Mercury Retrograde: Right Brain Activates

Astrologers love to analyze and discuss Mercury retrograde cycles. It is a very popular topic in both astrological blogs and columns. And it has crossed-over to the mainstream where it is sprinkled in with other water-cooler gossip. Anyone working with computers or planning travel will groan when they hear of its approach. I've even known skeptical IT guys to secretly ask me when to expect its delays and system glitches.

Perhaps the rising interest in Mercury retrograde in popular culture is because Mercury rules over the most important aspects of modern life: communication, writing, education, technology, markets, commerce, movement, and travel. Many astrologers use a Gemini ascendant for the US chart which would make the US more susceptible to Mercury's movements in the sky than countries with a different planetary ruler. So I thought it would be interesting to look at the facts about what a retrograde is astronomically speaking, in order to understand how that change in movement in the sky manifests in shifts in our daily lives.

The planet Mercury is described as 'retrograde' when it appears to be moving backwards through the zodiac. Although every planet in our solar system appears to station and turn retrograde in cyclic periods, they are never actually retrograde or stationary. The planets appear to shift direction due to an optical illusion. This illusion occurs as a result of a planet's motion in relation to earth.



During a retrograde cycle the inferior, or inner planets, Mercury and Venus, seem to disappear behind the Sun and return as transformed figures. Ancient Greeks had two names for Mercury. When it appeared in the morning sky it was Apollo, and Hermes in the evening sky.


Retrograde cycles were viewed by ancient sky watchers as a shamanic process. As a planet reverses course, it heads to Sun and disappears from the night sky, only to return, or be reborn, to the morning sky after a purification or alchemical process by the Sun. The planet Mercury is connected to alchemy as its ruler and as the namesake for the element of Mercury, or quicksilver, which was a key ingredient in producing the philosopher's stone -- the secret of turning lead into gold. Astrologically Mercury rules the rational mind and intellect, and when it is strong in a chart it can raise consciousness and thus turn the lead of ignorance into the gold of enlightenment.


In both Western and Eastern astrological traditions Mercury rules the mutable signs of Gemini and Virgo. Gemini is an air sign which traditionally rules over mental activity and gives a quickness and adaptability of body and mind. In latin Gemini means 'twin' and corresponds to the twin stars Castor and Pollux. In Myths and Symbols of Vedic Astrology Bepin Behari writes: Gemini is also depicted as a man and woman in a sexual embrace that represents dualistic energies in action. Mind or intelligence is an active expression of Divine energy. But the mind is activated by the mutual interaction of its polarized components. Thus Gemini needs another, its mate or twin, in order to successfully exchange ideas and activate the divine within.

Virgo is a mutable earth sign which rules over practical and detailed thinking. The earth element brings stability to the mind, and skill to the hands. The constellation of Virgo, latin for virgin or maiden, is symbolized by a harvest goddess holding a sheath of wheat. This wheat sheaf represents the fixed star Spica which she dropped to form the Milky Way, and symbolizes Virgo connection to natural cycles of growth. Wheat is subject to an unending cycle: the seed, fruit, and then the harvested kernels. Thereafter, it returns to the earth to grow again. Behari writes: The impulse flowing through this sign represents the feminine aspects of nature undisturbed by other influences. The impulse at this stage produces an electrified field which is neither active nor passive. This undisturbed and pure energy is the divine hidden deeply in matter, like the potential energy packed in a seed waiting its trigger to express its divinity at harvest time.


Both signs are represented by human symbols that reveal how they differ from other signs that are represented by animals or objects. What separates us from animals? Some might say the human mind and intellect. Homo Sapiens literally means 'thinking' or 'knowing' man. Mercury rules both the intellect and nervous system. And through the signs of Gemini and Virgo, we may see how the brain works on an energetic level. Could the dualistic air sign of Gemini, depicted as twins or polarized lovers be a metaphor for the two hemispheres of the brain? And could the mutable earth sign of Virgo, depicted as a discriminating maiden, be a metaphor for the spinal cord?

As Mercury stationed this week, a friend introduced me to the work of Jill Bolte Taylor who is a neuroanatomist specializing in the postmortem investigation of the human brain. Her own personal experience with a massive stroke, which occurred on December 10, 1996 -- exactly 14 years ago today, illustrates the dual nature of the brain as well as mirrors Behari's description of Gemini and Virgo.



The stroke occurred in the left hemisphere of her brain, and completely deteriorated her ability to process information. It also stopped all the internal chatter of the discriminating mind as she was flooded with a collage of sensory input. She experienced a euphoric understanding of her energetic connection with everything that she has dubbed her "stroke of insight." When I saw her standing there holding the human brain, complete with spinal cord, I had my 'aha' moment.



Her description of the differences between right and left brain are phenomenal, and reflect the dual nature of Mercury itself. The right hemisphere is always in the present moment. It thinks in pictures and learns kinestetically through movement of the body. It receives information and energy through sensory systems and explodes into a collage of what the present moment looks like, feels like, smells like, and sounds like. The left hemisphere is always considering the past and future. It thinks linearly and methodically, taking details from the enormous collage of the present sensory input and prioritizing details, categorizing, organizing and associating with past learning to project all possibilities into the future.

Although many of Mercury's attributes are relegated to left-brain type of functions like the internal chatter that connects the internal to the external world, the calculating intelligence, and the voice that says "I am," one could argue that there are right brain functions like gathering and observing sensory information and transitioning to higher vibrational levels that are also Mercurial in nature. One could assign the right brain to Gemini, and the left brain to Virgo. But I think the dual nature of Gemini allows for this polarization of brain function. As Behari said: the mind is activated by the mutual interaction of its polarized components.

So I would assign Virgo to rule over the spinal cord which is the pathway of manifesting thought into movement, action and communication. The spinal cord activates a movement or communication that manifests a feeling or thought from the internal world to the external world. Again to quote Behari: The impulse at this stage produces and electrified field which is neither active nor passive. There is always in balance between sympathetic and parasympathetic states. The nervous system does produce an electric field that both surrounds the body and is contained deep within it in the spinal cord. The spinal cord has ascending and descending tracts which are mutable roadways for information. Ascending tracts carry information such as touch, skin temperature, pain and joint position from the body to the brain. Descending tracts carry information from the brain downwards to initiate movement and control body functions.



In Sanskrit Mercury is called Budha, meaning intelligence or cognition. Buddhi the faculty of determination whereby we discern the real from the unreal. According to David Frawley, "When this faculty judges reality not by appearances, but by discerning the transient from the eternal, then it functions rightly (right brain) and the higher power of Mercury is revealed. When it discriminates names and forms (left brain), we become caught in the apparent reality of the external world. In the highest sense, Mercury is this faculty of truth determination which discriminates the real from the unreal, the pure from the impure, truth from illusion. This is the most precise and perfect functioning of the mind." And I would say entire nervous system.


During a Mercury retrograde period our experience of the external world temporarily shifts as we encounter obstacles in communication, travel, and expression. Many astrologers suggest this is a great time to complete old tasks, to pay attention to dreams and messages bubbling up from our sub or supra consciousness, to turn our focus inward, and one might say to turn on the right brain. What caught my eye in the image below, is that when Mercury appears to go into retrograde motion, it appears to move in a clockwise pattern, ie to the right. Might this external phenomenon also be reflected in the body. Could the right hemisphere of our right brains be activated with this planetary movement?



There are many online tests to check brain hemisphere dominance. Here's a nifty illusion to test dominance in your brain hemispheres. According to the cyber lore, if you see the dancer turning clockwise, then you use more of the right side of the brain; if you see the dancer turning counter-clockwise, then you use more of the left brain.



Some people are able to make the dancer spin in both directions. I am generally more right-brained, but I can also make her spin in either direction depending on my state of mind. When I'm really relaxed, I enjoy making her shift back and forth without completing a full spin. Mercury is retrograde in Sagittarius in my natal chart. So I have been wondering if people who are born under Mercury retrograde are indeed more likely to be right-brained. My partner also has a retrograde natal Mercury in Virgo, and he too tends to be more right-brained than the average person/male. I would love to hear from readers to see if they see this connection in their own charts and brain dominance pattern.



During this Mercury retrograde period, see how much time you can spend in a right-brained state. Right-hemisphere brain exercises stimulate the part of the brain that is responsible for holistic thinking. Rather than linear exercises, such as reading a book, right-brain exercises may involve creative activities such as art and music. Something like the Solfeggio frequencies are inspiring and calming and allow the mind to expand. Its time for a break from the mental chatter. Turn on the right brain and become more present. This Mercury retrograde occurs in the nakshatra of Mula, the home of the Galactic Center, and ruled by Ketu, the significator of abstract thought and spiritual liberation. There is an opportunity to download new information and higher frequencies of energy from the core of our galaxy. Mercury is the God of thresholds and rites of passage, so allow him to open the door, activate your right brain, and guide you to be present, and at one with the universe.

Namaste!