More on Mercury

May 14th, 2007 · No comments

Duh.

In the haze of a sinus infection last week (more on that later), I left some very important information on Mercury out of this post.

In addition to commerce, travelers, gymnastics and the underworld, Mercury is also closely associated with data, information, learning and communication. (Though not patently obvious at first glance, these themes do dovetail with the kind of impersonal exchange associated with Mercury’s other traits: Looking deeper than the kind of “keyword astrology” that’s so common can help open up the core archetypal energy driving a planet’s role in the personality.)

Specifically, in the same way that coins and bills are the basic unit of exchange in commerce, data and information are the currency of learning and communication. Through Mercury, you exchange items of impersonal worth to create something of personal value and meaning. Our 20-month-old son is in an intense Mercury phase right now (as are most toddlers as they learn to walk and talk). He wants to hear the ABCs and the names of things over and over again, taking in bits of data and repeating them back to us, getting used to using information in order to communicate and get his needs met.

At the most basic level, learning and communication are simple exchanges of currency. Our son has learned to say “No” and “Down” and “I did it!” as a way of communicating and, as a result, getting what he wants (most of the time!). There is no particular morality connected to his words except that of his own instincts. That we infuse the words that we and other people say with our own values, hopes and frustrations is not Mercury’s fault. He simply provides the space and energy for the go-between, opening up channels for exchange between two people, two ideas, two items of value.

People with Mercury placed strongly on a point of outward focus tend to have a lot to say. Those with a strong Mercury turned inward might take in a lot, absorb information and chew on it, store it for future reference. Each can learn to turn their responses inside-out — the talker quieting down to absorb and the introvert speaking up sometimes — but it takes consciousness and effort.

When Mercury is retrograde (as it next will be June 15-July 9 this year), many people get conscious against their will when they experience hassles with data and communication: a phone number is wrong, the computer freezes, you take the wrong turn and it takes you an hour to get back on track. Mercury ret reminds you how important it is to attend to the little things.

When Mercury is on overload, as it often is in my life, it sometimes feels like information is coming at you (or from you) at warp speed — so much so, sometimes, that value is difficult to create. This is what recent writers have termed “data smog,” “information overload” and so forth. The Internet is a prime example of Mercury on overdrive: so much data, so little time.

My Mercury happens to be in a stress zone (just before the cusp of the next house), which means it tends to suck energy from other parts of my chart in order to achieve, at its best, lots and lots of learning and communication — at its worst, sifting through data just trying to stay on top of it. I spend a lot of time responding to e-mail, going through stacks of documents I once thought I couldn’t live without — but also synthesizing information and crafting words in the precise way I want them to sound. Right now, I have about a half-dozen books stacked next to the bed that I’m excited to read. But the stack of papers in my office is so high, I get a headache just thinking about it.

But that last part — that’s also psychosomatics — an issue for another post. Coming soon.