Mercury Retrograde in Aquarius 2021 — A Scale of Notes in the Music of the Spheres

The winds of change blow from the east. The Mind looks to the future, sensing new possibilities, as the ideals shine like stars before dawn, promising a better world.
What could go wrong? What are the obstacles facing the path? Hesitation delays the moment of change. But all the issues to be addressed are slowly gathering together by the hour.

On January 30th Mercury is going to turn retrograde at 26° Aquarius. This is the first of the three retrograde periods of the year that are going to trace a great Triangle of Air in the sky. In this article we are going to talk about the stellium (cumulus of planets) that is slowing forming in Aquarius, as well as the role of Mercury Retrograde in activating it.

Stellium in Aquarius

As we know the Sun just entered Aquarius. And as we have discussed about, the Jupiter Saturn conjunction recently took place in that zodiac sign. This means that at the moment we’re not only having the Sun in Aquarius, but also Saturn and Jupiter.

To which we must now add Mercury as well, for a total of 4 planets. And as if that weren’t enough we’re also going to have Venus in Aquarius, joining the party from February 2nd (the day of Candlemas or Imbolc).

This is technically speaking a big stellium in Aquarius made of 5 planets. Basically half of the planets (5 out of 10) will be in Aquarius. But what’s the meaning of a stellium? How are we going to interpret it? And how does it relate to Mercury retrograde?

Stellium in Aquarius Meaning

A stellium creates a big amount of the same kind of energy in the sky. In this case we’re talking about Fixed Air energy (Aquarius), which in human terms has to do with the ideals. An ideal in fact is a “fixed thought” that functions as a sort of guide, example or light to aspire to. Please note that in Aquarius this function is attributed to ideas, not people. It’s in the opposite sign of Leo that we have a person representing the role model to imitate.

The problem with a stellium is that it bears so much energy that is usually too difficult to handle. To the point that the result is that this energy splits, manifesting often as its opposite sign, which in this case is Leo. Again, this happens because the community is unable to handle it, and it is as if this energy “falls” in the opposite sign.

Realistically, when a community fails to make ideals its guide it finds a leader to represent them. It is a very human process that happens much more often than we would like to admit. And this is also what we can expect for the following month: a person channeling the winds of change for the collectivity.

Mercury Retrograde in Aquarius activating the Stellium

As you can see in the picture above Mercury is going to meet during its retrograde motion all the planets we mentioned before. It’s like as if the Music of the Spheres played by planets in the cosmos was going to perform a scale of notes in the sky, with Mercury taking on the role of the pianist.

But what kind of music will it be? So far we’ve talked about changes that will be carried out mainly by leaders, and not by the community. To get a more detailed idea of this phenomenon, here’s a complete list of the aspects Mercury is going to make with the planets during it’s retrograde period:

• Jan 30, 2021 : Mercury turning retrograde at 26° 25′ Aquarius
• Feb 8, 2021 : Mercury in conjunction with the Sun at 20° 01′
• Feb 10, 2021 : Mercury square Mars at 17° 43′ Taurus
• Feb 13, 2021 : Mercury in conjunction with Venus at 14° 42′ Aquarius
• Feb 14, 2021 : Mercury in conjunction with Jupiter at 13° 20′ Aquarius
• Feb 21, 2021 : Mercury turning direct at 11° 01′ Aquarius

Generally speaking we can say that this stellium is the prelude of the tensions represented by the Saturn Uranus square, that’s going to affect the relationship between governments (Saturn as power and control) and people (Uranus as revolutions and riots). This is going to find in the Mercury Mars square on February 10 a peak in the tensions brought by the stellium itself.

As you can see in the animation above, Mercury is not going to perfect its conjunction with Saturn. Nevertheless they are going to be close enough to form a conjunction and stimulate the Saturn Uranus square that’s going to begin in February.

As we mentioned in the overview for 2021 this aspect is the most important event of 2021, so we are going to talk about it in a specific article. But in the end if we were to give this music a name, to me it would be like a war march before battle or something like that.

Mercury Retrograde in Your Natal Chart

As always the way a transit affect the collective and the individual can be very different. This is because you always have to contextualize the transit in your specific birth chart. In this case, what you need to do is looking at 26° and 11° Aquarius in your chart.

Where do these points fall into your birth chart? Which astrological house do they belong to? Astrological Houses represent the areas of your life. So you can understand that’s very different if the transit involves your Fourth House (private life and family) or your Tenth House (career and aspirations in life).

For this reason looking at the astrological house involved is the first thing to do. You can expect to be stimulated in that field with a very strong energy that might make you feel overwhelmed. Especially because Mercury retrograde makes you second guess your choices and complicates communication with people. In the general article about Mercury Retrograde we explained why it is so, so check it out.

Mercury Retrograde 2021 in Aquarius Dates

• Direct [Pre-Shadow] : Jan 15, 2021 reaching 11° 01′ Aquarius
• Retrograde : Jan 30, 2021 first station at 26° 25′ Aquarius
• Direct [Post-Shadow] : Feb 21, 2021 second station at 11° 01′ Aquarius
• Direct: Mar 13, 2021 leaving behind 26° 25′ Aquarius

Thanks for reading, as always if you enjoyed this article please subscribe to the Astronomicon Newsletter with the bar at the top of the website to receive weekly updates. We are going to be talking soon about the Saturn Uranus Square, trying to better understand the planetary cycle they’ve been undertaking since the late 80s. Thanks again and have a good week.

Roberto Corona

I consider myself a free researcher in western spiritual disciplines, in particular Rudolf Steiner’s Anthroposophy and the Neoplatonic Hermetic tradition. I have a three-year training in Astrology at the CIDA delegation of Trieste, the Italian Center for Astrological Disciplines. I graduated in Computer Engineering from the University of Trieste.