Mercury enters Taurus

Mercury enters methodical Taurus today, slowing the tempo of our mental metronome. The messenger planet will spend over two months in the sign of the bull, marking a period of deliberate speech and common-sense communication. Mercury in Taurus takes its time negotiating contractual terms, and once we've reached an agreement, our word is our bond.

 

Taurus terrain is where we assess our physical, sensual, and material needs. It is also where we architect our values. When we consider our ethics and principles, we are likely thinking about what feels good and right and true to us. We don't consciously establish value systems as a means of cultivating comfort and security. Our intent is simply to be a decent human being. But on a psychological level, distinguishing ourselves as "decent", implies that someone else out there is "indecent".

 

Chances are, you feel safer in a room full of people who think the same way you do. In these spaces, you don't have to second-guess your statements or wonder whether your opinions are too controversial to be disclosed. Familiar faces provide an ideological feedback loop. Therefore, we may fail to notice the rigidity in our thinking until we encounter opinions that are polarizing, not only because someone might disagree with our logic, but because their disagreement appears to malign our character by daring to contradict our position.

 

When we believe that our moral superiority is keeping us protected, we risk reacting to different perspectives as if they are true threats, because, in a way, they are. Alternative viewpoints threaten to change us from the inside out. They threaten to reshape our fundamental, core values. They cause us to question whether we *really* know something, or whether we have venerated a fallacy in the pursuit of self-preservation.

 

And this may be exactly the medicine we require once Mercury stations retrograde between April 21/22 and May 14/15.

 

Written by Nyssa Grazda