the first day of retrograde, my true love gave to me...today is the first of the Mercury Retrograde stiction days, when the relative motion of Mercury is slow prior to reversing. If communication is missed, misunderstood or combative, desires are thwarted or blocked, you feel stuck or bottled, interpretations are taken in the worst possible way, that's retrograde---the shadow or trickster side of Hermes. It could be opposite day, but it might not be. If you ask if it is opposite day during opposite day, what answer do you get? The official retrograde is Sept 6 thru Sept 29, however there is more to it. Think of overlapping waves, and think of a slowly swinging pendulum. At the upper end of each swing it slows down before reversing direction. Likewise, the relative motion between Earth and Mercury passes through phases of forward, stiction, reverse, stiction, repeat. The stiction phases overlapping with the "actual" retrograde are in some ways less fun and more troubling than the "pure" retrograde. Relationships are prone to questioning and upsets during the stiction phase, those with a deep or solid connection will survive. An Archetypal explanation as to why bouncebacks usually don't last is that they start during retrograde right after a stiction induced breakup.

The Birthcard today is the 9 of Diamonds, a Uranus implementation of a Mars core, with a Queen of Diamonds inside and a 5 of Diamonds outside. 9Ds include Barack Obama, David Letterman, Albert Einstein, John Paul Jones, Merv Griffin, Nancy Davis Reagan, Fred Astaire, Ray Dolby, Cleveland Amory, Tom Clancy, Janet Leigh, Frank Lloyd Wright, Cary Grant, Frida Kahlo, Salma Hayek, Oliver Hardy, Muhammad Ali, Sylvester Stallone, Dubya, Francis Crick, and both Bono and Sonny Bono.