Mercury in Astrology
Welcome to the third installment of my Elements of Astrology series. This blog dives into the Mercury, the messenger planet. A Video version of this blog with spoken commentary and imagery is uploaded to my youtube.
Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun in our solar system, so whenever we are facing or looking in the Sun’s direction, we are also generally looking in Mercury’s direction as well. It has an oval and ellipse orbit around the Sun, is never more than 28 degrees away from the Sun, and is the fastest moving planet across our sky except for the Moon. It is hot and the smallest planet, and similar to the Sun, takes about a year to traverse the zodiac.
From our perspective, Mercury’s orbit of the Sun across our zodiac seems erratic and unstable. Mercury appears to move quite fast at some points, up to two degrees a day, and quite slow at other points. It moves retrograde (appears to change direction in the sky) usually three times a year and can only be seen as a morning star (associated with Apollo and the sign Gemini) just before sunrise or an evening star (associated with Hermes and the sign Virgo) just after sunset when it is at least 12 degrees away from the Sun. It rotates on its axis much slower than the Earth, so one full night and day is 59.65 Earth days despite its solar year taking just 88 Earth days. This slow rotation causes Mercury to have drastic changes in seasons with a terribly cold night and extremely hot day. This frequent change of speed and direction leads Mercury to appear as the least consistent planet, but also a planet with a mission and conscious intention, the Sun’s messenger.
Mercury being no more than 28 degrees away from the Sun means it will sometimes be in the same sign as the Sun giving added identification with that sign’s qualities and sometimes in an adjacent sign creating a possible Mercury/Sun aversion. Mercury stays in one sign an average of three weeks. Its speed gives it a short and fleeting impact on the transits it makes unless it is in a retrograde cycle where its transits may be at play for a longer period of time. It’s malleability allows it to absorb the qualities of the sign and planets it has relationship to.
Mercury acts as a messenger between the Sun and the rest of the planets, it moves between the visible and invisible world, not just in mind and communication, but in how we receive insight from a higher consciousness. It’s comparable to the moon in that it brings influence from outside Earth to us here, but rather than the moon dispensing the celestial effluences in general into our physical experience, Mercury dispenses the Sun’s energy to us through messages, words, and sound. Mercury’s qualities are colorless, cold, moist, neutral, genderless, dualistic, and sectless. It takes on the gender, colors, and tendencies of the sign its in and planets it aspects. It could be considered benefic if in relation with Venus or Jupiter, and malefic if in relation with Mars or Saturn. It is diurnal if a morning star, and nocturnal if an evening star.
SIGNIFICATIONS
The Moon is the closest planetary body to Earth and it pulls in and dispenses celestial energy and influences into an embodying experience. Meanwhile Mercury being the closest body to the Sun pulls the Sun’s truth, core inner knowing, spirit and mind, and communicates it to us. With Mercury being so close to the Sun, it is the story you tell about yourself, a greater extension of your ego, how you communicate and socialize your story and your ego. Mercury retrograde could affect how do this. You have to pass through Mercury first before getting to the other planets as it translates and transfers information from the Sun to the other planets and to us.
With Mercury being our thoughts, intellect, and communicative nature and being so close to the Sun, how we think and perceive life experiences is related to who we are intrinsically, our core, our truth. Mercury is the conscious mind, the mind that acts, expresses, and communicates. The mind that alerts, pays attention, seeks to understand. Mercury thinks, perceives, conceives, and communicates. Mercury is consciousness as in awareness, but also as in contemplation, observation of self and others. Mercury meditates and intuits, pulls conscious memory into useful connection and self-expression. Mercury is the Sun’s scribe or messenger; it takes the basic ego and identity and expresses it out through sound and word. Richard Tarnas calls Mercury “that which articulates the primary creative energy and renders it intelligible.”
Mercury is intellect, vision, logic, and reason. Mercury informs, learns, discriminates, seeks knowledge. It questions curiously, criticizes, edits, and concentrates. Mercury is cleverness and wit, interest vs boredom, how one organizes, what one does with the details. Mercury is opinionated, methodical, mentally agile, self-educated. Mercury interprets and discovers. It philosophizes and seeks wisdom. Mercury seeks to know the universe through thinking and concluding regardless of direction, experience, or observation.
Mercury moves and exchanges ideas. It speaks, writes, and articulates. Mercury shows how one gives and receives information, whether one is desirous and willing to share thoughts and connect with others, whether one is honest or dishonest in their communication and connection. Mercury is in the gossip and the facts, in the meaningless chatter and in the prayers and mantras. Mercury organizes the world around us by naming things, the symbolic nature of the human experience. It is language and thus by result is our understanding of the world around us which is shaped through the language we speak. Mercury moves from one thing to the next, acquires answers and messages. Mercury declares. The Sun is mind or nous, and Mercury is the mouthpiece of that mind to the other planets. The King’s messenger. While the moon is the body, elements of absorption from the celestial spheres, Mercury is the sound element. Mercury translates, is how one hears before integration and communication. People will listen through their Mercury and then speak through their Mercury. Thus Mercury is our connection, community, our interaction with others. Greater forms of Mercury at play in a more general sense would be how Mercury prints, publishes, distributes, translates and transcribes, advertises, broadcasts, and records. Mercury computes and calculates, and thus deals heavily with technology.
Mercury is the go between the source of information and the receiver of it. So Mercury also mediates, negotiates, exchanges, and barters. Mercury adapts, converts, buys and sells, and draws up contracts and bills of sale. Mercury corresponds and disputes. It is adaptable that it can fit into a variety of roles.
Given that Mercury carries our intellect and communicative experiences, Mercury also rules our early education that forms our intellect and style of connection. So this pertains to early school experiences, our teachers, our primary education, but also our youthful experiences in childhood, our siblings and friends we played and learned with, our neighbors and peers, our most formative experiences in childhood. Thus Mercury also deals with local travel, short trips or daily trips and routines, vehicles and daily commutes. Dane Rudhyar says, “Mercury mind… is the result of the response of the individual to his immediate personal experiences, to all the impressions which he receives from the world around him, which he associates into definite mental pictures and concepts and fits into compartments.” Those early formative experiences shape our Mercury mind.
Mercury’s erratic nature lends this planet to be mischievous at times, known as the trickster, jokester, or riddler. Mercury likes to amuse, banter, play practical jokes and create satire. But Mercury may also lie, thieve, cheat, distract, and deceive. Mercury comes to and from a conjunction with the Sun so there are times when Mercury is hidden in the Sun’s beams and it’s actions therefore are also less visible leading to concealed, cunning, or sly behavior. Mercury’s erratic and fast nature also could lead to high-strung, nervous, disagreeable, flighty, inconsistent or hyperactive behavior. Mercury may have a rationalizing and dispassionate quality depending on its relationship with more emotionally connected planets.
The physical significations of Mercury deal with the parts of the body that think, communicate, and transport. So when delineating a physical experience of Mercury we may be discussing the brain, the nervous system, neural processes, but also the breathing system with the lungs, respiratory system, as well as the skin, ears, and dexterity of the hands and arms. Mercury also rules our hormones and the interconnection and communication of information between cells. Mercury works with the nadi of the Eastern philosophies, energy channels in the body that deal with etheric or astral energies. We can also see how these correlate to large structures like roads, canals, roadways, telephone lines, radio broadcasts, the nervous systems of a nation connecting us through associations and travel.
Mercury’s mythology is of Hermes, the Greek messenger God with wings on his feet and his helmet to transport him to and fro sending the gods’ messages. Hermes also transported souls to and from the underworld as a psychopomp and was one of the few Gods who could go into the underworld. Mercury is also associated with the Norse God Loki, the trickster, and the Native American coyote legends. Given these significations, in ancient astrology, Mercury was associated with the astrologer and astrology itself. Astrologers are seen as translators of the sky and the stars. We are the messengers. And we are diverse. Astrology works equally well from multiple perspectives. I believe this speaks to a universal truth that we don’t have written yet in our science books. Something about many avenues to clarity, something about truth being in constant flux, something about truth at least partially originating within us as well as outside of us. Astrology does not work without astrologers. Something about the intuitive human condition itself being a universal truth necessary for Astrology. AI astrology can be a fascinating machine, but the inherent truth astrology brings will be lost.
Because Mercury’s orbit is inside Earth’s orbit, it never makes the entire 360 degree cycle of aspects with the Sun. It forms two different conjunctions with the Sun from our perspective. A conjunction is when two bodies appear to be in the same part of our sky. The inferior conjunction is during Mercury’s retrograde, when Mercury aligns with and is in between the Sun and Earth, starting Mercury’s process of rising before the Sun in the east. Mercury stations direct between 9-15 days after the inferior and a week later is its furthest from the Sun and begins to quicken its pace. The superior conjunction is when Mercury aligns with the Sun and Earth but is on the other side of the Sun. The superior conjunction happens when its on the far side of the sun and reaches its quickest speed, beginning the process of Mercury setting in the early evening after the Sun. Four to five days later, Mercury’s daily motion matches the Sun, and turns retrograde again two weeks later. Ten to fifteen days later it closes with an inferior conjunction. Each of these phases and processes has its own significations which I will be diving into much deeper in a future blog.
DIGNITIES
Mercury being the planet of duality and variation, it makes sense that it would have two domiciles, one for its diurnal state and one for its nocturnal state.
Diurnal Mercury, morning star Mercury, is at home, or in domicile, in Gemini. Gemini is versatile, adaptable, talkative, intelligent and rules the third house of communication, learning, or early education. Gemini can seek many perspectives and wants to explore new angles. It is the sign of the twins, so duality is important to Gemini experiences, light and dark, malice and virtue, etc. Gemini is an air sign, is associated with heat and moisture, is adaptable, connective, more social, and likes bouncing ideas off of others. Mercury in Gemini is an announcer, declarer, proclaimer, is outward facing and outgoing. It has comfort with being in change and flux, trying new ideas and experiences, exploration, variety, and multiplicity. Mercury in Gemini possibly talks a lot, perhaps with less need. It tends towards the broad over the deep, like wind or air. It can see many options and perspectives curiously, and is perhaps not as good at settling or picking something, or diving deep into one thing. Fast, changeable, and communicative Mercury works with greatest ease in social, chatty, curious Gemini.
Nocturnal Mercury, evening star Mercury, is at home in Virgo and also in exaltation here as well. Virgo is a bit more serious than Gemini, and uses analytical, detail-oriented thinking and reasoning with a search for facts. Virgo is an Earth sign that rules the sixth house of work, daily life, and health. Virgo Mercury discriminates, classifies, and digests for practical purposes. It asks, where’s the evidence? where’s the data? Virgo is a cold and dry sign (dryness creates separation). Mercury here wants to understand the small parts more so than the overarching concepts to the point where it could get stuck on details and miss the big picture. Virgo Mercury finds problems, solves them, nitpicks, condenses, perfects and is inward facing and more intuitive. Intellectual and detail-oriented Mercury is quite at home in problem-solving Virgo which helps to ground Mercury’s messages into practical function.
Mercury is in Detriment in Sagittarius. Sagittarius is all about the big picture, impulsivity, religion, long journeys instead of short journeys, authority, and tradition. Quite the contrast for detail oriented Mercury. Mercury in Sagittarius is about the way its been done rather than being curious about new approaches like Gemini Mercury. Sagittarius Mercury is less adaptable. Its ruling planet Jupiter wants to know where the wisdom and truth is and doesn’t really care about the details and the spreadsheets. Mercury in Sagittarius may have a more religious perspective than rational. Sagittarius is about inclusion instead of taking things apart, broad strokes instead of hyper focused. Mercury likes to play and have fun and Jupiter wants to find the deep meaning in everything. Mercury is early education and Jupiter is higher more serious study. So we see that Sagittarius isn’t an easeful place for Mercury and that it will have to be creative to be expressive. Mercury is the smallest of the seven traditional planets with it’s domicile Gemini being opposite the largest planet, Jupiter’s home Sagittarius. Austin Coppock says “Jupiter is a telescope and Mercury is a magnifying glass.” So Mercury might be less concerned with facts and details here.
Mercury is both in detriment and fall or depression in Pisces as it is opposite Virgo, it’s domicile and its exaltation. Pisces has a bit of a fog to it, a less clear, less structured, less detailed experience. It’s more “everything is one", not really a “take things apart” experience, but more looking at the big picture and see how it all connects. Surrender is important for Mercury in Pisces to accept what is clear and what is unclear. Mercury in Pisces deals with illusions, dreams, fantasies, spiritual experiences, creativity, sensitivity instead of rationality, thoughts, conscious intention. It’s a great placement for artists and creatives although day to day life may need some support. Mercury in Pisces has a more spiritual perspective than logical. Another example of the the smallest of the seven traditional planets with Virgo and Gemini being opposite the sign of the largest planet Jupiter. This is another example of small things Mercury being placed in a big things sign.
Some modern astrologers have wondered about Mercury possibly being exalted elsewhere. I’ll give a quote by David McCann that I found interesting and led me into a week long research fest to understand the origins of the dignities and exaltations. There are some great conversations to be had about this topic.
“Phase also has implications for dignity with respect to exaltation. The exaltations are of Babylonian origin, but those of Mercury and the Moon do not appear in cuneiform texts and would seem to be Greek innovations. Porphyry pointed out an interesting pattern: all of the exaltations, save that of Mercury, aspect a domicile: by trine if the planet is of the solar sect and by sextile if it is of the lunar one. Since Mercury is solar when matutine and lunar when vespertine, it should surely have different exaltations for the two phases, one in trine to Gemini and the other in sextile to Virgo. I would suggest Aquarius and Scorpio. The outward-looking, matutine Mercury is well placed in honest Aquarius, but can become opinionated in Leo. The reflective, vespertine Mercury gains depth in Scorpio, but becomes earth-bound in Taurus. This idea is not really new: Lilly described Mercury as strong in Aquarius and weak in Taurus, and in our own time Martin Seymour-Smith has claimed that Mercury is exalted in Aquarius. “ -David McCann
GLYPH
Mercury’s glyph is by some considered a caduceus which was the Greek God Hermes’s staff. The central rod of a caduceus and the two serpents winding around it refer to the spiritual potencies in our cells gathering around the spinal cord and up to the mind. Mercury’s glyph has the divine circle, the crescent of soul, and the cross of matter. It could also be seen as his winged cap which helped him travel. Some also consider the circle to be the Sun, the source of information, the crescent of the Moon, and the cross dispensing knowledge.
DELINEATION
Mercury is prominent in charts of those who write, speak, program computers, and practice science. Also it can be prominent in charts of those who work with their hands like braiding, weaving, stocking, music and art. Where it is placed in your chart shows where and how you communicate, understand, intellectualize, and rationalize. It is a good idea to look at the balance between rational and emotional in the chart. If Mercury is strongly placed, see if the Moon or Venus is also well aspected to create balance, or there may be more rationality than emotional awareness. What planets or points Mercury has relationship to will be tied into self expression and the natives experience of the intellect and communication.
MERCURY RETROGRADE:
When a planet is retrograde, it appears to be moving in the opposite direction in the sky from its usual path. Of course it isn’t actually changing directions, but rather appears to be from our perspective as the orbits of Earth and said planet are differing in speeds. A great analogy for this would be if you’re on a parked train and another train is next to you moving at top speed. Looking out the window, you might actually feel like you are moving backwards. Your equilibrium gets off a little and you have to pause and reevaluate your bearings to understand what’s happening and adjust to the experience. This is retrograde motion and its effect on us.
Mercury is retrograde for about three weeks every four months, usually three times a year.
Retrograde is a normal part of Mercury's function. This is part of why it’s become a part of pop culture; it’s talked about so often in the astrological community that the general population got wind of it. Speaking astrologically, Mercury is so fast, erratic, and alert that it needs to slow down from time to time. It speaks to our need to slow down that which was very busy for a time, a natural human condition. With Mercury, things are in constant change and flux; so without pause and review we could get overwhelmed and not have a grounding on how to approach the fluctuations. It can be a time of internalizing of your thoughts. The retrograde sends Mercury back into conjunction with the Sun so this review can bring you back into your ego and identity and develop your sense of self in a deeper way. If you do struggle with something during retrograde phases it could mean there’s something for you to review and reflect on that you might be resisting.
Much like in the train analogy, Mercury retrograde periods are a time when we must pause, reflect, and reevaluate what’s happening to make sure we are perceiving things accurately and not missing anything. I do feel the pop culture hype has misstepped a little with this phenomenon and overblown its significations. It’s a natural, normal, and underwhelming experience for us to pause and reflect and review. It’s just a good time to be flexible and double check everything. Mercury Retrograde may signify possible delays, frustration, more caution and proofreading, communication issues, unexpected schedule changes, or appliance and technological issues. Because Mercury also deals with transportation, things can go awry with transport too, vehicles, traveling, etc; It’s a good time to make back ups and return to old projects more so than start new ones. Sometimes you hear people tell you about things not to do during Mercury retrograde: don’t do job interviews, don’t sign contracts, don’t trust technology, don’t have important conversations etc, but the point isn’t not to do them, it’s to understand there may be delays or snags, to double check everything, to be slow and cautious and pay attention to details, to make sure your zipper is up when you leave the bathroom. It a time of “re:” reflect, reassess, review, and recalibrate. Retrograde inverts Mercury’s original significations so we may have different kinds of disturbances in communication. It is a call to listen to yourself, ask how you are listening to others, and have more patience for others as well.
One in five charts have Mercury retrograde. If retrograde Mercury is natal in your birth chart, you may feel misunderstood at times and have a hard time with self-expression.This could lead to a more intuitive and introspective experience of the native, maybe they draw information from within as well as outside themselves, or perhaps one who has controversial ideas,
The period of time right before retrograde, when Mercury moves through the signs and points where it will be returning to during retrograde, is called its shadow period. It travels through the shadow, then retrogrades back through that part of the zodiac, then it moves forward through it again at post-retrograde shadow period. This period ends when it moves beyond the point where it initially went retrograde although the effects of these transits may last longer. So While Mercury moves rather quickly most of the time, its transits being short lived, a retrograde period will emphasize these transits for a much longer period of time. The degree where Mercury stations retrograde will be emphasized heavily because Mercury will stay there for a bit before changing directions. We can approach shadow periods by looking at what themes are relevant to those signs and planets Mercury will be transiting and how that might apply to our own natal chart. Where in your chart are those signs and what planets in your chart might be transited by Mercury?
As always I want to thank and show appreciation and give credit to my clients, the friends and family that let me analyze their charts and ramble my mouth off, and the teachers and astrologers that I have learned from and especially drawn from for this study: Jo O’Neill, Chris Brennan, Michael R Meyer, Dane Rudhyar, Demetra George, Richard Tarnas, and Jessica Lanyadoo. I do not own any of these images. Please contact me to help me give credit if you know the original owners.
Sara Marie