Author: Pippa Ponton

Mercury in Gemini – Postcards From An All Court Mind

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British Tennis Champion Andy Murray has Mercury in Gemini
 Wimbledon Champion Men Singles 7th July 2013. 
Has he got it covered after 77 years waiting for a British Champion at Wimbledon?
Oh yes he has!!!

            
Mercury moved country on the 15th May 2013 from the sure and certain terrain of earthy Taurus in order to briefly flit on the airy and changeable winds of Gemini for a brief few weeks, moving out on the 1st of June 2013. Gemini and its ruler Mercury enjoys things brief, short and sweet and varied therefore a quick fling with this sign for a few weeks will have suited it admirably. After all why bother to labour a point if it can be made succinctly, despatch adroitly and then dispassionately leave behind in order to give air space for something new, perhaps. 

Spanish Tennis Champion Nadal has  Mercury in Gemini
French Open Mens Singles Champion 2013

Mercury in Gemini can bring in, carry around or trade directly in information. Sound bytes within bites, chunks and slices of data scrambled and mixed into a variety of and diversity. Evolution is achieved by minute adjustments and amendments, flexibility and adaptability giving the evolving entity the edge. To quickly shift direction, to catch the change before it catches up with you, to anticipate, premeditate and out maneuver what could potentially annihilate, are just some of the attributes that can ensure survival – or at least give a fighting chance so that progress progresses. We look for the upper hand, and indeed, Gemini and its ruler Mercury have the hands, arms and shoulders as part of its symbolism.

Serbian Tennis Champion Novak Djokovic has Mercury in Gemini
World No1, Runner up Wimbledon Mens Singles final 2013 & Runner up French Open Mens Singles 2013
‘Pressure is a privilege in a way and a big challenge for every professional athlete..It’s just a matter of understanding it, and maturing as a player and getting that necessary experience to use it at the right moments to cope…It’s a privilege because it means that you are doing something that counts. And all my life I have been dreaming to be the best in what I do and my dreams came true.’

The roads in this land may sometimes seem meandering, and may appear to go ‘off piste’, with many side roads to choose and with no one clear obvious path ahead but instead what faces us are multiple choices and varied options, all offering signs of attraction and fascination. We may have found that there was just not enough time to do all justice, some may have been only briefly explored and then discarded, some may have held us longer than we may have wanted, however all would have had us in their thrall and we would have been grateful for that no matter what the eventual outcome. 
This is a time that generates so many questions, quite a few answers, and all the wonderful variants in between. Communications, conversations and connections would have sped up and lit up many more branches of investigations, things could not have been ‘just as they are’ instead things would have been ‘more than what they are’. It would have been in our best interests to have kept our minds, hearts and palms open to even the slightest movements and changes constantly taking place. A butterfly is as light as a feather but holds up and opens out wings of saturated colours. The more we look the more we find and with Mercury in Gemini we most definitely want to look more, the list can be endless and so can the results. 

German Tennis Champion Steffi Graf has Mercury in Gemini
Graf retired in 1999 after 107 Singles titles, 11 Doubles, a Golden Slam – 1988 French Open,
1988 Australian Open, 1988 Wimbledon Championships, 1988 Olympic gold medal, & 1988 US Open
has been playing a role in supporting and sending good luck messages to German 2013 Wimbledon Ladies Finalist, Sabine Lisiki  ‘It’s not easy for anybody to come back and play the next day after such a big victory but Sabine Lisicki stayed focused, played smart and truly seemed to enjoy herself as she continued her winning streak at Wimbledon’ Graf wrote on Facebook after Lisiki beat Serena Williams on her way to the final. Lisiki responded with ‘I am overwhelmed….I am just so happy. I was just fighting for every single point. I fought my heart out. Becoming the first German in the final since her has not really sunk in yet and winning Wimbledon would be a dream coming true’ Unfortunately Lisiki’s nerves meant she was runner up to the 2013 Ladies Champion the beautiful, unique Marion Bartolli of France.

This is the air space and territory of Gemini in which we all occupied for a few weeks, as we do every year and it was to this language we became acclimatised. Whenever Mercury changes sign, we need to learn a whole new language and adapt to completely different customs to the ones we have become used and familiar. Mercury affects the way we process and deal with information. In other words, how we talk, think, chat, twitter, blog, text, write, read, listen and learn and Gemini is a curious sign. Much like Alice in Wonderland, we can get lost in the array of choice. True gemini is clever and dexterous but can also be seen as dispassionate and superficial, at worst. When given the facts Mercury in Gemini will just add more facts, more information, more pieces still and moving. It all becomes so jangled and dizzy the answers may simply be just stare at the centre employ our best peripheral vision and wonder at what appears next.
                                       
Swedish Tennis Champion Bjorn Borg has Mercury in Gemini
World No1, 11 Grand Slams singles, 5 consecutive Wimbledon singles & 6 french Open singles.
One of the Classic greatest matches pairing with great rival John McEnroe.
When Mercury passes through such a fliberty-jibberty sign we can expect a kaleidoscope of information, and this would have been exactly what we got, we may have needed a lie down in a darkened room as a result, but such dreams are made of these images gathered! Sleeping is not something Mercury in Gemini indulges in especially, after all how can you keep count of all those sheep and animals coming into the ark unless you are fully conscious? Sleep can come later when our counting is done, when Mercury moves into the waters of Cancer, maybe. In Cancer maybe can we allow the unconscious some more room.
Mercury is travel, trade, exchange, communication and busy activity and here in ‘what else is new?’ Gemini it can appear to send itself into a veritable spin. Gemini is an Air sign and as such flourishes in movement, freedom of expression, space and room. Stagnation is not an option. Breathing in and out is a highly complicated operation, which is done without a thought, generally and keeps us alive whether our minds are ‘on it’ or not. The more attention given to this precious process the deeper our awareness will travel on all levels but it is not necessary to be so acutely aware of it just to go about our daily business of living.
It is possible that whilst Mercury was previously in deliberate and stable Taurus many of us noticed that we became more sure and reliable in our thinking as we thought a bit more deeply about things. However, just as we got halfway used to this style of speaking and thinking we suddenly found ourselves in what appeared to be a foreign country where everyone asked us to speak quicker and try new things.You will have noticed the difference from Mercury in Taurus to Mercury in Gemini as you know the difference between the earth and the sky or mountain and meltemi whatever your tasks, vocation or habits.

US Tennis Champion Andrea Jaeger has Mercury in Gemini
She reached both the French Open & the Wimbledon singles final and was World No2 at 16, coached by her reportedly abusive father there were many teenage temper tantrums and she was known as ‘the brat’. Her career ended early due to shoulder injuries and she has complained subsequently of the competitive pressure she endured, the offers of steroids and cocaine and the attitude of the more mature players. She briefly became a nun, Sister Andrea but has since left her order.

 You and others around you, remember we all felt this Mercury’s shift, will have seemed to be that much more flighty and flirty. We may have become more light hearted and fancy free, open to trying different options and tasting unknown fruits. We could have got bored easily and craved that blade of grass outside our boundaries.
All of us, our children, our friends, on Twitter, or Facebook, our partners, teachers, bosses, neighbours, the person sitting next to us on the bus and the our leaders will have been a lot more chatty, or a lot more scatty, a lot more curious and inventive. With this Mercury in Gemini our communications will have got much more varied, for good or bad. Whatever symbols we use we will want to say or stand for something.
                                      
British Tennis Champion Fred Perry has Mercury in Gemini
He was the first player to win four Grand Slams singles titles and also won three consecutive Wimbledon Championships 1934/1936 and was World No1 for 4 years. He was the last British player to win the Wimbledon Mens Singles Championship,and was the last British player to win any Men’s singles Grand Slam title until Andy Murray won the US Open in 2012.
Whilst we all felt this change, this mental shift, how, you may ask, how did it affect me specifically? Well, the sign of Gemini sits somewhere in your birth chart, even if you do not have any planets in this sign. You always have Geminian County somewhere in your psyche. It is this Gemini zone which had Mercury as a house guest. This is where you would have had to be more accommodating, where you would have been wise to shake out the duvet and put out a vase of fresh flowers to make this energy welcome and feel at home so it can do what it needed to do whilst feeling excited about new prospectsIf you know where your ‘Geminian Country’ is then be prepared for the anti to be upped. It is here that you may be trying to exercise dexterity and versatility. Take your time and respect the issues affected in that part of your chart. For instance, Gemini may be in your 2nd house of ‘Money & Resources’, in which case Mercury here will probably prompt you to think about and plan changes which impact your bank balance. 

Belgian Tennis Champion Justine Henin has Mercury in Gemini
Known as JuJu she was known as the ‘Lioness of Liege’. Her mental toughness but also the variety of her all court game, her footspeed and footwork are all acknowledged as her talents, Her one-handed backhanded stroke has been described as ‘the best single-handed backhand in the women’s or men’s game’ by John McEnroe and ‘the player I most like to watch’ She has a tennis academy, Justine No1 pronounced like Henin in French.

Personal Issues including her failed marriage were cited as the reasons for her initial retirement.

Or if Gemini covers your 7th house or zone of ‘Partnerships’ your plans could be in for a major overhaul concerning your significant other. Making the adjustments will now probably go smoothly. Or is Gemini pulling at your Venus, if so maybe these few weeks will get you thinking about deepening, or severing, your commitment to what you have previously valued. Lets hope you were able to make the most of your facility to think things through rapidly, and make connections previously ignored. Apply your insights and experimentation with consideration. Take a few moments to breathe consciously in an out. From the 1st of June you are about to taken to some very different looking terrain, the Water space of Cancer, where things are will be very different, as quite literally you will be neither in nor out, water or air breather but amphibian between security on rock and the vast ocean so the cleaver thinking done when Mercury was in Gemini may just provide the occasional makeshift life raft.

Muse Singer Matt Bellamy has Mercury in Gemini

credits: marc aspland & the times & tennis.com & wikepedia
posted by pippa ponton & jphibbs

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Venus in Gemini – The Power of Choice

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 WindFarms, Windfalls or Windbags June 2013The Conservative/Liberal Democrat UK Coalition Government are showing us both sides of their weakened coin and throwing in their very different hands, fuelling growing tensions in their energy debat…

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Venus in Gemini – The Power of Choice

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 WindFarms, Windfalls or Windbags June 2013
The Conservative/Liberal Democrat UK Coalition Government are showing us both sides of their weakened coin and throwing in their very different hands, fuelling growing tensions in their energy debates. They appear to be putting forward measures to give local communities more of a say and more powers to block the development of onshore wind farms whilst at the same time offering greater incentives in the form of subsidies and reductions in energy bills for embracing them.

Tasting the honey, chewing the cud, taking the air and feeling the breeze against her skin was just a few sensual of the delights and gifts Venus enjoyed with her stay in the earthy sign of Taurus the Bull. From the 9th May 2013 until the 3rd June 2013 Venus began to dodge and dart around into the flibbity-jibberty style of Gemini. The Mutable Air sign Gemini is the sign of The Twins and everything could have appeared as double-barreled, two pronged, with mixed messages, dual meanings, general truths tied up as apparent nonsense, or just puzzles in a mixed media delivery format. 

             
Australian Activist, founder of controversial website WikiLeaks, Julian Assange has Venus in Gemini. 
He made available secret information and classified media gained from whistleblowers and anonymous news sources. WikiLeaks became well known or infamous, depending on your point of view, internationally when it published U.S. military and diplomatic documents and media. Proponent of free speech or a dangerous maverick, both Gemini twins are often cited in descriptions of Assange. The Swedish police have requested assange to appear for questioning in a sexual assault inquiry but he absconded the British governments intention to extradite him by staying inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London since the 19th June 2012.
Mars in Aquarius – Idealistic Battles & Contradictions Assange has praised the latest serious whistleblower of the covert NSA Prism surveillance Edward Snowden, calling him ‘a hero’  and someone who has revealead ‘one of the most serious events of the decade, the creeping formulation of a mass surveillance state’ 10th June 2013
Simply put, which is never easy with Gemini involved, Venus during her quick visit here would have loved the word play, loved some flowery language, and loved to ‘mix it up’ by thowing in the odd communication or two, some very odd communication indeed.We may have expected the rhetoric to flourish and with any flourishing rhetoric perhaps also the chance of some confusing speech, disguised as simple and simple speech disguised as complex. When Venus is playing in Gemini, whether natally, those of us born with this position, or at the time of the year when Venus rushes by just passing through….

Tennis Wimbledon Champions American Venus Williams & French Amelie Muresmo have Venus in Gemini
Venus and her sister Serena, currently World No1 in singles tennis came up the hard way ‘straight outta
Compton‘, downtown Los Angeles, notorious for its gang violence, gansta rap/hip-hop and crack cocaine. They both encountered racial prejudice early on in tennis and were coached by their father Richard.
A protester, waving a lit flare, bare chested and masked ran onto the court at the Mens single final at Roland Garros, Paris 9th July 2013 and was restrained by security with two men holding a banner accusing France of trampling on children’s rights earlier. These protests were against the legalisation of gay marriage in France. The director of the French Open condemned the protests as ‘pathetic’ and did not want to give them any more publicity. A sporting heroine of France, Muresmo came out as gay in the full glare of the press aged 19.Her Twitter account proclaims ‘It’s me! Nowhere and everywhere’ As France’s Fed Cup Captain she  supported Wimbledon Women’s Singles Champion Marion Bartolli 2013

A word about Venus Venus Come Out Of Your Shell basically she likes to indulge herself by feeding the body, anointing it, making it look, smell and feel special is what she is about. Venus loves beauty in all it’s many forms, and she has an appreciation of the finer things in culture, art, music, social bonds, relationships and devotions although we have to accept that not everyone loves in the same way or indeed the same things.

Jailed Pussy Riot Prisoner of Conscience Maria Alyokhina ‘Masha’ has Venus in Gemini
A 4th year student of Journalism and Creative Writing in Moscow she was jailed for ‘hooliganism and religious hatred’ after a protest performance in a Moscow Cathedral and as been recognised as a political prisoner since. (Other prisoners Nadezhda Tolokonnikova & Yekaterina Samutsevich)
An HBO documentary aired on 10th June 2013 HBO Pussy Riot – A Punk Prayer
After asking for parole she went on a brief hunger strike that ended in June 2013. International criticism continues as new Russian anti-gay laws, including one on ‘ propaganda for non-traditional sexual relations’ appear to serve as encouragement for harassment, violent attacks and recently two murders.

Relationships are very high on a Venus list but money and fairness also come under the remit of our Venus desires. A run through our personal list will give us a clue as to just how fundamental and central Venus style demands and priorities are in our lives. We all know that if we get Love and Money sorted out that we have a chance at getting a good handle on our life. We can have a try at denying the need for one but it is unusual to deny both, at least not intentionally.

Jack & Jackie Kennedy both have Venus in Gemini
11th June 2013 marks the 50th anniversary of President JFK’s Radio & TV 11th June civil rights address to the nation when attitudes to racism was still in its infancy and the 26th June 1963 his Berlin speech delivered to a divided city during the height of the Cold War, where he memorably proclaimed ‘Ich bin eine Berliner‘, siding with West Germany over Soviet support of East Germany, the Gemini twins at war and threatening to throw things at each other over the wall. President Obama re-visiting Berlin in June 2013 amid outrage over the US secret internet spying programme and Edward Snowdon leaking documents to the Washington Post and Guardian newspapers. The NSA PRISM programme gives US officials covert access to  emails and web chats communications from companies such as Google, Facebook, Twitter and Skype. Data privacy will continue to be a major cause for concern in Europe as there appears to be no choice involved, Europeans are not protected from this type of US surveillance programme intrusion in any way and American laws of protection only appear to be applying to Americans. 

Venus may have had felt sensual, measured and deep during her time in Taurus which got us all kind of used to that way of being, taking our time, having concern for the wider community and indulging our senses. What appeared to change when she moved to Gemini, just how different was life for us with The Naughty Twins running riot around the ‘Love ‘n Money Show’? Did we use languages expertly, adapt to the sudden changes, and up our levels of dexterity? Maybe we could have navigated our path through the merry month of May 2013 a little easier by being flexible rather than stuck rigidly to our guns or floundered in the complacency of some of our habits and changed nothing at all.
                 
Marathon Runner Joan Benoit has Venus in Gemini (Sun in Taurus)
She won Gold in the 1st Womens Marathon at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles 1984.
‘When I first started running I was so embarrassed I’d walk when cars passed me. I’d pretend I was looking at the flowers’ Sun in Taurus – Tending To Our Gardens
Professional Basketball Player with 4 Olympic Gold Medals  Lisa Leslie also has Venus in Gemini
During her initial basketball trials when team members were told to split into two groups for left handers and right handers she was the only ‘lefty’, she decided to use her right hand so she would not have to be by herself. That choice worked to her advantage as she is now ambidextrous, in true Gemini form.
If we wanted to attract or to appear more attractive during Gemini Venus time we may have had to become aware of ‘the more the merrier’ adage. Wanting to be ‘in there’ and among the crowd, chopping and changing our object(s) of fascination or just shifting to another groups, preferably groups of admirers. All this could have appeared to have been a breeze and as natural as breathing. We may also have been trying hard to impress with our clever use of information, just dazzling with our communication skills or regretting saying just a little too much.

Danish Film Director Lars von Trier has Venus in Gemini
co-founder of Dogma95 with friend Thomas Vinterberg, extolling the vitues of simple storytelling and excluding elborate special effects in filmmaking, perhaps contradicting himself a little in Melancholia and expending some ‘hot air’ about the Third Reich that did not go well at the Cannes Film Festival.’ What can I say? I understand Hitler, but I think he did some wrong things, yes, absolutely…He’s not what you would call a good guy, but I understand much about him, and I sympathise with him a little bit. But come on, I’m not for the Second World War, and I’m not against Jews…I am of course very much for Jews, no not too much, because Israel is pain in the ass, but still how can I get out of this sentence. Later in answer to another critic who questioned whether Melancholia was an answer to Hollywood blockbuster films asking von Trier if he could imagine doing a film on a grander scale, von Trier replied, ‘On a grander scale? Yeah. Yeah that’s what we Nazis, we have a tendency to do things on a greater scale. Yeah, maybe you could persuade me into the final solution with journalists’ 
His press release photo attached to his 2013 film Nymphomanic is an ironic reference to this.

We would all have all had a month where our relationships may have got a bit more unsettled and/or playful. Freedom and ‘space’ concerns could have dominated our relating and we examined multiple view points and new areas of interest. This would have been most enjoyable with a twin soul but if not then we would have gladly pursued the interest solo. Looking out and being on the look-out for our one true love, our soul mate, our other half would have become quite energised and for those already with ‘their one’ this time would have been an explosion of shared mutual interests. 
Before we get too carried away with the excitement and pleasure of all this variety it may also be the case that we became much more aware of unreliability, demonstrations of a side of the mouth expression, even two-faced behaviour style or simply a one-sided, uncompromising one. 

French National Front Founder/Leader & Presidential Candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen has Venus in Gemini
‘Ni Pote, Ni Black, Ni Blanc, Ni Beur, Francais’ (neither friend nor black nor white nor arab French)
His daughter Marine Le Pen now leads the French National Front and wrote on Twitter after the protest suicide in Notre Dame ‘All our respect to Dominique Venner, whose final gesture, eminently political, was to try to awaken the people of France’ She is now also demanding political asylum for US whistle blower 
Edward Snowden.

Our facility to see more than one side of any situation, coupled with a keen articulation of possibility could have been frustrating to those just wanting a straight answer! There is always more than we bargained for in sort of Gemini presentation, given that they always come as a pair.

‘Mandiba’ South Africa’s 1st Black President Nelson Mandela has Venus in Gemini
His friend Mac Maharaj who also has Venus in Gemini, described by Mandela as ‘the cleverest chap I’ve ever met’,was also imprisoned with other ANC supporters on Robben Island during the apartheid. Maharaj, transcribed and smuggled out a draft of Mandela’s autobiography, Long Walk To Freedom is still acting as spokesman, buffering 95 year old Mandela, in failing health, from unnecessary outside world intrusions. Mandela was rushed to hospitalon the 7th/8th June 2013 in the early hours with a long-term lung infection, contracted working in the prison quarry and Tuberculosis developed during his 27 years incarceration . 

Key to understanding what is going on for us is to look at where in ourselves we are ‘Gemini-attuned’. We all have degrees in our birth chart which looks out for any Gemini vibration, our personal Gemini antenna. It will be good to look at how smoothly the matters connected to our Gemini houses and/or planets ran at this time? Did they function as well as they could, is there room for improvement or even some room to manoeuvre, reverse, revise and try a new perspective or two. 

 Right-Wing French Historian Dominique Venner has Venus in Gemini
On 21st May 2013 on a busy day, amid tourists and people praying he shot and killed himself in front of the altar in Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris after placing a sealed envelope on the steps. In his youth he had been jailed for violence against Communists. Nearly 80 he felt that French civilisation was being replaced by an ‘Afro-Maghreb culture‘ and would end up with Sharia Law as former French colonies were overwhelming the Republic shown in his final blog message ‘Peaceful street protests will not be enough to prevent it…It will require new, spectacular, and symbolic gestures to wake up the sleepwalkers, to shake the slumbering consciousness and to remind us of our origins … and rouse people from their complacency … We are entering a time when words must be backed up … by new, spectacular and symbolic actions.’ His extreme symbolic action was prompted by the passing of the law legalising gay marriage in France. He regarded this as another dismantling of French culture as did the immigration of millions of Muslims and the white French culture also being overwhelmed by Americanism, predicting a ”total replacement of the population of France and of Europe’

If you have Gemini spanning the 5th zone of Romance & Creativity, you may have found that things may not have been that bad and that your ‘fun time’ got a perk as did what you do for the sheer love of it. All may have gone to another deeper level. Is your own Venus is in Gemini was it a time to welcome in new arrivals.

Italy’s Senate Vice President Roberto Calderoli has Venus in Gemini
Commenting on Italy’s first black cabinet minister Congolese born Cecile Kyenge ‘I love animals, bears and wolves, as everyone knows but when I see the pictures of Kyenge I cannot but think of, even if I’m not saying she is one, the features of an orangutan.’

If you are a Sun sign Gemini then this stuff may seem easy. Well to a point, because even a cheeky, clever Gemini knows the value of engaging the mind before the tongue and the heart before the mind!

Astronomer Frank Kameny has Venus in Gemini
‘One of the most significant figures’ in the Gay right Movement in America he was dismissed from the US Military for his open homosexuality beginning his struggle with the American establishment in the ’60’s.
He now has a minor planet named in his honour Frankkameny  

For this Venus in Gemini time we may have had a vista of possibilities that opened up before us and a plethora of choices that serve to entice and revel. The anxieties could have been about exactly which ones to choose, what to leave and sacrifice and which ones to pick up and develop. As Venus moved on into Cancer we will be hoping to try and enrich, deepen and nurture those ideas we have decided to bring with us on our continuing journey. Choice is power and the more the merrier, or is less more, right or left, green or red, crescent or cross, rainbow or jackboot……decision decisions,
ad infinitum.
                                     
Singer/Writer/Icon Bob Dylan has Venus in Gemini
credits:indieWire & reuters & BBC & maximeshematov& charismanews & the tribune online
posted by pippa ponton & jphibbs

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Mercury in Taurus – Postcards from a Deliberating Mind

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Cornish portrait & historical painter ‘the Cornish Wonder’ John Opie has Mercury in Taurus Showing his precocious talent for drawing and mathematics at 12 he opened a school for poor children teaching them the 3 R’s reading, ‘riting and ‘rithmetic. Not encouraged by his father he was apprenticed to his fathers trade of carpentry. However he attracted a mentor and began to attract commissions.
Here depicting the warrior Queen of the Iceni in ‘Boadicea Haranguing the Britons’ rebelling against Roman occupation, ostensibly to avenge her own flogging and the rape of her daughters but galvanising a whole nation of tribes. Etymologists point out that Boudicca is old welsh for Queen Victoria, who was likened to her and it has also been suggested she may have been lesbian or bi-sexual, to the imagined horror of ex-UK minister in Margaret Thatchers cabinet, Norman Tebbitt ‘thus was sown the wind and we are reaping the whirlwind..’ who warned in 2013 that if gay marriage was legalised, Britain may be ruled by a lesbian queen!. It may well have happened already. 

Mercury moved country on 1st May 2013 from the flash-fire terrain of Aries and began to chew over the facts on the grassy slopes of Taurus for just a few weeks moving out all too soon on the 15th May 2013. Although brief, Mercury’s stay in the earth sign of Taurus the Bull carried deep degrees of impact that we can still chew over and perhaps digest, in retrospect.

Spanish Poet & Playwright Federico Garcia Lorca has Mercury in Taurus
Openly gay and left wing he was murdered by fascist dictator General Franco’s men during the Spanish Civil War. Also part of Generation ’27, a group of influential Spanish literati working with avant-garde expression, 
free verse and visionary images. He was said to have acknowledged a premonition image of his death.

Mercury in Taurus can bring, carry or trade in very tangible and overt expressions of the earth’s bounty, riches and booty from the depths are transported to the surface for all to see and utilise.

French fashion designer entrepreneur Christian Audigier has Mercury in Taurus
Living in the United states in 2010 his fortune was estimated at 250 million dollars he helped to populise the brand Von dutch and to distribute brands such as Converse & New Balance, designer wines and perfumes.

The roads in this land may sometimes seem meandering or heavy going, urging us to plod and plough rather than skip or race who has ever heard of a skipping bull! 

Famous Spanish Bullfighter & writer Ignacio Sanchez Mejias has Mercury in Taurus
He loved literature and music and became critical of his own ‘faenas’ job, suffering several serious ‘gorings’ he left the profession becoming a member of the influential Spanish literary group Generation 27. He returned to the bullring, perhaps for financial reasons and died of gangrene, delirious from pain.
His death was immortalised in his friends Federico Garcia Lorca’s famous elegy Llanto por la muerte de Ignacio Sánchez Mejías – Weeping for the Death of Ignacio Sánchez Mejías

This drawing in quality, this quietening and easing tasks us to delve deeper and ever deeper. What is missed in the rush or fly past is clocked in the evening constitutional and where Aries the Ram has a gambol, Taurus the Bull has an amble. This is a time that generated more questions than answers or at least this is what it seem now looking back.

Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) Nigel Farage has Mercury in Taurus
Farage was confronted by protestors in Edinburgh on the 16th May 2013, he had to take refuge in a pub but was asked to leave by the landlord but the taxi driver refused to take him. He had to be escorted away by the police as Scottish protesters declared him to be a racist. ‘Farage came up to Scotland to spread his racism and bigotry here we showed he’s not welcome’. He has also been accused by the Scottish National Party Leader Alex Salmond of ‘touting obnoxious polices’  Unphased Farage, an ex-Conservative Party member has also just invited disgruntled ultra-right, grass root members of the Conservative Party, who have apparently been called ‘swivel-eyed loons’ by their own Party Chairman, to join UKIP.

However, rusher-on-beware, the answers are indeed there but to sense them we still may need to wait and be patient for the calf will share its goodies, just in its own sweet time. Just as the Midas bull was a mere disguise, a tempting tease, Mercury in Taurus time will spill the beans but not in any way that is expected and its effect may be potent. 

UK TV Newsreader & Presenter Fiona Bruce has Mercury in Taurus
She is a patron of domestic violence charity Refuge and has upset the founder of Fathers4justice for suggesting that violent men can use that organisation as an umbrella.

This is the earth space and territory of Taurus we occupied and it is to this language we tried to acclimatised. Whenever Mercury changes sign, we need to learn this new language and adapt to different and adjust to the unfamiliar. Mercury affects the way we process and deal with information, in other words: how we talk, think, chat, twitter, blog, text, write, read, listen and learn. Taurus is a stubborn sign, uncompromising, it can become very perverse, stubborn and entrenched, at its worst and at its best very compassionate and kind. Sometimes the two combine.

When given the facts Taurus becomes more comfortable and relaxed, shake the bottle and swivel the jigsaw pieces around however and Taurus can appear to stare into space, much like a cow chewing the cud. Eventually what emerges of course is a complex yet simple, easily digestible mixture – it just takes a while or ‘its own sweet time’.

Philosopher, writer & mathematician/logician Bertrand Russell has Mercury in Taurus
‘Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time..the whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves and wiser people are so full of doubts’

When Mercury passes through such a slowly seductive sign as Taurus it realizes that something nourishing, productive and useful must emerge and be transported, something stable and sustaining must be the cargo. Milk from the Taurus cow flows forth to nourish and protect the young and youthful spirit, symbolised by Aries the proceeding sign. Our impetus, our brave, wild and naïve ideas needed to be nurtured and grounded. We can’t run off and do our very important business whilst suckling, this was our time to rest, take in our nourishment and bask in blissful loving contentment. Now there is time to rush off with our mates and play as Mercury has already sped into the sign of its rulership, ‘mercurial’ and curious Gemini! Whilst Mercury was in impulsive, direct Aries we will have noticed that we had to be much more clear and decisive in our thinking. Passion may have gripped us as we felt motivated to press on and pursue our goals. Under Aries we had to get active and get going with ways to move forward with our lives. Mercury, after all is about travel, trade, exchange, communication and busy, busy activity but when it was with ‘hang on a great big minute’ Taurus it can often appear to have ground to a complete standstill, more than ready to ease into a  l o n g…. hiatus, just, you know…. idling in the scenery, resting in the background..but not forever. 

Writer Daphne du Maurier has Mercury in Taurus
‘Happiness is not a possession to be prized, it is a quality of thought, a state of mind...more spectacular than the small inland mines are the chimneys and engine-houses of those built above the sea, perched like the nests of eagles……the beauty and the mystery beckon still‘ Vanishing Cornwall

Taurus being an earth sign also means that its idea of getting down to business usually means MONEY. Sure it can be about love, art and compassion, but make no mistake, physical exchange is what Mercury in Taurus excels at, whether that is in coin, touch, goods or heart song.

Irish Singer/writer for U2, venture capitalist and humanitarian Paul Hewson ‘Bono’ has Mercury in Taurus
Taking his nickname from a hearing aid shop Bono Vox (good voice) he was motivativation to become involved in social and political causes as an activist but has also been criticised.
 ‘I saw ‘The Secret Policeman’s Ball’ and it became a part of me. It sowed a seed…’ 

However, just as we have got halfway used to this style of speaking and thinking we will suddenly found ourselves in what appeared to be a foreign country where everyone asked us to speak more slowly and literally, to think carefully before letting the words drop from our tongues, to draw a breath before pressing ‘Send’.
As it eased its way through Taurus, Mercury urged us to be kind, sensual and practical. Being adaptable is usually Mercury’s middle name, it will always try to adjust to new terrain so we too will have tried to adjust and find the new angle. It may well be that with Mercury in Taurus things slow down but that is just how we may have wanted it for the time being. You will have noticed the difference and responded to the change from Mercury in Aries to Mercury in Taurus, as well as you know the difference between earth and fire, hearth and flame.

Chief of Bomber Command Sir Arthur Harris ‘Bomber Harris’ has Mercury in Taurus
He was the man who ordered the controversial blanket bombing in World War II from 1942 to 1945 of German cities like Cologne and Dresden, killing around 25,000 civilians in that city and reducing the landscape to apocalyptic rubble. To his critics it was ‘a city too far’. A Ministry of Defence interview with an unrepentant Harris interviewed in 1977 was only aired in 2013. ‘I lived in a shower of directives… The Nazis entered this war under the rather childish delusion that they were going to bomb everyone else, and nobody was going to bomb them. At Rotterdam, London, Warsaw and half a hundred other places, they put their rather naive theory into operation. They sowed the wind, and now they are going to reap the whirlwind’
The Bomber command memorial in London was vandalised with the word ISLAM in May 2013

You and others around you, remember that we have all been involved in being that much more intransigent, determined, practical and realistic. However, there has also a high chance that we are all holding the results of our effort, our product and from that Mercury in Taurus time. Something was ‘made’ then, at some level, whether it was a simple vow, a painting, a special quilt, plans for a special occasion or a sumptuous meal or some quantum leaps. 
                 
Autistic child protégé Jacob Barnett has Mercury in Taurus. Diagnosed with Aspergers syndrome he did not say anything until he was 2 but learned algebra, geometry and trigonometry in a week. he visualises equations ‘Behind every equation is a picture’ and he is studying for his Masters in Quantum Physics. His mother Kristine began taking Jake out under the stars at night, listening to jazz music and his fascination began. 
‘Under the stars is actually where I found what Jacob is truly good at’ 
BBC presenter John Soper also has Mercury in Taurus.
Your children, friends, partners, teachers, bosses, neighbours, heads of state, the person sitting next to you right now, will have been more thoughtful and ruminative during this last period but now as a result of those efforts perhaps something long lasting may emerge. With this last Mercury in Taurus contact our communications, even with ourselves, may have had to get that much more real, for good or bad.

Self Help Guru Dr Wayne Dyer has Mercury in Taurus
‘My beliefs are that the truth is a truth until you organise it, and then becomes a lie. I don’t think that Jesus was teaching Christianity, Jesus was teaching kindness, love, concern, and peace. What I tell people is don’t be Christian, be Christ-like. Don’t be Buddhist, be Buddha-like. Religion is orthodoxy, rules and historical scriptures maintained by people over long periods of time. Generally people are raised to obey the customs and practices of that religion without question. These are customs and expectations from outside the person and do not fit my definition of spiritual.’He was sued for plagiarism by celebrated translator of ancient texts/spiritual writer Stephen Mitchell, who is married to and co-writes with another self help guru Byron Katie. Mitchell claimed that Dyer has ‘copied verbatim a significant portion‘ –  200 lines, of his unique interpretation of the Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching.
Whilst we all must have felt this change, this mental shift how did it affect us more specifically? Taurus sits somewhere in our birth charts, even if we do not have any planets in the sign we always have this Taurus Countryside somewhere in our psyches. It is this Taurus zone which has had Mercury as a house guest. This is where we would all have had to be more accommodating, where we would have been wise to shake out the duvet and put out a vase of fresh flowers and make this energy feel welcome and feel at home so it could work on doing what it needed to do in relative comfort and security.
Lets hope we were able to make the most of this facility to think things through things deeply and thoroughly and to apply our deepest compassion and sweetness of heart as we did last year. Mercury in Taurus – Postcards from a Sensuous Mind. We are now being taken to some very different looking lands within the Air space of Gemini, where things will change, quite literally, as quickly as needing a ‘change of air’ and looking back lets ‘End it Like Beckham’ on a high and then move forward.

           
Football Icon/Fashion Icon David Beckham has Mercury in Taurus
A devoted fan of the English football club Manchester United he won Bobby Charlton’s Soccer Skills Award at age 11 and made his dream come true by playing for the team, where he also met his wife Victoria and became one half of ‘Posh & Becks and the brand Beckham began.

His personal fortune is at least $267 million plus – he donated his Paris Saint Germaine salary to charity some MP’s say to avoid paying the top rate of French tax and a surtax. A PSG shirt with his name/number was £100.
credits: facebook & famemagazine & u2 interface & BBC & miranda aldhouse-green
posted by pippa ponton & jphibbs

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Sun In Taurus – Tending To Our Gardens

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The Royal Horticultural Society’s Chelsea Flower Show London, 21st-25th May 2013 celebrates 100 years A natural world’s iconic cathedral for the worship of the fruits & flowers of the earth and people’s love of the ‘garden’ and an a…

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Sun In Taurus – Tending To Our Gardens

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The Royal Horticultural Society’s Chelsea Flower Show London, 21st-25th May 2013 celebrates 100 years
 A natural world’s iconic cathedral for the worship of the fruits & flowers of the earth and people’s love of the ‘garden’ and an annual demonstration of the beauty and diversity of human creativity. 

On the 19th April 2013 the Sun traveller moved country, as it does every month, this time it meanders leisurely but purposefully into the Taurus Earth Landscape until the 20th May 2013. It feels good to taste the fruits, sip the fresh water, listen to the songbirds, smell the freshly cut grass and secure our feet firmly and deeply into the earth and feel secure even in the hard work.

UK Celebrity Gardner Alan Titchmarch has Sun in Taurus
‘It’s time we reconnected them with apples rather than Apple Macs, plant cells rather than cell phones and raspberries as well as BlackBerrys’The Twitter Controlled Garden may have come about as a result of concerns by people like Titchmarch that young people are not interested in gardening. (The Digital Capabalities Garden designed by University of Lincoln with brothers Harfleet & Harfleet 2013) Maybe young gardners just need ‘nurturing’

Now we can stretch into our bodies, fill and expand out into our personal landscape and reach for the ripe juicy goals just in front of our noses. Our purpose, symbolised by the Sun, during Taurus the Bull time, will be so tangible we can practically smell it, so close we can nearly hear its whispers, and so tantalizing we can almost believe it is there, already in our hands. We are so convinced we are ‘there’ in fact that we tell ourselves we deserve a break, no matter what else is going on or how high our expectations are.

Irish Celebrity Gardner Diarmuid Gavin has Sun in Taurus 
‘F**k It’ we say, pour a glass of something, lay a blanket on the ground and just simply 
R-E-L-A-X………

The Dreaming Girl ‘Eve’ from Chelsea 2006 Garden of Dreams
Bought by Beatle George Harrison’s widow she now takes her rest in Henley-on-Thames, UK
Olivia Harrison is Sun in Taurus

Hang on though, this is all very fine and dandy if your garden is fully in natural flow, doesn’t need pruning or sowing, the grass doesn’t need mowing and the dead leaves blow themselves away. Great if your goals are accomplished or new goals set or scored.

Scottish Football Manager David Moyes has Sun in Taurus
 9th May 2013 He was appointed Manager of Manchester United Football Club on previous manager Sir Alex Ferguson who retires after 27 years, recommendation.
Timed Astrology Birth Chart for Football Manager David Moyes (birth data Paul Wright)

‘Skol’, cheers, prost!, yamas, a votre sante, you say…..however……there is also the very real possibility that some of us may still have some way to go before we are all brimming over with the goodies. If that is the case then, well then it is time to exercise the full muscular power of the Bull and put your shoulder to the plough and your back into it. In other words this month it is time to ‘Get Your Hands Dirty’ and get stuck into your various tasks, its a winning formula.

 Footballer Callum McManaman has Sun in Taurus
‘Man of the Match’ in FA Cup 11th May 2013.
He plays for Wigan, the ‘youngest’ club in the UK Premier League they beat football heavyweights
Manchester City FC, founded in 1880, owned by the Abu Dhabai United Group since 2008 and one of the wealthiest clubs in the world. Ironically, Wigan have since been relegated.

This Taurus ground that the Sun, our purpose, finds itself in is extremely favourable to our efforts to direct our energies into getting exactly what we want. The operative word being ‘exactly’. As any gardener will tell you, sow an acorn and get an oak, don’t expect a bamboo to sprout instead from that intention. Taurus loves it obvious, Taurus loves it literal and it loves it smack bang in front of its face no matter how messy, just as long as it is real. It knows how to tend, it knows how to get the best out of any situation or person, just as long as it has something to nurture, cherish, love and develop. Many writers and literature greats were born with Sun in Taurus and as many writers tell us in order to write we have to turn up everyday. Then we can slowly develop your ideas, find the exact words and work hard at it. There is a shift to the tangible, the sensual and the physical with Taurus, as we are prone to prolonging our pleasures for as long as possible. No, nothing hurried or harried here, we want to take our time with those things we enjoy and why not. We really do want to Savour the Flavour but for some there may well be a lingering bitter taste in the mouth. 

               
Queen of England, Head of the Commonwealth & Head of the Church of England  Elizabeth II has Sun in Taurus
The 87 year old dressed in full Royal regalia, wearing the heavy 3,000 gem, Imperial State Crown and 18 foot Robe of State for the opening of Parliament in the UK ,8th May 2013 and the delivery of the Queen’s Speech. The speech is not written as ‘her own words’ but facilitates the introduced of 20 new bills from the unpopular UK Coalition Conservative/Lib-Dem Government. The Queen was joined by her son Prince Charles who will take on some of her State responsibilities as she begins to cut back her royal duties. The Queen Speaks Taurus

King Willem-Alexander & Queen Maxima of the Netherlands are both Sun in Taurus
In contrast after Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands abdicated her throne to her son he was sworn in on the
 30th April 2013 in a secular ceremony in the decommissioned church, Nieuwe Kirk in Amsterdam

Steady Taurus energy can be most welcome for some of us after the all the rushing around and perfectionism of the Sun traveller’s environment in Aries, last month. Now we simply can choose to adopt a more tolerant and kindly eye upon what is in front of us. Our senses can also become more keenly attuned. Beauty will always hold a deep fascination and not always in the ‘eye of the beholder’. Big Bull eyes might not stop at just beholding a well laid table but also savouring rather more than the belly can normally hold.

Writer/Actor/Director Orson Welles has Sun in Taurus
His films are classics and have influenced many subsequent film directors, he was hailed as a genius, he married beautiful actress Rita Haworth and then fell from grace. Sadly, he can often be remembered for just being as an obese, over theatrical, hammy actor who became connected with tacky commercials.
 ‘I started at the top and have been working my way down ever since’

As we all journey with the Sun, we will all move with Taurus and it’s graceful, sensual yet powerful push forward. The Taurus symbol is of the Bull and the Cow. Both of these animals are deeply revered in many countries. Spain has a culture that is inseparable from the active yang masculinity of the Bull. Whilst Mother India worships and holds ‘holy’ the passive yin feminine sacred Cow. Deep in our cultural mythologies these animals have been both object and subjects of desires and glorification through the ages, the Minoan Culture of Crete, for example.

Bull leaping was a sacred ritual at the Minoan Palace of Knossos on the Greek Island of Crete.
Both women and men took part, women wore the same clothes as men, ‘even the penis futteral sheath’ however the Minoans always painted women white and the men red.

Also qualities of the Bull and Cow, such as stubbornness, perseverance and reliability have been attached to those born with Sun in Taurus, and many Taurus Sun’s will identify with the possession of such traits. This is only part of the story, they are people to whom much is projected onto them from others, and they can get so fixed in these pictures they can forget what it was that called to them in the first place. Sun in Taurus can get frozen in time and place, caught in a time lapse, trapped in zones of inertia and this is all because it can just be fulfilling other people’s fantasies about them and there they are derailed or stuck! In order to help yourself get unstuck this month, when you become seduced by the all pervasive Taurus mood so apply the Taurus balm of determination to build your vision. 

           
Millionaire toy developer, manufacturer & Conservative MP Frank Hornby has Sun in Taurus. 
His brand names like Meccano, Hornby Trains & Dinky Cars, obviously only meant for ‘BOYS’ constructed and peopled childhood worlds and imaginations all around the world. 
Artist Liam Curtin used the Meccano principle of scaling down engineering by scaling it up 10 times to design a useful ‘work of Art’ for Manchester, the Bolton & Bury Canal Bridge, replacing the old horse bridge at Nob End, Little Lever, Bolton (no, I have not made up any of these names) It was constructed largely by volunteers from the local community. ‘Building a bridge from giant Meccano is the fulfilment of a childhood dream. I spent my entire childhood building mechanical devices from Meccano and now we have the largest Meccano style set in the world.’
Keep on exploring what is truly you and yours and what is not and has been ‘put onto you’, passed along, mis-labelled or inherited.De-clutter in wardrobe, mind, body and expectations and also remember to maintain some momentum but also that Taurus know only one speed – its own. Sun Spotlights Hoarding 
These are normally Taurus secrets because they generally have sugar-sweet natures and the one speed they know – their own. Taurus is a combination of practicality and poetry, a mixture of earth knowledge and sky expanse. You may never quite know when a Taurus at any given time is the gazing, grazing Cow, the full steam ahead charging Bull or a panicked herd. 
Doomsday Preppars, preparing for the worst by ‘hoarding’ the essentials part of the Survivalism movement actively readying themselves for all manner of emergency disruptions in the social or political order on very local scales or on grand international scales. They stockpile supplies, quite a few guns, try to get self defence and medical training. They try to become self sufficient, ‘off the grid’, grow their own food and build shelters in isolated places in order to survive man-made, earth-made, universe-made catastrophes. Nancy Lanza the first victim of the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, mother of perpetrator was a survivalist preppar who stockpiled food and the guns used Venus in Sagittarius – Faith in the Future
Adam Lanza has Sun in Taurus
Welcome to Taurus Landscaped Garden which is where we and the Sun traveller find ourselves. All these issues and behaviours will be all around us, like it or not or whether we have time to ponder, debate an answer, evade or try to avoid them, at some level we will meet them face to face for good or bad and sometimes we have to face that not everything in the garden is lovely.

So what can we expect as Taurus energy pours down to us through the Sun’s rays? After all we will be affected whether we are indoors, outdoors, sleeping or waking, we will be saturated in its radical and far-reaching power. We can expect to be more practical and hands on, more focused on our bodies, more attuned to beauty and harmony in all its forms. We will want to have it easy and also quiet prepared to do what it takes to get there, even with the detours through feeding pastures and watering-holes. Remember we are all on Taurus time which is all about our own sweet time but have we got the time.

French Environmentalist Nicolas Hulot has Sun in Taurus
Known for the Ushuaia Foundation and was a candidate in the Europe Écologie-Les Verts (Green Party) primary for the 2012 French presidential election.
The zone’s presided over by Taurus in our lives will start to undergo their annual gaze ‘n graze. If you have planets ‘tuned in’ to receive Taurus energy then they will sense shift, if you are Venus in Taurus the way you relate and how you receive love and money will get a boost. If you have Mars here, the way you marshal your troops to attack or defend will come to the ascendancy. You may well be called up to put your ideas into practice, to get involved in community or social gatherings, to hang out and enjoy other peoples company, Taurus is a herd animal after all and relishes in the company of others in real time, in cyber space or both.

The Buddha is often associated with Taurus energy. To fully taste and partake in the Now, actualise who you are in present time, delight in your breath as it comes in and goes out and draw on the reserves of power nestling in your body, your own garden and in your heart and mind under your own Bodhi tree.

Anandamoyi Ma-Nimala Sundali (Immaculate/Beautiful) has Sun in Taurus  
Known as ‘The Blissful Mother’, Mother of Joy, Mother Divine and the Universal Mother these names were given to her by her devotees who experienced her in these ways. She never referring to herself as ‘I’ but ‘chhotee bachee’ small child and ‘yeh shorir‘ this body.
‘the most perfect flower the Indian soil has produced’ Swami Sivananda (Divine Life Society)

The Sun in Taurus time, the end of April beginning of May is about the grounding of ideas, living in the present, just being, not necessarily just doing but wherever we are enjoying Mother Nature.

German Musician Deva Premal has Sun in Taurus

21 Day Mantra Meditation began 23rd April 2013

credits: mirroe & zimbio & BBC & wikepedia & Getty images & guardian & geo.fr
posted by pippa ponton & jphibbs

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Mercury in Aries – Postcards From A Red-Hot Active Ram Speed Mind

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Graphic Artist Saul Bass has Mercury in Aries
 producer of iconic opening film sequences & legendary film posters google animated birthday tribute

Mercury moved country on the 14th April 2013 from the watery depths of Pisces and stepped out onto the bouncy, springy ground of the Aries terrain. We welcomed some fresh cavorting energies in the mind fields and mind games playgrounds of ideas. So lets review all that fresh energy that appeared to rush through our thoughts before Taurus     s l o w e d – i t – a l l – d o w n and chilled it right out on the 1st May 2013.

Writer Harper Lee has Mercury in Aries
She has sued her literary agent 4th May 2013, who apparently tricked her into signing over copyright to her classic Pulitzer Prize winning To Kill a Mockingbird published in 1960, set in the Great depression, selling over 30 million copies and made into a popular film. ‘Before I can live with other folks I’ve got to live with myself. The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s concience’

With Mercury in Aries we were also able to race around the open urban plazas where we could flaneur even if just in our minds eye. (‘Flâneur… a literary type from 19th century France, essential to any picture of the streets of Paris. It carried a set of rich associations: the man of leisure, the idler, the urban explorer, the connoisseur of the street’…an emblematic figure of urban, modern experience’)

Pioneer Photographer & Caricature Artist Felix Nader has Mercury in Aries
‘an Icarus with replaceable wings’ 
Nader was the pseudonym of inventive Gaspard-Felix Tourachon, his ‘Pantheon Nader’ contained about 300 caricatures of literary and artistic figures. One of the first great French portrait photographer, also the first person to take aerial photographs by building a huge 190ft high ‘red-hot’-air ballon called Le Geant (Giant), he invented crowd control barriers to keep people safe while watching his ballon (the barriers are still know as Nadars in Belgium), pioneered the use of artificial lighting in photography whilst working in the catacombs of Paris, erotic photography in Bohemian Paris, promoting any new idea like supporting the group of artists that became the Impressionists. Nadar

Mercury may have acted as the bringer of fresh news in order to kick starts projects or just to herald the opening of another installment in the biography of our lives. So did you ‘spring into action’? Did everything seem a little more attainable as you were adrenalised and reinvigorated and became more inclined to start over? Or were you pushed? Mercury in Aries will also have brought in, carried or traded in facts and figures, physical commodities and brave new worlds ripe for exploration. The direct path may have become the road to travel on. Act now! 
Conversely or perversely this could also have heralded head to head confrontations, out and out battles and fierce talking head debates and outright loud and ugly accusations.

                                          
Actor Bill Roache has Mercury in Aries & Mars in Aries Mars in Aries – The Primal Punch
Roache has been arrested 1st May 2013 on two sexual abuse allegations of raping a 15 year old girl. He previously boasted that he has slept with 1,000 women and that he had ‘no control’ over his sex drive. He also recently disclosed his membership of the Pure Love Movement, ending his relationship with a weather girl 36 years his junior so that he could ‘explore a mystic message of love’. A spiritualist and a Druid he has also expressed great interest in Astrology, taking a correspondence course with the Faculty of Astrological Studies and reading Coronation Street cast members astrological charts.
The roads in this land may have sometimes seemed scary and we would have been challenged to toughen up or move on out, either way we may have had to be prepared for action. It may well have been quite a bumpy ride. This could well have become a time that generated a torrent of questions that needed answering and answering NOW! It definitely was a time that fired up communications and exchanges of every nature. We may well have had to be prepared for some challenges and to be robust and forthright because our conversations may have been both blunt and sharp in a hammer and tong sort of way! If we were are waiting for an answer or to be ‘told’ something with Mercury in Aries we could not have expected it to be suger coated. We did stand a chance however of getting to the truth even if we may have previously been professionally employed to cover it up?
                                         
High profile UK Publicist Max Clifford has Mercury in Aries & Mars in Aquarius Mars in Aquarius – Idealistic Battles & Contradictions In the past he has often represented controversial public figure accused of crimes. Most of his professional life is spent trying to conceal stories. He was first arrested under Operation Yewtree part of the Jimmy Savile child sexual abuse accusations in the UK but on the 26th April 2013 he was charged with a further 11 indecent assaults on young girls.
This is the fire space and territory of Aries we have all been in for these past few weeks and it was this language we have become accustom to. Whenever Mercury changes sign, we have had to learn a whole new language and adapt to completely different customs to the ones we have become used to and familiar with. Mercury affects the way we process and deal with information. In other words: how we talk, the way we think, chat, twitter, blog, text, write, read, listen and learn. all this will have been fired up and Aries is already highly opinionated. Aries can also be reasonable and trusting but can get very direct with the facts. It knows that it must say difficult things, deal with tough, full on negotiations, travel through new territories and confront most things head on but the temptation to go with the flow of an idealised picture whilst avoiding the realities can lead to some genuine complexities for Aries that they would rather resolve quickly and cleanly. Consequently, this requirement may lead to rushing in with more than a dollop of courage and bravery but also this can be more than a healthy fair amount of rashness and impatience leading to some regrettable situations and further complexities. 

Australian Artist, Singer & TV Presenter Rolf Harris has Mercury in Aries
A household name in th UK since the 1950’s he was also arrested primarily under Operation Yewtree UK Jimmy Savile child sexual abuse investigation. He has been named since on social media by thousands of people and accusations have made their way back to Sydney, Australia on the 2nd May 2013 with a new victim.He has denied any wrongdoing. ‘Can you see what it is yet?‘

When Mercury passes through such a brave new sign as Aries it realises that something fresh and energetic must be allowed space, that dynamism must be encouraged to spin its magic. Stagnation and indecision can freeze frame even the most restless of souls, and Aries are some of the most restless of souls around. Aries loves to keep moving and they have to keep active. This Mercury in Aries time that we have had was a chance to pioneer and energetically beat out our new pathways because now and since the 2nd May 2013, when Mercury reached the Earth meadows of Taurus, is where we can sit and chew over the new information gathered when Mercury was in Aries and the mercurial journey was all about the forward motion, the ‘getting to’ and the forging ahead…and relax

Baby Masai giraffe Sofie born in LA Zoo & Botanical Gardens April 2013, her genetics from East Africa, where Masai giraffe are under threat of extinction for their meat. Sofie, is guaranteed a very urban experience as a pioneering giraffe flaneur

OK………. but Mercury is about travel, trade, exchange, communication and busy, busy activity in any sign but in ‘let’s just get on with it’ Aries it can all go off in a tearing hurry, trying to be enterprising, independent and self-reliant. Working for others may seem like being a ‘slave to work’ and we may resist by thinking up ways to be more entrepreneurial, just having more of our own style or at least appearing to be self-motivated and more our own boss. We may not have cowered under anyone elses rules as easily as before, we may even have believed that we can make it on our own and be dammed but change things up we will surely have tried something. The road may be untrodden but at least it is our feet imprinting the soil.

Actor Gregory Peck has Mercury in Aries
Forever associated with Atticus Finch the lawyer in the film To Kill a A Mockingbird
‘I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you are licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what’

It is possible that whilst Mercury was in dreamy and imaginative Pisces, many of us noticed we had to rely on a more intuitive mode of thinking, as compassion may have gripped out minds. Under Pisces we may have had to rethink what we imagined the world to be about. Journeys and communications could have been other worldly, escapist, and romantic or they may have been unstable and disorientating. Mercury in Pisces – Postcards from a Magical Mind. However, just as we have got halfway used to this style of speaking and thinking we found ourselves suddenly in what appeared to be a foreign country where everyone asked us to speak more clearly and emphatically, to state what we meant honestly, to be up for the odd challenge and to stand up and defend our views. We may have had to learn by doing, by physical engagement with the subject, by falling down and getting back up again or just getting out. 

Kidnapped as a teenager in Cleveland, Amanda Berry has Mercury in Aries, escaped her prison, 7th May 2013, with her ‘neighbour’s’ help. She also helped two other girls and  apparently Berry’s 6 year old child to escape.
When leaping its way through Aries, Mercury will want us to be brave, to pioneer, do go or think of new solutions to old problems. We will naturally incline to lunge forwards, to take the next step even though we are scared, to cut the thrust through to the truth of the matter. In a group of people debating who should lead the group out to find the windmill as they calmly measure the pros and cons of each individual, Mercury in Aries just stands up, pulls on its armour, grabs the gauntlet and winks to the person who has caught its eye then charges off in search of the windmill, possibly in the wrong direction, but by stepping one foot in front of the other, by allowing itself to rise and fall Aries will hunt down that windmill and most probably find it or something equal if not better than it.

Danish Philosopher Soren Kierkegaard has Mercury in Aries
‘There are two ways to be fooled one is to believe what isn’t true the other is to refuse to accept what is true…our life always expresses the result of our dominant thoughts’

Being adaptable is Mercury’s middle name, it will adjust to the Aries landscape as it has to adjust to Taurus terrain. We will all adjust and find the new angle again and again and quite quickly. It may well be with Mercury in Aries that everything sped up and rushed on a pace, but that is just how we wanted it, for that time, anyway. You will have noticed the difference now as you will have noticed the change from Mercury in Pisces, as you know the difference between fire and water and wet and dry. You and others around you will have seemed more impatient and confrontational, headstrong and excitable with Aries running through our mindsets. We may all have tried to beat a path according to our own internal clocks, resisting outside interference and fiercely defending those we love. We may have to suddenly be seen to openly and defiantly defend our beliefs, actions or motivations. During Mercury’s time in Aries all of us on this precious planet of ours will have been mentally processing with much more honesty, directness and also, you may have noticed, been sliding on the slippery slope of a tad more pedantry, irritation and intolerance. There may have been a few storming off’s at a moments notice into high dudgeon! Exit stage left.

New Zealand Film Director Jane Campion has Mercury in Aries Top of the Lake 2013Academy Award Winner for The Piano.‘Women often postpone their lives, thinking that if they are not with a partner then it doesn’t really count, they are still searching for their prince, in a way and as much as we don’t discuss that because it is too embarrassing and too sad, I think it really does exist…I would love to see more women directors because they represent half the population and gave birth to the whole world. Without them writing and being directors the rest of us are not going to know the whole story.’

Mercury in Aries took us all along the pioneering path of ‘Brave New Worlds’. It pressed us to process in ways that seemed naive but sharper and clearer. Your children, your friends, partners, teachers, bosses, next door neighbours, heads of state, Twitter, the person sitting next to you on the bus all this will have been a little more direct, forthright and yes frankly, impatient. With this Mercury in Aries perhaps our musings, mutterings and communications got more authentic, for good or bad.
                
Academy Award Winning Actress Holly Hunter Top of the Lake 2013 new TV Drama
We will all have felt this change, this mental shift but lets review how it affected directly. Aries sits somewhere in your birth chart, even if you do not have any planets in this sign you always have Aries Countyside somewhere in your psyche. It is this Aries zone which had Mercury as a house guest. This is where you will have had to be more accommodating and make those adjustments now in place. It was here that you may have been trying to exercise more imagination and set off some fantastical ideas. Take your time and respect the issues affected in that part of your chart. For instance, Aries may be in your 2nd house of ‘Money & Resources’, in which case Mercury here will have been probably prompting you to think about and plan changes that will impact your bank balance. Or if Aries covers your 7th house or zone of ‘Partnerships’ your plans could be in for a major overhaul concerning your significant other. Making the adjustments will now probably be going smoothly. Or is Aries pulling at your Venus, if so maybe these few weeks have got you thinking about deepening, or severing, your commitment to what you have previously valued.
Make the most of your facility to think with fresh ideas and with a braver heart acquired over this last Mercury in Aries period. You have been taken to some very different places in yourself and fast recently, where actions and decisions have had to be taken quickly and clearly. Things may have become very black and white, with very little patience for grey areas or the boundary-less stretch of open and endless possibilities. We wanted the freedom in order to roam, go about our daily lives unencumbered by too many demands from others as we may have believed that we have very important business of our own to attend to, however, we may have also been easily distracted by the people looking back at us, whatever the climate change we find ourselves in now and wherever in the world,  we may flaneur because we need to connect.

Scottish Composer Craig Armstrong has Mercury in Aries
credits: wikepedia & huffington post & sydneymorningherald & allmusic
posted by pippa ponton & jphibbs

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