from Carl Boudreau
https://www.facebook.com/notes/carl-boudreau/august-2016-turning-a-major-historical-corner/10210306646410999A Powerful Mercury, Powerfully Afflicted
There will often be insuperable obstacles to successful communication at all levels in August and beyond. Indeed, simple, seemingly straightforward, routine communication can explode. In August, regardless of the seeming importance or unimportance of the issues, or how casual a conversation might seem to be at the time, it would be best to proceed with caution.
Overreaction is the order of the day. People will be primed to take offense and give offense in return. Sometimes it might just be best to hold your peace, no matter what you think is at risk.
On the micro level, the result of miscommunication might be estrangement, lost friendships, broken agreements and lost partners. On the macro - or national and global levels - the results might be broken alliances, shattered treaties, and failed trade deals. Hostile, unguarded diplomatic exchanges might lead to open warfare.
Mercury conjunct Jupiter is opposite Chiron Retrograde
Much of the difficulty will come from retrograde Chiron’s opposition to the Jupiter/Mercury conjunction in Virgo. Retrograde Chiron’s negative potential is strongly enhanced.
Retrograde Chiron’s opposition is likely to draw discussions in the direction of old bitterness, simmering grievance and lingering grudge. It can stir pain in wounds nearly forgotten but not fully healed. It can inflame feelings about real or imagined attacks on personal beliefs. A Chiron opposition is also a prolific source of imagined threat or offense.
The negative potentialities of retrograde Chiron’s opposition are multiplied by its nearness to Neptune, retrograde Nessus, the South Node and the influence of Pisces generally.
Retrograde Nessus will hasten the manifestation of negativity and quickly dredge up guilt and pain. The effect would be to diminish our sense of self-worth and darken our interpretation of other people’s motives.
Neptune will further increase the likelihood of confusion, weak, self-deceptive, even delusional reasoning. The South Node, for its part, will make errors in reasoning and all these other ill-advised seem attractive.
This combination of negative placements makes the odds of failed communication very high indeed.
None of these influences, alone or in combinati0n, would be conducive to successful communication and positive outcomes. Disagreement could arise completely unexpectedly and quickly become heated and even violent.
Mars/Saturn Conjunction in Sagittarius - a T-Square + Flint and Steel
Mars and Saturn are conjunct in Sagittarius at the apex of the mutable T-Square. This fiery, explosive conjunction squares both poles of the Mercury/Jupiter/Chiron opposition during the eclipse.
This will further multiply the already considerable negative potential of the Mercury/Jupiter/Chiron opposition. In sum, it will dramatically raise the likelihood of miscommunication and worsen its consequences.
Outcomes Might Not Be What You Hope
Under the influence of the eclipse, negative tactics, no matter how appealing or even irresistible they seem, could backfire badly, either in the moment or in the future.
This would seem to put the offender at a disadvantage. However, in present circumstances, a penalty on the offender could easily overflow and engulf bystanders, including those offended.
Regardless of whoever has the right of it, social unrest brought on by a violation of the North Node’s mandate, could overflow, translating into misfortune for the righteous too. Violence is contagious and unrest tends to overflow boundaries.
...
On an individual level, be careful what you say and to whom you say it in August and the weeks and months to follow. Listen carefully to what others say, also.
It will be far too easy to spark animosity, to overreact to an imagined insult, to mistake a lie for the truth, or vice versa. It could be some time, I think, before the fires thus ignited are quenched and the intellectual air is safe to breath unfiltered.
