Mercurial Fuqery

People, I am killing it with this Mercury Retrograde. First-up I said that I don’t think it will be that bad – the logic being that it’s broken up between Sagittarius and Capricorn, not the non-stop intensity of staying in just one zodiac sign for months.

Then I wound up in a heated debate with an office supplies superstore because their checkout fuqery took my money but not the order. Mercury Retrograde in Capricorn is a high-class workaholic:* You may have noticed the enhanced biz and vocational perception, along with a heightened awareness of what the rapidly rescaled goals will require on your part.

So I wasn’t expecting a snark offensive when trying to acquire items to facilate s**t getting done but it is totally Mercury Retro with the addition of some Capricornian status anxiety. “My card wasn’t rejected, ” I said to this support person, “the bank confirmed that. Your checkout has the issues…

Well,” she replied, “there must have been a good reason for that.” Rationally, I get what she means – there must be a logical error behind this someplace but to the Mercury Retrograde, new office stationery -craving mind, it seemed like an insult. I was going to say that this was the sort of concept that sent medieval women to the stake but decided not to overblow the situation.

Getting clarity from the bank involved a circuitous conversation with a bot that kept throwing out crazy suggested topics that it could help with like “Do you want more information about a loan to buy a boat?” However I did figure out a good short-cut, a frequent feature of Mercury Retro phases.

Basically the bank says it doesn’t have humans available on weekends but I learned that if you call a card company, they have to have people there – I think it’s a legal requirement. Once you get them they transfer you to the bank people who are there, but only if you enter the phone labyrinth via the side entrance.

So many systems are like this now – eg: half the time I do anything on iCloud that works, it’s via a strange hackaround method.

I abandoned my dialogue with the office supplies superstore after recalling that their new A.I. delivery system recently sent me 20x Rhodia pads instead of the one that I ordered and their bot wouldn’t let me pay. I realized I was ahead.

Then I proceeded to leave the house keys outside overnight, visible to any passer-by – a classic Merc Retro stunt. Next I rescued a tree, a baby pine stuck in a pot and presumably destined to be a short-lived Christmas tree. I felt it calling me and purchased it thinking about how cool the scent will be but it’s a Norfolk pine, so no fragrance.

Once the guy at the garden place realized I intend to plant it, he looked concerned – “do you have a lot of space beween the house and where you’ll plant it?

Yes, of course,” I lied. He said that was good because it has deep and wandering roots (which seemed profoundly Capricorn to me) and explained that they can grow to 65 meters or 210 feet. Norfolk pines are the trees that tower alongside many beaches. “Yup, no worries,” I said.

I’ve since found out that every one of these trees has layers – or ‘floors’ – that grow in perfect pentagons, which is why they’re also called Star Pines. To my mind, this is magic, of course but technically the purchase totally counts as a Mercury Retrograde folly. We’re just five days into this – how are you going?

*Shona Rhimes, the extraordinarily productive, always on-zeitgeist producer/writer was born with it, fyi.

Image: Sofia Sanchez & Mauro Mongiello – Numero Magazine

98 thoughts on “Mercurial Fuqery”

  1. From the absolute first second of the shadow phase I’ve been CURSED. Ghosts in the machines, if they work at all. Impossible missed communications. Still trying to get a refund they swear was already processed. No answers on anything. Like screaming into a well.

  2. Talking of pines. I have one that thas just shot up metres behind the back of my cabin. I mean 6 metres high. I don’t have a Christmas tree inside. Just a cute reindeer. What a lovely suprise I had when I just realised I had one out the back. It warmed my heart, I really should go to the shops to buy some big tinsle but can’t be bothered. We are getting alot of rain here in Gympie. I will let the landord know about it in case it has big roots, but just not yet. I will wait for the new year.

    Happy Christmas and New Year Everybody.

    1. Hi Wish, love your story of you suddenly realizing that you have a big Christmas tree behind your cabin. And especially that that realization warms you heart. This must be you Taurus Moon responding to the loveliness of nature and trees in particular! The roots thing IS a little bit disconcerting, I admit it. I also bought a baby pine for Christmas with the intention of planting it. After reading here on the forum how high they can become and how invasive the roots can be, I am in doubt about planting it close to my house though…
      Any way wishing you a nice peaceful end of the year and a very good 2024, Star!

      1. “Warms my rheart”, yes it is moments like that that make life special. Didn’t realise it was a Taurus Moon thing but thanks for letting me know.
        Yes perhaps don;t plant the baby pine close to the house. I just realised there is a huge, mature pine tree behind the little one. There is also a gully, always with water right behind them so I imagine the roots run to the gully. So I think I will just leave the baby pine alone.B
        Oh it has been restful and peaceful. Best Wishes for you.

  3. Well … I bought a car the Sunday before retrograde. Well, I tried to, but got finished signing the paperwork and then it was discovered that something was wrong with the car’s liftgate, so they legally couldn’t sell it to me that day.

    It was a process that had been in the works, but unavoidable timing so … they fixed it and delivered my new car to me on Tuesday. Have had a few glitches with the entertainment system not connecting to my phone (not surprisingly), and then, the second key that came with it was broken, so they were going to repair it and “put it in the mail” … Alas, it is now probably lost somewhere. LOL.

    Meanwhile, I’ve been pitching for a project that kicks off in March 2024. Got verbal confirmation on the terms a few days before retrograde. Submitted my formal proposal and now my potential client has “some concerns about my availability” and wants to think about bringing in another contractor instead, blah, blah. Little does he know that I expected his wishy-washyness to coincide with Merc moving back into Sagg (thanks for the advance notice Mystic). We’ll see if he changes his tune when it turns direct.

    C’est la vie!

    1. ‘Repaired broken key put in the mail and now it is lost’, this must be the most Mercury retro incident I have ever heard about! Best of luck with everything Astrogeek! 🔑

  4. The last day of the shadow zone, a day before the actual retrograde even began, the news website I work for DISAPPEARED. There was NOTHING on it. It went, all the columns, backend and all. Into thin air (…as if it’s more than thin air on any given day? heh). It was, thankfully, restored in its entirety after a whole afternoon of IT madness but what an entrance of the Retrograde. Since the Retrograde started, I’ve already broke protocol and reached out to a very Mercurian ex (I had a joke, a faux business idea that I was obsessing on and simply HAD to share, a weird compulsion), to no response (probably for the best). On the bright side, my work ethic has indeed experienced a long-needed revival, just as Mystic says. I’m sad to hear it might be temporary and slink away with the changing astrosphere.

    1. Oh, also, on the same day the website disappeared: I missed a call from an unknown number, an brave millennial as I am, I called them back only to bemuse a stranger at the other end. “I never called you”, says he. Then remembers: “You know, this sometimes happens. Someone calls someone from another number but it shows up as me. It’s mysterious.” I theorised that someone by mistake received the same phone number to their SIM card from the service provider.

    1. As for the rest, deliveries have been unusually slow then suddenly just in time. Also suspected something was a revisit (I didn’t confirm the original scenario astro) and adjusted protocol as per previous lessons learnt, just in case.

  5. Hi Mystic,
    I had the exact same thing happen with a payment to a Witchy shop in another state, the bot took my order and money, sent a receipt confirming the order and payment. A couple of weeks later i hadn’t heard anything about the box being sent via post and gave them a call. They couldn’t find you order, the invoice number or payment. So followed up with my bank and they said that it had gone to their online money service provider. emailed the shop again and provided as much info as i had, still can’t find the payment so can’t send the package, no probs will fill out the bank to investigate. Anyway, 5 days later i get an email saying they found the payment, have no idea why it took so long to show on their bank records, package on it’s way. In the meantime, the bank has sent another email to say they are refunding the money as the money service provider cannot confirm they received the money because they have had some system issues.
    Should listen when ordering stuff when mercury goes retro.
    This is just 1 off the sideways things that have happened over the last few weeks. lol lol

  6. I have one house plant, an alocasia which I got for my birthday 3 years ago. It kind of died down to one leaf and I managed to bring it back into full glowing health! I discovered that it loves the gloomy wintertime light on my window seal above the heater. So point being, it’s thriving wonderfully at the moment.

    Well it was… Yesterday I opened the curtain a little too dramatically and it caught on to the plant somehow and clean snapped the entire plant from the roof – a clean decapitation.

    Cut to me frantically googling if I can resurrect this plant. Google these days, on such things is vague discourse and maybes on some kind of forum from 8 years ago or just ads for products and services. So now I have the severed plant in a vase hoping it will catch roots and a root base in a pot that might sprout leaves? Who knows how this is going to pan out.

    1. I took my stunning Maidenhair fern from work to home via ducking into the supermarket for milk. I cooked the tender new leaves to darken fried reminders of its fragility.

  7. Latest Merc Rx trickery? Some goose in Florida took $1.54 from my account and the bank wants me to cut my card up, which I did…but now PayPal, insurance and phone need my new card numbers but you guessed it Xmas mail is slowing the ETA down from 5-10 business days to God (Mercury) knows when. Haha good one Mercury, good one.

    1. No ETA because I didn’t reconfirm I needed another card with said bank, I thought I did. But you know what thought thought.

    1. So true.
      I think when the operator’s primary motives are “profit” or “efficiency”, and they start to lose sight of who they’re actually serving, and the customer / end user is just a means to an end, and the product’s support workers are outsourced for the cheapest unit rate, then we get an impassable ravine between two groups. I absolutely lay the blame at the feet of bean counters who somehow were elevated to a position of royalty during the Pluto in sadge /Neptune in cap era/s. (Part of me maintains that the Seattle riots at the first G20 meeting marked the real beginning of whatever era this is, with the advent of internet 2.0 in the 2000s being the second wave of this.)

  8. So I got up this morning and the distinct message was to just enjoy the waking up and be patient. Very Capricornian indeed. And mercury is in my 10th house.
    Instead I got on the phone to Origin to set up my account. The phone cut out. This is where the patience was needed. Should have just waited for lady to call back, but no I called back. Then merc retro fuquery started, so I thought. What I remember distinctly was how shitty I felt. But then It was just me needing to wait for my email to be changed, say an hour, before I could access my account. Because the phone cut off I didn’t get this vital bit of info.

    For some reason I got a bout of diahherea. Feels like my liver is flushing out. Must be the Sagg sun. But quite sensitve today on the Pisces Moon with my Pisces Rising. I will take it easy for the rest of the day. Mmmm, wandering what merc retro in 10th means for me? Any suggestions?

    1. Hello Darling, a distraction needed for sure. So scary no being able to breath that cold chills overcome you then heat along with telling yourself ‘don’t panic’ as that makes it worse.
      Life changing when i didn’t want my life to change!
      Think you got the merc in Cap upon waking ‘enjoy & be patient’.
      Liquid bowels seem to be prevalent at the moment from what i have heard around health peoples.
      Love to you & more. x

      1. That sounds horrible Pegusus. Love and healing to you.
        I will try and stick to the Enjoy and be patient mantra. Stay sane. Lots of love.

  9. Surprisingly my health has been improving as what I started 3 months ago brought my numbers down…but when I sense inspiration ready to do some art….nah, not yet. Regroup

  10. Lux Interior Is My Co-Pilot

    Ah yes. Feeling this.
    You could always bonsai the pine? As bonsai enthusiasts will tell you, trees can bonsai naturally.

    1. A bonsai pine somehow feels very Mercury retrograde in Capricorn to me. Trees are time incarnated, but a bonsai even more…

      1. Bonsai is so fascinating! Oddly, this week I had to watch a video class on bonsai for work, and it was fabulous. The instructor was amazing, and also looked and spoke as if he could be the brother of my Big Ex, a strong resemblance in good ways. Seeing the careful and devotional work of bonsai made me want to go back and finally read The Overstory, and do some art about the tree canopy that we must all treasure these days, in this burning world.

  11. I’m taking a 3 week holiday from ‘reality’ this Mercury Rx. Time to sort out my belongings (it’s traversing my 2nd house) and catch up on films from previous eras (my current favourites being those from the halcyon pre-internet and device days of the ’60s & ’90s). And avoid Xmas. Glad to understand this cycle as i’m waiting, almost patiently, on refunds/exchanges from Black Friday purchases – made with the understanding that they would likely need to be returned upon the station – and that there may be delays in doing so – especially in this “festive” time of year. I even knowingly, against all astrological advices, bought a new (refurbished) iPhone in the mercury foreshadow phase, which has now left a decade of past contacts behind, trapped in an earlier SIM… But, que sera sera!
    Overall i am feeling very Neptunian, dreamy and foggy – i feel like Mercury does not stand a chance with me right now…

  12. Went to hairdresser, said she could not complete color situation I wanted in less than three hours (??) time weirding! On the spot chose different color/process and I look like the gothic queen I longed to be at 14 but no longer am interested in!! Venus is square my Venus too. Hoping this fades a little by end of the retro lol !

  13. Newly installed microflush compost toilet stopped working inexplicably just as we were hosting a big gathering, as did a projector we planned to use to screen whale imagery

    1. Even though your stuff stopped working, I read “microflush compost toilet” and “whale imagery” and think “That’s the party I want to be at!”

  14. I was on a phone call in my car. Line drops out and call terminates. Then BOTH of my phones spontaneously dial the number I was just on at the same time. Technically not possible, no voice activation or redial. I know I have Gemini rising across two houses but this is ridiculous.

  15. Can’t get my apple Car Play to work…it was fine until I left the dealership…. And I am really cranky too..REALLY CRANKY…

  16. Does my son, turning 14 and inviting five of his mates in advance, who then ALL forgot /where totally vague about it on the day, count as merc retro? Hah hah..

  17. Ordered 3 t shirts from the US. On the 12th email saying order cancelled. Email back… issues with billing address versus shipping address. Requested details & card info. They email me back saying again the billing address is different from the shipping address..again! Explain it all over again! and make it clear why the difference between the billing address and the shipping address. Another email from them asking me to confirm the shipping address, even though in my last email I made it very clear what was my shipping address and my billing address. Today they sent me another email asking for confirmation of the order which also turned out to be please pay (they refunded the original money without telling me). It’s obvious that their reading skills and their comprehension skills are totally different. Paid for my t shirts and never again. Won’t allow my card details to be kept on file (never do this anyway). It shouldn’t be this hard…the comms are totally fuqed.

  18. The Lion & The Centaur

    It’s retrograding over from my 1st house to my 12th. Yesterday I decided impromptu to revive my horse riding hobby. I haven’t ridden in 6 years and I decided to ride the very naughty mare I used to ride back in 2016 (young, fit, pre-pregnancy…). Oh well, she bucked me off and now my back is very poorly, I fear I have a squashed disc or something…

  19. This whole retrograde is in my 8th house – which begins at 22 Sag (conjunct my Venus at 21) and goes to 10 Cap. My holidays are always pretty solitary, not necessarily what I prefer but it is what it is. Trying to stay productive, as I really need to make some headway on releasing and saying goodbye to all the stuff I’ve been hanging onto for a lifetime. I went for a new passport photo yesterday so I can renew mine with plenty of time — a Saturn task, nothing marks time like those every-ten-years photos!

    1. Back in the day passports cost $35 but not 10 years only 3 i think and not $235 plus dollars and if you didn’t like the photo just pour a drink over it and apply for another. My passports are a record of time passing indeed.The increase. in cost is in a few days so cudos to you remembering to update.

      1. Ah, thanks dear Pegasus! I have two citizenships and definitely want both passports current and active next year when democracy here in the US might completely collapse in this “everything is broken” era. Apparently it takes months to renew now, and yes, not inexpensive — the passport itself has to have all those digital functionalities now. Hmmm, maybe I should wait to send in the renewal form until Mercury is done with shenanigans.

  20. As a retired teacher, I can relate to what has been shared concerning teaching challenges. Not sure that’s a Merc retro thing, however. I live in another part of the world, and it was a constant challenge, I believe having to do with Pluto and Saturn.

    Anyhoo…

    Born with Mercury retro in 4th house Gemini (conjunct Venus trine Neptune), Merc retro is par for the course.

    The weekend before, plans were changed, “unexpectedly” but nothing serious. On the actual day, December 13th, I was a couple of days into feeling nausea and dizziness, and despite having planned in great detail the writing and publishing work I was to get done this past week, I was decked and slept dreamily on the bed as I was too dizzy to get up. I had many “sand” dreams and “communications”. The New Moon on the 12th really made me start to feel sick. With total submission, I took the not-so-subtle hint to think deeply about the messages the Sun, moon and mars hitting my 9th house were giving me. Also, most notably, these planets were six house from my natal Merc retro… So it wasn’t weird that I was basically incapacitated and bedridden. Yesterday, the 16th where I’m located, my daughter called me out of my sleep-walking and got me out of the house, and voila’, I’m cured!

  21. My mamma is having issues withdrawing cash and receiving an error that says her card has been ‘suspended’. This has happened multiple times, so when she goes into a physical branch and talks to a human and their only response is “oh there must’ve just been a glitch in the system, everything with your account is fine” only to have the same issue repeat next time she uses her card lol. Capricorn is really hitting institutions differently.
    I told her last night to have a Mercury Rx workaround because this retro is in her 6th house and the influence is most definitely affecting her daily life house!
    I won’t even talk to the issues I’m having accessing an Australian account in the US and them not even recognizing me as the account holder. A madness lol. Mercury Rx is in my 3rd/4th and you better believe my communication is feeling this optical illusion backward motion. Big sigh.
    The switch to Sagg is on my South node and Neptune…. with a triple visit of Mercury Rx square my Libran moon. Hello past life ghouls and angst being all the way checked in lol 😵‍💫😂

    1. Make sure that your mother doesn’t have a crystal(s) in her purse or next to her card as they can alter the magnetic/electronics of it. Same thing happened to me for ages until i realised that the citrine i had in my wallet for financial luck, lol, was interfering with the card. I must of gone through 5 cards in 18 months, until i figured it out …. there must be some cozmic moral in this.

      1. This definitely could be a factor! I’ll ask her Skarab where it’s being stored near thank you! She omits a very crazy energy without the crystal period m, being a 8th House Pisces Moon and Taurus Sun.
        Hhmm artificially constructed plastics / metals are no match for cosmic frequencies? Definitely some sort of energetic showdown we can’t perceive..

      2. Hi there Skarab, trust all copacetic with you or surely hoping it is. Cash & crystals clashing. I get that.
        Their stories quite polar opposition. Cancel out each other? Have a fun Saturnalia.x

      3. Hi Pegasus, thanks for your fun wishes & back at ya, hon. I truly hope you are recuperating nicely from your blood(y) ordeals, too.
        I’ve been aiming hard for the copacetic state of being, but Uranus has got me running the gauntlet instead. Here is the short version:
        1) Our building caught on fire as Merc hit 22° Sagg (beginning of shadow zone) & we had to be hospitalised for smoke inhalation.
        2) A couple of weeks later we missed being killed by a kamikaze driver by a gnat’s dick (apparently kamikaze driving is a growing phenom here). My body was so shocked that all my organs tried to escape via my mouth at once (i.e., i did not know one could throw up as much as i did from shock)
        3) Three days ago I slipped and fell fully clothed into a deceptively deep rock pool. It was a cold winter’s day here, so i immediately caught a chill & now have a high temperature & raging throat.
        I’m thinking that Merc Retro has teamed up with his higher octave amigo, Uranus – who is squaring my natal Mars-Uranus-Merc conjunction.
        All i want for xmas is to survive, preferably intact.

      4. Reflections on Wind/Air under the influence of a feverish mind:
        • The literal translation of Kamikaze (fascinating etymology) is “divine wind” or “wind of the gods” which resonates with either/both Mercury & Uranus.
        • According to TCM, i had a Wind Attack after falling in the rock pool which is what brought on the sudden fever & respiratory tract probs.
        • i am measuring my temperature with a mercury thermometer… Ahaha!
        • i love bullet points

      5. SKARAB, couldn’t see ‘reply’ under your story of misadventures. Wowsa, we due for some super loving cosmic gifts after our experiences.

      6. Oie oie oie, take care and as a Virgo rising, I approve of all cosmic beings’ love for bullet points! 😍 My secret Merc/Uranus appeasement tool? Write down random stream of consciousness. By hand. Bibliomancy.

  22. There’s been some miscommunication with a large online retailer, which is leaving me scrambling for one cat’s prescription cat food (why does some cat food require prescriptions? Why can’t I just wander over to the local overpriced boutique pet store and buy a bag?). And some minor work stuff. But the biggest Mercury retro thing I’ve noticed is a massive Discord issue just the other day. I’m not into Discord in a huge way, but apparently a lot of people moved to Discord servers after Twitter got Musked and as a Reddit alternative. Anyway, there was an update yesterday? Friday? That caused chaos and dismay.

  23. 15 phone calls and about 2 hours trying to get a refund on an expensive item that was never packed with my order… kept getting sent “return initiated” emails so I could give back the item I did not get.
    An insect bite that turned into a giant swollen mess requiring antibiotics.
    Side of car permanently marked by the driver of a white something that left half its paintwork on my right rear door at the local Cole’s.
    Aircon motherboard blew up. Next available technician – January 18th.
    And my body going into a severe “stage of life” malfunction.

    It’s been a fun week.

      1. Hi Pegusus. I did read about your health woes. I’m thinking about you and sending you love ! You need a fun distraction I feel.

  24. I had a cell phone issue and had to speak with 11 customer service representatives. It was so frustrating that I can’t even go into all of the details at this point but essentially, I was trying to enroll in autopay in order to receive a monthly discount. I will have to handle it at some point in the future.

  25. Great Post as always Mystic, this Rx is a tricky one afaic 😓
    So far just for yesterday, missed my train, the next one was cancelled after 3 stops because of a terrible accident, no more trains for hours, a tough and long journey by bus, then back to square one just in time for one of the most shocking heartbreak in a long time. Had to pretend that everything was fine for hours, before finally bursting into sobs on my way back home when a guy tried to get me into his car by force. What the Hell is wrong with this world? Needless to stay I’m staying in bed today.

    1. What a creep. You were vulnerable and he tried to abduct you.
      Can you report it to the police when you feel better?
      We all love you here. Meditate on that. Much love.

    2. Somebody forcing you into their car? That is incredible and horrible! Hope you have people to talk to and some quiet time to recover, Lolakritz 🪷

    3. Nurture yourself as PST lingers along with the shock. Long hot bath or shower and allow the negative energy to go down the drain. If shower let water run over top of head for 3-5 mins as a cleansing. Better days ahead (telling that to me too 🙂

    4. Oh god! Thank goodness you are safe. If you can get your hands on it, I’d highly recommend Rescue Remedy. Huge hugs! Take time out to process it.

  26. And Baby Pine!!!!! I cry for all beautiful Christmas trees every Jul. So glad you could rescue the little one, Myst. Plant it on public land near an actual beach and make it a family thing to go water it on weekends. ❤️❤️❤️

      1. 🙁 I get it. Whole of Scandinavia is full of Japanese Maple now. Much as it looks pretty, I can’t stress enough that its not native here. What to do!

  27. I am surprisingly good (famous last words?). I am reading a book about editing (Reading Like a Writer – Francine Prose) and inching my way towards gathering courage to edit a manuscript I wrote pre-pandemic about sentient AI. (I know!) I travelled across 2 continents with a connecting flight from one of the most chaotic airports in the world ON Retro day and it all went smooth, even though I was mentally prepared for all kinds of fuckery. I guess Viragos are Merc-blessed for being hyper-hyper-HYPER prepared. 🤷🏻‍♀️

    1. retro mercury in 5th house cap sounds like a great time to just flip open a printed copy of the MS and with a sharpened pencil in hand, revisit your words. how does the quote go? write in the evening, edit in the morning… or was it write drunk, edit sober? whichever works best.

      1. Thanks Sam. The force of Resistance is strong in me, telling me that this shit is important. I will heed your wise words. My progressed moon moves to Cancer tomorrow. I will hermit my way through the next draft.

    2. VIRAGO….didn’t know your sun sign due to ‘5th house Cap’. Def yes to being prepared, my Virgoan Mars makes it so for me always.

      1. Virgo rising, stellium of 3 in Scorpio in 3rd, stellium of 5 in Cap in 5th and Aqua sun in 6th, dear Pegs.

        So sorry to hear your continued medical issues (read in the Uranian blog). Hope you feel better soon, now that they have caught the root of it. Huge hugs.

  28. I’ve have returned to 90’s Britpop-rock music. I’m in deep. It’s a total trip and I’m loving it – back to when I was 18 years old. The retrograde is going from my 6th house back into 5th.

  29. I wish that I was enthusiastic enough about something to want to be a high class workaholic for it. I’m happy to put in the hours… I have the grit etc. I used to be a #goalz fanatic… lists upon lists .. but now? “the thing is, Bob, it’s not that I’m lazy, it’s that I just don’t care.” maybe merc direct will bring fresh direction? the turning point for merc direct is on my descendant and the tarot is advising to radically restructure my money/work/inspo MO. and I am fully on board with that. Pluto + Neptune transits concurrently and exact on my most personal planets are turning me into powder. An alchemical paste maybe. I’m taking a couple of weeks to drift and sleep a bit, read. I think I can feel the plutonic drive for authenticity more clearly now on the third pass, it feels non negotiable, a self whose preferences and bounds I am happy to uncompromisingly endorse because she’s all I have. could it be that this is my Pluto in cap plot. I will see what happens when mercury goes over that point sometime in Jan.. in the meantime, I’ll put the spaced-out Neptune energy to use in extreme levels of patience for [as one says] the reversals and proclivities of my ruling planet as he and his messenger bag flit through my 7th house.

    1. Sam, been there, dome that, got the low grade depression-masquerading as-stoicism to match yours. I am in the same boat as you and looking forward to last few days of Uncle Pluto in Cap, even though Neptune is fogging up my Cap moon to compensate. I have decided that I won’t drink or overeat myself into oblivion (not that I actually *like* anything these days. Tastebuds are like, “What tastebuds, buddy?”). I love your plan of Neptunian nothingness and then waiting for the drive to strike. Fresh start, new year new you, etc etc. Best of luck to us!

      1. Relating to both of your comments… including “low grade depression-masquerading as-stoicism”, tho i think mine is masquerading as ‘don’t-give-a fuck-ness’. Or maybe it’s not a mask and i just don’t give a fuck anymore? I remember when i used to and it used to drive my life. But it’s like the engine just stopped and i got out of the car and am walking through the desert now on foot, looking and waiting for something to show up, a marker to point the way, an oasis, a magical cactus-sprite, or something…anything. I don’t know if it’s peri-menopause, grief, or the planets – or d) all of the above – but it’s a thing… Super duper Neptunian right now, just letting all the Mercurial & Martian folks buzz around, preferably just out of my orbit, while i stay quiet and still in the centre… Here’s to drifting, dreaming, dissipating, healing… and waiting… for what comes next 🌸

  30. Oh God Mystic go easy with the tree. They go down as far as they go up, so by the time the little bugger is 3 m tall, its roots will be coming up through your toilet and you’ll have to sacrifice a kidney to pay for it to be removed.

    I read a funny revenge story once about a tree guy who had an injunction taken out by the council to make him cut down a tree had planted in his front garden. He got his revenge by planting Sequoia seedlings all over the town – by the time that even noticed that they’ve got giant trees growing all over the place, it will cost of tens of thousands if not more to cut them down – and because they’re protected species that have to get Special legal permission from the Fedral government first.

    Anyway, I’m not suggesting you surreptitiously put your little Norfolk pine into the front garden of someone you cordially dislike. But it would be funny.

    1. My tree story guts me as 2 Queensland Maples i had grown from seed, babies from the massive mother next door and 10 years old were cut down by maintenance on the premise of keeping gutters clear. Why not gutter guards i kept saying! They were murdered the morning after i came out of hospital and too weak to stop it.
      The loss of shade, of beautiful dappled sunlight seriously breaks my heart and keeping back area cool with a stronger sun this year.
      Turns out the leaves in gutters were from the Plane trees in the street not my babies. They were so wondrous especially as i had cultivated them not to impinge on fence, to grow away from it.
      Maintenance said they were ‘suckers’….not true as ALL the Maples in my area grow toward the creek meters away.
      Thinking of stopping payment of rent for 3 months to buy another full grown tree. Not a legit move but quite justifiable. Those trees were connected to my solar plexus, feel they were growing out of ME.

      1. That is indeed a reason for being sad, Pegasus! Those lovely trees gone from your garden… By the way, the planes on your street still sound good. I have a new appreciation for trees as I now live in a newly built neighborhood where there are no trees close by, only rows of trees on the horizon a few miles away. It feels very bare and unprotected.
        Hope your health improves further Pegasus, and sending you strength and good energy! 🌟

  31. Wrapping up the end of a hectic year teaching and it is crazy. I am helping with the timetabling, which we wanted done and dusted by now…but waiting for people to fill in class lists (I did make an awesome spreadsheet BTW like =RELACE(F2,1,4, “8MAT”) no one knew why or how it worked but I did) so that we can import these gems into classes and then we allocate teachers and a room and let the software do its thang. The whole thing is held up by “Oh was I supposed to do the list in the spreadsheet? The colour copier has gone on the blink, but it has printed 1.2 million sheets, and everyone wants colour printing so join the queue. Packages sent 2 weeks ago to daughter travelling near Albany, parcel is somewhere near the North Pole according to the tracking number. A lot of waiting this time, I don’t mind that because I did my starter motor and two flat tyres in the last Merc Rx, so the car should be good (please Mercury darling). PS Does anyone know a TAS teacher willing to work in the Mid North Coast? great staff, great school 😉

    1. I’ve thought about science teaching. I think it could be really cool. I also just googled TAS teaching. that looks fun. I just am not very ‘teacher-y’ … I’d function better in academia. the thought of fronting 31 or so teenagers who hate the very concept of my existence is a bit offputting, ha.. and no one really has good things to say about being a teacher (or the students) 🙁 (well except maybe you!)

    2. Just sharing a little glimpse into the chaos of my life as a science and STEM teacher in middle school. My computer decided to go on vacation for 4 whole days, leaving me unable to take attendance, input grades, or even display my lesson materials on the smartboard. My classroom phone was not working during this time as well. And oh, the copier struggles! One near my classroom was MIA for 5 weeks, and when I finally found a working one, it decided to give up on life just before it was my turn – talk about timing! Teaching is hard enough, but being interrupted 8 times in the first 5 minutes of class? It’s a real challenge when students are leaning towards learned helplessness, craving answers without putting in the work. And the parents simply make excuses for their kids horrific behaviors and blame the schools. I actually had a parent say that their child was my responsibility when in school. That student is failing all of his classes and refuses to do any work. I also Adjunct at a local community college teaching environmental science. Well, attendance is a whole other story. On a side note, I’ve started exploring non-teaching positions…

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