This week, Mercury stations direct after its three-week retrograde. Mercury retrogrades happen fairly often — three times a year (yes, it seems like a lot more), though they are all a bit quirky. The days around the station (change of direction) are the ones to watch the most carefully. When Mercury stations direct in Pisces early Wednesday morning (in all US time zones, late morning in the UK), the effect may be subtle, though it’s something that can have real manifestations.

These might be emotional or mental; this event is an invitation to perceive carefully, and to use your own mind with discernment. Notice what you’re thinking, notice why if you can, and make sure that you verify your perceptions against one or two other sources. Mercury is in one of its ‘opposite signs’ (it’s more at home in Virgo).

At the same time, Mars is still retrograde in Virgo about 11 more days. It’s coming to the end of its 10-week retrograde opposite two slow-moving planets in early Pisces — Neptune and Chiron. This arrangement, too, suggests employing the mental tool of a reality check. Delay important decisions as long as you can, mainly because Mercury’s station suggests that additional information is pending.

The station of Mars, once we get there, will suggest different causes and directions of action. Things that seem important or even essential today will have another cast on Wednesday and yet another once Mars stations. Patience and awareness will go a long way in this environment. Minimize conflict rather than promote it; the conflict itself will count for little benefit in this kind of climate.

Mercury stationing in Pisces will have an impressionistic or emotional quality. Notice your environment, in all forms of that word: the people and things around you, what you eat, the energy fields if you’re able to perceive them. ‘Energy fields’ encompasses anything from the emotional vibes to the tone quality of conversation to what you may notice on the subtle planes. With Mercury swimming around in Pisces, your dreams may be particularly revealing. As we often suggest, keep a notebook handy.

Notice, as well, your relationship to the past. Pisces is famous for its relationship to everything that we tend to forget, or want to forget. However, you may be remembering, so — remember. Notice what ‘comes up’.

Another quality might be a turning of the tide.

A turning tide really does move water — and the things in it, whether they are nourishing or toxic. There is replenishment of some things and dilution of others in balance. You could also call finding balance ‘getting clear’ on things. And in the case of Mercury stationing direct in Pisces, getting clear means letting the water run. Imagine you’ve poured dye into a pool of water. To get the water back to clear, you either have to let the water run for a while, or gradually drain out the old and add new water.

This is slow, subtle action, not a sudden reaction. Be receptive. Allow the past to come to awareness, then drain away when you’re ready.

Mercury and especially Mars retrograde may have had you diligently searching inward for parts of yourself you need to recognize and heal. Chiron, opposite Mars in early Pisces, has been lending a helping hand in that. And both Mercury and Chiron are associated with Virgo — where Mars is still digging up whatever needs to be washed away. That’s a lot of opposite sign energy on a delicate, long-term mission.

The process is nowhere near finished, but if you allow yourself to hear what this ‘other’ is trying to say, you may find that riding the tide really is the only option – or at least, the most efficient one.

The moment of a Mercury station often has the quality of ‘the truth comes out’. In this case, it may be a subtle truth — that means noticing it will be a conscious act.