August 29 2022
by Daniel Giamario
On Monday August 29 at 9:10AM PDT, the Moon conjuncts Mercury at 3Libra25. On Monday evening, it may be possible to see a very slim young Moon slightly above Mercury. Though Mercury is at its greatest evening elongation of the year over 27 degrees from the Sun, for Northern Hemisphere observers this is a really disappointing apparition, a mere 10 degrees above the horizon. The situation is reversed in the Southern Hemisphere, where Mercury can be easily seen high up in the early evening sky. Relatively bright at 0.3 magnitude, it will be overshadowed by a brighter Spica (0.98) about 20 degrees higher up. The Moon will have its monthly sidereal conjunction with Spica by Wednesday evening, August 31.
Mercury is currently in the hermetic phase of its Synodic Overstory, lasting until September 15 when turning retrograde. The time of greatest evening elongation is a turning point in this phase, as Mercury now will slowly be seen to sink back down towards the horizon, to enter the interior underworld and metamorphically transform into the Virgo Synodic Overstory on October 2 2022.
Learn more about the Mercury Synodic Overstories by visitinghttps://turningoftheages.com/media/ Scroll down to ‘March 24 2021, All About Mercury’.
The current Mercury Overstory features Taurus. It began June 3 2022, when Mercury turned direct at 26Taurus05. This overall synod is 121 days in length. Since Mercury went direct, just after the heliacal rise, six signs have been encountered: Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, and now Libra.
This hermetic phase is the most complex and multifaceted portion of the Mercury cycle. Mercury has many functions, in our astrological paradigm symbolizing: perception, cognition and communication. Mythically, Mercury can have many roles, including: bright Apollonian teacher, eternal youth, psychopomp, guardian of the threshold, thief, trickster, Kokopelli, contrary and more. I think that this hermetic evening star phase is a shape-shifter, where all three aspects of Mercury’s function can change unexpectedly between all six signs. A musician can understand this as jazz or progressive rock; a writer as poetry.
By all means go out Monday evening and try to spot this conjunction. See what message you receive. Do not expect it to be linear!