Dear Friend and Reader:

Mercury has stationed direct, we’ve just passed the New Moon, and we have some clear astrological weather. It’s rare to have so many planets moving in favor of so many different signs. As I’ve suggested many times, this is a highly unusual season.

We are seeing it in the strange state of the world, and the sense that events are running out of control. And yet for individuals, the times are ripe for growth, for change, for progress. We’re in a mirror moment of 1969, when so much changed so fast — only the approaching energy is Aries rather than Libra. As I described in today’s edition of Astrology News, the quality of the aspects is about self-discovery, becoming real, and actualizing your potential. The next three to four weeks represent the one of the peaks of what we’re think of as ‘2012″ — yes, right here, right now.

This weekend the Moon will be in Gemini. The Sun is heading toward the last degrees of Taurus; it will change signs to Gemini on May 20.

Please watch the Planet Waves daily blog for more details, or for full coverage, sign up for Planet Waves Astrology News.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good Tuesday to you. Mercury, after being retrograde since April 18, stations direct in Taurus today at 6:26 pm in NY, 3:26 pm in California and 11:26 pm in England. It has been a heck of a retrograde for life on the planet: a volcano, an oil volcano, a bitterly fought election in the UK, massive flooding in Tennessee and other states, tornados in Oklahoma, banking fraud by Goldman Sachs exposed, a 1,000 point dive in the stock market and an attempted terrorist attack in New York City. A Supreme Court nominee was announced the day before Mercury stations — that nomination, well, let’s just say that it has issues.

Back in spiritual boot camp, we used to think of this stuff, still decades off, as Earth Changes. Taurus is an Earth sign, Mercury is about communications and we have definitely heard from the Earth. As mentioned, Mercury is stationing direct within one degree of where Chiron was discovered in 1977, which partly accounts for the extreme intensity of this retrograde. Notably, within the same phase, Chiron made a rare sign-change into Pisces.

Len Wallick has written an excellent article about this retrograde, which is posted here. I am currently into the June monthly horoscopes, the ones that cover Jupiter conjunct Uranus on the Aries Point — the cosmic equinox. So in the interest of efficiency I am going to make this a short message. I covered most of what I have to say about the station direct in last Tuesday’s message, a little early, to make sure we were prepared.

Mercury station direct can have the theme of “the truth comes out,” and there is a lot I would like to know the truth about, vis a vis what has happened on the planet during the past six weeks that we’ve been under the retrograde effect (three weeks of Mercury echo phase, and three of the actual retrograde). The second echo phase (where Mercury goes back over the degrees where it was retrograde) ends on May 28, fairly close to when Mars leaves the degrees where it was retrograde earlier in the year. Notably, both have been retrograde in fixed signs — Mars in Leo and Mercury in Taurus.

The two are currently in a square, having a kind of dialog, which we’ve experienced twice so far — the third meeting is June 11, after both planets have changed signs (to Gemini and Virgo), and under the full strength of the Jupiter-Uranus conjunction.

As I’ve said a good few times, there is nothing normal and everything extraordinary about this season. Stay tuned.

Yours & truly,

PS, reminder: there are two new audio presentations: Taurus birthdays and a 12-sign presentation on Chiron in Pisces.