Astrology: time to shake up some old ideas

April 15, 2019 Janette Dalgliesh

Reading Time: 5 minutes

By: Janette Dalgliesh – Confluence Daily is your daily news source for women in the know.

On 17 April at 2:01am US Eastern time, Mercury enters the fiery sign of Aries.

The messenger of the gods, ruler of all kinds of communications – including our neural pathways, the way we think, our conscious awareness of reality – moves out of dreamy Pisces and into feisty, thrill-seeking Aries.

This is ultimately a Good Thing, bringing with it the potential for fresh ways of thinking and new perspectives.

And it’s especially good for amping up a firestorm of intellectual rigour – in other words, not believing everything you think, whether that’s to do with your opinion of self, or the wider world of politics.

On the personal, for the next few weeks don’t be surprised if you catch sparks of new thoughts such as ‘oooh, what if I could…?’ or ‘wouldn’t it be amazing if….?’ – especially in areas which might previously have felt permanently and impossibly closed in or hopeless.

You might even notice new elements of your own identity – aka your brain’s opinion of who you are and what’s possible for you.

‘oooh, I could totally ditch this crappy job and go somewhere I’m appreciated!’
‘hey, I’m smarter than I think I am!’
‘raaooowrrr, I’m a sexy beast with an amazing body!’
‘huh, I’m way more potent than I gave myself credit for!’

The trick is to notice these sparks and fan them gently into flame.

Those thoughts sometimes trigger old, learned internal dialogue such as ‘but I’m too old / young / thin / fat …’ or ‘but that’s impossible because xyz …’. Nope. We’re not doing that shit. Just letting the new idea emerge.

And sometimes those sparky new thoughts land us in a kind of weirdly desperate hope, as though it will save the day for us; so we pounce on that tender newborn idea with all our weight, smothering it before it takes its first staggering steps. Nope. We’re not doing that either.

Notice. Gently fan the flames just a little. Capture the ideas and the thoughts. Enjoy the frisson of excitement and anticipation. Let the ideas grow (and this is Aries, so that growth won’t take long).

Mercury in Aries is all about the fresh and the new, so you are supported to engage with these sparks of ideas in a brand new way: radical, fierce, inspired, adventurous, courageous.

As we all experience the early days of the current Jupiter Retrograde, as we’re invited to review our big long-term plans and goals – these sparkles of new perspective and new thought act like the bubbles in champagne, to lighten and elevate that Jupiter Rx experience.

You don’t have to DO anything with these sparks of ideas just yet – it’s often sufficient to allow them to rise, to notice them, to enjoy them, and to capture them.

That way when action is called for, you have a fabulous smorgasbord of great ideas to pick from and not a massive and indigestible to-do list, or a fog of confusion.

Here are a couple of strategies to support you through this Mercury in Aries, and fire up your sense of possibility:

To activate the energy of ‘what if?’, read some speculative fiction (that’s sci-fi, fantasy, science-fantasy, etc – for example, check out The Spell of Rosette by fellow astrologer and author Kim Falconer; or try a little John Wyndham for some old-fashioned ‘what if?’ shenanigans; or pick up my birth-date twin, the amazing Ursula Le Guin). I recommend books or graphic novels rather than movies, because movies tend to repeat old story tropes, while these authors explore truly radical ideas in their works.
Avoid fear-mongering of all kinds – some of those tiny sparks of radical new ideas are easily swamped at first, and fear-mongering acts like a wet blanket on those precious new gems. For fellow Aussies, this means be careful how you engage with the current election campaign (more on that in a moment).
Practice the art of dropping judgement of a brand new idea and then, as it grows, follow it up with good solid fact-checking and research. Aries loves the new, Mercury loves the knowledge, so this is an ideal opportunity for a potent blend of ‘what if?’ and intellectual rigour. As my aunt would have said – have an open mind, but not so open your brain falls out.

Beyond the personal, of course, there is also the political.

Here in Australia, a mercifully short federal election campaign has kicked off with the usual flurry of toxic misinformation, clumsy politicians apologising badly, and right-wing radio ‘shock jocks’ making wild claims about pretty much everything.

But I’ve a feeling some of that’s going to backfire.

There will always be people for whom curiosity is an unknown and for whom the easy populist solution is the most attractive. And there are the party loyal too, the rusted-on voters who’ll stick with their party no matter what, and who more or less balance each other out.

But Mercury is inherently curious, inquisitive, intelligent and endlessly wants to know – and reveal – what’s really going on. And that’s a fascinating dynamic around an election campaign!

In myth, one of Mercury’s roles was to be water-bearer to the gods, serving at table. That privileged position gave him access to all their secret conversations, and he took great delight in carrying those secrets back to Earth to share with humans.

Aries has a spirit of independence that shrugs off the will of others. Ruled by warrior god Mars, Aries isn’t interested in the art of compromise, and seeks to take the initiative in self-expression.

Mercury in Aries, then, is somewhat more likely to respond to rumour and innuendo and broad generalisations with an underlying sense of ‘wait, is that really true???’

Mercury in Aries lends itself to fact-checking the hell out of wild claims.

I suspect this part of today’s post may be a little redundant for Confluence Daily readers, since I’m pretty sure you guys are already on board with the idea of fact-checking before engaging outrage or making big political decisions like voting.

But remember that the blessed muggles with whom we live, who share our streets and towns and countries – they are also experiencing this dynamic.

And that offers an interesting opportunity.

It doesn’t mean we start screaming facts into our bewildered loved ones’ faces. Aggression, hostility and resistance don’t help to persuade or convince, not even when Mercury is in Aries.

But any time we notice a tiny spark of doubt in someone else’s demeanour, we can gently point the ways to good, factual information that just might open the door to a new and different perspective.

If and when we decide to call out a piece of misinformation or a downright lie, we do it with a little cool fact-spreading.

The aim is less to convince one particular individual, and more to plant seeds of curiosity so they can activate the Mercury in Aries dynamic for those who might read or hear our words.

Enjoy this transit through until the first week in May, however it lands for you.

Maybe you’re looking for a better set of internal dialogues with your own self, and some new thoughts about who you are and what’s possible for you. Awesome!

Maybe you’re looking for a new level of awareness among those around you so they approach social and political aspects of life from a better-educated perspective. Fantastic!

Either way, Mercury in Aries brings in fresh winds, to sweep away the cobwebs from our individual and collective minds!

Janette Dalgliesh has a simple mission in life – to help every person unlock their capacity for resonant joy, and live it. A keen student of astrology, brain science, chaos magic, law of attraction and positive psychology, she serves her people through astrology consults, coaching, teaching and writing. Her international clientele raves about her wildly accurate, individualized readings, but she doesn’t do general weekly predictions – for those, Janette recommends Kim Falconer (www.goodvibeastrology.com) and Mystic Medusa (www.mysticmedusa.com). Find Janette on Facebook or via her website – or you might like to pick up her free brain-rewiring resource, Identity Shift 101 here.