Mercury is more my concern since it makes a harsh aspect to Saturn, and both are retrograde. Internalization between them, and with Mercury Conjunct Mars, this perhaps makes communication difficult, which tends to be somewhat apparent when it comes to talking to family, or my childhood.
At least it is an inferior square, which isn't as intense as a superior one, i.e. if the positions were reversed and Saturn were in H1 and Mercury were in H4.
Interesting about the family communication difficulty. Thanks for sharing that.
Scorpio can be shy, but if that's true in your case, I really don't think it will last with Mars and Mercury in such a close degree-based conjunction. I was thinking in terms of Mars giving energy to Mercury, but I suppose another way of looking at it is that Mercury is getting clobbered by Mars and a certain outer planet!
Which returns us to the question of planetary strength: How strong is your Mercury? Hmm, it seems to be peregrine.
Mars gets a +5 in terms of planetary strength because it is in its domicile. It is also the domicile ruler of the sect light (the Sun, in your case), which is a separate subject that we should get to soon. But before we do, let's finish with the planetary strength question.
Saturn is also +5, being in its domicile. It gets an additional three points being the triplicity ruler of Aquarius in a day chart. So Saturn gets a total of +8 (right guys?) Venus gets +5 being in its domicile, Jupiter gets +1, being in its face. The Moon, Sun and Mercury are peregrine, i.e. the have no dignity and get a 0, which is better than them being in fall or detriment and getting a minus 4 or minus 5.
This doesn't include what is called accidental dignity and disability.
If planets are in the first house, for example, they gain in strength, so your peregrine Sun and Mercury would normally gain a bit of strength through being there, oops, I just saw the Mercury is retrograde, which might explain any communication problems or shyness that you might have.
Venus, which has a +5 is weakened through being in H12.
Anyway, this point system stuff is normally used as an aid for judging planetary strength. It helps an astrologer get a feel for the chart and then one moves on and starts delineating seriously.
By far, I think what you should be looking at is your Mars. It's the malefic contrary to the sect light in a day chart, and it is the domicile lord of the of the Hour Marker (ascendent), so it will play a huge role in characterizing your life direction and focus.
If I'm reading this correctly, I think last year was a H1 profection year for you, no? Didn't you just turn 25, which means last year you were 24?
If this is the case, could you let us know how last year went for you (from 26 October 2017 to 26 October 2018). Would you characterize it as generally positive or would you characterize it as a difficult year?
Kind regards
Rhys
