mercury retrograde 12.29.22
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[00:00:00] So it's the last week of 2022 and. If you're like me, maybe you're hearing all these inklings of, you know, like the week between Christmas and New Year's, the solstice and the new calendar year, at least here in the US everybody talks about how we slow down, we rest, we spend time with family, and we just completely like eat all these heavy, heavy.
[00:00:22] Foods and then come January 1st, we all set these New Year's resolutions and we're like, on January 1st, I'm gonna be this totally different person and I'm gonna go headstrong into the new year, but I'm gonna take a break now. And I think. The greater public, at least from what I see on social media and stuff, seems to be catching on to the fact that that's not a very effective way to approach things.
[00:00:48] Or some folks are still doing it that way and then they're feeling bad because by mid-January they've totally fallen off the wagon. They feel like. They might as well just be the same person. And I now even see people swinging the other direction where they're like, I'm not even gonna claim 2023 is my year because I know better by now.
[00:01:05] Or like, whatever. You know, people want to set these new intentions. So how do you go from this kind of old way of setting New Year's resolutions to a new way of using the spiritual practices that you have at hand, like VA astrology that we'll talk about here and yoga. As well as modern behavioral change science to sort of power up your intentions and reach those big goals in a way that's not that all or nothing.
[00:01:34] Stop, start. Typical old way of doing New Year's resolutions. So that's the kind of things we're gonna talk about on this podcast episode today. But first, I'd like to extend you a warm welcome to the Yogi Scopes Podcast. I'm your host, Rosemary Holbrook. I'm a yoga teacher. I'm training to become a yoga therapist, so sort of prescriptive yoga is kind of what I do.
[00:01:54] Um, and yogi scopes are your yoga horoscopes, yoga based on the current VA DIC astrology. So this episode is going to serve as sort of an outlook for Mercury retrograde. Mercury retrograde, because it's starting this week on Thursday, December 29th is the main topic at hand. But as always, I can't talk about any topic without talking about the greater context of everything else that's happening astrologically.
[00:02:21] So this will also sort of serve as an outlook for January. And of course, with that in mind, since this is all happening over the turn of the new year with the Gregorian calendar that we use, that's sort of loosely based on solar cycles from way back in the day. Anyway. Um, since we're at this new year, and even if you are a very astrological spiritual person, we're all still impacted by this calendar because it's what everybody in the world uses.
[00:02:50] So with all this as astrological stuff happening over, you know, our. Calendar that we use. We're gonna talk about how all that stuff plays in and um, sort of what's going on for January. We're gonna set the tone for the new year and we're gonna talk about Mercury retrograde and what you can do. So welcome.
[00:03:10] As always, I just wanna mention the major themes that I will be talking about for context, but instead of what I usually do, which is just kind of list them out, in case you wanna write down the dates, I'm gonna encourage you to get the Yogi Scopes 2023 planner. If you want a listed version of the actual dates, you can go to Yogi Scopes, Y O G I S C O P E S,
[00:03:30] yogiscopes.com/2023, like the numbers 2023 to get your planner, and also a replay of the workshop, which includes a beautiful 90 minute yoga practice ending with guided meditation, yoga, nira, and a rundown of all the astrology for the new year. So if you want a yearly outlook, that's where I'm gonna point you to.
[00:03:54] Um, but for your January monthly outlook, the main theme that we're gonna cover is Mercury retrograde. We have a lot of retrogrades happening throughout January, which those planets will be going direct towards the end of the month, which are Mercury, Mars, and Uranus will all be going direct this month.
[00:04:13] And the other major thing happening that I think you need to be aware of, Saturn changing signs, and so I did a whole episode about Saturn and Aquarius. It was long because there's a lot to cover there, but with the main theme of January being this, Sort of finalizing Saturn and Capricorn and everything that has to do with it.
[00:04:35] And so Mercury also enters Capricorn today, which is December 27th. As I'm recording this, it will enter this evening at six, around 6:30 PM Eastern Standard time. So I'm on the East Coast, so all the times I give will be Eastern standard time. So if you find somewhere on the internet that some date I give is like different, it's probably a time zone difference between me and whatever astrologer made.
[00:04:59] but I'm on Eastern Standard Time New York Times, so I will be getting all times in Eastern time. And so that's the main, so Mercury will enter Capricorn. It will only be there for a couple days before it begins. Its retrograde in Capricorn on December 29th, and then on December 30th it retrogrades back in into Sagittarius, which is technically where it is right now as I'm recording this and also, The shadow period of Mercury retrograde has already begun.
[00:05:27] So there's some debate, but the, I basically, you might start feeling the effects like a few days to a week before, and you might continue feeling the effects from a few days to a week after the retrograde ends. And that retrograde does end on January 18th, so it's just three weeks this time. It's, um, 21 days to be precise and.
[00:05:50] During that time, we'll also have, Mars will be aspecting the retrograde Mercury for pretty much the whole time. So it won't be aspecting it while it's in Capricorn, but while it's in Sagittarius, it will be aspected by Mars. And so Mars is also retrograde in Taurus right now, and it will be going direct on January 12th.
[00:06:13] So we're starting off the year of 2023 with a lot of. Mm. Energy that's not supportive of going out and making change right away. And that's actually typical because there are several things in astrology that sort of happen the same every year or roughly the same. And those things are the transits of Venus, mercury, and the Sun.
[00:06:37] So Venus and Mercury have a little bit of flux to them where they might change a little bit from year to year, but not very much. But the sun never goes retrograde, so it's just on the same cycle. all the time. So there are some energies that we can expect to be similar from year to year. You might have heard of it described as like the wheel of the year.
[00:06:57] Um, also in Hindu culture, in Vedic mythology, Makara Sankranti is, the day that the sun enters Capricorn, and that is sort of treated, uh, how we over here in the US or you know, pagan people, whatever might treat the solstice. So the solstice is the day that the sun. starts moving northward. So it's, it's been in the southern hemisphere and so the winter solstice is when the, the days start getting longer, but the day that the sun enters Capricorn is like, we're entering this new cycle now of rebirth of the year.
[00:07:38] And so that doesn't happen until January 14th. So that's halfway through. And meanwhile, for the first half of the month, we're gonna have Mercury retrograding. We're going to have Mars retrograding. So that doesn't go direct until just a couple days before the sun enters Capricorn. We're gonna ha, we're gonna be finishing up the Saturn in Capricorn time.
[00:07:58] And so the idea is that I'm trying to communicate with all of this stuff happening is. , we're not gonna have a huge amount of forward energy until about three weeks, two, three weeks into January. So what I would like you to focus on, what I'm gonna encourage you to focus on for the first couple weeks of January is to lay the groundwork.
[00:08:22] So don't go into January thinking you're gonna do this big, like the very first week you're gonna change your life. And it's gonna stick all year. I don't think that's gonna happen. I think the first few weeks of January need to be for laying the groundwork and getting the habits, just beginning the habits that you want to see all year.
[00:08:45] Um, and so we'll talk about more how to. Do this, like we're gonna talk about the how in just a moment. That's what is the yoga practices and journal prompts I have for you that we always go over at the end of the episode will help with that. But the idea is for the first few weeks until the planet start going direct, until the sun moves into Capricorn, you want to lay the groundwork.
[00:09:07] Because if you haven't laid the groundwork, when the planets start going direct and, and we start seeing that forward moving energy, then you're not gonna have. Anything to stand on to move forward in. But if you've been doing the work, don't get frustrated for those first few weeks. If you don't see any improvement right away, if you continue doing the work, you will start to see that traction and that improvement coming two, three weeks into the month.
[00:09:33] And we'll continue to talk about that more as we go. Um, but Mercury retrograde, just a quick like rundown of retrogrades. . Mercury rules over our communication, also our nervous system. So the communication happening within our body, but also the communication happening, you know, sort of.
[00:09:53] in the world. And so I also see Mercury. This is just a personal observation. When Mercury goes retrograde, I seem to always find myself stuck in worse traffic jams. So be on the watch out for that. Like leave your house a little bit early during this time while Mercury is retrograde. Um, but I'm also gonna recommend, especially since Mars is retrograde now, and Mars Rules Aries, where we also have Uranus, retrograding, and it will go direct later in the month after Mercury goes direct and Saturn moves into Aquarius..
[00:10:24] So that week of like January 16th through the 22nd, we're gonna see a lot of forward energy happening over the course of that week. So you might start to see the traction of that forward moving energy the following week. . And if you want more interpretations of why, just get the planner. Yogi scopes.com/ 2023.
[00:10:50] But my main tips for you for Mercury retrograde, because any retrograde is a time that we want to review reorganize, rev revise. You can think of that re word, anything that starts with an re revitalize, reinvigorate. Um, . Yeah, that kind of stuff during Mercury retrograde will be a good time to do that. And so also I'm gonna recommend that you might go over your finances while Mercury's retrograde, because also during those first couple weeks, while Mars is retrograde in Taurus, it might be a good time to, you know, Work on your taxes.
[00:11:30] Don't wait till April. Like if you live in the US like I do, use that energy during the first couple weeks of the year to do that bookkeeping. Get your ducks in a row for taxes, for tax time, because TAUs is. Finances among other things, and with Mars Retrograding there. And if you, while Mercury is retrograde, if you can just get everything organized, then that energy will be really supportive of that kind of thing.
[00:11:59] And so Mercury retrograde is always a time to like, Clear out your file cabinets. If you have one like your desk, clean up your desk. And so you might look to where, especially Sagittarius because it will spend most of the time Retrograding through Sagittarius is in your chart. Um, that will be really supportive.
[00:12:19] The over that area of life, reorganizing that area of life. But in a general sense also, Sagittarius is kind of like how we fit like our life philosophy. , I would encourage you to kind of spend this time during the Mercury retrograde trying out like how does, how does your habits, how does your daily life fit into your greater life philosophy?
[00:12:43] And we've been talking about that over the month of December and now that we're sort of entering the new year and Mercury will be retrograding through Sagittarius for the majority of the beginning of the, the year. It's a good time to. , sort of find how you settle with making your habits match your life philosophy.
[00:13:02] And so we've been talking about that on the December, um, podcast episodes and the Saturn and Aquarius. So if you want to go deeper there, please do. But um, I'm gonna encourage you for January to develop a meditation habit. And if you want to do that in community, I would encourage you to join us in the.
[00:13:25] Free Mercury retrograde 21 day meditation challenge. You can go to yogi scopes.com/clarity, like C L A R I T Y, like for mental clarity because that's the, that's the thing is we want during Mercury retrograde to cultivate mental clarity within ourselves and nervous system clarity so that. The effects of Mercury retrograde and Mars retrograde and all of this sort of like finishing up Saturn in Capricorn.
[00:13:56] Energy doesn't get us down so, meditation is going to be the main way to do that, and we'll talk about that a little bit more when we get to the yoga practices.
[00:14:08] So just first, a quick recap. The overall energies of the month of January are this return to the light energy because first of all, I didn't mention this before, but on our first full moon of the year is January 6th, which is a Friday.
[00:14:21] Um, we'll be. one week into our 21 day meditation challenge then. And so it's like you can medi, I'm gonna encourage you to try to meditate every day, but I also like, don't care. Like what the, the goal of the challenge is to help you develop a meditation habit that's gonna serve you in your life and is gonna stick.
[00:14:41] Because like I mentioned this, this time is very fruitful for working out the kinks of whatever habits that you want to stick for the rest of the year. Meditation is kind of like, it's a catchall habit that's gonna impact the rest of your life in a really positive way. And we'll talk about that in a moment.
[00:15:01] Um, yeah. So it's this return to light energy because we have that Makara Sankranti, the, um, when the sun enters Capricorn halfway through the month. But we have this full moon in Punarvasu Nakshatra on January 6th, which Punarvasu means return to. . So of course I will do a full Moon episode next week when that, when the Full Moon is, we'll talk about it and we'll have our very own like yoga practices and journal prompts for the full Moon.
[00:15:30] But the idea is, Punarvasu is a Nakshatra that means return to the light. So when we have a full moon there, the idea is what can you shed to prepare for you to return to the light? So what I'm trying to communicate here is, The first couple weeks in January are not gonna be the time to actually see the the return of the light, yet we're still in this process of shedding and.
[00:16:01] Kind of building the habits that you want that will help you return to the light. But we know nothing happens overnight, so you'll have to be on those habits for at least a few weeks before you start seeing the return on them in mid to late January is what I'm really trying to communicate like with this whole thing.
[00:16:21] And so the other overall energy that I wanted to drive home is that it's mostly retrogrades until later in the month. We won't really see that forward progress until. the third week or so of January, like around the 21st, 22nd, is when you might start to see, um, if you've been developing those habits for the first three weeks, you might start to see the progress of that if you kind of drive it home, right?
[00:16:46] And so it's a good month for focusing on small habit change rather than sweeping big change. If I didn't make that clear enough, like if your goal is to. Improve your physical health over the year of 2023 and you haven't been to the gym in three years, and, uh, you decide on the first week in January that you're gonna go to the gym.
[00:17:08] you know, five days a week and then the first day you go and you go for an hour and a half and then you're so sore. So you don't go for three more days. You know, like that whole process. Just skip that this year, start where you are, use what you have, do what you can. Like, if you do want to, to, to ride this gym example on if you do want to improve your physical health, health over the year, you might start with.
[00:17:33] Going to the gym for 30 minutes and don't overly kill yourself and try to do the same gym routine you did three years ago when you were going consistently, right? Like start small and try to enforce the habit. That is exactly what we'll be doing in the meditation challenge, where I'm gonna encourage you to start with like just.
[00:17:55] The idea of what time of day you're gonna do it. And if on the first day you try to meditate for 20 minutes and instead you end up scrolling on your phone and then you don't come back to it for a week, that's not what we want. We want to try to instill the habit in smaller chunks. And this is, this is the, this is where the habit science comes in.
[00:18:13] If you've read the book Atomic Habits by James Clear, he really explains it really well there and. , you want to establish a habit before you optimize it. And so the first few weeks in January are, you're gonna start small. You're gonna start with small habit change, and then after the about three weeks or so, you might start to see some of that optimization of your habits.
[00:18:34] Um, . And then the other good month thing that this is a good month for is bringing to fruition all of the sort of labor you've been doing related to Saturn and Capricorn for the past two and a half years. So what have you been working really hard on since, you know, January or so of 2020? The year 2020.
[00:18:56] So, um, we all know this has been a crazy last couple of years, but I imagine somewhere in your life. , this is where I've been experiencing the most struggles, and this is where maybe you haven't seen any improvement, but if you want to see improvement, especially related to where Capricorn is in your birth chart, using these first three weeks until the uh, 17th when Saturn enters, Aquarius is gonna be a good time to just drive that point home and really leverage that energy to.
[00:19:27] Bring the fruits of your labor into existence related to the Capricorn area of your chart or whatever you've been working hard on, and you might have not seen traction for just yet.
[00:19:37] And the final thing I'd like to point out that January is an excellent month for especially these first three weeks, while all the rest of your grades are happening is keeping your attention. On the big picture and the greater good. So how does the big picture of your life fit into the greater good? So remember Aquarius when, especially when Saturn transits into Aquarius on January 17th.
[00:19:59] Aquarius is all about society. The greater good and Sagittarius has some elements of that too. Sagittarius is like, Philosophical thinking, how does your life philosophy fit into the greater good? So keep an eye on that. Because also we have Uranus retrograding in Aires. And Aries is the first sign of the Zodiac. So it's kind of like the baby of the Zodiac. And so if you think about this archetype of babies, they're like,
[00:20:23] Selfish by design because they have to be together, needs met because they can't meet their own needs. So they have to be selfish to get other people to meet their needs. So with RA who there. I've been talking about this for a little bit, RA who in Aries is like bringing this more focus on the self, which can be good if you're focusing on yourself so that you can improve yourself so that you can serve better. But then the sort of more shadow side of that is like,
[00:20:48] Being more selfish and it's not going to feel very fulfilling if you're focusing on yourself in a way that doesn't keep that big picture. In mind and how you're going to serve the big picture in the greater good of society in mind. And so then when Uranus goes direct in areas later in the month, so it's there with RA.
[00:21:06] I remember, that's why I gave that bit of context when you're in a desk, go direct there later in the month. If you ha, if all those pieces sort of fit together for you, if you've been focusing on yourself and how your habits can kind of increase your own inner light so that you can shine that light more brightly in the world, rather than just.
[00:21:22] This sort of spiritual narcissism, like. Focusing on yourself in a way that's only, self-serving rather than serving yourself so that you can increase your capacity to serve others. After Uranus goes directs, you might see some surprising improvements. Um, I'll just leave it at that. So. And say bad month for this month, expecting progress without tons of groundwork. So if you have been experiencing struggles, especially related to where Capricorn is in your chart for the past two and a half years, and you haven't been like.
[00:21:56] At least trying. To do something about it. Then you probably won't see those benefits when Saturn does move into Aquarius and when the sun moves in Capricorn. But if you have, if you've been laying the groundwork. Towards the middle to the end of the month, you will probably start to see progress there. And that will feel really good. It's also a bad month for acting from a dysregulated place. So.
[00:22:21] Often, what I talk about on my other podcast, the science of light is sort of how our. Our trauma can disconnect us from our nervous system and emotions, and that makes us dysregulated and that can cause some really poor behavior. And so if you can get to this place, I mean, that's the whole, like everything behind the work that I do is talking about.
[00:22:41] Body awareness and emotional awareness so that you can regulate your own nervous system so that you can show up better in the world, in all facets of your life. Like literally everything, your career, your relationships. You have more capacity to take care of yourself if you're more dysregulate or if you're sorry, if you're more regulated.
[00:22:57] You're just going to be better. And so this month with, especially with Mars retrograde, it can lead to a little bit more dysregulation and same thing with mercury retrograde. If you are dysregulated during mercury retrograde, there's a higher chance that you're going to say some dumb stuff. Like, you know, we always hear about this.
[00:23:15] These Pause of CUNY communication happening. During mercury retrograde, but if you keep your nervous system nice and regulated. That's less likely to happen. You're less likely to pop off at the mouth. You're more likely to think before you speak. You're more likely to have the patients when things do go awry.
[00:23:33] Right. So is it. I guess I could add that to the, a good month for making sure you stay regulated. And that's where the yoga practices come in of meditation. That's why I've been talking about meditation is the thing that you want to do all month. That's why I made the meditation challenge because I was like, if there's anything that's going to serve all the other areas of your life, like I mentioned, is that strong meditation habit, because that is where you practice.
[00:23:58] Nervous system regulation and you get good at the practice of. Noticing becoming an observer of your thoughts and noticing where you go, you know, what, what is always hijacking you. And when you do start to think those thoughts of whatever is always hijacking you, then. What, how does that impact your nervous system? And that's kind of what we're playing with and working with during a meditation practice. And that's the kind of stuff I will be teaching you during the meditation challenge. So it's not a meditation challenge in that. I'm going to give you a guided meditation every single day.
[00:24:33] No, I'm going to be teaching you how to meditate so that you can do it for yourself. And so some of that will involve. Guided meditations along the way. I will have resources for you that you can listen to and follow along with. But what I also want to teach you is in bite sized pieces over the course of three weeks, over the course of 21 days, which.
[00:24:53] There is some habit science that says it takes at least three weeks to establish a habit and you'll have support continuing on after the three weeks. But the challenge just ends in three weeks and. Bonus, um, for anybody that the top, let's say three people that are most active in the challenge. We'll get a free 30 minute birth chart reading with me. So that's a little extra incentive to join, but just participating in the challenge, you're going to get these benefits of meditation that are like, you've developed a habit and that habit you can stack with other habits. Like if you did want to work out or eat.
[00:25:28] A healthy breakfast. You can like, we're going to look at how this is going to fit in your life. Like, I'm not going to tell you, you need to get up at the crack of Dawn and meditate before your family, because I understand like, I have a degree. And health and wellness promotion. I'm trained in being like a health coach and that I can teach you how to fit this stuff into your life in a way that's going to serve you rather than like the influencer way where you're going to have like a three hour morning routine that nobody fucking does, especially if you have children.
[00:25:53] Um, you know what I mean? Like that's what the point of this meditation challenge is to teach you how to fit meditation into your real life and teach you how to do it rather than. Give you guided meditations every single day. Then when the meditation challenge is over, you may or may not have reinforced the habit. No, I'm going to teach you how to do it so that you can continue going in a way that makes sense for your life, because this is what we also hear. Like, I mean, I'm a yoga teacher, I'm friends with a lot of yoga teachers.
[00:26:18] And I hear other yoga teachers say they fall off the wagon with their practice. And I think it's because her expectations are too high or something changes. In their life and then their older routine no longer works. So that's the kind of stuff will be. Working through in. Our meditation challenge is that kind of stuff. And you can talk about other habits and stuff for your new year's resolutions too, because it's falling right here at the new year. And there's all this astrological energy that is supportive.
[00:26:46] Of that habit change. And so we're going to make it fit into your life. So that also has to do with Dennis Sharia. That's the other yoga practice I was going to mention, I talked at length about that on the. Saturn in Aquarius episode, but then also while mercury is retrograde, we will be doing some throat chakra work. And I actually yesterday uploaded a.
[00:27:07] Short gentle practice with a guided meditation for throat chakra. So. I won't say any more about that. I'll, it'll be linked in the video so that you can just click on it to watch it next. If you want to try out that practice, make sure you are subscribed so that you get notified when I do things like this, because.
[00:27:24] I do sometimes I put up just random practices to go along with what we're talking about astrologically for the week. Um, so your journal prompts finally. We'll be exploring some more of this during our meditation challenge. If you want to go more in depth. But first journal prompt is what do I want to shed as I returned to the light, a new in 20, 23. And so we'll explore that more next week at the full moon, but just plant the seeds right now. And when you come back to it, it'll be even better. Um, and then other journal prompt, what habits do I want to cultivate to set the tone for the year?
[00:27:57] Third journal prompt. How do I want to feel all year long? And what habits contribute to that feeling? Um, and then fourth journal prompt. That is the one we will really explore in depth in our meditation challenge is where does my mind go first in meditation? And if you want to go a little more in depth with that.
[00:28:16] Then what feelings and sensations does that evoke? So. Check that out. Thanks for being here. Remember to like share comment, subscribe on the YouTube channel, especially if you're listening to this on the podcast. If you subscribe to get new episode drops, but hit up YouTube because there's some extra bonus resources that are over there. So maybe you want to listen.
[00:28:36] On your podcast player. I know I do that too, but I post some stuff on YouTube. That's not on the podcast. So thanks so much for being here. I appreciate you all. And I hope you have a beautiful and wonderful and warm new year and a beautiful 2023. I'm wishing you the best to remember, to always keep your feet on the ground. You're heading the stars and stay in the light until next time friends take care.
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