Mercury in Pisces Shadowlands Smoke Signals

Valentine's Day Protests in Karachi. Pakistan 14th February, 2013 
Valentine's Day celebrated by a fair few people around the world is also being denounced as un-Islamic in a few others. In Karachi billboards have been decorated with a black heart urging people to
 'Say No To Valentines Day.. this tradition reflects insensitivity, indignity and ignorance of Islam'
claim Jamaat-e-Islami, a religious political party. 

Mercury entered its Shadow Period on the 8th February, 2013, yet another piece in the intricate astrological jigsaw puzzle of the moment we have already had a Moon wobble. New Moon in Aquarius - Moon Wobble & The Black Water Snake. Although actually still appearing to move forwards this is the beginning of Mercury's journey back on itself. Mercury is in a slight haze, running down the corridors it will have to travel back down again soon on the 23rd February, 2013, when it will start another Retrograde phase.Where we are now is behind the confusing smokescreens of Mercury Shadowlands.

The birth chart for the Independent State of Vatican City has Mercury, Sun and Moon all in Gemini in the 10th zone of Public Face & Reputation. These planets are forming a square aspect to the current Shadow Mercury forcing action and exerting a fair amount of stress and pressure. Pope Benedict was born with Mercury in Pisces and his Ascendent also falls exactly along the part of Shadowlands at 16 degrees of Pisces, birth time accuracy dependant. When it conjuncts his Ascendant, the Pope will become a much more shadowy figure and has already stated that he will play little or no part in the election process for his successor, the result will be indicated by a puff of smoke.

Smoke coming from Sistine Chapel chimney indicates the election of a new Pope. Secret ballots are burnt after each vote, black smoke indicates a failed ballot and two thirds plus one wins. This normally occurs after the death of the pope but Pope Benedict has resigned, a very radical decision for a conservative pope.
The Prophecy of the Popes, a list of 112 Latin motto/phrases predicting future popes has Petros as its last entry, if he is elected this will see the end of Rome and the church. Ominously one of the front runners in the 2013 election race for a new pope is a 'Petros'.
Peter Turkson fom Ghana is a moderate candidate, he called for radical economic reforms to deal with the global recession, condemned the 'idolatry of the market' and expressed support for the Occupy Wall Street protest movement. He also argues that condoms might be appropriate where one partner is HIV-positive.
The new Pope Francis 1st, Jorge Mario Bergoglia from Argentina was announced on the 13th March 2013
Sun in Pisces - The Oceans of Infinity & The Sea of Souls

Just before the full Retrograde period Mercury has to walk through the Shadowlands. This usually lasts a couple of weeks and is a time when essentially Mercury is ‘not in its right mind’. Mercury can in fact appear to be running at full pelt on some very wobbly terrain. Things may feel quite disconcerting for a while, uncertain, rather like moving forward but also picking a way around broken glass. Part of us instinctively knows that we are going to have to come back to this place in order to clear things up, anyway. In effect the avenues we are hurtling down so fast are littered with material and detritus that, normally fleet of foot Mercury, is missing now. Attention is focused on the distance horizon while the ruts and potholes, signposts, left luggage and lost possessions are  being ignored. Remember, these conditions are not for very long and in just a few weeks we will be dragged back to deal with ‘the ignored or overshadowed'. The Shadowlands of Mercury can appear as a strange and disorientating place but one not to be overlooked. These few weeks before the Retrograde the terrain is going to be decidedly shaky and at times literally, in the case of the Korean peninsula. 

North Korea's nuclear test February 2013 has received condemnation and a promise of tough action from the U.N. Security Council and drawn serious responses from many countries and another test for China's new Communist party leader Xi Jinping. North Korea's threats continue with a warning that it will follow the nuclear test with 'stronger' actions unless the US ends its hostility. 'If North Korea's latest cycle of misdeeds, followed by international censure, followed by menacing words out of Pyongyang has a familiar ring to it, it is because this behavior has become a fixture of the accordion like rhythm of Northeast Asian security. But a familiar path is not the same thing as a prudent one. It would be a mistake to let North Korea's young leader think he has inherited the family license to provoke with immunity.' Patrick M Cronin. CNN

When North Korea conducted its third nuclear test on the 12th February, 2013 it drew a swift response from US Foreign Policy Advisor and US Ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, who argued immediately for much toughen sanctions. Susan Rice has Mercury at 13 degrees Sagittarius forming a ‘must take action’ square aspect to Mercury in Pisces. Also her warrior planet, Mars is at 5 degrees Virgo plus her Uranus 14 degrees/ Pluto 16 degree conjunction in Virgo forms a ‘hyper-aware’ opposition to current shadowland Mercury. North Korea's Midheaven/ public face is at 7 degrees Pisces, a conjunction with the current Shadowland Mercury. Status and reputation literally becoming one and the same with the smoke and mirrors of Mercury Pisces shadowy situation and encapsulates it in a very graphic and literally explosive manner. North Korea's actions will need a great deal of re-viewing and a lot of clearing up. Since the 1950's officially the US and South Korea have no peace agreement with North Korea only a ceasefire.
 Jupiter in Gemini Unbound - Talking to the Neighbours

This Mercury Shadowlands takes place in the watery sign of Pisces, a sign not generally noted for its clarity anyway and so may be disconcerting for anyone to negotiate, especially someone relying on the left side of the brain, the rational, logical ‘just give me the data’ side, so beloved of Mercury in normal conditions.

President Obama's, State of the Union address occurs right under the Mercury's shadow, and he himself has Pluto in Mercury's own sign of Virgo, forming a direct opposition to the Shadowland Mercury bringing hyper-awareness to deep complexities. Where the whole event becomes really 'shadowlands' is when Mario Rubio has been asked to write and deliver a speech, all very Mercurial already, to counter the President's. In essence Rubio had to write his reply without knowing the exact content of Obama's speech. In the words of Chris Moody of Yahoo News it 'gets more strange' because then the Democratic National Committee has to write a pre-buttal to Rubio's speech without knowing its contents and on and on, it goes. Mario Rubio has his Jupiter at 6 degrees Gemini forming a tense 'must take action' square aspect to Shadowlands Mercury.

 President Obama State of the Union speech stated 'I can announce that, over the next year, another 34,000 American troops will come home from Afghanistan'  probably by February 2014 but already on the 12th February 2013 he pledged to take 'swift and credible' action over North Korea's 'highly provocative' nuclear test while already trying to conclude two wars. He also stressed tackling climate change issues, a fiscal crisis that reframes the free enterprise economy model as maybe a cause of world recession/ depression not necessarily its saviour and the serious difficulties of implementing gun controls.

Communications are also Mercury ruled and so they could unfortunately be more prone to spluttering or even stuttering to a halt at the wrong moment. Outages, which shut down most things electrical including computers, or damaged phone lines and accidental cuts in pipes, blocked tunnels and criss-crossed grids are all examples of how the normal lines that invisibly interconnect us all so efficiently normally can be effected. Mercury’s shadow can also remind us just how vulnerable and tenuous the bands that tie us together are, they can snap and trigger unexpected consequences, not always for the worse of course, just different and maybe for the better. 

Landskrona, fan group of Russian Zenit St Petersburg football club issued a manifesto calling on the club not to sign black, South American or gay players. It complained that 'black players are now being imposed on Zenit practically by force'. It  also said the lack of black players at Zenit was important to the club's identity and added that fans were also 'against representatives of sexual minorities playing for Zenit'. This has caused even greater concern about racism at the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Zenit has also previously been fined by the Russian Football Union after one of its fans throwing bananas at Brazilian Roberto Carlos and been given a game ban. Zenit has lit the touch paper and signed Brazilian Hulk and Belgian Axel Witsel this summer.
On 14th February 2013 they played Liverpool with the proviso the match ends with any racial abuse. Zenit won the game one of the goal scorers was the Brazilian Hulk.

What we have to say may just come out garbled or just get plain misconstrued, no matter how eloquently expressed. Oddly one of the most noticeable features will be that we can feel more pressured to meet deadlines at a time when we also feel the least equipped to do so in these hazy Shadowland times. Time may also appear to play tricks on us as it seems to give us the slip if we try to follow it too closely. There may be a trail of white smoke to follow but it may turn out to be equally as elusive and impossible to grasp.

Arak Heavy Water nuclear facility, Iran
Iran denies developing nuclear arms but may be interested to see what form UN sanctions take with North Korea. Iran's nuclear activities came under greater scrutiny again on the 12th February 2013 after North Korea conducted its third nuclear test. Many intelligence officials believe that the two countries share nuclear knowledge despite no hard evidence coming to light as yet.

Roads are part of Mercury’s territory, as are market places, trading centres, transit junctions, airports, harbours, bus and rail stations and ports. 

The stricken cruise ship Carnival Triumph towed into Mobil, Alabama on the 15th February 2013 with 4,200 relieved passengers on board. The Carnival Triumph drama was played out live on cable news stations in the US. Over the last four days passengers have been describing conditions after a dangerous fire, billowing smoke, then drainpipes overflowing, sewage in cabins and corridors and passengers sleeping on deck.This new drama has created another public relations nightmare for the cruise giant Carnival Corp. Last year the Costa Concordia was grounded and later capsized off the coast of Italy killing 32 people.

A wide brief for sure but there is a thread which links and connects them all and us to them. Without casting a shadow of doom over the next few weeks or paroxysms of anxiety every time we step on a bus or nip out to the shops for some groceries as is often seen in Mercury Retrograde periods, there is perhaps a need to simply inject a note of awareness. We would all be wise to exert levels of restraint in certain situations or just general care and vigilance at some level, for example, assuming or accepting the other guy is just ‘fooling around’ when threatening road rage. A sense of awareness and our inherent intuition provides a full time in-built boost to our levels of security and protection, anyway. Taking a little extra time to re-assess situations of our own accord and before circumstances 'force our hand', get taken by 'sleight-of-hand' or simply 'out of our hands' is a good idea.

Superstar South African Para & Olympic sprinter Oscar Pistorius known as Blade Runner is charged with the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, she was shot four times, twice in the head. He kept a pistol by his bed and a machine gun at his window. A police spokeswoman said that there had been 'previously allegations of a domestic nature' from Pistorious home and that neighbours heard screaming and shouting during the night before the murder and the police will refuse bail. 
Pistorius has his Jupiter at 13 degrees Pisces at the heart of the Shadowlands.
The Blade Runners - Oscar Pistorius & Richard Whitehead

That section of our chart where we have 5/19 degrees of Pisces will be a signpost for where we can expect to experience these shadowy smoke trails most acutely and where we should exercise more awareness and caution but equally the same degrees in the signs of Sagittarius, Virgo and Gemini are where things such as communications and paths may also get cloudy and blurred. Sometimes it will feel like you just have to keep going back to the drawing board which is both frustrating and demoralising. Expect to re-view and re-evaluate a lot of things during this period and slowly things will start to make more sense. Expect to feel chased and pressured to fulfil certain deadlines that seem to crowd in on you all at the same time, crunching in on your peace of mind. Pisces rules the feet so we had better be sure of our footing and watch our step, figuratively and literally. During Mercury in Shadowlands passage, Chiron 'the wounded healer' also transits these sensitive degrees of Pisces for good measure. Deep old wounds may be re-activated as well as more raw recent pain and hurts inflicted during Chiron time in Pisces. 

 Tibetans will not be celebrating Losar New Year or light firecrackers as a sign of mourning. On the 11th February 2013, a Tibetan monk Lobsang Gyatso set himself on fire in the latest incident of anti-Chinese protest self-immolation. The Chinese state security extinguished the flames and forcibly removed the monk, the 23rd Tibetan to do so in the last year with a nun dying on the 9th February, 2013 protesting for religious & cultural freedoms for Tibet. Labelled as terrorists, nearly 100 Tibetans have died in this way since 2009. China continues to defended its ruthless control of Tibet, stating that the region suffered from dire poverty, brutal exploitation and economic stagnation until 1950 when  Chinese Communist troops 'peacefully liberated' it. Xi Jinping and the new leadership of China needs to be aware of the message it is sending to the world as Beijing already considers Nobel Peace laureate and Tibetan spiritual leader in exile, 
the Dalai Lama, a violent separatist.

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 ourselves and others as possible, give everyone a bit more legroom and time to come up for air. As regards things such as the general on-going delays and frustrations, well here too we must try and be more tolerant and accepting because this too will pass.
Then there are still the things we just can't control.
                
A meteorite apparently shot across the sky in central Russia sending fireballs crashing to Earth, smashing windows, setting off car alarms and injuring people.Fragments of the meteorite reached Earth, falling in sparsely populated areas in the Ural mountains city and region of Chelyabinsk. Traffic came to a halt and people looked for shelter in buildings as the fireballs blasted through the sky. A lot of drivers in Russia have video recorders fitted in their cars in case of accident disputes with traffic police that resulted in the footage of the fireballs crashing to the ground  

Perhaps we need to reflect on our old thoughts and ideas and really try to see them in an entirely new light at the end of this Shadow period.

Because out of this jumble of retrospective reviewing, chaos and disorder a new pattern can be found. From this perhaps a new picture is drawn and a brand new paradigm will emerge from the ghostly, smoke filled landscapes of the past. 

Singer Tony Williams has Mercury in Pisces

credits:news.com au & USNI & wesh & times of isarael & sebastien meyer & new york times asia pacific & reuters

posted by pippa ponton & jphibbs