It has been a rough week for Paris Hilton, and from an astrological perspective it would seem like Mercury is the main culprit at the moment. She went to jail earlier this week and then was unexpectedly released yesterday, but now it appears that she has been sent back to jail again in a rather strange twist of events. It was a rather strange day in the news and it appears that much of this story has yet to unfold.

Here is a recap of some of the events that led up to the present story, as well as what has been going on over the past 48 hours:

• In September of 2006 Paris was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol and was put on probation which included having her drivers license suspended.
• Earlier this year in February, during the last Mercury retrograde in Pisces/Aquarius, she was pulled over again for speeding and driving without her headlights on, and was subsequently charged for driving with a suspended license.
• On May 4th she was sentenced to 45 days in jail for violating the terms of her probation, and the judge explicitly ordered that she was not supposed to be able to carry out the sentence through some other alternative to jail such as house arrest.
• Earlier this week, on the night of June 3rd, Paris checked herself into the jail in Lynwood, California and formally began serving her sentence. (note that Mercury entered its “shadow” on May 31st)
• On the morning of June 7th, in an unexpected turn of event, Paris was suddenly released from jail by the LA county sheriff’s office and told that she would carry out the rest of her sentence at home under house arrest with an ankle monitor on.
• On the same day, upon hearing that Paris had been released the district attorney that had prosecuted Paris and the judge who issued the verdict ordered Paris to appear in court in person the very next day for a hearing at 9 o’clock in the morning to determine why she had been released from jail early.
• Paris initially attempted to attend the hearing by teleconference, but judge ordered that she must attend in person and subsequently sent a couple of police officers in a squad car to pick her up in order to bring her to the hearing. Paris was subsequently picked up by the cops and put in handcuffs in front of her house, and then transported to the courthouse in tears amidst a circus of paparazzi and news helicopters which had congregated outside of her house since her release the previous day.
• Once at the courthouse the judge ordered her back to jail in order to serve the remainder of her original 45 day sentence, and she was apparently escorted out of the court rooms in tears. source

Mercury Retrograde

Still with me? All right, now for the astrology.

This is a textbook case of Mercury retrograde. Paris was born with Mercury retrograde natally, in Aquarius actually, exactly conjunct her Sun. The whole incident that occurred earlier this year which led to the jail sentence happened during a Mercury retrograde period, and she actually has Mercury retrograde in her solar return this year exactly conjunct her natal Mars at 8 Pisces. And now this.

The Shadow Period

Now some people might say ‘wait a minute, Mercury isn’t even retrograde yet!’, and this is true. However, many astrologers know that the retrograde period isn’t simply confined to the time in which a planet actually stations and starts moving backwards in the order of the zodiac. The retrograde period actually begins as soon as the planet actually passes over the degree in which it will later return back to when it stations direct.

In the case of Mercury this month it will station retrograde at 11 Cancer on June 15th/16th, and then it will retrograde all the way back to 2 Cancer before it stations direct around July 10th. This few week long period after Mercury has passed 2 Cancer and before it actually stations retrograde is called the “shadow period”, and it can actually be just as potent as the actual retrograde period itself.

There is also another shadow period that occurs just after the actual retrograde period, between the time that Mercury stations direct and the time when it passes over the degree that it originally stationed retrograde at. In this case Mercury stations retro at 11 Cancer, so the post-retrograde shadow period lasts from approximately July 10th until July 24th. So, in actuality the duration of the Mercury retrograde periods, and retrograde periods in general, are much longer than many people commonly assume.

WTF does this have to do with Paris?

So, Mercury retrograde periods are commonly associated with miscommunication, reversals, delays, etc. An article on a popular astrology site explains that

Retrograde planets display an erratic motion which is linked to delays, recurrences, returns to previous conditions, reversals of events, and unexpected events occurring suddenly or becoming more dramatic and intense.

This, I think, is a pretty apt description of what just happened to Paris Hilton over the past 48 hours or so. What is interesting is that this particular Mercury retrograde is closely linked to her chart through the transits that she is having today.

Paris Hilton’s natal chart with transits for today

Mercury is just days away from stationing retrograde at this point and its power is growing more intense as it approaches this station. Today it is at 9 degrees of Cancer which is exactly square Paris’ natal Jupiter-Saturn conjunction at 9 Libra. Jupiter and Saturn are commonly associated with the law and government officials. For example, in the classic textbook on a school of astrology called Cosmobiology the author Reinhold Ebertin writes that the “sociological correspondence[s]” of Jupiter-Saturn contacts are

Professors and teachers of Law, clergymen, civil servants of the administration, also government officials, politicians… (Ebertin, The Combination of Stellar Influences, American Federation of Astrologers, 2000, pg. 170)

Libra, where Paris’ natal Jupiter-Saturn conjunction is placed, is of course activated this year by annual profection since Paris is in a third house profection year and Libra is the third whole sign house from her natal Moon in Leo. Her natal Moon is actually getting hammered by transits from Saturn in Leo at this time as well, as I pointed out in my previous article on the subject.

I think that what we are seeing here is a typical Mercury retrograde snafu where there is a bunch of miscommunication between the LA sherrif’s department and the judge, perhaps deliberately, which is then followed by a sudden reversal and a rather strict and depressing judgment from the judge to send Paris back to jail. That is largely what the transiting square from Mercury to Paris’ natal Saturn is all about, but then mixed in with that is the square to her natal Jupiter which is blowing this whole news story out of all proportion and making it this huge international media affair.

But what is really interesting is that its not over yet. Mercury is still days away from actually stationing direct, and then in a couple of weeks it is going to start retracing its steps and forming these same aspects all over again. So we may actually see some more legal wrangling over this decision to send her back to jail, as well as another acutely depressing and over hyped day for Paris when Mercury forms this square again in the future. Looking at the ephemeris it appears that this will happen around the weekend of the 23rd/24th and then it will make its final square to her natal Jupiter-Saturn conjunction around July 22nd/23rd once it has gone direct. Stay tuned…

Related posts:

1. Paris Hilton Goes to Jail: Saturn Oppresses Socialite
2. 2007 A Difficult Year for Paris Hilton?
3. Sylvester Stallone arrested – more Mercury retrograde madness
4. Rachel Maddow Talks About Mercury Retrograde on MSNBC
5. The Astrology of Britney Spears’ Haircut

Tags: Celebrities, Mercury retrograde

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