Mercury
Brother, hands, writing, car, street, words, children, expression, mind, voice, ears
Day: Wednesday
Colors: Yellow, Grey
Mercury is the planet closest to the Sun and as such, it has a special connection to it. It is the messenger of gods, a deity that carries information from one level of existence to the other, from one person to another, and learns how to practically incorporate knowledge into everyday choices. The role of Mercury is incredibly important, although it is small and often observed as this little trickster that can take us one way or the other, standing for our own inner split personalities. Mercury represents the way we think and its position in element and house show how we reason, pointing towards thoughts that preoccupy our entire existence. As a ruler of both Gemini and Virgo, it seems to have a task to create a connection between our mental plain - the field of ideas, and the practical, Earthly side to our human nature that speaks of our physiology, working habits and routine.
Planet Mercury
Mercury is the smallest planet in the Solar system and is found closest to the Sun. Although this would make us presume that it is also the warmest of all planets, this is not the case, and Venus with its thick atmosphere took over this heated role. Mercury will take the light of the Sun, circle around it in incredible speed, making a full circle three times per one revolution of the Earth. This means that three years on Mercury fit into one year on our planet, and it is the main reason its retrograde motion happens about three times per year in the geocentric system we observe. From our perspective, Mercury seems to go forward only to go back every now and then, a bit hasty and turned to wondering, while making many human mistakes along the way. The speed of its movement led ancient civilizations to believe that it was two different stars – one of which appeared in the morning, and the other which appeared in the evening.
Mercury in Astrology
In Astrology, Mercury is seen as our way of thinking and communication. It is a planet of information and a place where our mind goes most in this lifetime. When accented in one’s chart, it often speaks of a special relationship to a sibling, a brother, as its rule of Gemini always puts an emphasis on the story of brotherly love and its challenges. It is a point of verbal understanding and self-expression, helping us to find a way of explaining our inner truth to the outer world. This is a planet of full awareness, with a close-up frequent view of the Sun, and as such it shows our ability to make rational decisions, choices that we have analyzed well and decided to make based on our brain and the amount of light we have in our lives.
Manifestations
The way we talk, walk, and think hides in Mercury, but beyond its basic roles we need to remember that it always has two sides to the story. No matter our natal position, Mercury’s greatest strength and weakness lies in its duplicity. It will make us turn to many different sides in search for answers, and being set, for example, in the seventh house, it will show a tendency to look for love in two different partners at the same time. Multifunctional and organized by pure mental power, Mercury is a planet of all that we came on this Earth to say and do, representing our humanity in its core, as well as our awareness and ability to not stand in one place even for a second.
As a master of movement, it is in charge of driving, transportation and walking. A wonderer in its core, this is a lonesome ranger that never stops, except when something needs its rational attention and a fixing hand. It stands for reason and words we choose, and shows our thoughts, their speed and quality, as well as our brilliance or preoccupation with matters far from reason. On an objective level, Mercury represents our hands and our ability to use them, as well as our dark and light thoughts, colored by the words we choose to hear from other people.
The greatest challenge of our little trickster seems to be hiding in the element of Water and the sign of Pisces. It is the sign of Mercury’s detriment, for there is no clarity in Pisces and faith seems to be this distant illusion that rational Mercury has a hard time accepting. A skeptic and a reasonable little analyst, it finds its greatest task to be the acceptance of emotion until able to relate to it, putting our ego tendencies in check. If we separate from the heart, Mercury will become superficial, lead to the inability to communicate to others on a deeper level, and make us incapable to absorb new knowledge that inspires and truly excites us. To keep the energy flowing, we need to move, talk without fear of judgment, and stay in touch with our loving core.
