What started me on
my exploration of the Mercury Cycle was the similarity of its 116 day
cycle to the upper limit, in years, of a human life – few
super-centenarians live beyond 116. So apart from the Moon, Mercury's
is the only progressed cycle that we might experience in full. I did
some work on it towards the end of last year, starting with a rough
sketch of my own cycle and was amazed to find that it mapped out my
own turning points exactly. Incidentally, I was born at a Superior
Conjunction and it was just a few months after my progressed Inferior
Conjunction, and I passed from a lunar consciousness to a solar one,
that I felt an urge to explore the cycle.
I'm a Gemini and I
have most of my planets in air signs, so in case it was a fluke I
started looking at other people's progressed cycles. Though I
wouldn't claim it's 100% it does often seem to reflect the changes on
people's life paths. And there are distinct paths depending on where
in the cycle you're born.
(Click to enlarge) |
Perhaps the cycle
most suited to a human life – and the one which reflects the kind
of world we live in – is someone who's born around the Greatest
Western Elongation. This is a young, fresh, enthusiastic Mercury
energy; someone who's eager to make their mark in the world. The
graphic shows the progressed cycle of CG Jung, born very close to
Western Elongation. He had his first major turning point (Superior
Conjunction) at the age of 27, but because of the eccentricity of
Mercury's orbit it can occur at any age between 20 and 50. However,
the subsequent markers (Greatest Eastern Elongation, Station
Retrograde and Inferior Conjunction) remain broadly the same for
everyone born around the Western Elongation. The interesting thing is
that people born around this elongation appear to be at ease in the
world – they're always moving forward, forging successful careers
and so on – until they get to their mid-60s at Eastern Elongation,
when they might (or might not, the way things are going) retire; at
the next point, when Mercury turns retrograde, they'll be in their
mid-70s or later and their mind will be turning to the Big Transition
and return to Source.
Those
born at the Superior Conjunction have a basic nature that's lunar,
making them cautious and reflective, more inclined to hold themselves
back. Whereas the vast majority of a Western Elongation's path is
direct motion, the Superior Conjunction type encounters a change in
direction in mid-life shortly after the Eastern Elongation, the
latter having loosened them up and expanded their life experiences.
The retrograde phase is an opportunity to revisit, re-evaluate and –
because they reach this phase in mid-life rather than at the end –
re-orient themselves; maybe start a new career or even a completely
new life. In Freud's case – see the graphic below – his path led
to him releasing late nineteenth century Europeans' repression (note
all the re- words, which are deliberate). There's a major shift in
consciousness at the Inferior Conjunction, which could occur anywhere
between middle age and sixty-ish. What was lunar becomes solar …
perhaps not the best time of life to come out fighting, but it could
explain late developers or people who 'see the light' and zealously
pursue a cause in their later years. Compare that to the transition
from solar to lunar in the Western Elongation's case – starting out
punchy and then maturing into a more reflective consciousness.
Superior Conjunction types will emerge from their retrograde phase in
their seventies and reach the Western Elongation in their eighties.
Someone born around
the Greatest Eastern Elongation has a much rockier path, as they
embark on the retrograde period early on in life. Keith Richards of
the Rolling Stones – see above – and George W Bush are two people
who fought their demons (drugs and drink) and won. Once they'd
navigated the perils of the retrograde period, they got themselves on
an even keel. Bush even went on to become President of the USA …
and we all know how that turned out …
As for those born at
Inferior Conjunction, they seem to have the most perilous journey. Of
the four examples I've come across, only one – Ariel Sharon –
lived past his thirties. Of the others, Amy Winehouse (born the day
before an Inferior Conjunction) died aged 27 of alcohol poisoning,
Jeff Buckley (born on the day of the conjunction) drowned aged 30 and
Yuri Gagarin – the first man in space and born two days after
conjunction – died on (of all things) a routine training flight,
aged 34. We're going to look at his short life in relation to his
progressed Mercury cycle.
Firstly, there's a
bit of a question mark about his date of birth – it's also given as
9th March but it's said that Yuri's father didn't like the idea of
his son being born on a 'woman's day' (I take that to be a reference
to International Women's Day) so he put down the 9th. In any event,
he was born around midnight of 8th/9th March. I didn't expect to find
anything about him for age 11 (when he reached Station Direct) but I
discovered he returned to his childhood home then, after being
displaced during the War. The period around his Greatest Western
Elongation is well documented, though. The elongation itself occurred
in 1958, when Yuri was 24, but with orbs it stretches from 1953 to
1963. He was drafted into the Soviet army in 1955, but he obviously
had star quality because he was recommended for pilot training early
on, and he graduated from flying school on 7 November 1957, just a
couple of months before the elongation was exact. And it gets better,
because after graduation he was assigned to an airbase in the
Murmansk region, in the Arctic Circle – so remote and inhospitable.
So when his progressed Mercury was at its farthest point from the
Sun, Yuri was flying from an airbase at the outermost north-western
edge of the Soviet Empire.
By 1960 he was one
of twenty candidates for the Soviet space programme and again he
stood out from the crowd, quickly becoming the obvious choice for
almost all his colleagues and trainers. On 12 April 1961 he became
the first man in space. From this point on, though, things didn't go
so smoothly. The Soviets wouldn't let him into space again because he
was too valuable as an ambassador. He travelled the world, but his
behaviour deteriorated. He drank too much and put on weight. On 20
December 1963 – right at the end of the Elongation period – he
was made deputy training director at Star City (yes, really)
cosmonaut training base. Less than five years later, he died on a
routine training flight in poor weather. It's thought another plane
flew too close – or maybe their wings touched – and Yuri's plane
spun out of control and crashed. This happened on 27 March 1968, not
long after his 34th birthday.
I've included the
asteroid Icarus
and the Lot of Spirit (S) in his chart because Icarus is the boy who
flew too close to the Sun and the Lot of Spirit is the daimon who
controls your destiny. They're opposite each other in his chart. I
read these as it being Yuri's destiny to be the first man in space,
but also for him to die while flying.
Now we come to two
intertwined lives. Long lives, but thankfully we're only going to
look at a pivotal period of around ten years. Maps of their Mercury
cycles are shown above and Freud's natal chart is further down. 1902 was a turning point in both Freud's and Jung's lives. In
Jung's case, aged 27, he was moving into a lunar consciousness …
one that's evident in his later work. But at this point he was
working as a psychiatrist at Burghölzli
Mental Hospital in Zürich. In
Memories, Dreams, Reflections (an interesting title in
itself), he begins Chapter Five by telling us that in 1903 he resumed
reading Freud's Interpretation of Dreams, a book he'd given up
on three years earlier (aged 25) because he 'lacked the experience to
appreciate Freud's theories.' This time, though, he could see how it
linked up with his own ideas (pp 169-70). Freud, on the other hand,
was moving out of his lunar consciousness in 1902, aged 46, and into
a more active solar one. And we find him in the autumn of 1902
setting up weekly sessions in his apartment where a small group of
followers could get together to discuss issues relating to
psychology. This was the beginning of the worldwide psychoanalytical
movement.
Jung sent Freud a
copy of his Studies in Word Associations in 1906 and the two
men met early in 1907. Freud was keen to expand his circle of
followers, and Jung had a good reputation. They talked for thirteen
hours almost non-stop at that first meeting. Freud came to look upon
Jung as his heir apparent, but Jung had doubts from the start (MDR,
p 172). Nevertheless, over the next five years they worked closely,
attended conferences together and so on. But, from Jung's perspective
at least, there were increasing tensions and questions of trust and
authority. One of the ways I describe a Superior Conjunction type –
as Freud was – is 'I am the Authority.' Jung describes an incident
in 1909 when, trying to interpret one of Freud's dreams, he asked
Freud for some additional personal information to assist him. Freud
exclaimed 'But I cannot risk my authority!' With that remark, Freud
lost his authority altogether in Jung's eyes, and for Jung it
foreshadowed the end of their relationship (MDR, p 182).
Even so, Jung became
President for Life of the newly-formed International Psychoanalytical
Association (IPA) in 1910 – an appointment that would turn out to
be anything but for life. In1912, Jung published Symbols of
Transformation, a book that he knew would hasten the end of his
association with Freud. Letters the pair exchanged show Freud's
refusal to consider Jung's ideas. They met for the final time at a
psychoanalytical conference in 1913 (coinciding with Freud's Station
Direct), and Jung resigned as President of the IPA in April 1914.
Also in 1912,
anticipating the final breakdown between Freud and Jung, Ernest Jones
organised a committee of loyalists charged with safeguarding the
theoretical coherence and institutional legacy of the psychoanalytic
movement. Each member pledged not to make any public departure from
the fundamental tenets of psychoanalytic theory before discussing
their views with the others. Following this move, Jung knew his
future lay elsewhere … he had to plough his own furrow – which in
fact, is his basic nature as a Western Elongation type. But it also
shows the rigid, dogmatic nature of a Superior Conjunction type.
There's a god-like quality to this conjunction, demanding loyalty
and obedience from his followers.
I cast a progressed
chart for Jung's resignation from the IPA in April 1914 and was
astonished to find that his progressed Sun was eleven degrees away
from his progressed Mercury. That's exactly the same as the distance
between Freud's natal Sun and Mercury. It's as if Jung has stepped
into his former mentor's shoes and is saying 'I am the Authority
now.'
I'll end with a word
about Dane Rudhyar, who – like Jung – was born close to Greatest
Western Elongation but who reached his progressed Superior
Conjunction at a later stage, because of the vagaries of Mercury.
(You can see, however, that he reaches the later landmarks at roughly
the same ages). Rudhyar writes about his progressed Mercury reaching
SC in An Astrological Study of Psychological Complexes and
Emotional Problems. Rudhyar had been a composer in the first part
of his life, but around the time of his Superior Conjunction, aged
43, he had to drop his focus on music. Then a few months after the
progressed conjunction he started work in a completely new direction,
as an artist. He says some very interesting things about this but
perhaps the most significant one is that for him, the change from
music to painting had a profound meaning; there was a sense of inner
discovery, as if a new part of his brain and a new facet of
personality had begun to operate. But … he points out that the
mental foundation of a person's Mercury always remains, even though
it may be seen through filters at later stages of the journey. To
illustrate this, he comments that a number of critics noted that his
paintings had an inherent musical quality (pp 102-3).
So that gives you an
idea of how to work with Mercury's progressed cycle. I hope you'll
feel tempted to explore it yourself, as what I've written here has
barely scratched the surface.
Birth data
Yuri Gagarin 8 Mar
1934, 23:42:04 (rectified) Klushino, Soviet Union (d 27 Mar 1968)
C G Jung 26 Jul
1875, 19:29 Kesswil, Switzerland (d 6 Jun 1961)
Sigmund Freud 6 May
1856, 18:30 Pribor, Czech Republic (d 23 Sep 1939)
Dane Rudhyar 23 Mar
1895, 01:00 Paris, France (d 13 Sep 1985)
Bibliography
C G Jung (1977)
Memories, Dreams, Reflections, Collins (especially Chapter 5 –
Sigmund Freud)
Dane Rudhyar (1966)
An Astrological Study of Psychological Complexes and Emotional
Problems, Wassenaar: Servire
Biography
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuri_Gagarin
accessed 27/02/15
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Jung
accessed 19/05/15
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigmund_Freud
accessed 19/05/15