Did you see the Transit of Mercury, yesterday, May 9th 2016? It occurred in Taurus, the sign of the bull. In astrology we link Taurus to Wall Street (the famous statue of the charging bull) and also to gold bullion and bull markets. The bull is an ancient symbol of value and trade. The Transit of Mercury is rare and historic. All eyes on May.
One way to think about the Transit of Mercury is that it is the Mother of all Mercury Retrogrades. It always falls in Taurus or Scorpio, the money signs. (Scorpio rules mortgages (sexually intimate property agreements) and therefore banks and their control over household budgets. Scorpio also rules property, taxation and wealth because it is linked to deadly serious associations – like life insurance and legacies.
We get about a dozen Transits of Mercury every century and they always coincide with extreme financial and economic headlines. These headlines describe events which change all our budgets, through six degrees of separation. Sometimes it’s an election, like John F.Kennedy or Franklin D. Roosevelt. Sometimes it’s the collapse of the Dow or an historic peak for a company like General Motors.
Back on 24th March, 2016 I wrote a cautionary tale about Mercury Retrograde as it will affect us throughout May and early June. As I write this, one day after the Transit of Mercury, the Panama Papers have been leaked in their entirety, online. The biggest share listing of all time, has also become official in London.
NASA has a list of every Transit of Mercury recorded in history.
It’s worth looking at what occurred in the 20th Century, through to the present, to see how this peculiar astrological pattern plays out. If it involves insider trading, oil prices, elections, crashes or other extremes, it tends to happen on or close to a Transit of Mercury.
Mercury rules agreements, negotiation, paperwork, declarations, contracts and all newspaper headlines. When Mercury appears to be moving backwards (or retrograde) these matters also go backwards and forwards. When this happens in the money signs, Taurus and Scorpio, there are big ripples for the world economy. When it happens in the rare pattern with the Sun called The Transit of Mercury, the ripples are massive – tidal waves that roll over us for years into the future.
The Transit of Mercury, November 14, 1907
Mercury Retrograde in Scorpio
The Panic of 1907 – also known as the 1907 Bankers’ Panic or Knickerbocker Crisis – was a United States financial crisis that ended up with a Dow Jones Industrial Average bottom of 53 recorded November 15th, 1907.
The Transit of Mercury, November 7, 1914
Mercury Retrograde in Scorpio
The Great Financial Crisis of 1914, has been called the most severe systemic crisis London has ever experienced. The 1914 bottom for stocks occurred on November 2, 1914
The Transit of Mercury, May 8, 1924
Mercury Retrograde in Taurus
The Soviet Union suspends trade with Germany
The Transit of Mercury, November 10, 1927
Mercury Retrograde in Taurus
General Motors declares the largest dividend in history
The Transit of Mercury, May 11, 1937
Mercury Retrograde in Taurus
The Recession of 1937–38 begins.
The Transit of Mercury, November 11, 1940
Mercury Retrograde in Scorpio
Franklin D. Roosevelt is re-elected U.S. President on November 5th. This gives the green light to The Lend-Lease policy. The United States goes on to supply Free France, the United Kingdom, the Republic of China, and later the USSR and other Allied nations with food and oil. A total of $50.1 billion (equivalent to $659 billion today) was given.
The Transit of Mercury, November 14, 1953
Mercury Retrograde in Scorpio
The year of the Iranian coup d’état, the Abadan crisis, oil nationalization and the Anglo-Persian Oil Company. Mosaddeq was tried in November 1953 and given a three-year prison sentence.
The Transit of Mercury, May 6, 1957
Mercury Retrograde in Taurus
The Suez Crisis. On 14th May, petrol rationing ends.
The Transit of Mercury, November 7, 1960
Mercury Retrograde in Scorpio
On November 8, John F. Kennedy beats Richard M. Nixon in the American presidential election. Kennedy is elected to beat the 1960 recession, and does so with deficit spending.
The Transit of Mercury, May 9, 1970
Mercury Retrograde in Taurus
The Kent State shootings take place on May 4 and The Dow collapses – the greatest one-day drop in seven years, falling 2.6% to 714. On Friday, May 22, the Dow hit a seven-year low, and New York Stock Exchange President Bernard Lasker tells President Nixon that the country was “five minutes till midnight of another 1929.”
The Transit of Mercury, November 10, 1973
Mercury Retrograde in Scorpio
The year of the first Oil Shock. November 5 – Arab producers announce a 25% output cut. A further 5% cut is threatened. November 23 – The Arab embargo is extended to Portugal, Rhodesia and South Africa.
November 27 – President Nixon signs the Emergency Petroleum Allocation Act.
The Transit of Mercury, November 13, 1986
Mercury in Scorpio
On November 14, Wall Street figure Ivan Boesky pleads guilty to insider trading and agrees to pay a $100 million fine. Boesky Day, as the SEC would later call it, was crucial in exposing a nationwide scandal at the heart of the Eighties Wall Street boom.
The Transit of Mercury, November 6, 1993
Mercury Retrograde in Scorpio
November 5 – The Parliament of the United Kingdom passes the Railways Act 1993, bringing the privatisation of British Rail. November 17– The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) passes the legislative houses in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
The Transit of Mercury, November 15, 1999
Mercury Retrograde in Scorpio
On 14 November 1999 Chinese and American negotiators signed a historic trade deal that paves the way for China to join the World Trade Organisation.
The Transit of Mercury, May 7, 2003
Mercury Retrograde in Taurus
On May 7, benchmark U.S. crude reaches $95.34, the lowest price of the year.
The Transit of Mercury, November 8, 2006
Mercury Retrograde in Scorpio
A £3 million insider trading scheme begins in London. It will trigger Operation Tabernula, the biggest investigation in UK history.
The Transit of Mercury, May 9, 2016
Mercury Retrograde in Taurus
The world’s biggest oil company looks set to join the London Stock Exchange in the biggest share listing of all time. Saudi Arabia is planning to sell a 5 per cent stake in its £1.7 trillion oil giant Saudi Aramco to investors – raising £85 billion. The shares are set to be listed in London as well as in New York and Hong Kong. The Panama Papers database goes public in the largest release of offshore company information, of all time.
Watching the Transit of Mercury
If you can imagine Mercury the Messenger of the Gods as a financial journalist or market trader – and imagine him running backwards, and also on the spot – you’ll get some idea of the way May and June 2016 are going to pan out.
What is truly unusual about life now, is that we are just two years away from the arrival of Uranus in Taurus on May 16th, 2018 and that is going to bring the biggest global financial revolution of our lives.
Watch The Panama Papers and Saudi Arabia. Watch the new Mayor of London, too. He was elected on The Transit of Mercury.
I am trying to sell one property that i own and want to buy another property out of my state for my daughter to help her with her college goals. My tenant wants to buy to property i am selling but is dealing with some roadblocks. I would like to know if the sale to my tenants has promise or if i should look for alternate buyers. Also looking at a change of residence for myself once i have completed these transactions due to a break with my former partner. I have followed you for quite a while and am amazed at your accuracy. Thanks very much!
Thank you for your feedback – it’s great to hear that the astrology is so accurate for you. Okay, so we have a ton of retrogrades at the moment, and two are in the money and property signs, Taurus and Scorpio. This is not your fault, of course, but wheels are turning backwards and forwards right around the world/your country/your town and so you are dealing with stop-start progress. You may want to see where everything ends up from June 7th as this Transit of Mercury is a weird one. Venus, Uranus, Minerva and Psyche in Cancer in your chart tell me that you want to look at the final week of June through third week of July when the answers will come. Cancer rules both your property and your daughter in your chart, and you are going to be astounded at one insight/solution/piece of news after another, come July.
Interesting.
Thank you
Hi Jessica
I am in the process of developing real estate that needs town approval in june and july. I have been following your jupiter and mercury posts. i am not sure i have good enough aspects to pull this off and wonder if i would be better off withdrawing?
thanks
Jean
Real estate is complex because it always involves another person (and another horoscope). Without knowing that, it’s hard to call. Did you know the horoscope of the city/town in question is also relevant? Which part of the world are you talking about? If it’s China or Britain, then it’s complicated!
the town is in Illinois USA
Okay. Well, to state the obvious, you are in a very hotly contested election and as America currently has a ton of retrogrades in Scorpio affecting both the Democrats and Republicans – wheels spin backwards and forwards until August. Nobody knows what’s fixed, firm or final and that affects local finance and national economies and budgets. It certainly affects people’s choices about property. This has a domino effect on you. Read the politics and read the impact on how people save, spend or earn – closely. It’s affecting everything and it does trickle over to you.
Hi Jessica, I have natal sun in Taurus at 12 degrees, MC at 4 degrees and Saturn at 24 degrees. What can I expect?
Mercury Retrograde works best when you allow May through early June to be the rehearsal for negotiation (it may take a while) and the first, second and even third draft of a tax return (for example). Check refunds on undelivered packages and track your mail. Don’t even tip coins into the bank machine without checking it actually takes coins, in the first place!
Jessica, First of all, thanks for always responding to questions! I am finding your astrology very accurate and useful! Unfortunately, I only have Saturn in Taurus, which is me to a T unfortunately, I do have a tendency to self-doubt and self-sabotage and have a wee fear of finances (good & bad) that holds me back. Have been very overwhelmed, especially these past few weeks with work and family things. Hoping there is a positive respite in the near future both load-wise and financially. Also, I have the Sun in Sagittarius and I’m hoping that will shine on a certain publishing project I’ve been working on for years. I would really love a career change for the better! Any thoughts? Thanks in advance, C
You will be extremely successful either with this project or another, by September. Watch the offers, options and opportunities in May and jump on them.
Thank You!
Hello Jessica,
A Capricorn, I live in a snug little stone cottage in Central Victoria, Australia, and everything is tickety-boo. Now two of my children are agitating to get me to move north of Sydney, an area I know nothing about, and where property prices are three times or four times as high. This would stretch me financially to the very limit. I’m torn between staying put where I know every nook and cranny, and being closer to the only family I have on this continent. Any suggestions?
Perhaps I should have added that I’m a creative – painter and writer – and thrive on solitude, but might come out of my shell if I found myself in the right company. K
Born with Jupiter, Bacchus and Salacia in Sagittarius, the sign which rules travel, you are a natural wanderer and explorer. A compromise would be frequent stays in Sydney. This is so easy these days, as you can let out your cottage to creatives like you, or exchange it. I am sure you can find somewhere similar in Sydney without the huge price rise you are concerned about. Think about that option and see what comes. You’re a born traveller and actually, you have an affinity with people from one foreign country in particular, which never seems foreign to you at all. If you want to connect and reach out, try that culture or place.
Thank you, Jessica, but I’m totally bamboozled now. I can’t think of a more territorial person than myself, rather risk- and of late- travel averse. For aesthetic reasons alone I need to inhabit my own space. And while there has been much about a certain foreigner, or foreign influence, in my horoscope of late – it is hard for me to understand this point, as I’m a foreigner myself. In other words, everybody around me is as foreign to me as I am to them. Hmm. But thank you all the same. Time will tell. K
Thank you. If everybody around you is as foreign to you, as you are to them, then you just know the cycle is taking place! You can inhabit your own space and also travel. It’s a shame you have become travel-averse of late, but see what comes.
Hi Jessica,
You answered a question for me before re publishing, blogging and writing. When is the earliest optimum time to launch something this year, September? I can spend my time now rehearsing and fine tuning skills for a launch. Thanks in advance
Avoid November 2016 first of all – Saturn at 16 Sagittarius (publishing) will oppose your natal Saturn at 16 Gemini (writing) and that’s way too hard, stuck, slow and demanding. You are over the first reality check which is Saturn conjunct your natal Neptune at 7 Sagittarius, so that’s one milestone out of the way. Juno at 22 Sagittarius is the next big hurdle to cross, and that happens when Saturn goes to 22 Sagittarius in January 2017. I mention all this because books and websites are long-term things and you are doing all this on the Saturn cycle through your Ninth House of publishing opposite your Gemini factors in your Third House of writing. There are no fast and easy solutions, yet you will learn a tremendous amount. Best year for getting stuff out there? When Jupiter goes into Sagittarius, from November 2018.
Hello Jessica,
Really find your astrology articles and the website interesting and helpful. Have the sun at 14 degrees Gemini. Mars at 8 degrees Sagittarius and Saturn at 4 degrees Taurus. Been a rough couple of years. Desperately trying to switch jobs. Been on a lot of interviews, but cannot quite seem to seal the deal. Understand the Mercury retrograde suggests a slow down. When am I likely to see some fruit for my labor?
Thank you. Pluto has been conjunct your Juno in Capricorn. This can only happen every quarter century so no wonder this all feels like two years of extreme testing. The good news is, Pluto is slowly moving off Juno in your chart. You may want to hit ‘Search’ to find out more about this asteroid in your chart and how she functions in the ambitious, career-minded sign of Capricorn. Search about Pluto too. With Juno at 13 Capricorn and Diana at 16 Virgo your odds get better all the time. In fact, if you can move away from success/glory/ambition/the top into the more modest goals of service/duty/routine/work/cog in the wheel – then you will be very excited in June when Jupiter at 16 Virgo sits on your Diana at 16 Virgo and you will have the chance for an independent working life, oozing with freedom, that can only come every 12 years. Hit ‘Diana’ on Search too. Whatever comes in June offers you the chance to (quote the B52’s) ‘Roam when you want to’ in your everyday working world.
Hi Jessica, great blog. Wondering how this transit is going to affect me. Please give me some clarity. Thanks so much for your time and insight.
Thank you. You were born with the IC at 14 Taurus – it is also known as the Immum Coeli. If that birth time is accurate, then there would have been a new story about your money, house, possessions, apartment, family near 15th April. This story will be rewritten following delays or changes from 19th May to 26th May, so make allowances for that.