Mercury Shadowland In A HeatHaze

Mercury in Leo's Fiery Shadowlands: 
Mercury entered this  Shadow Period on the 29^th June 2012. 

This is another piece into the astrological jigsaw puzzle of the moment. Although actually still appearing to move forwards this is the beginning of Mercury's journey back on itself. It is running down that part of the road that it will have to travel back down again soon, on 15th July 2012 in fact when it starts its Retrograde.

Mercury with its eccentric orbit around the Sun, will appear to go back on itself for a few weeks, about three times a year. This time in the hazy heat of the fire sign Leo.

Many of us may already be very aware of the effects of Mercury Retrograde and the disruptions this has come to signify. We may have tales to tell of missed flights, bungled communications in general, technological meltdowns (don't forget to back-up your work) and criss-crossing of wires…or is that just me…note to self: 'must re-check communications, must re-check my words, must re-check the small print' and must re-check the road map. 

Retrograde times can produce events that feel as if they are outside of our control and with Mercury those events inevitably concern communications of various descriptions including the www. 

Part of Mercury's mythology is that of an illusionist, a trickster using slight of hand and optical tricks. Lets not forget Mercury is not really going backwards in reality it is a trick of the mind like overtaking a slow car on the road and then 'seeing' it move backwards.

What can be missed is the time just before the full Retrograde, the Shadow Period, usually a couple of weeks, when Mercury is essentially ‘not in its right mind’. Mercury can appear to be running full pelt on wobbly terrain. For us it may feel quite disconcerting for a while, rather like we are also running on broken glass, a part of knows that we are going to have to come back with a brush and pan and clear things up. 
Communications could just splutter to a halt at the wrong moment. What we have to say may come out garbled or just get plain misconstrued, no matter how eloquently expressed. Oddly we can feel more pressured to meet deadlines at a time when we also feel least equipped to do so in these slightly heat hazed Shadowlands.

This Mercury Shadowlands takes place in fiery Leo country and Leo is always prone to making the big gesture, providing the big heat and dare I say it – more than a touch of high drama.
The most obvious and telling astrological signal at the moment is of course the exact T-square between Uranus, Pluto and the Sun, covered in Uranus vs Pluto and Sun Stares at Uranus vs Pluto Flareup but the Shadowlands of Mercury in Leo prior to the Retrograde is a strange and disorientating journey but one not to be overlooked. 

Sometimes it will feel like you are just have to keep going back to the drawing board, which can be frustrating and demoralising. Expect to re-view and re-evaluate a lot of things during this period - slowly things will start to make more sense in the end.

If Mercury is wandering back through it's Shadowlands the best way ahead for us must be to prepare for misunderstandings and double check all forms of  communications, interactions and travel arrangements. We can try to be as patient with yourselves and others as possible, give a bit more legroom. As regards things we can't control such as the general ongoing delays and frustrations, well here too the Leonine skill of applied organisation will come in handy. 
Things can appear to slow down in this Shadowland time but this can Mercury tricking us with time as well. Perhaps we need to reflect on our old thoughts and ideas and no doubt see them in an entirely new light at the end of this Shadow period.
In light of the violent storms and heat wave occurring in the U.S.A creating the outages and knocking out social media organisations such as PinInterest, Instagram and Netflix, which all  happened in this Shadow Period, it would seem our reliance on these systems will undergo some questioning. When any planet goes Retrograde it heralds a need to 'do that planet' and all it signifies, differently - we need to rethink. Initially, it was reported that people were on Twitter encouraging others to try to forget the technology for a while and to enjoy their time without their social media. 
Postscript
At the time of posting this article the freak weather conditions, are continuing, with high winds and temperatures soaring into triple figures. Unfortunately the situation appears to have got a lot more serious with the loss of electrical power to about 3 million people and the  tragic loss of lives. Naturally our sympathies and thoughts go out to all those sadly affected.
posted by pippa ponton & jphibbs