HOLE 13: Gut Feeling, or Just a Mood? (Mercury Retrograde in Cancer)

Everybody says trust your gut. Sounds cool, but: which gut? The one from this morning or the one from tonight, because lately they don't agree.

Mercury is Rx in Cancer, the moodiest water sign there is, and stays there for almost a month, until around the 25th. It drags your thinking down out of your head and into your belly. Meanwhile Mars catches Uranus at three degrees of Gemini around July 2nd and 3rd: loud, electric, all in the head. The exact opposite pull.

So we go down. Cancer rules the gut, the Moon rules Cancer, and the Moon is also your moods, which means the thing that hands you your deepest knowing is the same thing that hands you your 11pm spiral. Same planet, running both.

The whole hole: how do you tell a real gut feeling from a passing mood. No tidy answer, but a usable test, and two exercises to run while Mercury is backwards.

Go down. Look. Come back up. ⊙

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Transcript

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This is the Uranian rabbit hole, and I'm Barrett. I'm an astrologer, and what I actually do is hand people a flashlight and point it at themselves. This is a voice from the dark. Come on in. I'm figuring out where the light switch is myself. Trust your intuition. Sounds beautiful, right? Trust your intuition. And everybody loves to say it. Or you know, go with your gut. But what actually is the gut? Like, do you know? And where does it live? And do you even have one? And who runs it? That is the question of this week. And actually, for me, it is the question I've been asking myself since forever. And the even more important question is: how do you know? How do I know? How do we know that this famous gut feeling isn't just another mood, like a one-off moment kind of thing? Okay, astrological background, because we always choose the theme here based on astrology at the Uranian approach and in the matching rabbit hole. The astrology. Mercury just went retrograde in the sign of Cancer. And that is the moodiest water sign there is. And Mercury stays retrograde for almost a month until around the 25th, I think it is. Meaning, Mercury in Cancer is dragging your thinking, Mercury, out of your head into your belly cancer. Gut feeling. So let's figure out what the gut feeling even means and go down rabbit hole number 13 together. And let's start with the classic of what you're supposed to do in a mercury retrograde. I'm sure you know by now. When mercury goes retrograde, meaning it seemingly walks backward, which by the way happens three times a year, and it always lasts for three or four weeks. So it's kind of common, right? So during a Mercury retrograde, any Mercury retrogrades, the astrology books tell us to re-everything, rethink, right? Re-read the contract, for example, before you sign it. And of course, also the famous text you're gonna wanna send to your ex. Also, do not announce stuff you wanna do during a Mercury retrograde. And me personally, of course, I'm about to sign a million contracts during this exact window, which is yeah, challenging, but egal. I don't want to do the standard retrograde here this time. First and foremost, because Mercury retrograde in cancer works differently, and then also because there is a second thing, a second transit going on right now. And that one is arguably the either bigger one, the bigger transit in the sky. Because around July 2nd and 3rd, Mars speeds up, it's the faster-moving planet to catch up to Uranus, and they meet at three degrees in the sign of Gemini. They form a so-called conjunction, or we can call it a collision, maybe that's the better word of the energies that meet, because Mars is our ego and will and drive, and it's kind of fighty and fisty, Marsy, and Uranus is the rebel. It's the planet of surprises and rabbits and also insights and light bulbs and electricity. And if they meet, you know, the Marzi Fighty and the electric one in the sign of Gemini, which is all about the head and mind games and quick little mind tricks, right? You can imagine the energy that we all feel in the sky. Mars brings the oomph and the urgency, and Uranus the surprise, and you get in the sign of Gemini like a restless, explosive, very, very nervous Gemini brainy energy, right? Which is almost the exact opposite feeling of our little Mercury going retrograde in the water sign Cancer, who is drowning our head and mind down in watery cancer territory. And the thing is, and it gets a little bit astrology again, that Gemini, the sign, is ruled, bossed around, right, by Mercury. So these two transits, the Mercury retrograde in Cancer and the Uranus Mars conjunction in Gemini, are talking to each other, are talking to you and me, to all of us, whether we like it or not. Now I want to be uranian about it, as always, and also a little bit Gemini. Gemini is curious, so I thought, why not serve this whole Mercury in Cancer a little bit more rebellious, curious, and instead of rereading the contracts, go at it a different way. Totally out of the head and into the gut. Mercury in cancer, head in the belly, and refeeling the brain, that very brain that lives in the belly, or connecting with it, or trying to connect with it, and ask this belly, this gut, the one thing that our regular brain can genuinely not answer. The Gretchen Frage. The big question. What is gut feeling really? What is intuition really? And how on earth, and I will say it again, I I said it in the beginning, how on earth can we tell it apart from a mood? And you can actually pause this whole podcast here and leave because I don't have a clear answer, I think. But I will try to get us a little bit closer. So, okay, what is the gut and who runs it? Fact is, cancer again governs the belly, the gut. The whole feeling world is cancer. Actually, all the water signs, but we're talking cancer, so let's stay right here. Because cancer rules over the stomach, also in medical astrology. And probably cancer might rule intuition, which is about the gut feeling. Why do we call it like that, right? So it's all the same thing. And then we go one step further and think about the fact, or maybe feel into the fact that cancer is ruled by the moon. And maybe that is the very problem right here, already built in, because the moon is or represents our feelings and mood. The moon actually is this inner barometer barometer barometer barometer. And now I lost the sentence. The moon is our inner, let's call it weather report or like a measure instrument of our moods, and the moods change fast. If you look at the actual moon in the sky, it looks different every day. It also is in a new sign, meaning in a new mood, every couple of days. The same is true for our feelings, for our moods, because feelings are fleeting, right? They come and go, and we seemingly didn't do anything, it just happens. And we kind of lose control over our moods and feelings, and maybe we drown in them, and that's called moody. Moody. So the moon is the god, and the moon is our moods. Same planet, that very thing that gives you your deep knowing intuition is the exact same thing that gives you your sudden moods. I call it this, you know, flat mouth attack where you feel super down because you saw a sad movie or you get high and happy, a little you know, happy burst of energy because maybe the dentist cancelled. I mean, okay, those mood examples have real reasons, but sometimes we feel the same low, kind of flat mouth energy with no sad movie attached, right? And the same might be true for a high, happy moment. So when people say, you know, trust your gut, my personal Capricorn compass inside goes, uh which gut exactly? The one from this morning or the one from last night or from the night before? Because they're all telling me opposite things, and they're all waving a hello red flag, look at me to get my attention. So maybe the gut and the mood do come from this very same source, and maybe you and I have to learn to tell them apart the intuition from the mood. And I mean if I look back at my at least school education, nobody kind of teaches us that, right? I mean it would be maybe a good suggestion if anybody is a teacher or close to a school. Next, I guess we need to examine Mercury a little bit, the so-called trickster. The astrology books call him the planet of the mind, which is true, because he's all about how you take in information, process it, think, learn, speak, I don't know, use your hands. Mercury rules over the hands, communicate, right? All brain stuff. Mercury is not intelligence exactly, I think, but it does involve brain work. And by the way, maybe go and check your own natal mercury placement in your chart, like check the sign and also the house Mercury is in to learn more about how your mind is wired, functions, how you learn, communicate, because not all uh Mercury's or minds are created equal. Mercury doesn't work the same way in every sign. For example, a mercury in an air sign is more logical, in an earth sign maybe more practical, and in a water sign more emotional, right? Those are just the basic, and then we have nuances, but maybe worth taking a look at your own mercury placement. So when mercury in the sky goes retrograde, like now in the water sign of cancer, which again rules the gut, the invite sounds kind of obvious. The headline could be feel your brain. And maybe we cannot solve this with the head, which is kind of a cruel Gemini joke, right? Because the mind, Mercury, wants to analyze the data, in this case, Mercury and Cancer, analyze the gut and talk it through. But the mind is a totally different organ than the gut. And the mind cannot just reach in there in the belly and pull the feelings out and examine them with logic. Because I think the second you grab a gut feeling with your brain, it kind of, I don't know, evaporates or turns into smoke and dust. We've all done it. You feel the answer, right? Very clear. And then you start thinking about it for a week. And then you have no idea anymore, no clue. The thinking kind of um ate the intuition, the knowing, the gut, and left it all kind of diffuse. And now what? I mean, is there a workshop for gut feeling, right? So if we can't think it, and we cannot trust every mood that calls itself gut feeling, then how the hell can we find the real deal intuition? How do I know which is which and which to trust? Is there a practice? I think yes, there sort of is. And I think that a mercury retrograde in cancer is like the perfect time to practice because it forces us to not only slow down mentally because backwards motion retrograde, but also enter cancer and the feeling stuff, the moodiness. A mercury in cancer is almost a contradiction in itself, if you think about it, right? Because a mercury in a water sign, especially cancer, the moody cancer, doesn't think the way a proper mercury or a sober mercury, an air mercury functions because moon ruled, because water, because emotional. So okay, here's the closest thing that I have got to a method, to the workshop. To me, a mood is loud, and it is about right now, and it wants me to do something this very second. It is immediate, right? It's almost like a little euphoric, even when it's negative or sad. So maybe I don't know, dramatic is the better word. Mood is really immediate. Like the brain has no say, and the gut feeling under underneath that's sitting underneath this mood, that in my opinion is the intuition. It is less excited, right? It is quieter and it doesn't want to like get your attention so urgent than this mood. And maybe a test is, and it's not an easy one, to um circle or feel or like single out the feeling that is still sitting there after your mood has completely changed and kind of calmed down, right? You were angry, then you were fine, then you were tired, then you were, I don't know, exhausted. And what is the same quiet thing that is still there in all of these three or four moods that I just mentioned? And that is the one. The intuition, the real deal gut feeling. It's the one that actually survives all these waves and moods. Because the waves and moods are just the moon doing moody stuff. So the practice for this whole Cancerian Mercury retrograde phase might be check in when a big feeling comes, right? Like a wave, right? And try not to move on it. Don't ignore it, but don't make the move. Like don't, you know, send the email, don't decide anything, don't do and announce anything, announce sorry, anything big. Sit on it instead, and then come back in a different mood and feel for it again. Because whatever is still standing after your internal barometer, now I've got it right, this inner you know, mood measuring tool changed. What's still standing, listen to that. And whatever evaporated the minute you you know cheered up, you were diving up from the wave of emotions, that was just a mood, but kind of disguised as intuition. Mercury Mercury retrograde is literally handing you the time to run these tests because you know, until the 25th it will be retrograde than cancer. So go for it. Personally, I'm actually team cancer rising. So all of this cancer retrograde Mercury exercise is landing directly on my own ascendant. It is very personal. And as a double Capricorn, sun and moon, I really have spent my whole life questioning my gut and demanding kind of proof instead, right? Which is funny because when you read the astrology books, the rising sign is your approach to everything, to life and love and reading a room. So my moods, my feelings, my cancer rising are supposed to lead and guide me. I should basically know this and have a I don't know, PhD in intuition. Maybe I do, I don't know. I'm not sure, but I still have to do the homework like everyone else and sit still and feel the thing. And let this quiet one that won't actually go away, count for something. It's pretty uncomfortable because it's pretty unsatisfying because you don't really know. And nobody will tell you if you were right or wrong, at least not the very minute. But in hindsight, I think you will know, and that's called experience. Experience. I love this word because it's full on Capricorn territory. But looking back makes sense, right? In general, because we learn from it, hopefully. And also the past is cancer territory. Okay, before we close, again, my two practical ideas, homework for this whole Mercury retrograde summed up. Number one, next time you get a so-called intuition, don't run with it. Name it, like put it in words, maybe, and wait. And then come back the next day and check when you're in a different mood. Is it still telling you the same thing? Right? Just make sure you're genuinely in a different mood when you check. And it's not the same one, the same mood on a different day. And second is the hindsight, and that's also very Mercury retrograde, but you can go even further back in your own life story. Think back to a time where you just knew the answer, right? You didn't want it to be true, and you went and did a thing anyway. You did not listen to the gut. I mean, I've done it more than once. And that quiet thing, you know, the intuition, the one that is less excited, you kind of talked yourself out of that. And that actually was the gut speaking to you. And if you can think of an example and be honest, right, then you feel a little bit of the difference between intuition and moods. So, bottom line, I don't I don't have a clear and clean definition for you, but maybe you have a little bit more of a feel for the gut feeling right now than when we started. And I think I think that's the whole point. Feeling into it again and again and again, and getting it wrong, and checking again and trying again, moods against gut, that is the work. So wishing you a successful, insightful, and emotional Mercury retrograde and cancer. Enjoy and practice, and that was your rabbit hole. A little emotional today, but still rabbit holy as ever. So let's get back up into the light.