July 4/5: Mercury leaves the Zodiac in parallel to the Pleiades, indicating a good moment to reconsider routines and focus on the future, enhancing planning but also distractions

     Planets currently transit within the 16 ° -wide band which is the zodiac, an actual celestial highway where planets circulate at different speeds and also perform their retrograde motions. When a planet reaches an extreme declination in certain parts of its orbit, it leaves this band, i.e. it is more than 23 °1/2 of declination north or south of the Equator, it is "out of bondage", meaning that it goes beyond the normal or conventional way.  Even in the sky we find deviations for the planets! If only they include a sign... at least we would be warned. But that's exactly the purpose of the Galactic Guide!

      In the case of Mercury, this means that the mind and the everyday affairs represented by this small but important planet can get lost a little, manifesting  away from the normal, in unusual ways. Moreover, Mercury simultaneously engages in a powerful parallel  with the Pleiades cluster (M45), stars that rotate at very high speed, indicating an acceleration of time in the mind.

      Thus, the Mercury / Pleiades combination represents a mind directed towards the future. Whether it is a near or distant, future, a visionary quality is enhanced, but it can also imply elusive behavior, procastination and a lack of focus in the here and now.  In a practical sense, we must take care of all sorts of distractions, which could potentially have a chaotic effect in everyday life.  At the global level, it is possible that the collective mind of the masses, public opinion and issues related to information, communication, transport, trade, negotiations and health, all related to Mercury will difficult to control, deviating from their typical manifestation. Whether this causes problems or helps changing  things for the better, it depends on every particular situation, but  we will surely see public opinion adopting more radical positions than usual (yes, more).

     In a more constructive approach, it is possible to use this Mercurial condition to exit the typical routine and take different, creative  paths to get things done, no matter whether they are common or transcendental. This trend is ideal for planning and refresh our mind and ideas, allowing us to deprogram and reprogram our strategies and conscious thoughts before Mercury returns to the zodiac after this brief but significant deviation next July 10th.

    I hope you will enjoy your deviations from normal, and find rewarding experiences in them!

Carlos Duarte
Research Astrologer

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