Maze of Memory
…On Mercury’s cazimi between eclipses
Our memories are fading. We could blame the machines, what they are putting in the food, or the way in which our attention is so easily goaded into empty narratives, but blame is an odious tool. The lack of unifying stories has had an effect, and so too does the coerced subscription into the church of “progress,” yet it’s up to us to remember, not anybody else. This is the way.
There was a time (within my lifetime) when all our friend’s numbers were in our heads. There was a time when people could memorize entire books like the Bible or the Gita or astrological works. There were even the rumored memory palaces which many adepts of the esoteric ways would build up in their imaginations like AI-generated cathedrals, filled with all the information and experience they had ever come across. And it seems now, we are lost in a maze of memory, unsure of how exactly it works. We must try to remember.
It is the Moon that is often related to the process of memory, though Mercury has a vital role to play as well. Without the capacity to translate the signals and wire them into the imagination so the images can display on our mind’s screen, memory would likely be entirely feeling-based. And so, when Mercury is retrograde, we can often be witness to curious expressions within our memories. They can short-circuit, making us forget as we lose our keys once again. It can grab hold of stories long forgotten, perhaps aligned with the degree it’s transiting, launching us into a nostalgic daydream as we rear-end the car in front of us. Our memories can even surprise us in these times, reorienting us with old ideas we thought we had parted ways with long ago. It’s worth paying attention to this phenomenon without any blame flung at the planet. It’s showing the way.
Mercury is currently at the part of its Rx journey where it has fallen from the sky in the West and is headed for the hot celebration in the heart of the Sun (cazimi). It occurs on May 1st @ 11º19' Taurus. The Chandra reads:
TAURUS 12
A very old elephant.
…they possess the largest brain of all land animals. That’s not to say memory is directly linked to brain size; you could make an argument for corvids, octopi, or even bees I’m sure, but elephants do have an exceptional memory. It’s said they can remember at least 1000 friends, which is probably more than most of us. They can remember human faces and willingly forget them as well (not confirmed). Their knack for remembering every good watering hole they’ve ever visited is what keeps them alive. And so, a ‘very old elephant’ has much to teach us about the importance of memory. Without it, what are we? Where are we?
Francis Bacon, the polymath of the early Enlightenment, once observed, “Nature is a labyrinth in which the very haste you move with will make you lose your way.” In other words, nature reveals her secrets only to those who are in sync with her. This is true with the planets as well. If we are out of sync with them, none of their messages will arrive-they will end up in the SPAM folder of our minds. We must always check our speed and stop if unsure of our direction.
What does it mean to be “in sync” with Mercury while retrograde? It requires us to listen with something that is not our ears, to see with another eye, and to reason with an unknown faculty. Every retrograde is a close encounter with The Magician. We hope to have our minds open enough to receive the teachings. This is how we find our way.
Being that this particular one is occurring between two eclipses, there are dragons to also consider. They are challenging gifts that arrive every 6 months to help us write our stories. It may seem complicated, but it’s not. All we need to do is remember. Remember who we are, why we are here, and what we are meant to be doing. We are meant to be listening. Once we do, we will never be lost.
This is how we navigate the maze of memory. Like an old, and ‘very wise elephant.’
Eudaimonia,
Adam
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