Almost, but Not Quite — Mercury Refrains From Jupiter — Why This is So Important

Hey everyone. This is Adam Elenbaas from Nightlight Astrology [https://nightlightastrology.com/].

Today we're going to take a look at Mercury moving into a conjunction with Jupiter, but refraining from that conjunction by virtue of the fact that Mercury is about to station and turn retrograde. This is a technical concept, reformation, that we're going to talk about today. I'm going to give you a little crash course on the concept, what it means symbolically, and what that might look like for us right now, through a list of five things to watch for that consider the almost but not quite conjunction of Mercury and Jupiter.

This is actually a powerful transit. A lot of the times we only think of transits that are in the process of perfecting, as you know, the most important things to look at, but there are many things that happen in the sky that are important to look at, not just aspects, and some of them involve things that almost, but don't happen. There's a whole technical element of horary astrology that is dedicated to reformation. So, anyway, I think you'll find this useful today, and it'll give you a good way of understanding something that's happening in the sky that we might otherwise easily miss.

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All right. On that note, here's what we're looking at. You can see Mercury and Jupiter in Cancer today, Wednesday, June 24, coming together within three degrees. That's the engagement range, approximately. But if we take this forward a day, we're going to see that Jupiter's actually humming along, and Mercury sort of chugging along, and reaches to stays within that three degree range by about Saturday, June 27, but then stations, so within the engagement range we have Mercury stationing, and by the next day, June 30, has turned retrograde.

This is right about full moon time, so we have a reformation, technically speaking, that means a conjunction that's about to happen, or any aspect that's about to happen, but doesn't, because one of the two planets changes directions prior to the completion of the aspect. Now, reformation has a lot of meanings technically in horary astrology, especially, but there's also just, I think some really basic things that we should talk about in terms of what refraining means and what you can usually see when a reformation is taking place broadly.

Before we talk about Mercury and Jupiter specifically, I do have a list of five things to watch for I'm going to give you, but let's talk about reformation first. A basic way of thinking about reformation is that two things are going to come together, representing, especially in a conjunction, something like a meeting or a union, very conjunction, an agreement, the completion of something, but prior to them completing the aspect, one of the planets, in this case, Mercury, is changing direction, changing signs, or will break off the application, so the contact never actually occurs.

It's like a promise is made but not fulfilled. All of these are going to be metaphors now for describing that situation. What it might mean when the symbols are applied to real life, an expectation that doesn't materialize, a developing story that suddenly changes course or pivots and does an about-face or kind of 180 maybe again literally a promise and offer, an agreement, a contract, an opportunity of some kind that's withdrawn or maybe postponed, a bit like a Mercury retrograde itself, but when the Mercury retrograde is happening at the outset of a conjunction, then there's a shift, the need to revisit something that's unfinished business before moving forward with something else.

So you're about to do something, but wait, got to go through a little period of revisiting something else before I can move forward with the intended thing I'm trying to do. It's a bit like saying I'm going to get back to you, but there's something else I need to take care of first. Sometimes it's a redirection of your attention from something that's been happening externally, but you got to go pause. I have to reflect internally, and there might be a realization that something was just not ready, it just wasn't quite the right time, or it can represent a change of mind, a change of heart, a change of values, or priorities, or circumstances, a change of how you're going to apply time, money, energy, or resources.

We suddenly say no, can't quite do it, but it's not fair to say that it's always just a negation or a no or a denial. Sometimes a reformation can signify a kind of different path that has to take place before a desired outcome can eventually occur. The two planets eventually, Mercury will get together with Jupiter in Leo. This symbolism is often, in other words, about reconsideration, review, revision, retreat, all natural for a Mercury retrograde, especially at the station point, but this is from some anticipated union or event or agreement or whatever is represented by the almost conjunction in some kind of anticipated development.

So anytime you see two planets that are about to aspect, but they don't, because one changes direction, you can almost always, especially when it's in within three degrees, and then it changes direction, there's a very strong sense of something like what we're talking about here occurring, so with that in mind, I have five things to watch for for you that all might go along sort of specifically with Mercury and Jupiter in Cancer. I came up with some generic banners here.

Let's say this one is the story isn't finished. Mercury moving toward Jupiter will often, Mercury-Jupiter conjunctions can often be about insight and clarity. You're arriving toward an understanding of something, but before that understanding arrives, there's a bit of a setback, and having to dig into something. It's like, if you were doing a research project, and you're coming to a good conclusion, but all of a sudden a conflicting piece of information comes up, and you have to do some research before you can really land on the conclusion.

If you were doing testing, there's some additional research that's needed, just at the time when you thought you were about ready to conclude with some positive findings. The other thing is that these two planets coming together often bring good news. Mercury, the messenger, Jupiter exalted in Cancer, good news, but that good news may be delayed. You can see something coming. There's a good development here coming. There's something positive work we've got in the works, but there's a process of having to wait for it when you're about ready to announce that you're launching a business.

You're really excited, but you all of a sudden you realize your paperwork needs a little bit more filing, or something's not quite correct. You got to delay, you know, the launch announcement for a month. Sometimes Mercury and Jupiter coming together represent a very important, powerful, positive meeting of minds, resources like an important conversation or something that can create some delays in having that conversation or developing that plan. So delayed decisions, conversations that have to be temporarily delayed, news information that requires some additional work or research before it can be clarified, plans that might need revision before some period of expansion or growth is possible, or even in this case, with the water sign, just a feeling that's developing a strong sense of emotional clarity that suddenly delayed and has to go inward a little bit.

So, in other words, whatever looks like it's a conclusion might be the beginning of a deeper inquiry. Looks like the story's finished, it's not, not yet. The past wants a seat at the table. This is funny. My east, my e wandered off from the th. Anyhow. Cancer is a sign that's deeply connected to things like family and memory and ancestry and roots and home, and as these two planets are coming together, Mercury's retrograde motion can pull our attention backward to something in the past that feels unfinished, so there may be family conversations resurfacing childhood experiences, events, or history, resurfacing old memories that are suddenly more relevant or important to look at.

Maybe reconnecting with people from the past or revisiting some previous beliefs or values, and where they come from and what their history are in your life, and also any kind of emotional processing of the past that requires integration before moving forward with something. It's like the past needs to be considered here before you can move forward. So, in this way, whatever growth might be at hand, a very Jupiter-like thing, growth, you have to retrieve something valuable from maybe from the past or from within before it can grow or before the promise of some form of abundance can take place.

Now, three on my list is I called it a second look at the big picture. Jupiter creates that big overarching sense of unity, philosophically, religiously, educationally, governmentally, legally. Right, that's what Jupiter is all about, the legal system, the courts, the governmental systems, educational systems. Jupiter is the cosmic orchestrator of unity, and for us, a lot of that has to do with social and mental structures that provide some sense of coherence and clarity, so that sense of big picture.

Well, if Mercury is approaching it, that really means that understanding and ability to articulate and move about easily within some larger vision is about to take place. However, that enthusiasm, the confidence, the clarity can be temporarily delayed, and so there might be details that are being overlooked that have to be considered. Maybe there's some change in expectation, or there's details that have to be worked out before you can really kind of put your faith into something.

So that might mean changes in expectations, or the need Mercury, Jupiter to balance things like hope and faith with like practicality and understanding of the details. Details might have been overlooked. Promises, are they too big, are they refined, are they practical and deliverable? So, overestimating things that need some correction or fine tuning, I would look at this because the vision here might be right, but elements of how the big picture are being put together may need reworking.

All right, the teacher, Jupiter, is also the teacher, the sage, the guru. Jupiter represents things like wisdom and guidance, mentors, teachers, trusted authorities within educational settings, religious settings. Mercury turning backward before reaching Jupiter could mean that there's a need to really deeply question something. Maybe it's advice you've received, or the beliefs that you carry, or the vision that you have for something, reconsidering educational, spiritual, or philosophical commitments, and there also may be some need to incorporate personal intuition, emotion, emotional intelligence, and personal experience into some larger spiritual, moral, or philosophical framework that you're considering right now.

Mercury's retrograde, just refraining from Jupiter, might be I feel like I'm coming to an answer, but I need to reflect a little bit more before I commit to it. So, wisdom through reflection rather than confident certainty, at least for now, and then finally I think one of the most important distinctions about reformation is that it doesn't automatically mean you're just getting a no, or that something's being denied, or that your effort is failing, or something like that.

It often means that something has to take a different route, which means there will be an opportunity that will return later. But first, we have to go through this period of the retrograde, that's a delay that may actually improve an outcome later if we're patient and careful and thoughtful. It's a revision that may strengthen your vision, or your plans, or your beliefs. It's a temporary withdrawal that may be waiting for better timing. All of these things are so common for both retrogrades, but also reformations.

Reformation is like a little bit like a, it's like an amplified retrograde, because it always involves a retrograde, a change of direction, but it involves one that's taking place at the moment where something else was about to occur, so, and maybe it's redefining what success or happiness looks like, so some kind of rerouting, the opportunity isn't going away necessarily, it might be just changing shape, I think of words like reconsideration, memory, emotional intelligence, personal experience, retrieval of things from the past, especially the emotional family or historical ancestral past.

There's a redirection of things that are more vulnerable and personal to us with Mercury's retrograde in Cancer. I think it's also fascinating that this is taking place here at the time. Hold on, let me just get this, get my real time clock up, so that I can show all of you this. So, this reformation that's coming through. Sorry about that. I'm going to put this up on the screen. I had to pause for a second. Let's get my screen set up. Okay, here we go.

So, as we're sitting here today, Wednesday, June 24, the engagement has been entered into with Mercury and Jupiter, however, as we were showing the advancement of the clock, the station happens Monday, June 29. The retrograde between Monday and Tuesday, the 29th into the 30th, at which point the full moon is also coming through in Capricorn. This also means that the Cancer-Capricorn tension is a very important part of the why or the how of the reformation itself.

Jupiter also switching into Leo breaks apart the applying conjunction. Most certainly it's a reformation happening in Cancer, but Jupiter also changes signs into Leo, basically on the same day that we get a full moon in Cancer Cap, as Mercury is turning retrograde and refraining from Jupiter. We're going to explore all of those dynamics a little bit more when we look at the full moon in Capricorn next week, and we look at Jupiter in Leo next week.

So today is sort of like a layering project, we're giving you an element of craft that we can start thinking about now. We made notice between now and early next week, but we're also setting ourselves up to have that element sort of understood and talked about, so that we can contextualize it further within the change of signs for Jupiter and the full moon in Capricorn. So, I hope that that's useful. Hope you learned something new on this channel always, and it really is my prayer.

That you find something that blesses your life in this content, that astrology would bless your life, that astrology would give you a sense of meaning, and that we live in an enchanted cosmos. And I hope you feel that when you watch this channel. I hope that this channel is a place where you feel like there's a community of people who share a similar view and language of astrology, and a sense that something higher is guiding our lives. Anyway, I will leave it there.

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