Famous Mercury Retrograde in Leo Events

by Robert Wilkinson

UPDATE: If you find this article while looking for info on Mercury Retrograde in Leo in 2006, please go to this article (as well as part one) on my new site at Aquarius Papers - Global Astrology. While you're there, take a look around, since there are many great articles that can help you understand these very weird times we live in.

The following is from Chapter 8 of my definitive work "A New Look At Mercury Retrograde," currently rare and out of print but soon to be available again via this web site. As is has not been in print for several years, I thought you might find some of what has happened in previous Mercury retrograde in Leo periods very interesting. Since not every year has Mercury retrograde in Leo, the following list of events may show even more definite patterns than retrograde periods as a whole.

During a Mercury retrograde period, I started to wonder if there was a consistent pattern to events that occur during Mercury retrograde periods. I discovered some historic Mercury retrograde events that intrigued me, such as women receiving the right to vote in Utah territory during a Mercury retrograde in 1870, or the great Jonas Salk announcing his breakthrough polio vaccine in 1953. Well-known fugitives are often caught during a Mercury retrograde.

Other occurrences disturbed me, for a Mercury retrograde indicates something seemingly unresolvable, or destined to reappear, again and again through history. This seemed to apply to events such as the outlawing of slavery in this country, the liberation of Buchenwald, Three Mile Island and the Camp David accords, as well as oil spills and nuclear tests too numerous to mention. It is truly a shame that the core issues these events represent were not resolved conclusively when they occurred, and that we may be forced to reexamine these issues time and time again.

Of course, that these events occurred during Mercury retrograde may indicate that they are collective issues of long standing and that they need a constant and regular review. Perhaps the social-spiritual dimension of Mercury retrograde makes it necessary for us to have a constant and ongoing public and open dialogue about our collective shadows. There are important things that come up, in the "real world" as well as philosophically and spiritually, during Mercury retrograde periods. These periods may be the times nature has built into the larger plan so we can take a new look at how we are (or are not) dealing with larger, but important, issues and assumptions. This evolution through reflection after the fact seems to be an important part of our collective process of coming out of the darkness into the light.

In this partial list, if an event occurred within a day of when Mercury was stationary direct or stationary retrograde, these are indicated by an (SD) or an (SR). When the event occurred on the cusp, both signs are listed.

Macbeth, King of Scotland, was slain by the son of King Duncan, 1057; Leo
Columbus set sail from Spain on the voyage that would take him to the Americas for the first time, 1492; Leo (SD)
Thoreau published Walden, describing his experiences at Walden Pond, 1854; Leo
President Andrew Johnson suspended Secretary of War Stanton; sparked first impeachment proceeding against a US President in history, 1867; Leo
Warner Brothers premiered Vitaphone sound-on-disc movie system, 1926; Leo
Gertrude Ederle became first woman to swim the English Channel, 1926; Leo
Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly non-stop across US, 1932; Leo (SD)
Wiley Post completed first around-the-world solo flight, 1933; Leo
Albert Einstein signed a letter to FDR urging creation of an atomic weapons research program, 1939; Leo
All-India Congress demands total independence from Great Britain, 1940; Leo (SR)
Nazis confiscate French art treasures, 1940; Leo
Hitler orders preparation for British invasion; Battle of Britain begins, 1940; Leo
Trans-Pacific mail service inaugurated, 1940; Leo
American Football League formed with 6 teams, 1940; Leo
ERA failed in the US Senate, 1946; Leo (SR)
60 nations sign World Health Organization charter, 1946; Leo (SR)
First underwater atomic test at Bikini Atoll, 1946; Leo
Atomic Energy Commission established, 1946; Leo
President Truman signed Fulbright Scholarship Program into law, 1946; Leo
Bermuda drops its 38-year ban on private autos, 1946; Leo
First sale of radioactive isotopes to a private institute (a hospital), 1946; Leo
Britain creates "forbidden zone" in NW Australia for nuclear tests, 1952; Leo
Kashmir accepts semi-independent union with India, 1952; Leo
Population Reference Bureau study release warns US population growth is "mining our fields, forests, and water resources at a suicidal rate," 1953; Leo (SR)
UNICEF becomes permanent UN agency, 1953; Leo
Korean armistice signed, 1953; Leo
Iranian 12 day heat wave ends after temperatures of up to 181 degrees F. causing 158 deaths; floods then cause over 700 deaths, 1953; Leo/Cancer
China apologizes to Nepal for attacking its border "mistakenly," 1960; Leo (SR)
Israel announces completion of first nuclear reactor, 1960; Leo (SR)
A record 442 Americans die in auto accidents over July 4 weekend, 1960; Leo (SR)
USSR conducts underground nuclear test, 1965; Virgo/Leo (SR)
Draft quotas go up sharply for September and October 1965; Virgo/Leo (SR)
President Johnson denies there is a "substantial split" in US opinion about Vietnam, 1965; Leo
Watts riots begin in Los Angeles; 34 die, over 1100 injured, 1965; Leo
Gemini 5 astronauts lose power, regain it the next day, and go on to set a longevity mark, 1965; Leo
President Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act, 1965; Leo
Fighting, looting, shooting, and firebomb riots occur in Chicago, Brooklyn, Cleveland, Omaha, Kalamazoo, Lansing and Troy, NY, 1966; Leo (SR)
Argentina begins talks with Great Britain about the Falkland Islands, 1966; Leo
Guatemala gives amnesty to political prisoners arrested since November 1960, 1966; Leo
USSR underground nuclear tests, 1966; Leo
Associated Press releases details of Tuskeegee syphilis study, where hundreds of blacks were deliberately not treated for syphilis for decades, 1972; Leo (SR)
FBI opens investigations into the Committee to Re-elect the President's break-in at the Democratic Party headquarters at the Watergate hotel, 1972; Leo
The last US combat troops leave Vietnam; 43,500 service personnel remain, 1972; Leo
Nixon refuses to testify, denies access to papers, 1973; Leo (SR)
Bahamas becomes independent, ending 300 years of British rule, 1973; Leo
1st US House Assassination Committee public hearings on MLK, 1978; Leo
US currency hits all-time low against the Mark, Swiss Franc, Yen, 1978; Leo
First successful trans-Atlantic balloon flight ended, 1978; Leo
A fire in a movie theater in Abadan, Iran kills 430; the government charges it was set by Muslim extremists; this led to massive violent demonstrations that eventually became the Iranian revolution, 1978; Leo
Pope John Paul I becomes Pope (dies after 34 days in office; murder rumored), 1978; Leo (SD)
US House Assassination Committee says a conspiracy was likely in JFK and MLK deaths, 1979; Leo (SR)
Somoza resigns as Nicaraguan President; Sandanistas take over after 7 week civil war killing 10,000 and leaving millions homeless, 1979; Leo (SR)
President Carter halts the withdrawal of last 32,000 troops in Korea until 1981, 1979; Leo
Government approval granted to allow public access to Nixon tapes, 1979; Leo
Steven Biko's family received out-of-court settlement for his death, 1979; Leo
Oil tanker sinks east of Barbados; Lloyds of London's largest maritime loss, $85 million, 1979; Leo
Nuclear Regulatory Commission report states Three Mile Island "was preventable despite...equipment failures and design inadequacies," 1979; Leo
5.9 earthquake in SF, strongest in 50 years; Mt. Etna in Italy erupts two times in three days, 1979; Leo
USSR announces nuclear test moratorium, 1985; Leo (SR)
US Defense Sec. Weinberger claims amidst Pentagon denials that the Salvadorian army had retaliated against those who killed 6 US citizens in June, 1985; Leo
NBC, CBS, ABC refuse to air psa's on behalf of teenage birth control, 1985; Leo
Montgomery Ward announces end of its 113 year catalog operation, 1985; Leo
Delta airline jumbo jet crash at D/FW airport kills 137, 1985; Leo
Australia, New Zealand, 6 other nations declare the S. Pacific a nuclear-free zone, 1985; Leo
Two Soviet astronauts revive a frozen derelict space station, 1985; Leo
Japan Airlines crash kills 520, worst single place disaster in history, 1985; Leo
Union Carbide toxic pesticide gas leak in West Virginia injures 6, sends 134 to hospital, 1985; Leo
Navy lifts ban on new contracts with General Dynamics imposed for misconduct, 1985; Leo
US nuclear weapons overseas storage places inadvertently identified, 1986; Leo (SR)
"Titanic" wreckage viewed for the first time since 1912 sinking, 1986; Leo
Indiana court gives 14 year-old AIDS patient Ryan White the right to go to school, 1986; Leo
Tax reform group releases study claiming 42 large, profitable US corporations paid no taxes 1982-1985, 1986; Leo
Gorbachev extends nuclear test moratorium, 1986; Leo
Public report released that 2/3 of underground waste dumps in Ontario, Canada, pose a threat to human health, 1986; Leo
NIH experts say most pain sufferers are either over or under-medicated, 1986; Leo
8 Soviet republics declare or re-affirm transitional or complete independence: Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Armenia, Georgia, Ukraine, Byelorussia, Moldavia, 1991; Leo
Australia, Scandinavian nations, European Community recognize new Baltic nations, 1991; Leo
Communist 74-year reign of USSR ended, 1991; Leo (SD)
Natural Resources Defense Council report that over 2000 US beaches were closed in 1991 because of raw sewage or other pollutants, 1992; Leo
Agreement by Czech and Slovak Republics to separate, 1992, Leo
Film of "Tailhook" sex abuse disclosed, 1992; Leo
Canadian study links drinking cows milk with juvenile diabetes, 1992; Leo
Chinese airliner explodes, killing 106, injuring 26, 1992; Leo
Iraq reasserts sovereignty over Kuwait, 1992; Leo
Chinese stock market riots; more than 1 million people involved, 1992; Leo (SD)

There are significant events since then, of course, as Mercury was retrograde in Leo in 1998 and 1999, as well as 2004, now in 2005, and will be briefly in 2006. However, since the book was published in 1997, these periods are not covered in the above list. When it's time for a new edition, I'll update it. Until then, I'll try to make it available as soon as possible as an ebook.

© Copyright 2006 Robert Wilkinson. Last update: 8/27/2006; 10:54:06 AM.