Rush Limbaugh’s Terrible Awful Mercury Retrograde

So you think YOU are having a bad Mercury Retrograde? Consider what is going on for Rush Limbaugh!

The degrees where a planet appears to stop and head backwards (turning Retrograde) or ends its apparent backtracking (called the Stations) receive an extra blast from the planet as it pivots, with a sensitivity lasting for a time after the Retrograde. If such a degree makes a strong contact to your chart, chances are you will see a noticeable effect in your life, probably in the area described by the house where the Retrograde occurs.

Rush Limbaugh is getting a double-whammy from the current Mercury Retrograde. In his Second House of net worth and values, Mercury backtracks from one of his natal planets to another. It started March 12 at his Eris (the new planet way past Pluto, named for Mars’s bitchy sister) and ends April 4 at his Moon (related to women and the public). Eris points to chaos, discord and rivalry. In Aries, it can indicate conditions associated with strong and/or angry women. His Moon in Pisces could have made him a sympathetic person (and you could say it is related to his drug addiction), but it seems instead to be twisted into an imagined sense of being a victim himself. It is at the Degree of Sorrow. He will be the sorry one when Mercury parks there in early April. By then, he will see consequences of his actions (his karma). Already his national advertisers are abandoning his radio show in droves. Excellence in Broadcasting – really? The man cannot refer to a Feminist without calling her his denigrating epithet, FemiNazi. The chicks are coming home to roost for his long history of misogyny.

Limbaugh was born* at the moment of a one-two Retrograde punch. Saturn (planet of responsibility, boundaries and karma) turned Retrograde 12 hours earlier and Mercury (the planet of communication) was less than two hours from ending its Retrograde period. Furthermore, these two planets were in a grating connection called a square, which often brings problems. Some people with such a combination would be tight-lipped. In his case, it shows his judgmental side and indicates lessons he will learn the hard way from what he says. During the lead up to his Fluke fiasco, while Congress heard testimony only from men about women’s reproductive health, the wild card planet, Uranus, made aggravating contacts to his natal Mercury-Saturn square. Now it is moving toward his Eris, which is in a square to his natal Uranus, and will activate a potential he had all along for sudden and surprising trouble with women. The time has arrived.

Later this spring, Venus (a money planet) pivots at the end of June at the degree of Gemini that is square to his Moon. These are the two planets most associated with women, so his troubles with women, resulting in an unfavorable opinion by the public and difficult financial impact, are far from over. Also across the coming year, Chiron (an asteroid nicknamed The Wounded Healer) will visit his Jupiter three times (March 23, Sept. 6 and Jan. 19, 2013) due to its back-and-forth Retrograde dance. Chiron indicates weak links and hurts as well as the possibility of healing them. Jupiter is related to broadcasting as well as humor and exaggeration. He might be able to turn this situation around eventually but that would require some humility or laughing at himself, qualities he seems to lack. In his birth chart, Venus is rising (which often shows a strong self-love), followed by Mars (a strong self-centered focus) and then Jupiter (accounting for his large size as his delight hearing himself pontificate).

He has not demonstrated an ability to learn his lesson about judgmentalism and boundary violations. Back in the fall of 2003 (numerologically a 5 year, like 2012), he got in trouble for badmouthing Philadelphia’s black quarterback Donovan McNabb. Limbaugh had to resign his dream job of being an ESPN football commentator. Ironically, this occurred exactly the same week when he addressed a luncheon of broadcasters in – of all places – Philadelphia and the same week his housekeeper blew the whistle on his illegal drug purchases. This was just past a New Moon at the degree of his natal Saturn (a month for his come-uppance) AND the Saturn and Chiron positions of the moment were opposite each other (a straining connection showing a time for karmic wounds).

If only Rush had an astrologer. He could have been advised to use awareness of precarious times when he needs to counteract his natural tendencies that get him into trouble. This presumes he can heed warnings to keep his big mouth shut!

More about Mercury Retrograde.

* chart data, rated AA by AstroDataBank: Jan. 12, 1951, 7:50 am CST, Cape Girardeau, MO - see their extensive biography!