Mercury Retrograde On Capricorn 24: A Woman Entering A Convent

Mercury is retrograde on Capricorn 24: A WOMAN ENTERING A CONVENT – the Sun was on this degree yesterday. Are you feeling the need to get away from it all? To spend some time contemplating? Meditating? Looking at your place in life, in the world, in relationships?

There are things to confess that enrich the world, and things that need not be said. Joni Mitchell

When you’re not feeling holy your loneliness tells you you’ve sinned. Leonard Cohen

It is not easy to be a nun. It is a life of sacrifice and self-abnegation. It is a life against nature. Poverty, chastity and obedience are extremely difficult. But there are always the graces if you will pray for them. Kathryn Hulme

I have been studying how I may compare the prison where I live unto the world. William Shakespeare

The man who has begun to live more seriously within begins to live more simply without. Ernest Hemingway

This Symbol shows the ability, or the need, for spending time in contemplation and dedication to one’s spiritual life or to a higher cause. At times, you will have to drop the demands of society and the lower, base nature, to concentrate on more spiritual, higher, or meaningful things in life. There may be a need to get away from the pressures of society and time contemplating your inner thoughts and values. This may be a lonely passage and you may be disenchanted with the pressures and ways of society. There needs to be times of inner work, just as for outer work. Dedicating oneself to the big picture can bring rewards, but hiding yourself away too much can lead to losses on many levels.

Spiritual retreat. Losing the libido. Renouncing things. Taking vows. Marriage with God. Longing for love of a higher kind. Sexual retreat. Sacrifice. Opting out. Maintaining faith.

The Caution: Self sacrifice to win sympathy. Complete neglect of self and hiding away. Crisis of faith. Feeling devoid of emotion. Lost and alone. Self denial. Loss of hope.

This painting is a wonderful piece from a long-time friend of mine, Gretel Pinniger (AKA Madam Lash) – it’s a portrait of Australia’s first saint – Mary McKillop, Australia’s first and only saint (and a female) – whose birthday it is today. Mary has both the Sun and Mercury on The Woman Entering A Convent degree (no kidding)… behind her is Gretel as The Immaculate Lash.

Are you feeling this? And if so, which archetype of The Woman Entering The Convent do you most identify with?