Monday, July 3, 2006 | Mercury Station Retrograde MERCURY stations retrograde at 9:32 pm EDT on July 4 (that's mid-afternoon on the East Coast and Tuesday morning on the Left Coast; Wednesday morning in Oz. Mercury is stationing while Mars makes an exact opposition to Neptune in Aquarius, so we get a caution to take the week and sort out what is true and what is not. This is always the question of a very strong Mars-Neptune relationship, particularly an opposition. And it's often the case of Mercury stationing retrograde -- which is one of the most dependable ways to shake the truth out of any situation. The question is, will anyone believe it once it's apparent? Well, I'm not going to worry about that for the moment, I'm just grateful that what is obvious is finally becoming obvious. Mercury retrograde is like it's own environment. It's an astrological phase, but it's set within a container that can be a very distinct mini-period of history. The shifts in direction can require some conscious adjustment and adaptation, as there does appear to be some kind of polarity reverse that happens with the station. Mercury is really a big hunk of iron with a pretty strong magnetic field. So the effect is certainly "real" from that perspective -- something measurable is happening in several respects -- but what most of us don't quite get is that this works mostly on the level of psychic experience. Mercury is physical, but broadcasting on every station. Mercury retrograde on the birthday of the United States is a meaningful statement to review our nation's conduct, and our experience of being either Americans or subject to the choices of the American federal government the past few years. Here is how Jude has summed up the current movement. She sums up in Political Waves: "The thing is -- something's changed; it's still dark out there, seemingly darker by the minute, but the Light is shining brighter than ever ... it's showing up in opinion polls, in pundit comments, in people standing up for what's right.  I've heard the phrase "King George" several times today on network television.  I've seen Karl Rove's maneuvering on "cut 'n run" and "safety" dismissed by people who are tired of hearing it and no longer willing to give it air time.  I've seen the defensive posture of Republican sentiment look akin to buffoonery, with even conservative counterparts arguing against their talking points as abdication of their responsibility as citizens.  For instance I saw conservatives Bill Safire and John Harwood from the Wall Street Journal criticize Bush policy as "tyranny." "Marbles is a good analogy -- it's the little-kid version of billiards; grown-ups play for money or pleasure ... kids play for the marbles, themselves.  It's all positioning, marbles ... the shooter takes his best shot, and the next kid positions from there. Politics is like that, except that there's a Game Master of course -- Uncle Dick would be my guess for this administration.  If ... in a kid game of marbles ... one of the kids got pissy with the game and dumped his entire bag on marbles into the circle ... with marbles going this way and that, nobody able to tell the marbles in play from the one's unwelcome ... it would look like this day.  Something's changed; and the game will have to be redrawn. "In the pundit shows, the guests were almost all Republican or conservative -- only Dana Priest, who won a Pulitzer for exposing secret prisons, could be called "neutral."  And yet the conversation was preoccupied with Bush's overreach and the possibility of the return to sanity. Things are being said that haven't been uttered out loud for fear of being labeled unpatriotic -- and even that ploy is being discussed. WE discuss that all the time ... but this isn't something the public hears. They did today."