Currently Mercury in Virgo is retrograde, it began its perceived backward motion August 23 with stationing effects beginning days prior as it hovered around 21 degrees in the sign of the maiden. It will turn direct on September 15th, one day after the New Moon in Virgo.

Mercury’s retrograde in Virgo is interesting, Mercury naturally possesses immense power here, ruling by domicile and exaltation, the psychopomp can settle in sweetly into the shifting earth temple. Adjusting to its mutable nature, even when retrograde, the tectonic plates aren’t as destructive say in Pisces where Mercury is in detriment. No, the powers of problem solving, juggling tasks, front loading bullet point lists, is Virgo’s superpower. So is the ability to be self-possessed. Virgo the Virgin, the Maiden, these archetypes are not what we immediately perceive, an untouched female, pure in her virginity. No, the purity exists within her heart, mind and her perception on the world. She is not possessed by the world and what it asks of her, including a partner, but views the world with an innocent eye, self-assured outwardly, and yet lacking real-world experience.

In many maiden mythologies, the maiden is challenged by a monster of sorts that seeks to corrupt this purity, such as Hades abducting Persephone and pulling her into the underworld. Yet it is this challenge, this cross-road of conflict, where the maiden finds inner strength, wisdom and her naive nature falls away.  Yet if she was to remain unchallenged, protected and insulated, never facing a darker night of the soul, she may find herself not ever seeking any friction, absent of growth, living forever young, incapable of navigating the arrows life can fling at us. 

Speaking of young, it was Carl Jung who surfaced the term of Puer or Puella aeternus, describing an adult male or female who has emotionally remained at a child-like level, assuming no responsibilities that come with the stages of maturity. Puer, boy, has a binary aspect, Puella, girl. The Puella or Puer is a perfect archetype for the Virgo maiden, denoting an eternal youthfulness that finds “adulting” " purely challenging and at times repulsive. This inner urge to drive the stages of maturity off are based in fears of disappointment, commitment, self-doubt.

The converse of the Puer is the shadow aspect the Senex (the old man, Saturn). The Senex represents the constricting of time, boundaries, and falling away of youth to old age. The Puer can represent unlimited possibilities, youth, passion and potential of growth. Often referred to as the “Peter Pan Syndrome,” never wanting to grow up, avoiding the perceived monotony of gray-scale maturation. The Senex, symbolizing responsibility, maturity, aging, control and rationality is often avoided by those who are puer-possessed.

Mercury’s retrograde can have us reflecting on these two archetypes within ourselves, especially since it is opposing Saturn in Pisces by whole sign. The opposition of two planets naturally has this built-in tension, Mercury opposite Saturn, Puer vs. Senex. Can they both co-exist with the desire to break long-standing templates?

Maybe during this retrograde period we are exploring areas within us that suffer emotional growth? Have we avoided personal challenges to mature deeper into our adulting, kept ourselves locked into repetitive patterns that unconsciously serve perpetual youth? Or has it been the inverse, we have been too serious, too rational, too constricted? With the Saturn opposition pressing down on this whole retrograde cycle, perhaps we are being called to install firewalls that keep us on a path of a deeper development, or this Mercury retrograde is exploring how to override the program.

This Mercury retrograde may have surfaced long established patterns that keep us locked in from fully living in the present moment, fearing future failures.

Puer and Senex, these are inverse shadows of one another. The point is never to absolve the shadow completely but recognizing where both exist within us, and if one is dominant, maybe we reflect during this retrograde how the two can meet and co-exist. We cannot forever face the world through the Senex eyes, losing hunger and passion to keep building joy, but there are moments where constriction around our unfettering desire for freedom actually grounds us long enough to fully comprehend what real freedom looks like. The Senex brings us discipline and keeps us on the path.

Mercury will remain retrograde until September 15th, hover around the 8 degree mark for a few days and will then complete his journey through Virgo by the first week of October. The turning direct of Mercury occurs within the same 24 hours of  a New Moon in Virgo, on the 14th. It may be a slow start, but within days it should seem noticeably more clear, thoughts more clarified. This begins a new seeding cycle for Mercury and your Virgo house. New Moons aren’t so disimiliar from the archetype of the Maiden or Puella/Puer, all contain the potential of emergence and new beginnings, but it is the follow through to beginning a cycle and seeing it unto its full fruition that is crucial for ultimate success. What currently is looking for an emotional upgrade, in turn a deepening of maturity, a silvering of the temples? Has Peter Pan found his first gray hair?