Shadows, Shadow Play

Toying with a simple pen and ink depiction, I was trying to convey the messages of Mercury in its apparent retrograde pattern, and what that means, how it plays out, and what the future holds by way of looking at the past.

The timing is what interests me. The messages have largely been familiar, and while my earliest teachers talked about how “Mercury in retrograde is bad,” I’ve grown to understand it is a natural time, and can be useful.

The image, I started with a simple line drawing of the alchemical glyph for Mercury, the symbol I associate with the planet. It looks like a Venus — or female — symbol with a little set of horns sprouting from the head. It is supposed to be a winged helmet, associated with Hermes, the messenger of the gods, later known as Mercury. Although somewhat distanced, Loki is similar in form and function. Personally, I like the character Puck from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream as a mercurial fellow. That symbol, though, a simple line drawing, small circles, stick coming out the bottom, a cross bar, then, the little ears on the top, again symbolic of Hermes’ winged helmet. Mercury had wings on his sandals.

“Fly monkeys, fly!”

Sorry, wrong mythos. Anyway, the glyph? Venus with little antenna, for communications.

Shadows, Shadow Play

June 13, Mercury arrived at 16° Cancer. Mercury crawls up to 26° Cancer, turning retrograde on 6/29. Mercury retrogrades back to 16° Cancer on 7/23, staying at 16° until 7/28. Mercury doesn’t arrive back at 26° Cancer until 8/24 (coincidental with the Sun going into Virgo).

Shadows, Shadow Play

I’ve got a pepper plant thriving with my abuse, overwatering, drought, too much attention, no care, and similar inconsistent behaviors. It’s about two feet tall, and the shade in the direct sun is negligible, but as the afternoon light dips lower on the horizon? That plant can cast a shadow up to a few feet long if only for a short time. The shadow is ephemeral yet still exists. It can appear longer, taller than the object causing the shadow itself. The shadow of Mercury can extend well beyond the known limits of the actual, observed retrograde. This Mercury in Retrograde?

the Portable Mercury Retrograde

Operation Bounce House

The end cap filled with the tetralogy of Dungeon Crawler books certainly caught my attention. I checked the first one out from the library, read a few pages, realized it wasn’t exactly something for me at the time, but it was the heir apparent to much of the formative literature in my background. Think: Dirk Gently and Hitchhiker’s Guide, Myth Adventrues, et al. Others, too, of the same vein. Or similar? Sure. Then, looking in a bookstore, I saw this title, advertised as a standalone. Took two tries to get it, but the writing is excellent, and the author’s own backstory is thoroughly engaging. Plus, rather than laboriously starting a series of epic tomes, it’s a great introduction to the author’s style and pacing, diction and voice. When I looked ahead at my schedule, I realized there was going to be air traffic delays, and that having a good book to read, in hand, very important. Critical, in my mind.

Operation Bounce House

Classical space opera tropes with a modernized update?

“I was reminded of something Grandpa Lewis had once said: “Miserable people are fond of laying blame on someone else for their problems.” Page 229.

Author is brilliant. The graphic design and bright colors? The books make an outstanding addition to a shelf — after reading.

Operation Bounce House

As a stand-alone? Fun, funny, but thought-provoking introduction to the author’s canon.