Mercury retrograde in opposition to star cluster M10: an opportunity to grow mentally, to diversify ideas and to unify wills

     The Mercury retrograde cycle has begun, and, as always, its station point in the sky (in which it appears to stop to start moving backwards) is an indicator of the topics that will manifest during the following days. In fact, Mercury's change of direction almost always coincides with a number of practical and communication problems, with changes of opinion and reconsiderations of all kinds. Astrologers are well aware that despite this, we can take advantage of Mercury's retrograde period remaking or revising, resuming and reorganizing.

    Each retrograde event has its own individual manifestation, however. On this occasion, Mercury's station is in exact ecliptic opposition to  globular cluster M10, located in the constellation Ophiuchus. M10 is remarkable for its low number of variable stars, which are abundant in most globular clusters, because they are usually very old, containing a generation of stars that formed in the early universe. These stars, which are reaching the end of their lives, have begun to exhaust their fuel and therefore vary in brightness, suggesting a tendency to instability. Hence M10, having only 3 or 4 variable stars, is an indicator of stability.

    This is fortunate enough, since Mercury is so powerful in its own zodiacal sign, Gemini, whose characteristic is that it has a rational and dual approach to reality, which can lead to indecision and changes in perspective. The fact that Mercury stops exactly opposed to M10 suggests that, despite this duality, the trend is not in itself destabilizing. All the questioning and intellectual exercise are likely, in fact, to have a stabilizing effect.

     Moreover, this exercise can have a positive effect on the different societies scattered across the planet, and even from a global perspective. This is also suggested by M10, since another of its characteristics is that it has a heterogeneous population of stars. While many are old, some are younger and shine in photographs with two different colors, red and blue. This represents heterogeneity, diversity.

     Hence, for the purpose of Mercury retrograde station, the general trend is to question ideas or attitudes different from our own. As Mercury is at 150 ° from Pluto and 90° from Neptune, this questioning can lead to Plutonian manipulations, but the goal certainly is to clarify confusing, chaotic or misleading Neptunian situations. The prevailing trend, with Mercury strong, in the sign of Gemini, is rational, logical and objective. This process can occur individually, questioning our own ideas or strategies, or it can manifest at a collective level, with some sectors of society questioning the misleading ideas, unclear policies or downright dishonesty of others.

    In some cases, criticism will be fierce and destructive, but that should be avoided because the goal is not to crush other people's ideas, but rather that the questioning and discussions enrich everyone. In a multicultural society and globalizing civilization, it is very difficult to have a consensus on certain issues. But only through public debate and objective description of the matters, seeing the pros and cons and the different facets of each it is possible to have effective conclusions that can be of utility to the whole of society.

     Such is the indication of M10, whose mix of stars does not mean a crisis or confrontation, as in other star clusters like M15 or M30, in which the stars seem to be in conflict with each other. With M10 and Mercury, the goal is not to find the truth but only to discuss about it. Whether we like it or not, we all have a way of looking at things that may be in conflict with other people's viewpoint. No doubt many opportunists, especially in politics, will try to exacerbate differences between different social groups to capitalize discord. This is nothing new: "divide and conquer". But it is obvious that this kind of agitators do not take into account  the uniqueness and tranquility that M10 expresses in this Mercury station.

      If our intention is to think objectively, it is necessary to put ourselves in other people's shoes, which is not an easy task for most humans. It is easier to attack others for their way of thinking, but if we see it from a distance, we all share this planet and are responsible for keeping it in good condition to keep it running. It is necessary to question the way we produce energy, the uneven distribution of wealth, the way in which we nourrish ourselves and face social problems. It is necessary to question those people, ideas or groups with behaviors that are harmful to the planet and a threat to society, and we need to question ourselves about the individual  role we play in this.

     Faced with an ecological or social disaster, the ethnic, economic, sexual, philosophical or other differences are erased. While we're on the verge of collapse, the Mercury retrograde seems to give us a good opportunity to see things objectively. The public will be more sensitive than ever to appreciate reality with a clear, reflective mind that cannot easily fooled. Deception and fraud generated at this time will be so obvious that they will  collapse under their own weight. The number of scandals caused by dishonesty will undoubtedly increase this days. But in its highest manifestation, this trend is about understanding the  mental mechanism and postures of those who have different ideas from ours. This is not to convince them about our viewpoint, but to clarify and get something that will be useful for them and for us. How do we know we are not acting with bias, judging others? Sometimes we assume things are in a certain way when we haven't had the adequate time to really investigate what is behind the position of an ethni cor social group, a philosophy, a social movement. We have to put our ego aside and replace it with an open heart and mind!

    Obviously, the mercurial station on M10 favors debates, philosophical political, social, scientific, religious and artistic discussions. Of course, as it  is us who decide and not the planets (these are only indicators), we can use this retrograde period to divide people and move away more and more from others, taking refuge in our partial concepts, or otherwise, we can hear and understand the positions that are alien to us to develop greater understanding, tolerance, and eventually greater unification. If humanity has shown no unified trend in the last few thousand years, we can not expect this Mercury retrograde on M10 to generate miracles. But, within our personal position and in our own field of action, we can generate a few one; sometimes miracles at a small-scale are very valuable ...

     Differences should be enriching and not serve as a pretext to attack each other while deflecting attention from the urgent issues to resolve for our own survival and that of the future generations... United we stand, divided we fall. It is a time to look for the force that gives us unity. For all the differfences we may have, we all live in the same cosmic household, and we are not taking care of it right. That's a fact.

     In this atmosphere, extremist viewpoints, whether they are religious, political, social, scientific, artistic, personal or otherwise, will prove more than ever to be ineffective to change reality. Globally, the lack of awareness of most of humans will simply accentuate the differences, perhaps dramatically. Nobody has the Truth as a whole, because that is not a human attribute, while we all have it partially, and that is a human attribute. If we have the humility to learn from those who are different from us and to respect their way of viewing life, then there will be union.

I hope you have a pleasant and rewarding process of questioning in the coming weeks!
Love, Peace and Unity on Earth!

Carlos Duarte
Research Astrologer

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