Mercury

Mercury

Mercury governs conscious mental processes and communication. In Roman mythology, Mercury is the messenger of the gods. His Greek counterpart is named Hermes.

Mercury is the personality ruler of the signs Gemini and Virgo.

Mercury is the closest planet to the sun. Since it is so close to the sun, Mercury is never very far from the sun in any astrological chart. It is always either in the same sign as the sun, or one sign away. It can never get any further away from the sun than one sign.

The Roman god Mercury is always portrayed with little wings on his shoes, his hat, or both. This indicates that Mercury moves very quickly. Mercury takes about one year to move through all twelve signs of the zodiac. After all, it is very close to the sun.

Three times each year, Mercury goes into retrograde motion. Mercury is retrograde for about three weeks each time.

When Mercury is retrograde, communication becomes difficult. This is because retrograde planets express their energy internally. During a Mercury retrograde, everyone is internally reviewing what they have learned. Their thought processes are internal. It's very hard to focus on a conversation when both parties are also focusing on their own internal thought processes! Miscommunication can easily occur, as well as chaos and confusion. An excellent example is the Mercury Retrograde election for President of the United States, which took place on November 7, 2000.

During a Mercury retrograde, be extra careful driving, because drivers are not fully focused on the road. Do not make important purchases (especially houses or cars) when Mercury is retrograde, and don't sign contracts. You are likely to misunderstand something important and find out later. Also, since you will have trouble focusing on external tasks, expect to accomplish less than you might want to during this time.

To see when Mercury retrogrades next, check the events page.

Keywords:

mind, thought, communication