Mercury Retrograde Leo/Cancer July 2019- The Heart of the Matter

Mercury retrogrades are simply a time of receptivity.
The gift of any retrograde is to offer new information. To upgrade an already existing system. To review, reassess, reevaluate, and then revise.

After all, in our busy lives of forward motion, it is vital to pause and breathe.

Which isn’t always easy.

Especially if the pauses are not chosen but required.

The importance of astrology is not just to map the energetic weather but understand the most optimum way through. Curiosity, receptivity, and openness are critical to any times of retrograde.

Mercury officially goes retrograde in the sign of Leo on July 7th at 4° and stations direct July 31st at 23 ° Cancer. This is just a fraction of the whole cycle, though. We also have the set-up or shadow phase before the retrograde (June 20th @ 23° Cancer) and the integration phase (July 31st- August 15th). (For more, check out the Mercury in Leo/Cancer 2019 Class).

So, this retrograde links two signs. Leo and Cancer.

Leo is our very being. The essence of who we are. The original flame of our passion, purpose, and very destiny. It is the fire of our creativity, and the spark of life housed seep within. It is our light, the way we shine in the world. It is how we are seen and where and how we are asked to lead. It is our identity and our ego. Leo is represented by the sun. The very center of our solar system around which all planets orbit.

Leo IS our force of sovereignty.

Done well, we inspire. Done poorly, we terrify and control.

Love or fear. We are always offered the choice through which to channel this energy.

Enter Cancer.

We have talked a lot about Cancer this year and its North Node focus. In fact, we have a Solar Eclipse in Cancer on July 10th highlighting this theme even further. In general though, Cancer is feminine energy ruling our emotional, feeling, connecting, and nurturing genius. Flowing, emotional, persevering, and reflective Cancer is represented by the Moon. Cancer has been leading the recalibration between the feminine and masculine rebalancing of late. Take a look at any news thread (or read my past blogs), and you will see this correction in action.

It is not just happening in the collective though. It is also personal.

Fire and water.

Sun and Moon.

Both Cancer and Leo are centered in the heart. They both just get there different ways.

Cancer opens us up. Leo expresses.
Cancer empathizes. Leo articulates.
Cancer supports. Leo leads.

Both are required to do the other well.

Here we are.

This retrograde is meant to make us FEEL. It is to hone our sensitivity so we cannot look away. Feelings get our attention. That is the whole point, after all. Our feelings offer wisdom foreign to our logical minds. Without an emotional IQ, we are missing have our compass. We drift. Feeling purposeless, confused, and bored.

Fireless.

What new information wants to arise?

Knowing the house placement helps with specifics (check out the class if you want to go into that). No doubt, though, this info will be offered through the feeling senses.

Because Leo wants to rouse us from our dormancy. It wants to reawaken our being. Rekindle our inner fire. Leo wants us to remember our roar.

Those things are only found in the blaze of fiery feelings like passion, compassion, joy, inspiration, and anger. These are all the feelings that lead to the sovereignty of our authentic purpose. These are all the feelings that give us the confidence to assert ourselves without the need to impress or shapeshift for acceptance. These are all the feelings that create whole movements.

What will arise in this retrograde are opportunities to correct anything that keeps your flame on smolder. Ego checks where we are called to evaluate if we link our will with the fire of our own heart or borrowed identities. False fire, like control or dominance, will be called out. This may be the way we control others or ourselves ,but also in the way we attempt to control spirit itself, edging god out (ego). So often we set intentions and decide precisely how they should show up. And when they don’t, we feel unheard, disillusioned, and disappointed. Shadow Leo forgets we are simply a channel for grace, not grace itself.

Because soul lessons don’t always come in ways we want, they come in ways we need. Brick walls of reality, glitches, forced stops, breakups, and breakdowns are dark nights meant to lead us deeper into our heart.

Which is the point. Sometimes we have to unravel a little to weave new stories. Sometimes our hearts have to shatter a little to remind us of why we are here.

Passion and purpose are found in the feeling of things, not the thinking of things. They are found in service, compassion, altruism, and grace.
Because compassion doesn’t equate with weakness, lack of boundaries, and perpetual self-sacrifice. Not at all. Compassion is actually linked in the brain to courage and perseverance. It is the ability to witness suffering on any level (human, animal, or environmental) and strive to do what you can to make it better.

“One doesn’t have to operate with great malice to do great harm. The absence of empathy and understanding are sufficient.”
Charles M. Blow

Sovereignty can only be truly healthy when it cooperates not controls.

• Just because we can doesn’t always mean we should
• Something may benefit us individually, but that doesn’t always make it right.
• Something may be of short-term benefit, but long-term unsustainable.
• Something may seem logical on the surface, but integrity tells us otherwise.
• Something may feel familiar and habitual while attempting to manage some fear, but freedom isn’t found there.

So pay attention. Feel deeply. Allow your heart to ignite setting fire to the old and rising again from the ashes.

The gifts are not found in the ease after all, but in the burning itself.

“Vulnerability is the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, courage, empathy, and creativity. It is the source of hope, empathy, accountability, and authenticity. If we want greater clarity in our purpose or deeper and more meaningful spiritual lives, vulnerability is the path.”
― Brené Brown

To understand specifically what this cycle is offering you contact me for a reading and/or sign up for the Mercury Retrograde Leo/Cancer Virtual Class.