The Trickster
A
bizarre error in a Microsoft search engine algorithm has outraged the Saudi
Arabian monarchy. Bing Translator, an app contained within Microsoft’s Bing
search engine, allows internet users to translate over 3 dozen languages. As
with every translation app or website, by typing in a word or phrase in a
chosen language the application renders it in another language. Over the
weekend, some users noticed a questionable result when the Arabic word for the
Daesh terrorist group was entered into the program. Translated into English,
"Daesh" became "Saudi Arabia." Naturally, representatives
of the Saudi monarchy were irate, with many calling for a boycott of Bing and its
parent company, Microsoft. Aug.30
The incident reported in the news occurred just as Mercury [29vi04]
begins it station retrograde. A chart for the station at Riyadh has Mercury in
aspect to the angles. In addition it is conjunct the radix Sun [29vi22] in the
horoscope of Saudi Arabia[22 Sept. 1932; 5:56 pm LMT; Riyadh] [1].
In her book, Retrograde Planets, Erin Sullivan
writes:
As a god of accidental
happenings Mercury is underestimated by traditional astrology. His role as a
communicator and the educator is not always exercised by conventional means.
His affinity with Hades of the underworld sheds an interesting light on the
function of Mercury in bringing up the contents of the unconscious at
surprising times, not only in retrograde cycles but also in natural cycles of
change, hence his association with the trickster figure.
None of the “mistakes”or “slips” under Mercury retrograde are a
coincidence. Freud believed that information in the unconscious emerges in
slips of the tongue, jokes, dreams, illness symptoms, and the associations
people make between ideas. Retrograde Mercury suddenly presents us with the
unexpected in the context of everyday life, lifting us out of the
semi-conscious state in which we often pass our time. At that moment a new
suggestion can be made by the cosmos. The time of Mercury retrograde is always
a time of truth, even when communications seem disrupted and misunderstandings
are rife, because misunderstandings themselves are part of the truth of being
human. When Mercury is retrograde we’re given a chance to address them and
correct the course of events, rather than sweeping them under the carpet, ready
to trip us up another day. Indeed, whatever Mercury retrograde brings to us,
the best reflection is always, ‘What truth does this reveal to me, and why have
I needed it revealed in this way at this time?’ [2].
[2] The Truth About Mercury Retrograde; Sarah Varcas
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