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Mercury
Mercury is the Messenger of the Gods. He is never further than 28 from the Sun, and is to be found in the
same sign as the Sun or in one of the two adjoining signs.
Some astrologers contend that Mercury functions better in a chart when it is at least 10 away from the Sun and
best when it is in another sign.
Mercury in a close conjunction to the Sun can give a very brilliant mind, but the style of thinking is less objective,
more subjectively influenced by the will or the ego, and the person may have difficulty perceiving and reflecting
about himself. It generally takes time, many years of living, before the Sun-Mercury person can begin to see
himself with perspective.
The further distant from the Sun that Mercury is posited, the greater scope of perspective it tends to give. The
person can see himself and reflect on his nature more easily; he comes to know himself earlier in life.
One client with this conjunction spent years in therapy and later trained to become a therapist herself. For years
she thought her personality was quite integrated, logical and consistent. Only after studying psychology, doing
dream interpretation and learning astrology was she able to see that she, like most of us, had a variegated and
multi-faceted, somewhat inconsistent, set of psychodynamics.
Mercury tends to take on the tone and qualities of the
planets it aspects, very much like the Moon, the other
planet signifying the mind. After all, it is Mercurys job to
communicate the messages of the other planets (gods) to
our inner selves as well as the outer world.
Mercury with Venus gives a refined, harmonious mind, a
gracious style of communication, and diplomatic manners
of speech.
With the Moon, the emotions and feelings are easily
communicated, but the objective, reasoning process may
suffer. A man with this configuration may project it onto his
mother or wife, Why does she have to be so logical, so
sensible, when Im feeling emotional? All the while, the
woman complains he head-trips his feelings.
Mars with Mercury gives a very quick, shrewd mind, and a
cutting tongue. One tends to fly off the handle and regret
later the impetuous speech. He or she may act too quickly
on an untested idea.
Mercury-Jupiter is the expansive thinker who sees the big
picture and tends to exaggerate. He may promise more
than he can deliver. He is thorough and broad-minded,
everything is true for somebody, somewhere, sometime.

Alison Chester-Lambert Astrology Reading Cards Your

Personal Journey in the Stars

With Saturn, Mercury is logical, serious, methodical and a

good long-range planner. He sees the long view and does not look for the quick fix. He may be a pessimistic
thinker, tending toward depression, but he can be counted on to be super-cautious. His motto is when in doubt,
dont.

Mercury with the outer planets is really the magician who can bring in and communicate ideas from the
collective unconscious.
With Uranus there is a high degree of intuitive insight, the genius and/or the crackpot. He may have eccentric
ideas that are years ahead of their time.
Neptune and Mercury produce the poet, the musician, artist, mathematician, and the liar. A client with MercurySun-Neptune in conjunction was a brilliant thinker and a teacher who could explain and expound non-linear
concepts in ways that linear, literal thinkers could understand. He was a talented musician and composer as well.
But no one dared to discuss any important subjects or plans with him after he had a few tokes. He would go off
in a dream world where his ideas became impossibly inflated.
Mercury-Pluto is the legal eagle mind. It gives the capacity for deep mental research; it signifies the
penetrating thinker. No question is asked without a motive. Idle conversation is not of interest unless it conveys
secrets that may offer power over another or a situation. This is the x-ray (and X-rated!) mind which tends to read
the thoughts of others.
Mercury represents the capacity for learning and the method and attitude with which we go about learning. It is
not the I.Q., for that cannot be determined from the chart. It does show how intelligence is communicated or how
we access our data bank, our memory files. It is the ability to retrieve impressions. So, it is related to a type of
experience some call psychic what we once observed, then forgot we knew, then remember suddenly as if
flashing on it for the first time.
Mercury shows how we interpret the information picked up through the senses, as well as our ability to cognate
and to objectify what is perceived. The process of analyzing and comparing is involved, as well as naming,
labeling, in order to give that which is observed a meaning and value. Dualistic, linear thinking which includes
ideas of right and wrong, good and bad, black and white, either/or come into play.
Perception of the environment and the use of symbols to interpret and communicate those perceptions by
defining things, categorizing, and classifying the sense data is involved. Curiosity and the urge toward
experimentation and exploration of new experiences through the trial-and-error process is Mercurial. We have an
idea. We act on it and find out what works and what does not.
On the physical level, Mercury represents the connection of the synapses of the nervous system: how the
impulses which move through the nerves to the brain are interpreted, then relayed back as response and finally
action. Speed is the ingredient. All experience takes place in the brain and nervous system. The sense organs,
eyes, ears, and so forth, pick up various ranges of vibratory frequencies and transmit them to the brain for
processing and interpretation, sensation. We literally feel pain and pleasure in the brain. Those sensations are
transmitted to the nerves related to particular areas of the body and we have the illusion that our finger hurts or
the wine tastes sour on the tongue.
Much of childhood experience is related to Mercury. Learning about the immediate
environment, learning to organize sounds into speech by imitating and mimicking others,
exploring and experimenting. Do I eat it; do I stick it in my ear, or what? A baby puts
every new thing first in the mouth to check if it is edible by running it through the sense of
taste. He looks at it, puts it in the mouth, shakes it; does it make a sound? What is it for,
what can I do with it? He laughs with delight when he figures out the round blue thing
rolls when he throws it. He mimics mother, saying ball.
Mercury is the most important planet in synastry, in relationships. If we cannot
understand each other, and cannot communicate our thoughts and feelings to others and
comprehend theirs, we have no basis for relationship. An amusing example occurred with a classmate. We
compared notes after a lecture, and he remarked, It looks like we were at two different talks. His water sign
Mercury was exactly squared to my fire sign Mercury! For all practical purposes, we had been hearing different
talks. Our notes would have been useless, the one to the other, had either of us missed the class.

When you know a persons Mercury sign, you can make some adjustment in your mode of communication to
accommodate his patterns of thought. After all, Mercury is first of all adaptable and versatile. You can teach
anyone when you speak to his Mercury.
Air signs are objective, observing, abstract and tend to be detached and logical. They are good listeners. Water
sign Mercury is the opposite. It is subjective, reactive, emotionally involved with, or attached to, ideas. It needs to
feel touched to learn. Fire sign Mercury is self-expressive, creative. It wants to know: What can I do with it? How
can I play with it? It is the passionate thinker and speaker, who needs to learn to be a good listener. Earth
Mercury is practical, experimental, experiential: I know it, because Ive done it, seen it, heard it, touched it,
tasted it. It can be literal to a fault, misunderstanding metaphor and allegory. It tends toward a rather narrow or
simplistic interpretation of poetry, myth and scripture. However, it understands technical and scientific material
very well.
Some archetypes for Mercury and Gemini are: Peter Pan, The Puer Etemus (eternal youth and
committaphobic), Alice in Wonderland, the Trickster, the Magician, and the Thief.
Mercury was known as the God of Commerce. For years his head in profile was on our dime, and he was
depicted in full regalia, winged helmet and sandals on the cover of the old telephone books. His staff with two
entwined snakes and two wings at the top is the symbol of the physician; so he is associated with the healing arts
as well.
About the author:
Eleanor Buckwalter has studied, practiced and taught astrology in Los Altos, CA for more than twenty-five years,
including three years with the late Richard Idemon, a psychological astrologer. Her primary astrological focus of
interest is parent-child relationships and family dynamics.