Sept 6 2009 Opposite Day, or not

Moon in Aries continues to light up the grand or not so grand cross of changes (see prior posts), opposite Mercury exact at 7:00 am PDT, square Mars exact at 9:25 am PDT, then trine Venus exact at 9:14 pm PDT. A chance of restlessness in the air today. The Moon/Venus trine is a most wonderful transit, and may well provide a breather to any challenges experienced. Particularly during times of upheval, what we focus upon is of prime importance. Feet on the ground, but not too rigidly. Head in the Stars, but not too spacey.

Today is the first official day of Mercury Retrograde. 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? 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 5 of Diamonds, a Saturn implementation of a Neptune core, with a 9 of Diamonds inside and a 3 of Clubs outside. 5D incarnations include Neil Bush, GHW Bush, Joseph Kennedy, Sam Cooke, Pancho Villa, John Calvin, Wilbur Wright, James Polk, Warren Harding, Grover Cleveland, Rutherford B. Hayes, Andy Warhol, Charlton Heston, Nikola Tesla, Bobby Darin, Daniel Boone, Patty Hearst, Ivana Trump, Buster Keaton, Charles Chaplin, Burt Lancaster, Peter Graves, Dusty Springfield, Sidney Poitier, Dustin Hoffman, David Brinkley, Edgar Cayce, Henry Mancini, Herbie Mann, Marie Antoinette, and rumor has it, Saint Francis of Assisi.